Britains Flemish Classic run off in epic conditions…
Tag: Flanders
2023 Tour of Flanders review
The Tour of Flanders 2023 was a ‘Pog’ fest. There was nothing that could stop it. And you knew that it was coming. But it made the race probably now a little bit less of a standout for me.
I wanted a good race, but I also wanted a different winner than the man who is dominating racing in this season.
That’s not to say Tadej Pogacar didn’t deserve it. That’s not to say he wasn’t the best rider. It’s just to say I would have chosen a different outcome.
Don’t get me wrong. come July I’ll probably be rooting for Pogacar on the roads of France.
But April is the domain of the Vans… Wout Van Aert and Mathieu Van der Poel.
And if they don’t win, the biggest classic of the mall you wonder what the future holds.
The race itself was packed with the usual amount of drama. Although we’ll probably be remembered for a bunny hop that went wrong causing most of the peloton to crash.
The big climbs themselves saw what bombs dropped by the big three. Although Van Aert and Thomas Pidcock faded a little bit sooner than anticipated.
When Pogacar attacked on the Oude Kwaremont on the penultimate lap he looked pretty dominant but that was brought back by a combination of riders.
On the last ascent he was gone, and he was gone for good.
You look at his Strava times on the last two climbs, and even though they’re less than two miles in length, he put nearly 10 minutes into my best efforts.
Now I’m not the best rider in the world. and he is but that is a massive gap. It won’t be long before questions start being asked about his dominance.
In fact, you only have to look at social media to see they already are.
But for now, let’s enjoy what was a brilliant occasion with a frothy beer and a bag of chips and look forward to the second instalment of Holy Week when Paris-Roubaix hits the road this weekend.
The true “classic” of the opening week of the Flemish season
I know its a controversial viewpoint, but instead of focusing on the opening weekend of the classics season, I like to stretch it out to a full week. Well, until the Tuesday at least.
Trust me, I have nothing against Omloop Het Nieuwsblad or Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, but its Le Samyn all the way for me in these early Belgian exchanges.
But why?
Well first off the opening two races come with the sort of excess hype that a Premiership football match has nowadays.
I get that the end of the last road season (despite a lot of Spanish, Southern French and Middle Eastern racing) was a long time ago, but, for me, the Oude Kwaremont matters in the Ronde. We don’t need hours of coverage diluting the excitement of the big climbs when April arrives.
Any other race it features in is just a tune up for the real thing.
Kuurne struggles from the climbs being a bit too infrequent or too far out. Although it does have the Muur to upweight it.
No for me Le Samyn has a true uniqueness despite being a spring cobbled classic.
It has a different shape and feel about it, and I love it all the more for that.
Every edition I have seen has had those wonderfully Belgian slate grey skies. And whilst quite often opening weekend is dry (and sometimes unseasonably warm), Le Samyn always seems to be muddy, rainy and windswept.
There is the wonderfully named finishing town of Dour with its uniform housing and perma-shut looking shops which just add to the brooding atmosphere around the race.
I also love the finishing circuit (and people don’t say that about too many races do they?) with that little climb up around a village green past a gothic building house a bar. A bar you just know serves wonderful frothy beers in elaborate glasses.
Throw in the section past the police station before heading back to the finish on one of those block concrete roads so typical of Belgium and this race has absolutely everything.
Sure, enjoy the gun to flag tv coverage of some of the bigger name races this spring, but please do not shun this one. It’s guaranteed to be good.
A fond farewell to Cyclo Cross season 2022/2023
It’s been a good one !
I have been captivated from the moment Eli Iserbyt got off to a fast start in the opening rounds of all of the main competitions.
I loved Laurens Sweeck settling into his new team post transfer and starting to lay gloves on Pauwels Sauzen.
Sadly, from a British perspective, I will remember Tom Pidcock’s season for his last lap crash in the GP Sven Nys as much as the wins. A lesson learnt about showboating for Tom.
In the womens division Shirin Van Anrooij show most a clean pair of wheels looking on occasion good enough to lap the entire field.
Namur and Koksijde were my favourite races once again but for optics Val de Sole (even if some riders don’t take to the ice that well) was the most scenic.
Let’s enjoy the break and the road season before getting started again in the autumn!
A dawning realisation..
Since 2015 I have been racing and riding on a Cannondale Super 6 EVO.
Not top of the range, granted. But 105 Shimano throughout and with a Mavic Cosmic wheelset update.
That bike and I have been through a lot.
We rode the 2015 Ronde Van Vlaanderen Cyclo having had to leave sick family members at home. They were horrid conditions and I cried the last 10km into the finish.
We have had other trips to Belgium, ridden the Tour of Cambridgeshire a few times and been up and down a number of Alps.
But its time to part.
It’s not the bike its me. The sort of riding a full carbon road bike needs is not what I do anymore.
Thats the dawning realisation I have come to as I head to my 50s.
What I need from a bike isn’t what I needed in 2015, and it’s not likely to be the sort of thing I will ever need from a bike again.
Soften angles and fatter tyres will be way forward for me. Comfort as much as speed.
I have spent too much time stressing about wanting to be faster at cycling in my 30 years in the sport. Now with less miles ahead of me until I pack it all in than behind me, I want to savour the experience of riding a bike.
My winter bike is prepped and ready to roll tomorrow…
On its own, but I am fine with Amstel as is
I know this is the least prompt post of the season… It’s a busy time ok? !
However, it would be 100% remiss of me not to go back over the great spectacle that the 2022 Amstel Gold Race was.
2021 was exciting with a hairs breadth separating Wout Van Aert and Tom Pidcock on the open flat space at the top of the Cauberg.
2020 had seen that counter attack from Mathieu Van der Poel. The one where he closed an impossible looking gap in super quick time before joining in and winning the sprint finish.
It might not have the history and cultural attachment of Flanders and Roubaix, but this race has had seen better finishes recently. You might need to whisper that in the low Countries though.
This year we had the same end game. A 2-up sprint after the splintering of a breakaway group. Benoit Cosnefroy and Michal Kwiatowski were the two go ahead riders and they were suitably aware enough of the riders behind them coming back (having probably watched Flanders re-runs)
The French rider led out within the last 200 metres and looked to have won. He was even called as such with the tv cameras focusing on the celebrations of him and his team-mates from AG2R/Citroen.
But when the side on shot came on the screen, it was clear that, as with last year, there had been a terrible error calling the winner so soon.
Veteran Ineos rider Kwiatowski had just nudged his wheel over the line first and the tv cut to the Pole and away from the desolate looking Cosnefroy.
You can argue whether its a good look for cycling not to be able to call a winner without changing their minds, but it was another chapter for the Amstel and another indicator that this is a race on the up.
Was Scheldeprijs the best cobbled classic of 2022?
Alexander Kristoff produced a great escape from an elite group of sprinters and escape specialists to win this rainy classic.
There was a lot of pressure on Quickstep ahead of this one so it was surprising that they managed to miss the big crosswind split (it went near that tunnel you drive through on the way to Amsterdam!).
There was a bit of a chase but with some considerable distance to race there were some commitment issues in the group behind meaning Fabio Jakobsen was stranded and the mini Quickstep classics drought was set to go on.
Sam Bennett of Bora now looked a nailed on for the win but started to drift off the back as the cold and wet started to set in. His team mates tried to rally him but as with last years Gent-Wevelgem, when Bennett was tired, he was dropped.
The onus moved on to Alpecin who had managed to get both of their days sprinters, Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier in the move but with an attacking run in (maybe due to the riders wanting to get in from the cold!) it was Kristoff who made his acceleration stick.
There was a pursuit of sorts but the breakaway starting to fold in on their self and the Norwegian was away.
It was a brilliantly executed moment and his celebratory ride down the finishing straight was the Kristoff of old. It was brilliant.
So with all the new guard winning left, right and centre, this was a moment for us oldies.
Chapeau Alexander!
| Rnk | Rider | Team | UCI | Pnt | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KRISTOFF Alexander | Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux | 200 | 125 | 4:06:02 | |
| 2 | VAN POPPEL Danny | BORA – hansgrohe | 150 | 85 | 0:24 | |
| 3 | WELSFORD Sam | Team DSM | 125 | 60 | ,, | |
| 4 | VAN UDEN Casper | Team DSM | 100 | 50 | 0:26 | |
| 5 | THEUNS Edward | Trek – Segafredo | 85 | 45 | ,, | |
| 6 | VANBILSEN Kenneth | Cofidis | 70 | 40 | 0:28 | |
| 7 | MCLAY Daniel | Team Arkéa Samsic | 60 | 35 | ,, | |
| 8 | PHILIPSEN Jasper | Alpecin-Fenix | 50 | 30 | ,, | |
| 9 | MERLIER Tim | Alpecin-Fenix | 40 | 26 | ,, | |
| 10 | MULLEN Ryan | BORA – hansgrohe | 35 | 22 | ,, |
Tour of Flanders 2022 – The world vs Pogacar
With almost a week now to digest the race and craft my post, the first thing I want to say about RVV2022 was that it was a culturual triumph.
After what feels a lot longer than 3 disrupted seasons it was really emotional ( even watching on tv) to see packed kerbsides full of fans watching “their race” go by in a celebration of Flemish culture.
Its something that never leaves you as an experience. Its 6 years since I saw the race in the flesh but on Flanders Sunday I always wear my (now tatty) yellow lion socks for training.
It becomes part of you.
The race was one for the fans to savour. In my view the absence of Wout Van Aert through Covid 19 opened up the race and whilst the early breakaway always felt within catching distance the counter attack that was clear before the 2nd time up the Oude Kwaremont had enough quality in it to make you think.
Ben Turner was the Brit in pole position for a while, before the Paterberg saw Fred Wright power off the front. From a domestic point of view, this attacking kept us engaged as Tom Pidcock didn’t seem to be back to his best.
Tadej Pogacar made one decisive attack which managed to merge a group he created with that front group but on the climbs in the run in it was clear that he and Mathieu Van der Poel were head and shoulders above the rest.
They finally shook off the remaining breakaway riders on the final climb of the Kwaremont. The 2-up they rode up until the final kilometre was one us club riders dream of being able to sit on the back of!
In the final KM though their co-operation broke down with both freewheeling and neither wanting to open up the sprint.
This opened the door for Dylan Van Baarle and Valentin Madouas to zoom up to them and start the sprint. Pogacar wasn’t happy and waved his arms in disgust. Van der Poel concentrated on his sprting and landed his second win in some style and in a race with some finish.
| Rnk | Rider | Team | UCI | Pnt | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VAN DER POEL Mathieu | Alpecin-Fenix | 500 | 275 | 6:18:30 | |
| 2 | VAN BAARLE Dylan | INEOS Grenadiers | 400 | 200 | ,, | |
| 3 | MADOUAS Valentin | Groupama – FDJ | 325 | 150 | ,, | |
| 4 | POGAČAR Tadej | UAE Team Emirates | 275 | 120 | ,, | |
| 5 | KÜNG Stefan | Groupama – FDJ | 225 | 100 | 0:02 | |
| 6 | TEUNS Dylan | Bahrain – Victorious | 175 | 90 | ,, | |
| 7 | WRIGHT Fred | Bahrain – Victorious | 150 | 80 | 0:11 | |
| 8 | PEDERSEN Mads | Trek – Segafredo | 125 | 70 | 0:48 | |
| 9 | LAPORTE Christophe | Jumbo-Visma | 100 | 60 | ,, | |
| 10 | KRISTOFF Alexander | Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux | 85 | 50 |
Cancellara talks Flanders
Click here.
Our review will follow later this week.
Build up to the Northern Classics wins me over
Le Samyn – Matteo Trentin
Nokere Koerse – Tim Merlier
GP Denain – Max Walscheid
Koksijde Classic – Pascal Ackermann
We will cover Milan San Remo when the dust about seat post droppers subsides a little, but as we head into the Flemish classic season proper the above preparation races have been superb this spring.
Every year I watch Le Samyn and as they pass that village green before the worst set of cobbles (underwater again this year) I promise myself I will make it to that beautiful old looking bar for a Bornem or similar one year.
Dour is the name of the finishing town and the weather generally reflects that. But the race is always excellent. Trentin was a worthy winner.
The Nokereberg is a set piece finish with those heavy cobbles offset with lovely restaurant frontage and ornate street lighting.
This one didn’t quite hit the heights of previous years but Tim Merlier, a growing force in Flanders racing, got to throw his hands in the air.
Although its in France, Denain had a spectacular finish. The field was strong as a result of the cobbles used being used in the Tour de France this July.
We saw Primoz Roglic and the Ineos team really take the race on and they were only caught in the last 3km after an epic chase. The Cofidis revival, as alluded to on this website (!) continued with Walscheid winning the sprint.
Koksijde finished this batch of racing at the end of last week with a sprint finish after an attacking run in.
You truly know the spring races have arrived when watching the peloton heading to the coast past the sand dunes with a right turn taking them alongside the tram route.
It generates emotion that the weather will be on the turn soon (hopefully!) and that the season proper is here. I associate this with fewer layers when going training and daffodils in the garden. Its engrained in the calendar.
2022 is shaping up to be a superb season of racing. I am thoroughly enjoying it.
Fendrien 