Most of Saturday’s Flemish papers will have a 16 page pull out section – all of the kassein and hellingen (cobbles & hills) will be analysed as if for a military campaign; the form of every favourite examined by panels of experts, and past winners will be cross examined rather than interviewed. The ‘Ronde’ isn’t just a bike race; the population of Flanders is around six million; on Sunday the organisers expect 800,000 roadside – assuming that 50,000 are foreign spectators – that’s 12.5 % or…

PEZ Roadside: It was actually supposed to be an entire day at the races, which would have included the horrifically windy Stage 3a in De Panne, which saw a huge chunk of the field time cut, but alas, we were sleeping. We managed to wake up in just enough time to hurry out of the house and get to De Panne in time for the race's finale, a 17 kilometer time trial through the residential streets of the coastal town.

For this Thursday, just a few days days before the 2011 Ronde, let's look back at Ed Hood's 2008 VIP trip around Flanders... PEZ joined Silence-Lotto pro and former Belgian TT champ Bert Roesems and his wife’s dad Andy for a full-on day of chasing the Tour of Flanders across the countryside. Bert’s ridden the race many times and Andy knows all the short cuts – it was a chance to see the race like no other…

Roadside PEZ: I woke up this morning warm and cozy in my bed, doing some work, when I realized: oh, the stage start of today's second stage of the Three Days of De Panne is two kilometers from where I'm now laying. After some light debate, we decided that it was time to go have a look at the scene in Oudenaarde's Grote Markt.

Sunday's recently crowned, full-on classic, Gent-Wevelgem, will instead of continuing the wave that started with the Tour of Flanders: begin it. The Classics season starts in earnest this weekend with the E3 Prijs Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem. We know the main themes of the race: crosswinds, Kemmelberg, likely (vastly whittled down) bunch sprint - but when was the last time you really got a look at the course? Nope, didn't think so. Let's take a look at the latter part of the parcours...

It was 1908 when Robert Wancour scored the first of his two wins in the Championship of Flanders; 102 years later the pils still flows in the square at Koolskamp as 172 'deelnemers' line up for the UCI 1.1 95th edition over 15 laps of a 12 kilometre circuit - a total of 180 windy kilometres. PEZ was on hand to enjoy one of the season's great races in Belgium.

It’s 1:30 AM, Belgium time, we just got the power restored after I plugged one too many cords into the hotel’s electrical outlets. BAM! Hotel blackout... courtesy of PEZ. But what a day it’s been – we rode on the Flanders’ route, and it was “TOP RIDE” material for sure. Here are the pics…

As a dedicated follower of the Spring Classics, each December every effort is made to wade through the constant deluge of meaningless newsflashes to find something, however minute it may be, to catch my attention. Pure speculation does not make for worthwhile reading. Fortunately, amidst the mind-numbing reality of facing a cold New York winter, I didn’t have to search far for something to grasp onto.

Wednesday's semi-classic, Gent-Wevelgem, continues arguably the best week of bike racing of the season. We know the main themes of the race: crosswinds, Kemmelberg, likely bunch sprint - but when was the last time you really got a look at the course? Nope, didn't think so. Let's take a look at the latter part of the parcours...