French and tiny, that's how one would describe the 'Bar Tabac L'Allumette' in Bouvines on the outskirts of Roubaix.
Once a year it is used as a press room for the Belgian Quick.Step-Innergetic team the Friday before the main event. Strolling in from across the road, Tom Boonen mentioned that it was getting too small - we thought that Tom Boonen is getting far too big for this place... Confident as usual and joking around with the press, Brecht Decaluwé was there for Cyclingnews.
Q: How important was it to do the reconnaissance ride this morning?
TB: We did the most important roads but it didn't learn much. As with the Ronde van Vlaanderen, we know what the most important parts of the race will be. The forest of Arenberg has been cleaned up last year but I'm wondering why they did that. It is worse than it was before. Normally, on a cobblestoned road, you have a line that you can follow. In Arenberg, there isn't such a path. There are only gaps and borders; it is really tough. The mud between the cobbles has been removed. That makes it even worse than the Koppenberg [the cobbled hill in the Tour of Flanders, were most of the peloton had to walk its way to the top - ed.].
The forest of Arenberg is a really dangerous part of the race. The speeds are so high when you enter the forest, they are up to 65 to 70 km/h. It's like racing towards the Oude Kwaremont in the Tour of Flanders; you just have to ride in front. Once you're in the forest and you're riding in front, then nothing can happen. You just have to gamble that you'll be lucky.
