spring 2018

photography by Chris Auld, text by Phil Gale

By Soigneur

December 6^th, 2018

raise the curtain

Omloop het Nieuwsblad

The cycling season is extended and still ever expanding in its exoticism, yet across the flourishing early season landscape, there’s one race in Belgium that remains the vanguard season opener. Starting and finishing in the iconic city of Ghent, the heart of Flemish cycling country, Omloop het Nieuwsblad signals the start of the cobbled Classics, races where this year’s favourites will emerge out of the tough battles that are to ensue.

It’s hard to define this particular one-day race to less devout cycling fans; it can slip into the mix of other semi-Classics, but to those who know, it’s the first appointment on the year’s calendar, a moment for the riders to test their form and the fans to test their voices. Winning this race does not ‘make your career’ in the same manner as other races later in the cobbled season, but it will take the pressure off and set you up nicely for the races ahead.

Its multiple circuits and cobbled sections allow riders, teams and fans to test their respective racing, supporting and following tactics for the competitions ahead. Critical fine-tuning of race-chasing skills, to avoid rookie errors at the higher octane Flanders and Roubaix.

Coming so early in the year, Omloop can stray delightfully off script and throw a few surprise winners into the mix. In recent years, think Valgren’s late attack, which was let go due to a stalemate of favourites, taking many by surprise — though results later in the season would show this as a marker of his strength rather than a stroke of luck. Or Paolini’s moment of freedom, as his captain failed to make the right group, allowing the bearded Italian to make a bid for his own glory rather than that of his team. An opportunity he didn’t sniff at, showing he was not asleep that day.

But more often or not, the challenging parcours and even more challenging weather conditions usually distill this into the definitive form guide for the remainder of the classics season. And with names such as Merckx, Van Petegem, Museeuw, Gilbert and Van Avermaet inscribed permanently onto the list of Omloop’s multiple-times winners, you’ll see it is one victory that is fit for inclusion on any cobbled greats’ palmares.

a classic coming of age

Strade Bianche

Purists could argue that only being in its twelfth edition would suggest that Strade Bianche can not be a Classic. Merely its second year in the WorldTour, this race in the Italian heartland of Tuscany is the young upstart among the monuments of old.

Once the snotty toddler screaming for attention, its iconic location, amazing white roads and incessant short climbs led first to passionate racing, and then to media attention. As soon as some of those white roads were included in the Giro, we saw it grow into its awkward adolescence, throwing a muddy tantrum that stained the Rainbow Jersey of then world champion Cadel Evans. But 2018 has marked the year that this race has come of age, growing into full adulthood with a rm hold on the title as the Youngest of the Classics.

It’s a title that was perhaps predestined to be given to this race. Falling at the start of the season, it has now demonstrated the propensity to overshadow the traditional Belgium Classics opening weekend of Omloop and KBK. Its course is in the realm of being winnable by both the mountain specialists and the Classics’ punchers, allowing us to witness a race that often comes down to the wire.

2018 will certainly be a year that will not be easily forgotten by many. Adverse weather earlier in the week left snowmelt and residual ground water on the rough Tuscan road surfaces. Rain turned those iconic, dusty white trails into a morass of mud, and cold temperatures swiftly saw the peloton decimated.

To the doubters, those who will stand by their cobbles and their mentality that the Classics is an exclusive club where membership was only open during the infancy of bike racing, we’d say: look at the fans’ faces, who braved the harshest of elements to shout on their heroes. Look at the effort of the riders, who fought not only the hard course, but also the insane conditions, to put in efforts that could see them win a cobblestone — or even a Yellow Jersey — in the weeks to follow. The Strade Bianche has grown up.

what a difference a few stones can make

Paris - Roubaix

Back when I raced as an Elite Amateur in France there was an annual occurrence each spring where we’d ride under a different directeur sportif. A new voice in our radios, a new driver in our team, a new tactician guiding our pedal strokes. The reason wasn’t anything extraordinary; ours simply insisted on book - ing that one Sunday to watch the Queen of the Classics, Paris–Roubaix.

The change made little difference to us, how - ever, because for that aspirational Paris– Roubaix weekend we tended to be distracted too, carrying out our own race almost on autopilot, attention elsewhere, our own mini Roubaix in our heads.

Flat, long and always full of drama, this race is unique within the calendar with the end result being decided by around 60 km of cobbles. These fist-sized stones, which generations gone deemed to be an ideal road surface — before the invention of the bike, we’re sure — are part of other races within the spring, but merely as a taster of the main course. The pavé at Paris–Roubaix is on another level. The unrelenting nature of the cobble sectors is at the heart of its challenge. Each zone is a battle, another hard round in the ring fighting bareknuckled, where the weak and the strong are soon put in their place. There is little need to attack; if you’re strong the others simply will not be able to hold your wheel. Roubaix is a race in which there are no hiding places.

It’s hard to explain what it’s like to race over these stones if you’ve never tried it. We urge you to take the opportunity should it arise. As spectators of this annual battle, there are subtle and not-so-subtle cues of just how tough these stones are, apparent in the way the race plays out. So, when we scream at the TV, “Why did you just let Sagan ride away like that?” Answer: it’s the stones.

We recall to each other after seeing the photo series, “Did you see the faces at the finish? I’ve never seen riders that tired.” Answer: it’s the stones.

We ask after the last rider has left the velodrome in Roubaix, “But what happened to QuickStep? I mean, they were so strong during the rest of the races this spring.” Answer: it’s the stones.

We ask ourselves as the final kilometres click down, “How did Dillier manage to stay in the lead group even as Sagan got across and the rest of the riders exploded?” Answer: it’s the stones.

We ponder, “Would we have celebrated our victory as animatedly as Sagan did when he realized he had finally won the toughest of the Classics?” Answer, it’s the stones, and that one victory Stone. So most likely, yes.

Paris–Roubaix, you hold a special place in our hearts and each year we watch your race unfold with bated breath. Better than a Shakespearian drama and more hard-hitting than a championship fight, your stones define you as the Hell of the North, the Queen of the Classics, and worth sacrificing any Sunday.