Entries Tagged 'classics' ↓

The winner of Milan San Remo 2008 was Fabian Cancellara of the CSC team. In recent years, Milan San Remo has often come down to a bunch sprint, but with 2KM to go Cancellara was able to take advantage of his raw power and time trial strength to break away on the finishing straight and leave the sprinters in his wake. Fillipo Pozzato and Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert came in a few seconds behind.

The 7 hour race had plenty of incidents and attacks with an extra climb 94 km from the finish the peloton split leaving many sprinters behind.

Fabian Cancellara, who won 2006 Paris Roubaix said of his attack:

“My attack was instinctive. I’d dreamed about making a late move but you can’t decide things like that before the race. I was a favourite and everybody knew that I was going to do something but nobody knew exactly what.”

Forthcoming spring classics include the Tour of Flanders, April 6th and Paris Roubaix. On current form Cancellara offers a good chance for adding to his classic victories.

s a Belgian semi classic race, with a rich tradition. Although it has suffered by not being added to the ProTour calendar, it is very important as the symbolic herald of the European racing season.

Officially called Omloop Het Volk, Het Volk began in 1945 and has been sponsored by the Belgian newspaper, Het Volk of the same name.

Het Volk is run through the passionate cycling region of East Flanders. The race brings out a large crowd of spectators watching the race pass over tough terrain of cobbles and short hills. As the race is usually held on the last Saturday of February it is often characterised by bad weather, rain and even snow to make the pave sections slippery and dangerous.

As the race is particularly important for Belgians it is no surprise that the winner list has tended to be dominated by local riders; it was 15 years before a non Belgian rider won the race. However, in the past few decades there have been many dutch, French and German winners. Some of the most famous cyclists to have won the classic event include: Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck, Freddy Maertens and Johan Museeuw. Dutchman Jan Raas, Peter Van Petegem, Johan Museeuw

The Route of Het Volk

Het Volk is run over a 200km route, starting and finishing in Ghent. The course has 10 significant climbs or ‘bergs’ with the toughest being the Eikenberg and Molenberg. However, the last climb of the race, the Molenberg, comes with over 60km from the finish so the hills are often not the deciding factor, but just help to split the peloton down to a smaller leading group.

the 2007 race was won by the Italian Fillipo Pozzatto.

In the 2008 race, Tom Boonen’s Quick Step team are likely to start as favourites

Related Belgian Classics

• Tour of Flanders
  
• Paris Roubaix
• Liege Bastogne Liege

The Tour of Flanders or ‘The Ronde’ as it is known in Belgium is the most prestigious one day classic in Belgium. It is particularly important for the Flemish speaking population, who are proud of their separate identity, language and culture.

Route of the Tour of Flanders

The Race starts in the medieval town of Bruges before turning towards the coast, passing through towns such as Wenduine and Ostend. The race then heads inwards towards the Flemish Ardennes a series of sharp and biting hills.

Old Kwaremont Climb

A significant part of the race is on the hill called, Old Kwaremont. It is a long, narrow and windswept cobbled climb which takes the race to a tiny hamlet, usually packed out on race day.

Koppenberg Climb

The Koppenberg is a notorious one in four, 25% climb - 400 metres of a cobbled climb. It was first used in 1976 and achieved legendary status as the great Eddy Merckx was forced to walk up the climb. It was abandoned as unsafe in 1987, when the Dane, Jesper Skibby, fell off narrowly avoiding being run over by a car. However, in the late 1990s the climb was resurfaced and thus was able to be reinstated into the route. Continue reading →

“cycling’s last folly” - Jacques Goddet former organiser of Paris Roubaix

Paris Roubaix is cycling’s most prestigious classic, with a rich history of great victories and painful defeats. It is probably the most grueling race in the pro cycling calendar and for this reason is venerated as the ‘Queen of the classics’

History of Paris Roubaix

Paris Roubaix was first run in 1896 when most of the roads from Paris to Roubaix were unkempt and cobbled. The inspiration for the race came from two industrialists Théo Vienne and Maurice Perez, who wished to publicise the new cycling track they had built in Roubaix. At the time Roubaix was at its height of industrial power; Vienne and Perez built the track with their profits. They hoped that Paris Roubaix would match other famous races like Bordeaux Paris and Paris - Brest Paris.

The first race was run on Easter Sunday, and this encountered opposition from the local clergy who opposed racing on Sunday. But, a compromise was reached with a special mass for cyclists; the race started and in the first year was won by Josef Fischer a German - in a time of over 9 hours 17 minutes.

Traditionally, the race is held every April and is often referred to as “La Pascale” because of its Easter roots.

The route of Paris Roubaix used to simply follow the main road from Paris to Lille. But, over the twentieth century, improvements to the road surfaces meant that the race was beginning to lose its characteristic cobbles or ‘pave’ in French. Therefore, there have been frequent revisions to the route, with the organisers sending the race zig zagging through the various sections of cobbles that remain. Because of this the start was moved 40 miles to the north of Paris to Compiegne.

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Liege Bastogne Liege is one of Cycling’s monuments - the big 5 classic races.

It has been run since 1892 and is set in the Ardennes (Wallonia), the French speaking region of Belgium. The region of Wallonia is not traditionally Belgium’s most fanatical cycling base. But, at the turn of the century Wallonia was more economically prosperous and it was in Wallonia that cycling racing first took off in Belgiums.

Liege Bastogne Liege is known as ‘La Doyenne’ of cycling races. Literally this means ‘old lady’, practically it refers to the rich history and tradition embedded in the race.

In 1990 the organisation of Liege Bastogne Liege was taken over by the Tour de France society; this was in response to poor organisation which resulted in a big pile up in 1988.

The sister race of Liege Bastogne Liege is Fleche Wallonia. This is now held on the Wednesday preceding, offering the chance for riders to complete the ‘Ardennes double’.

Winning the ‘Ardennes double’ is a rare achievement. Past double winners include:
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The Giro Di Lombardia is better known as ‘The Race of the Falling Leaves’ It marks the close of the professional cycling season and comes one week after the World Championships. Originally run in 1905, it is not Italy’s oldest race (that privilege goes to Milan-Turin) however, along with Milan San Remo, the Giro di Lombardia is Italy’s most prestigious one day classic.

Route of the Giro di Lombardia

The start is in Varese on the Northern border of Italy, near Switzerland. It then passes through the town of Como (which was the finish between 1961 and 1984).
The race then passes the shore of Lake Lecco before climbing the Passo Intelvi. This is the high point of the race reaching a height of 760m.

Maddona del Ghisallo

This is a climb on the the shores of Lake Lecco. It includes a shrine to cyclists, blessed by the pope in 1949. It includes cycling memorabilia and photos of cyclists killed on Italian roads. It is a place of pilgrimage for the tifosi (Italian cycling fans)

After descending the Passo Intelve the race passes through Bergamo. Before finishing the race loops round three climbs; Colle Gallo, Selvino and Colle Berbenno. The race then finishes in Bergamo, after crossing a tough cobbles climb to “Citta Alta”, giving a final chance for a climber to get away.

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Milan San Remo has become one of Italy’s most prestigious one day classics. Originally run in 1907, Milan San Remo or La Primavera’ retains almost the same route today as it did at the turn of the last century.

Beginning in the industrial town of Milan, the race crosses the Lombardy plains before traveling over the Apennines to the summit of Bric Berton. There is then a hair raising descent into the outskirts of Genoa before travelling along the coast of the Ligurian Sea. Prominent locations include Savona, Capi (which has 3 short hills - a preparation for the decisive hills to come.

The real race hots up as it approaches Cipressa. Cipressa has a steep and narrow hairpinned hill, which usually sees the bunch split for the first time. There is a fierce battle for places in the lead upto the hill.

Poggia di San Remo.

Just before the outskirts of San Remo, comes the hill of Poggio. It can be the decisive place for a break to form. Former double winner Sean Kelly says. “Everyone gets so nervous, because they know that if you have 100 metres lead at the top of the poggio you’ll win. But, just as decisive is the short hair pinned descent which comes after. For example, in 1992, Moreno Argentin led Sean Kelly over the top of the Poggio but, taking risks on the descent Sean Kelly, (then 36 years old) was able to catch up with Argentin and outsprint him at the last.
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