Belgium Kermesse

I experienced my first Kermesse. It was close by my home (Nazareth) in the city of Antwerp. It was 190 kilometers of pure speed. Normal races that we do, start out rather slow for about an hour or more. They then get fast later on (really fast sometimes). Today’s Kermesse was (almost) all out from the beginning. The Mercury team was here also so that was nice to see a few friends that I know from that team. I also saw Brian Walton of the Saturn team. Although he was riding with the Canadian national team at this race/trip. Afterwards, Scott Monniger had said that it was crazy fast. The riders started fast like it was a criterium but it went on for more than 4 hours. Riders were finishing and many looked very cooked. It says a lot about the speed of a race and how tough it was, when riders don’t talk much after a race. That is a good sign of fatigue. Tomorrow another 190 kilometer criterium er I mean Kermesse.