TOUR OF FLANDERS
Bergs, beers and brilliant racing
For Belgians, especially the Flemish, the Tour of Flanders is indisputably the biggest race of the year
Date: Sunday 4 April Start: Antwerp (men) and Oudenaarde (women) Finish: Oudenaarde Length: TBC 2020 winners: Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Boels Dolmans) Website: rondevanvlaanderen.be
For most Brits, the Tour de France, with its live freeto-view coverage, is their route into the world of pro cycling, but once it’s got you in its clutches, it won’t take you too long to discover that there’s far more to the season than the three-week race in July. The Spring Classics are a whole other version of the sport, but unlike, say, 20:20 cricket compared to test matches, they’re in no way inferior. Free of the residual burden of yesterday and unshackled from having to preserve something for tomorrow, riders will empty the tank in their bid for glory. And glory is what you will have should you win ‘De Ronde’ – The Tour. In the Englishspeaking cycling world, the Tour is the Tour de France, but in Belgium, and the Flemish people of Flanders, it’s this race. Win here, and no matter what your nationality, you won’t need to buy a beer ever again.
Last season’s men’s race (18 October) turned out as everybody had hoped – as a showdown between Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, carried over from their cyclocross careers. Both are 26 years old and heading into their prime, so it’s a rivalry that has legs for many years to come. You might think that van Aert, a native of Flanders, has the home advantage over the Dutchman, but Van der Poel was born there too, currently lives there and has had huge success in Belgian cyclocross, so he is very popular. You need some good fortune in a race like Flanders, with its narrow roads, road furniture and cobbled climbs, but, as with the Tour de France, the best riders regularly prove that strength buys you luck, with better positioning and awareness at the sharp end of the race. There’s no reason these two won’t dominate the race for years to come.