Fleche Wallonne: King Kirchen

For a while there, Fabian Wegmann gave me a glimmer of hope. He attacked 13 km from the finish and held a 20 second advantage going into the last kilometre. It looked like he just might steal the win, which would give Team Creedence Tapes 350 points, and leave them neck in neck with Andy's Vee Vant Ze Money crew heading into the final race of the season on Sunday. But then the nasty Mur de Huy reared it's ugly head and the steep gradients took their toll on the German national champion as the coterie of climbers took over. Surprisingly, it was wheel sucker Cadel Evans who attacked first, with Davide "I love the Ardennes" Rebellin in tow. But the final climb would prove to be a bit too long for Evans and Rebellin too. With 200 metres to go, Kim Kirchen launched a fierce attack that only Evans could follow. Kirchen easily held on for an impressive win, punctuated with a feisty "we'll settle this in France in July" gesture seemingly directed toward Evans just before he crossed the line. Nice. Evans took 2nd and Cunego was 3rd. Wegmann would eventually finish in 30th place, 53 seconds back. Good for all of 5 points. Damn. Full results, reports, and photos from CN, VN, and Pez.

Over in the FGBC Pool, El Presidente's team, F*ck Sympathy, is proving that the F-bomb teams are not cursed by their predilection for cussing. Apparently, they just prefer the hillier late-season classics to the cold and the cobbles of March. 505 points and a second consecutive victory for Swatty's squad. Nicely done. Sitting close to the bottom just a few races ago, they now sit solidly in the middle of the pack with 2480 points. Rachel's Good Sasparilla picked up 350 from Kirchen for 2nd place on the day. And another F-bomb team, Donna's Shomer F*cking Shabbas, finished third on the strength of Cunego. In the race for the overall title, Vee Vant Ze Money picked up 200 points, courtesy of Rebellin's 6th place finish. They now hold a 345 lead over Team Creedence Tapes heading into Liege. Shut the F*ck Up Jonny B is back in last place, and looks to have it sewn up.

The final km:

Top 30:

1 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team High Road - 4.35.29 (43.45 km/h)
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto - 0.01
3 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - 0.02
4 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank - s.t.
5 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank - s.t.
6 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner - s.t.
7 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas - 0.08
8 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne - 0.10
9 Christian Pfannberger (Aut) Barloworld - 0.15
10 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale - 0.20
11 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom - s.t.
12 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner - s.t.
13 Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi - s.t.
14 Iouri Trofimov (Rus) Bouygues Telecom - 0.24
15 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi - s.t.
16 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quick Step - 0.26
17 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Tinkoff Credit Systems - s.t.
18 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Saunier Duval - Scott - 0.29
19 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner - 0.32
20 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux - s.t.
21 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne - s.t.
22 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa) Barloworld - 0.37
23 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner - 0.40
24 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram - s.t.
25 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Silence - Lotto - s.t.
26 Matej Mugerli (Slo) Liquigas - 0.42
27 Kevin Ista (Bel) Agritubel - 0.45
28 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2r - La Mondiale - 0.46
29 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott - 0.49
30 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner - 0.53


Today's Results:

F*ck Sympathy (David S) - 505
That Good Sasparilla (Rachel) - 350
Shomer F*cking Shabbas (Donna) - 275
New Shit (Matt) - 260
You're Out of Your Element, Jonny (Jonny G) - 230
That Rug Really Tied the Room Together (Tomek) - 230
Vee Vant Ze Money (Andy) - 200
Uli Kunkel powered by Karl Hungus (Adam) - 165
Bunny Lebowski's Toe (Dallas) - 120
Nice Marmot (Hal) - 95
Shut the F*ck Up Jonny (Jonny B) - 70
These Men Are Cowards (Paddy) - 65
A Roadie for Metallica (Bill) - 60
Little Lebowski Urban Achievers (Ian) - 5
Creedence Tapes (Chris) - 5
White Russians (Victor) - 5
Is This Your Homework, Larry? (Arlene) - 0
Obviously You're Not a Golfer (Charlene) - 0


Overall Standings:

Vee Vant Ze Money (Andy) - 5870
Creedence Tapes (Chris) - 5525
Is This Your Homework, Larry? (Arlene) - 4360
Little Lebowski Urban Achievers (Ian) - 3795
New Shit (Matt) - 3665
Uli Kunkel powered by Karl Hungus (Adam) - 2820
These Men Are Cowards (Paddy) - 2675
A Roadie for Metallica (Bill) - 2610
F*ck Sympathy (David S) - 2480
You're Out of Your Element, Jonny (Jonny G) - 2350
Obviously You're Not a Golfer (Charlene) - 2145
Nice Marmot (Hal) - 2095
White Russians (Victor) - 2085
That Rug Really Tied the Room Together (Tomek) - 2060
Bunny Lebowski's Toe (Dallas) - 1710
Shomer F*cking Shabbas (Donna) - 1705
That Good Sasparilla (Rachel) - 1640
Shut the F*ck Up Jonny (Jonny B) - 1365

OTT: The Say Highs, Tell Me Tall Tales