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Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n This Saturday\u2019s openingsweekend<\/em> is always a hard one to preview, the season opens with a race that is open to many too. Here\u2019s a wider look at things ahead of the cobbled classics season\u2026<\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Getting the band back together<\/strong> Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Arnaud De Lie<\/strong> has a tidy palmar\u00e8s already for a 23 year old. But can he deliver in the Flemish classics? His real speciality is a slow speed sprint up a hill that\u2019s not too steep. Which is why he\u2019s won World Tour races like the GP Qu\u00e9bec and Bretagne Classic. However he\u2019s \u201conly\u201d got a collection of 1.1 rated races in Belgium for the most part. The pressure has got to him before. He told L\u2019Equipe last July<\/a> he had to stop riding the bike in spring and had a \u201chuge feeling of disgust towards cycling\u201d and at times \u201cI hated what I was doing\u201d. So you can only wish a spring campaign on his terms but perhaps a win would make him happier and the \u201cnew\u201d uphill finish of Nokere Koerse suits him, a springboard to more. There\u2019s a challenge for his team to get him there too. Unlike Magnier, one thing that makes life harder is team support and having colleagues on hand for the final hour of racing and Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 look thin here.<\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n The E3 Saxo Classic<\/strong> UCI points<\/strong> Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Red Bull?<\/strong> Recovery tales<\/strong> Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Flanders-Baloise<\/strong> Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n The ghost of Evenepoel<\/strong> Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n The Media<\/strong> The TV coverage is excellent too. For all the Flemish and Walloon divides, both Sporza and RTBF share a relaxed style where they\u2019re not afraid of silences and prefer to to let the picture talk even at busy times. But they\u2019re clued in, for a random example RTBF\u2019s On Connait Nos Classiques preview show<\/a> mentioned Van der Poel and Van Aert would resume racing this weekend but not Neilson Powless who was injured, and all days before these riders and their teams issued press releases to say this.<\/p>\n The Fourth Grand Tour<\/strong> Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Not the cobbled classics<\/strong> Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Kopecky vs Wiebes<\/strong> Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Belgo-sadism<\/strong>
There\u2019s plenty of talk of Soudal-Quickstep becoming the \u201cwolfpack\u201d of old. Now they\u2019ve said goodbye to Evenepoel they can pivot back to one day races and become a force in the spring classics again. Easier said than done? Yes because they had the best classics riders in the day. As well as Evenepoel saving their classics season in recent years thanks to wins in the Brabantse Pijl or Li\u00e8ge, Tim Merlier has won as well for them only he\u2019s likely to be out for all the classics. Which leaves a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Paul Magnier and if he\u2019s oblivious to this now, that might be different after days of questions on the front pages of the Belgian newspapers. Magnier and colleagues like Stuyven and Van Baarle can deliver some wins and soon too and more so this side of the Tour of Flanders by which time it could be tool late.<\/p>\n
The Tour of Flanders is a cherished national event. Paris-Roubaix is a wild and unique conclusion to the cobbled classics. But the E3 Saxo Bank, aka Harelbeke, is often the best day\u2019s racing. It\u2019s a pity the event often resorts to shock posters to get attention, it could just self-proclaim as the best Flemish classic. Why? It\u2019s a big event with top names in peak form but not a 250km Monument either and so there\u2019s room for surprises and a willingness from participants to take risks. It\u2019s often packed with action to the point where it should be on a weekend rather than a Thursday<\/del>Friday but is the outlier race as it has a local organising committee rather than being part of the Flanders Classics portfolio.<\/p>\n
You won\u2019t leap out of bed keen to know who finishes 22nd or 44th in the Ronde Van Brugge \u2013 you can even be excused for not knowing which race this is as it has changed course and name \u2013 but whoever does stands to collect 50 and 25 UCI points respectively. Ignore \u201cwe\u2019re racing for results\u201d talk as every rider and team is after these ranking points. And there are some big hauls waiting in the coming weeks. What this means is lesser places can be battled for, riders who are out of the picture for the podium can still get a derivative result and when you see a group come in for 30th place the sprint is real.<\/p>\n
Remember Red Bull\u2019s cobbled classics season last year? Me neither. They spent big to assemble a squad but the wheels came off. The training didn\u2019t go right and they had their share of misfortune. If they can turn this around then it should make the racing better with more teams involved and able to combat any UAE \/ Alpecin monopoly and supply competition to Visma-LAB and Lidl-Trek. Plus Ineos always look to be a force in the classics but haven\u2019t been consistent, maybe this time too?<\/p>\n
Can Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen recover in time? Their count down is well into April for the Ronde and Roubaix \u201cHoly Week\u201d so there are signs they can. Some of the coverage will be obvious \u2013 \u201ccyclist spotted training\u201d \u2013 but it adds to stories between now and April as these two already have an uphill task just to take on Van der Poel and Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the team budget scale is Flanders-Baloise. The team started over 20 years ago and has had a mission to bring on Flemish riders. The kit is so retro you wonder if it\u2019s part if the incentive to move up to a World Tour team and dress sharper. Among those that have secured promotion are Milan Fretin, Arne Marit, Dries Van Gestel, Tim Declerq, Yves Lampaert and Thomas De Gendt. Only it\u2019s the team\u2019s final season, the end of the road awaits and with it a touch of nostalgia and even more incentives for them to flood the early breakaway.<\/p>\n
Open a Flemish newspaper \u2013 as in Het Laatse Nieuws or Nieuwsblad \u2013 and it\u2019s Remco this, Remco that. If he uploads a recovery ride to Strava there will be articles about it and even parsing the ride title for meaning. Only he\u2019s a Tour de France contender and so far not slated to do a single cobbled classic. But he could still ride the Ronde and his presence would be a boost for the local media so expect the chorus for him to start to get louder.<\/p>\n
Just as L\u2019Equipe is great reading in July, Het Laatse Nieuws and Nieuwsblad are essential in March and April. Even Nieuwsblad\u2019s topical cartoonist Marec swaps coverage of politicians, personalities or the US ambassador to draw sharp sketches about Van der Poel or Van Aert. Cycling is front page news for a sustained period in a way it just isn\u2019t anywhere else on the planet.<\/p>\n
A lazy catch-all but we do get a long period of racing with different days for different riders if we include the Ardennes. Again it\u2019s the way this is a national event for the population that makes it special. One lament here though is how many races are concentrated in the same small space \u2013 a blog research project is to map all the overlap this spring. The Tour of Flanders just doesn\u2019t tour Flanders and many other races don\u2019t stray much further either, often criss-crossing the same roads and climbs. But there\u2019s a reason and it packs in a lot of action and so you\u2019re not tuning in for the sprint finish with 10 minutes to go.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s plenty on elsewhere. Even if you had some primitive television that required you to stand up, walk over and manually retune it to change channels you\u2019d do it because you can watch other races too (assuming it could receive but that\u2019s another rabbit hole). This weekend\u2019s Dr\u00f4me-Ard\u00e8che double header sees plenty of good names in action and likewise with stage races like Catalunya and the Basque Country worth swapping over. It would be a loss if Lenny Martinez, Egan Bernal or Christian Scaroni had to ride Kuurne this Sunday; likewise if Arnaud De Lie, Biniam Girmay or Soren Waerenskjold could only ride the Faun-Ard\u00e8che Classic. Work your remote, swap browser tabs or multiscreen as it\u2019s a busy time of year and enjoy these different paths.<\/p>\n
Yes they\u2019re team mates but can they ride together? A year ago Lotte Kopecky had dreams of yellow jerseys but it didn\u2019t work out and so she seems to be reverting to what she\u2019s best at and we\u2019ll see what this brings in the classics and how she can ride with the seemingly invincible Lorena Wiebes. It\u2019s a nice problem to have for SD Worx but the team fronting for a human resources business has struggled with some of this before.<\/p>\n
Many races take place in appealing places and are means to explore stunning landscapes. And there\u2019s the Flemish classics. Now before anyone comments, places like Bruges, Gent have plenty of charm, especially for an off-season visit to sample frieten<\/em> and beer; Lille is a real turnaround story too. For cycle tourism the appeal is more limited, it\u2019s flatter, windswept, muddy, the betonweg<\/a> roads are hard going and if you\u2019re not racing then the cycle paths are obligatory which is nice that they have them but the obligation can deprive you of the race-like scenario of speeding into a climb. It\u2019s still worth trying to see for yourself too but repeat tourism must be limited compared to Mont Ventoux or the Dolomites. But for the racing there\u2019s a sadistic element of watching the peloton on these roads, often in grim weather, while sat somewhere warm.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n