Ardennes week is over and similarly to the Flemish cobbled classics the racing in the so-called second tier events was of a higher level of excitement than those at the top. The World Tour races weren’t as good.
By that I mean that E3, Het Nieuwsblad and others were better than the Tour of Flanders and certainly Fleche Wallone and Brabantjse Piil were better than Liege Bastogne Liege.
I felt sorry for Tadej Pogacar who won Liege with such style but was unseen by the TV cameras. They had decided at this point that the only thing worth watching was the battle for second place.
I was delighted to see Roman Bardet win that race for runner up for France and get a place on the podium in his last season.
Speaking of France, Benoit Cosnefroy won Brabantjse with a lovely little sprint finish up the inside of the final straight, keeping his teams stranglehold on that race. It was won by Dorian Gordon in 2023.
Fleche was won by the Welshman Stevie Williams in awful cold and snow. Nice to see that the cold manky weather is not limited to Lincolnshire where I live.
The Amstel Gold Race had a great finish and an element of redemption with Tom Pidcock holding on in the sprint to erase the memory of losing to Wout Van Aert two years ago.
On to Liege and it looked like Pog had got the race won with over 100km to go after a crash and slowed Matthew Van der Poel and Tom Pidcock. The Briton wasted a lot of effort getting back across the gap whilst Vanderpol waited and everything naturally closed up.
They were now tired though and Pogacar had been piloted along in the front group by his UAE team. There was one attack in the whole race and that was Pog on the famous La Redoute climb. It was enough to take him clear and win the race.
This phase of the season is now over and we have a couple of one week stage races. We’ve seen the Tour of the Alps and the Tour of Romandie is in progress. We then move to the start of the Giro D’Italia
Overall, in review, I’ve enjoyed this classic season. I think the awful weather has added an element and a layer to the racing. You only have to look at Matias Skjelmose, shivering and hypothermic in Walloonia to know that has been a challenge.
Now, though, the second part of the season, and let’s look forward to it and enjoy the Giro. The world’s most difficult race in the world’s most beautiful place.
Will anyone stop Pogacar? No, I doubt it. But let’s see. If it was that easy. They wouldn’t bother having the race!
Fendrien 