Talkingshop: Russell Downing Back in Belgium!

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As Russell Downing prepares to start Three days of De Panne today, we talk to him about his last race in Belgium a week ago, Dwars Door Vlaanderen

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In his first race in ten days, Russell Downing (Netapp-Endura) did not get the result in Dwars Door Vlaanderen he was hoping for after crashing along with many others. The South Yorkshire rider who is known for his appetite for hard training in all weathers, explained “it was pretty grim on the start line that day” Russell explained. “

Similar to every other race we’re doing as the weather is being horrendous. The biggest decision of the day was what clothing to wear at the start. It was 200k of war in the snow, rain, wind, ice …”.

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Russell Downing last year riding for Endura Racing in some pretty shitty weather in April! Things don’t change much, just the country!

Sponsored by leading clothing company Endura, we asked Russell how does he prepare for a race of that length clothing wise? “I was more or less showing very little skin. I had knee warmers on which left an inch of skin and then put on the Endura socks to make sure that was covered too! Full leggings in a race are bit more uncomfortable so what I had on did the trick. Then I had a long sleeved under-vest with arm warmers, winter race jersey and then an Endura winter race gilet. When it was raining, a race cape too.”

“Around 20k into the race, we started hitting the bergs and the rain cape came off, gloves off, fresh gloves on and then I was ready to attack the race without the gilet as well.” Russell explained how he has a winter and summer jersey from Endura and that they have got their summer jerseys so he’s just waiting for the right weather to use them in! “I can’t wait to be wearing the summer jerseys because the winter ones are getting awfully mucky in this weather!”

Asked to talk us through his race last Wednesday, he explained “I crashed like I have in a lot of races this year. I don’t know what’s going on there! Dwars Door Vlaanderen was a shitty old race (‘scuse my French), Belgian roads so cobbles, farms the lot and on one of the cobbled climbs, the group had split a little bit. There was no pressure to do anything and I came over the brow of the berg and the peloton had locked up in front.”

“There were guys on the left and right and I ended up crashing when some guy hit me from behind and I ended up crashing along with Jack Bauer (former Endura Racing rider) and that wasn’t a nice sight as he hit the ground, looked up and was then unconscious. I have heard he’s doing good so that’s great to hear.”

“I had spokes ripped out of my front wheel, broke the back wheel so it was more or less race over after about 150k. I chased for a while and got back to what was the peloton and we rode to the finish and got in just short of 180k.”

Asked with so many World Tour riders in the race all wanting to win or show some form before the bigger classics, I asked Russell if the peloton felt more nervous? “I think it did. It is a strange race where a lot of riders are trying to see what their legs are like for the big classics and then there are others who want that win. I just wanted to have a really good hard race and I had that for a while but I’d rather have gone the distance and fully tested the legs.”

“I think I did enough to test the legs. I was climbing well, and positioning well although I wasn’t in a great position when the crash happened being in the middle of the bunch. In races like that are guys like Matt Hayman, who know the roads so they know when they need to move up and then there are others who just sit in and follow the wheels.”

“I have done a few of the races now though so when we started to hit the bergs, I was familiar with where I was and was able to move up at the right up points and the legs were in good shape to do that. After the crash, there were no injuries so hopefully I’ll have some good luck in the next few weeks.”

Russell has been preparing on local Bergs not far from his home and he says that has helped. “The first climb of the day was the Oude Kwaremont but the tarmac side and the race split there with riders going out the back and I was well in the top 20 there so that was a good indicator the legs were good. I felt I had a bit of rhythm in Dwars Door Vlaanderen and I don’t normally have that. So that was a good sign.”

Talking us though some of the roads the riders race on in these Belgian classics, Russell explained how narrow roads was a bit of an understatement. “Some of them are really narrow and you can only just fit a car on them and down that you have the race, cars, motorbikes, vans, everything and at the start of the race there were 200 riders. So as soon as you hit these roads with 200 guys, it gets stretched out a long way and if you’re in the back half, all you can do is relax until the road widens and you can move up.”

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The weather for the Belgian classics is far different from the training camp back in January 

Plus points from the race Russell says are “Its not long before I ride my dream race, Tour of Flanders. Whilst I would like to have had a good result in Dwars Door Vlaanderen, and that didn’t happen, the legs felt good so that is a big plus. I have three more days of racing (De Panne) before Flanders so I want to use them wisely.”

Good luck to Russell who heads back to Belgium next week for the Three days of De Panne before the Tour of Flanders and then Paris-Roubaix.

The opening of the Tour is also the most difficult stage from Middelkerke to Zottegem, just short of 200 kilometers and with 13 climbs. Some of the pavé cobblestone sections are also part of the forthcoming Tour of Flanders. The second stage takes the riders from Oudenaarde to Koksijde, the longest distance that has to be covered, at 204 kilometers.

The last day is split in two. First there is a short stage of just under 112 kilometers, followed by a time trial over 14.75 kilometers. Both races will be held in De Panne. “Traditionally, the Driedagse De Panne is used to make final adjustments before the Tour of Flanders. But of course we also have ambitions of getting good results there,” explains Netapp-Endura Sport Director Enrico Poitschke.

“This short tour is once again a race in which it is important to ride very attentively and always to be among the leaders at the start of the climbs and the cobblestone sections” he added.

Rider List

Omega Pharma-Quick Step
1. CHAVANEL Sylvain
2. CAVENDISH Mark
3. BOONEN Tom
4. TERPSTRA Niki
5. STEEGMANS
6. KEISSE Iljo
7. MAES Nikolas
8. VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume

Cannondale
11. SAGAN Peter
12. BODNAR Maciej
13. BOIVIN Guillaume
14. DA DALTO Mauro
15. KING Edward
16. KOREN Kristijan
17. MARANGONI Alan
18. VIVIANI Elia

Lotto-Belisol
21. GREIPEL André
22. DE HAES Kenny
23. VAN DER SANDE Tosh
24. VANGENECHTEN Jonas
25. NEYENS Maarten
26. HENDERSON Gregory
27. REYNES MIMO Vicente
28. ROBERT Frederique

Orica-GreenEdge
31. COOKE Baden
32. O’GRADY Stuart
33. VAITKUS Tomas
34. KRUOPIS Aidis
35. DURBRIDGE Luke
36. HEPBURN Michael
37. HOWARD Leigh
38. MOURIS Jens

Astana
41. GRIVKO Andriy
42. BAZAYEV Assan
43. MURAVYEV Dmitriy
44. PONZI Simone
45. GRUZDEV Dmitriy
46. LUTSENKO Alexey
47. GUARNIERI Jacopo
48. GUARDINI Andrea

Vacansoleil-DCM
51. WESTRA Lieuwe
52. BOECKMANS Kris
53. MOL Wouter
54. VEUCHELEN Frederik
55. FEILLU Romain
56. VAN POPPEL Boy
57. MARKUS Barry
58. VAN HUMMEL Kenny Robert

Argos-Shimano
61. KITTEL Marcel
62. VEELERS Tom
63. DE BACKER Bert
64. CURVERS Roy
65. DUMOULIN Tom
66. ARNDT Nikias
67. JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt
68. MEZGEC Luka

Katusha
71. KRISTOFF Alexander
72. PAOLINI Luca
73. HALLER Marco
74. KUZNETSOV Viacheslav
75. SELIG Rüdi
76. ISAICHEV Vladimir
77. TSATEVICH Alexei
78. VOROBYEV Anton

Lampre-Merida
81. CATTANEO Mattia
82. CIMOLAI Davide
83. FAVILLI Elia
84. FERRARI Roberto
85. GRAZIATO Massimo
86. PALINI Andrea
87. VIGANO Davide
88. WACKERMANN Luca

FDJ
91. DEMARE Arnaud
92. LADAGNOUS Matthieu
93. BONNET William
94. BOUCHER David
95. DELAGE Mickaël
96. FISCHER Murillo Antonio
97. LE BON Johan
98. ROLLIN Dominique

Europcar
101. TURGOT Sébastien
102. GENÉ Yohann
103. JEROME Vincent
104. COUSIN Jérôme
105. GAUDIN Damien
106. LAMOISSON Morgan
107. THURAU Bjorn
108. VEILLEUX David

Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
111. CHICCHI Francesco
112. GATTO Oscar
113. HULSMANS Kevin
114. FAILLI Francesco
115. ANDRIATO Rafael
116. DE NEGRI Pier Paolo
117. FINETTO Mauro
118. POZZO Mattia

Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
121. MODOLO Sacha
122. CANOLA Marco
123. COLBRELLI Sonny
124. COLEDAN Marco
125. DELLE STELLE Christian
126. DI CORRADO Andrea
127. FORTIN Filippo
128. BOEM Nicola

Champion System
131. JANG Chan Jae
132. BRAMMEIER Matt
133. BEYER Chad
134. GAZVODA Gregor
135. JIAO Pengda
136. ROTH Ryan
137. AVERY Clinton
138. WU Kin San

Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
141. VAN HECKE Preben
142. SALOMEIN Jarl
143. MERTENS Tim
144. JACOBS Pieter
145. LAMPAERT Yves
146. VAN HOECKE Gijs
147. VAN ASBROECK Tom
148. VAN STAEYEN Michael

NetApp-Endura
151. DEMPSTER Zakkari
152. DOWNING Russell
153. EICHLER Markus
154. JARC Blaz
155. KLUGE Roger
156. SCHILLINGER Andreas
157. SCHORN Daniel
158. VOSS Paul

UnitedHealthcare
161. BAZZANA Alessandro
162. EUSER Lucas
163. ILESIC Aldo Ino
164. JONES Christopher
165. KEOUGH Jacob
166. LOUDER Jeffry
167. MURPHY John
168. REIJNEN Kiel

Crelan-Euphony
171. VANTOMME Maxime
172. BARBE Koen
173. HOVELYNCK Kurt
174. BREYNE Jonathan
175. CLAEYS Kevin
176. HONIG Reinier
177. JUODVALKIS Egidijus
178. PLANCKAERT Baptiste

RusVelo
181. BOEV Igor
182. KAYKOV Valery
183. SAVITCKII Ivan
184. ERSHOV Artur
185. MAIKIN Roman
186. MANAKOV Victor
187. OVECHKIN Artem
188. SOLOMENNIKOV Andrey

MTN-Qhubeka
191. CIOLEK, Gerald
192.
193. POTGIETER Bradley
194. REGUIGUI Youcef
195. REIMER Martin
196. STAUFF Andreas
197. TEWELDE WELDEGABER Jani
198. WESEMANN Martin

Accent Jobs-Wanty
201. NAPOLITANO Danilo
202. VAN DIJK Stefan
203. SCHEIRLINCKX Staf
204. VAN LANDSCHOOT James
205. COMMEYNE Davy
206. DE TROYER Tim
207. JANS Roy
208. VERRAES Benjamin

3M
211. BERNATONIS Marius
212. HEYTENS Kess
213. SEGERS Joren
214. STEVENS Timothy
215. TERPSTRA Mike
216. VANHAECKE Thomas
217. VINGERLING Michael
218. WIPPERT Wouter

An Post-Chainreaction
221. VERMOTE Alphonse
222. EECKHOUT Niko
223. ARCHBOLD Shane
224. BENNETT Sam
225. MCNALLY Mark
226. O’SHEA Glen
227. VAN VOOREN Steven
228. VEREECKEN Nicolas

 

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