Flanders is different now but I still love it
Flanders is my favourite race of the year; not the most original choice, but for me I think the bias comes from riding the sportive as a 13-year-old. You’d have thought that would have scarred me rather than left me romanticising the cobbles I blew up on as a child.
At the time there were no real British hopefuls in the sport; David Millar was tarnished, Roger Hammond crashed out both times I watched, and I wasn’t mature enough to appreciate a domestique like Charly Wegelius. So I was pretty much there just to support Tom Boonen, as he had signed my Halesowen cycling top at the previous year’s Tour of Britain.
Since then, Britain has become a powerhouse of cycling talent, Tour winners now apparently rip up Classics, and female winners (providing they’re Belgian, like Lotte Kopecky) make the front page of papers over their male counterparts.
Indeed, Boonen’s old team Quick Step’s ‘Wolfpack’ moniker looks like it would have been more fitting for SD Worx, as they continue to dominate the women’s scene. While the original Wolfpack seem to be missing in action, the team has still won 17 races this year, but only two have been in their traditional heartlands of either Belgium or France. I wonder how disappointed the team will be with its Classics season – for years the only question would be which team member would win.
In those days age and treachery were expected to overcome youth and skill. Yet this weekend there were three Brits in the front selection at one point, all under 23. A ‘lack of respect’ for older riders seems to have allowed the youngsters of our sports to flourish, and I wonder how many athletes were previously held back in the years of ‘respect’ and ‘hierarchy’ that were once heavily imposed on the sport.
Jacob Tipper rides for Ribble Weldtite and coaches