Omloop 2021 - Showing the Team Colors

 It was Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-Quick Step) who took the victory at the line in Ninove.  As he crossed the line he saluted his team in his victory celebration.  The team has taken the name of "The Wolf Pack" for themselves and they truly hunt for victories together.  It was his teammate Julian Alaphilippe who had tried for a solo victory, and then he was the one to pull the race back together to set it all up for Ballerini.  Behind the celebrating Italian, it is Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start Up Nation) who took third and Henrich Haussler (Bahrain-Victorious) who claimed fourth.  I apologize to Jake Steward (Groupama-FDJ) who took second, but did so off camera from this angle.

That is it for today's racing, but I plan to be back tomorrow for Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne that will feature many of the same competitors and types of roads.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3796487-6-290150/Painting/showing-the-team-colors-ohn21-6.html

Tour Stage 5: On to the Cobbles

After months of discussion and kilometers of racing the peloton hit the wet muddy cobblestones hard.  The sections of pave lived up to their billing and the stage was in for some deviations from the script all of the pundits had provided.  Normally these roads are raced in one day Classics and the men that line up on race day are specialists in riding the challenging road surfaces, but in the Tour de France there are a wide variety of specialties vying for victory and Yellow.  The peloton broke into quite a few pieces as crashes, slippery roundabouts, strong winds and fatigue took there tolls on the hard men of the Tour.  With a break away up the road the vastly reduced peloton hit the second section of pave under the leadership of Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol) and Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin Pro Cycling), they were accompanied by Sebastien Langeveld, Andrew Talansky (Garmin Sharp) and surprisingly the little Italian in Yellow, Vincenzo Niblai, and his Astana teammates, Lieuwe Westra and Jakob Fuglsang.  This is a small original watercolor and ink painting that is available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  It will be included in my soon to be self published visual telling of the 101st Tour de France in "Book de Tour".  To learn more about the book project, to pre-order your copy or to get involved in bringing the race to print, please visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1335072134/book-de-tour.  To purchase this particular painting you can follow the direct link at the end of this post. 

http://www.greigleach.com/large-view/Tour%20de%20France%202014/2399268---199992/Painting.html#.U72x88vD_IU