All in all a good day, the start was a little hectic and not really what i wanted, didn't get much of the riders signing on, but the crowds were so big that trying to fnid you way through was not easy so a quick snap of the depart and off to the first stop for the day.
THe first two stops went nicely to plan, arriving in enough time to park at the bottom and then walk up. Met some interesting fans, and despite the language barrier, my appaling french mainly, managed to chat a little bit killing time before the ladies race and then the mens arrived.
It was then onto the koppenberg again parked where i needed and headed up to the summit of the climb. Got a great place, and snapped Boonen in his only real bid for glory for the day.
From that point on the day went awry from the plan, trying to get across to the bosbery, i was caught out by relying on the Tom Tom, which sadly took me on a route crossing the race course twice, which wouldn't normally have been a problem but a few too many cars ahead of me meant that i could not jump onto the course, but as luck would have it i caught the race at two vital moments, an attack by friere and then the small group of five including, Hincapie and the eventual winner Devolder.
I knew i wasn't going to make it to the finish but it was a real shame not to the the bosberg, just for the spectacle of it but lesson learned for next year.
On to roubaix with a little more map planning
see all the reports of the action here
protour news 1
protour news 2
protour news 3