3, 2, 1... COBBLES!

Welcome back to another edition of the writebikerepeat newsletter and what can I say other than HAPPY HOLY WEEK. Well, we’re not quite there yet, but it’s on the horizon and will be over and done with by the time I speak to you next, so let’s get ourselves psyched up for one of the greatest weeks in the cycling calendar – two Monuments, and a host of other racing on the cards, so without further ado, let’s get cracking.

Oh – before I go any further I’d like to welcome all my new subscribers!

HI EVERYONE!

Thanks so much for agreeing to receive my words in your inboxes; in these busy times where we’re bombarded with so much communication I am honoured that you’ve agreed to join me as we take a look back at two weeks of racing and cycling news, and have a deeper dive into some of the issues alongside some pictures of cute dogs, because - cute dogs are great, right?

As you can see the site is sponsored by the excellent Ciclos Major, a company based on the island of Mallorca organising fantastic bespoke guided cycling tours – all writebikerepeat subscribers are entitled to a 5% discount on bookings using this special booking form – so be sure to check them out! More info about their services here.

ON THE SITE

Two longer pieces over on the site this week for you to read. Firstly, a deep dive into a monumental weekend in Italy, featuring Milano-Sanremo and Trofeo Alfredo Binda race action and ponderings on the contrasts and similarities between the two historical races.

There’s also the second instalment of Saint Piran’s Adam Harridence’s blog in which he takes us on his journey back to fitness as he challenges himself to get back in shape in time for a summer of cyclocross racing. In this episode he talks about health concerns, plucking up the courage to visit the GP and the joy of simply riding the bike.

THE LIGHTER SIDE

I always try and include something to warm the heart or amuse us all in these uncertain times and honestly, I feel like we all need a lift this week, so here’s Enric Mas and his gorgeous baby:

And here we see a fine collection of canines belonging to some of the women’s peloton - click through to view the gallery!

And a Groupama-FDJ dog.

And Tom Pidcock. With dogs.

Also Puck Pieterse, riding a dog. OK I know it’s a lot of dogs, but we need this.

And finally, a literary chasing group…

NEWS! NEWS! IT’S THE NEWS!

I have news, about the news. Two new writers - Alicia Moyo and Rémi Massart - have joined the WBR team to help out over at the site taking care of keeping the place updated with the latest news stories, and race reports. Bookmark the page and head back regularly to find out what’s happening – the latest stories currently on the page include:

Ø Dame Laura Kenny announces her retirement following a glittering career on the track

Ø Mathieu van der Poel resigns with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Canyon

Ø Maxim Van Gils and Lennert van Eetvelt extend their contracts with Lotto-Dstny

Ø Frank Bonnamour suspended by Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale following irregularities in his biological passport

Ø CPA working with RCS to trial ‘neutral service’ rain jackets at this year’s Giro d’Italia

Ø Demi Vollering will leave Team SD Worx-ProTime at the end of the season, confirmed by team manager Danny Stam in a press conference pre-Dwars Door Vlaanderen

Also in the news…

Riders in the infirmary

There’s been a spate of illness and injury running through the men’s peloton with a number of riders withdrawing from races or competition altogether. Heavy falls have taken out many riders over the past few races and in addition, illness has caused issues for some teams. Here are just a selection of the afflicted:

•  Christophe Laporte is out of the Tour of Flanders with stomach flu and saddle sores; his team mates Dylan van Baarle and Jan Tratnik have both also suffered with illness

•  Arnaud De Lie has withdrawn from racing for the present time as he has been diagnosed with Lyme disease

•  Arnaud Démare is taking a break from racing following his disappointing start to the season, Arkéa-B&B Hotels report that he is suffering from fatigue symptoms.

• Peter Sagan has had a small heart surgery – the second within the space of a month – following a cardiac incident while out riding. Sagan states he’s confident he will be back riding following a 15-day rest period

• Both Mark Cavendish and Michael Mørkøv have withdrawn from recent races due to colds and fever

More on the injuries sustained by several riders in the men’s Dwars Door Vlaanderen later in the newsletter…

ROAD RACING RESULTS ROUND-UP

ONE DAY RACES

We’re well into classics season so there’s a plethora of one-day action to bring you – here’s the round-up.

GP Denain (14 Mar) some cobbled chaos for you first at this ‘mini Paris-Roubaix’ and it really was a chaotic race with an inordinate number of crashes, including a decisive one at the pointy end of proceedings taking out the entire leading group after Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) triggered a game of human skittles.

Q36.5 Pro Cycling were able to take first win of the year through Jannik Steimle from the early break, and many riders, teams and the CPA took to social media to complain about the slick cobbles after the race, branding it a ‘cyclocross race’ given the mud that coated the surfaces and was responsible for many of the incidents.

The Bredene Koksijde Classic (15 Mar) was won by Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).

It was a double winning weekend for Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), taking victory in two one-day French races, the Classic Loire Atlantic (16 Mar) and the Cholet Agglo Tour (17 Mar).

That weekend though, rather more attention was focused on the action in Italy, with the first Monument of the season, Milano-Sanremo (16 Mar), and the women’s classic Trofeo Alfredo Binda (17 Mar) – these races are both thrilling and completely different in nature, but equally unpredictable. I look back at the action and contemplate the contrasts and similarities in this longer piece over at the site.

The Classic Brugge-De Panne proved to be one of the surprise stand-out races of 2023, with wet, windy conditions producing thrilling racing (and of course, echelons!) in both the men’s and women’s editions. This year, the weather played nice for the men’s race (20 Mar), meaning the race sometimes referred to as the sprinter’s classic would be just that. After a long day in the saddle, the expected sprint unfolded, and it was a messy affair, with some late corners and road furniture leading to crashes and chaos. Yet again however, Jasper Philipsen was in the right place at the right time. He took the win ahead of his former teammate Tim Merlier, who almost caused Philipsen to crash in the final 100m of the course, leading to some cross words between the pair as they completed the race. The same winner, two years in a row – but the circumstances could not have been more different.

So, after something of a damp squib in the men’s race, the women’s (21 Mar) was under pressure to deliver, a year on from Pfeiffer Georgi’s spectacular breakaway win. However, once again the weather didn’t deliver much in the way of wind, so despite several attempts to attack by various riders, it all came together for a bunch sprint in the end, which was won by Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek).

The E3 Saxo Classic (22 Mar), often described as ‘mini Flanders’ always provides aggressive racing and a sneak peek into the future as the season’s Flanders hopefuls test themselves in a dress rehearsal for De Ronde. It was a day of many attacks, as is often the case at the race, and a large proportion of them came from Mathieu van der Poel, who was clearly keen to set the tempo and not have it dictated to him.

There were plenty of others giving it a go – Mads Pedersen, Julian Alaphilippe and Matej Mohorič among the aggressors, and Movistar’s Oier Lazkano showing he is not afraid to take on the giants of the current Classics generation. The race changed shape when Wout van Aert crashed on the Paterberg, but while it seemed like the end for the Belgian, he was down but not out. While MVDP stormed off taking the solo lead, van Aert made an impressive recovery to begin a solo chase of his long-time rival. It was not to be however. Van der Poel sealed the victory, and Jasper Stuyven came through to take second over van Aert.

Gent-Wevelgem (24 Mar) – Lorena Wiebes triumphed in a photo finish with Elisa Balsamo following a bunch sprint, and Mads Pedersen was able to best Mathieu van der Poel after a two-up breakaway, in the iconic Belgian Classic. Full reports available on the site.

Jason Tesson (TotalEnergies) won La Roue Tourangelle (24 Mar) – report on site.

Dwars Door Vlaanderen (27 Mar) – Matteo Jorgenson and Marianne Vos made it a day of double delight for Team Visma-Lease A Bike. However the men’s race was marred by a huge crash, taking out a number of key riders, including Wout van Aert. More details of the race over at the site, and further musing on the ups and downs of racing in today’s final thought, below.

In a race for a large amount of cheese – Paris-Camembert (24 Mar) – Benoît Cosnefroy was the victor for Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale. Sadly, the race wasn’t televised anywhere, not even in France, with the race organisers stating a lack of budget as the reason, so we were sadly unable to enjoy everyone’s favourite dancing Frenchman taking his third win of the season. Here’s a picture instead, seeing as we didn’t get to see him doing the business live.

STAGE RACES

With classics taking centre stage, there’s been much less in the way of stage racing – here are your results.

The women had one race to report on – the Tour de Normandie Féminin (14-17 Mar), which saw some interesting results. The first stage was an individual time trial won by Ellen van Dijk – her second win of the season, just a couple of weeks after starting back following her maternity leave. What a woman.

Stage 2 was won from the break by Sandra Alonso of Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling. Stage 3 was won from a solo breakaway – an American rider for an American team, Lauren Stephens of Cynisca Cycling, the victor. The final stage saw a reduced bunch break into ones and twos in the final stages, and was won by Josie Nelson, the British rider for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL taking her first pro win. Nelson missed out on the overall win by just 1 second – that honour went to Uno-X Mobility’s Mie Ottestad.

A week-long stage race composed almost entirely of mountain stages, the Volta Catalunya (18-24 Mar) brought together an impressive array of GC candidates, with one candidate the hot favourite. And so it came to pass, that Tadej Pogačar dominated the race from (almost) start to finish. He missed out on the win on stage 1, as Israel-Premier Tech played their cards beautifully, and Nick Schultz was able to take a surprise victory in a reduced bunch sprint.

Beyond that, he won stages 2, 3, 6 and 7, only denied the win in two sprints – Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) taking stage 4 and Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck) victorious in the trickier uphill finish on stage 5. The GC podium showed positive signs for Soudal-QuickStep, with Mikel Landa rallying to finish in second and Egan Bernal was looking much improved too, taking third position for the INEOS Grenadiers - really great to see him returning to form. For a more in-depth report, head to the site.

Meanwhile another stage race, the Coppi e Bartali (19-23 Mar) was taking place in Italy. The first two stages finished in thrilling fashion, stage 1 won by Marco Brenner of Tudor Pro Cycling after a late solo breakaway, giving the 21-year-old German his first pro win, and stage 2 going to UAE Team Emirates’ Diego Ulissi, who came through on a narrow cobbled climb up to the line to snatch victory, after a spirited effort from EF Education-EasyPost’s Archie Ryan in the closing stages. Visma-Lease A Bike’s Koen Bouwman got the better of Bingoal WB’s Louka Mathis on stage 3, before Archie Ryan was able to take his first pro victory the following day. The final stage was won by Lotto-Dtsny’s Jenno Berkmoes, and the GC wrapped up by Koen Bouwman. More info on the site.

FINAL THOUGHT – The Rollercoaster Ride

Cycling can be an incredibly a cruel sport at times. One tiny error, one brief lapse in concentration, one loose pebble on the concrete, all these seemingly random strokes of fate can have far-reaching consequences, that impact individuals, teams, and the cycling world as a whole.

Wout van Aert was open from the start about his change in approach this season. He rode fewer cyclocross races, and missed the World Championships, choosing instead to spend more time on training camp and at altitude, in order to be in the best possible shape for the two main goals not only of his 2024 season, but of his career – the twin cobbled Monuments of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

A fall on the cobbles at E3 Saxo Bank Classic did not bode well. But he bounced back and headed into Dwars Door Vlaanderen aiming to challenge for the win in his final preparation race before the big ones.

Then disaster struck. A major crash that took out a number of riders, including Biniam Girmay and Jasper Stuyven, both of whom were having a great Classics season up to that point, and many more. Van Aert was brought to the ground where he could be heard crying out in pain. Later, the worst was confirmed: a broken collarbone, broken sternum and seven broken ribs. His dreams of success over, in the Classics, the Giro, possibly for the rest of the season.

Cycling is the most unforgiving of sports; the chance touch of wheels that can end a race, a season, even a life, just a hair’s breadth away at any given moment. It’s impossible to bear the thought of what van Aert must be going through – the amount he’s sacrificed only to end up in a broken heap on the ground. Not to mention the pain - both physical, and emotional. Is there any hope to be found under such intolerable circumstances?

He will go home, heal, and recover in time, surrounded by the best possible medical care and his beautiful family. In his stead, other riders will get their chance to shine. The same day, in the very same race, his team mate Matteo Jorgenson won the first cobbled classic of his career, redeeming a dark day for the team. The American has come a long way in his short time with the team, and the victory was well deserved and hard fought.

As for the fans, and for cycling as a sport, the races ahead will miss the presence of Van Aert and Jasper Stuvyen too, who was having his best season in some years as part of a high-flying Lidl-Trek side, and who it was confirmed also broke his collarbone in the incident. And so we must reframe our expectations of the coming races and accept that the titanic battles we have come to expect between the likes of van Aert and van der Poel will not come to pass as we had hoped. The show must go on though, and the races will still play out in unexpected ways, with riders rising to the fore to go for their shot at glory - some we will expect to see, and others will surprise us, but whatever the outcome, they will be memorable in their own ways. Perhaps just not quite in the ways in which we expected.

All the best to all the injured riders, and here’s hoping that Wout is able to return to racing, if and when he feels ready to, and that his recovery goes smoothly. In the heat of the moment it’s easy to forget that at the end of the day, sport is a spectacle, a contest, but also a livelihood and a deeply personal passion for many, and it’s difficult to imagine the frustration of not being able to follow your carefully laid plans and go after your dream in the way you had envisioned. To reframe and move on is part and parcel of the recovery process. It won’t be easy. But if anyone has the mental fortitude to come back stronger, it’s Wout van Aert.

THE LAST WORD

Thanks to all my subscribers both old and new for reading and for your support – it’s so great to have you all on board. The next time this newsletter arrives in your inbox, it will be the first anniversary of the new and improved writebikerepeat website and it’s been a great year, thanks to my wonderful readers and all the fabulous contributors who have added their talents to it.

It’s onwards and upwards from here – and if you want to support the site and newsletter you can do so by either buying me a coffee or adding to your collection of cycling items with a casquette, bidon or tote bag from the shop. Any and all contributions are hugely appreciated as I continue on my mission to deliver engaging, entertaining and informative FREE cycling content to you throughout the year.

Enjoy the racing!

Cheers,
Katy