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- The Classics have sprung
Howdy folks. The countdown is over, and Classics season has finally kicked off – with a weekend in Belgium to reflect on, alongside heaps more racing besides, today’s edition of the newsletter is stuffed to the gills as always with cycling news. We bid farewell to the cyclocross season, gain insights into two top riders in the men’s peloton, and find out which top name has sealed her future with SD Worx – be afraid, everyone else – be very afraid.
ON THE WEBSITE
Two big interviews for you this week, and I’m really excited to share them with you and hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Two GC riders from UAE Team Emirates reflect on their previous seasons, share their plans for the year, and give some really fascinating insights into their lives beyond cycling.
First up Adam Yates – who talks being in his best form, Grand Tour GC hopes, and the amazing travel destinations he has on his to-do list –
And Jay Vine, whose positive mindset despite a nightmare 2023 brings him into 2024 with high hopes. His grand plan goes well beyond his career as a cyclist though…
And finally, Saint Piran’s Adam Harridence introduces his new blog, in which he shares the pitfalls and barriers to staying fit and keeping up on the bike, with a young family, full time job and life. One that many with identify with, and a series to follow as Adam tries to get in shape for a competitive goal in June.
NEWS!
Farmer’s protests impact Ruta del Sol
The Vuelta a Andalucia, otherwise known as the Ruta del Sol, was reduced from five stages to just one five kilometre time trial as a result of farmers’ protests in the area. The protests which are widespread throughout western Europe, and previously saw the cancellation of the first stage of Étoile de Bessèges.
Kopecky extends at SD Worx
World Champion Lotte Kopecky has extended her contract at Team SD Worx-ProTime until the end of 2027. Kopecky seals her future with the team which she had previously suggested she may leave as her contract was due to expire at the end of this season. It calls into question Demi Vollering’s future at the team, as the two move ever closer to sharing the same goals, and Vollering has reportedly received a €1 million offer from UAE Team Emirates which could see them going head to head – on different teams – in future seasons.
THE LIGHTER SIDE
You’ve got to love a good announcement – whether it’s a team line-up for a race, a new signing, or a contract extension, Lidl-Trek really do smash announcements out of the park time and time again. This week, their Danish GC hotshot Mattias Skjelmose announced that he would stay with the team until 2026, by means of a classic tune. Check it out, if you haven’t seen it yet –
RACING RESULTS ROUND-UP
STAGE RACES
The Tour of Oman (10-14 Feb) concluded with the Queen stage – a stage victory and the overall win going to Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) (correction from the last newsletter in which I said the race had finished – apologies!)
It may have still been a week or two to Omloop, but the Volta ao Algarve (14-18 Feb) felt PROPER. With a top, top line-up of talent, the race unfolded over five varied stages, with defending champion Dani Martinez and 2022 victor Remco Evenepoel among the top GC riders. There were debut appearances aplenty, including Tao Geoghegan Hart’s first race for Lidl-Trek, and the first since his horrific crash at the 2023 Giro. Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert and Ben Healy were among the other names opening their season in Portugal.
Stages 1 and 3 finished in bunch sprints. Both were suitably chaotic, with a relatively strong line-up of fast men. Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty) was able to hold off the pack on stage 1, and Wout van Aert got his first win of the season on stage 3, despite telling the media he would save his energy and not sprint, earlier in the week. Yeah, sure Wout.
Stage 2 was the first test for the GC riders with a summit finish on Alto da Fóia. While Evenepoel looked strong, it was Martinez who was able to power clear up the climb and take the win, and the lead in the overall race. Evenepoel turned the tables on stage 4, winning the time trial in emphatic fashion ahead of Magnus Sheffield, and it was enough of a gap for him to win the overall GC despite another winning ride from Martinez on stage 5. The World time trial champion is very much proving his incredible pedigree time and time again. It was an exciting final stage, with Wout van Aert and Ben Healy storming ahead to shake up the rest of the GC group, but in the end it was the same 1-2 as stage 3.
A brief word for the Vuelta a Andalucia (16 Feb) which was set to be a five-day stage race but due to farmer’s protests in the region ended up being curtailed at one stage, a 5km time trial, in which Maxim van Gils of Lotto-DSTNY was victorious, effectively winning the race with just over 8 minutes’ worth of effort, against a seriously strong field.
The women had just one stage race in this period, the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana (15-18 February). With a top line-up, it was a really interesting few days of racing, with stages 1 and 4 ending in bunch sprints, both of which were won by Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek). Stage 2 saw Team SD Worx-Protime’s Marlen Reusser get a gap – and as the women’s peloton should know all too well, when Reusser gets a gap, that’s the last you will see of her for the day. She won the stage by half a minute and it was enough to win her the GC too. SD Worx enjoyed victory again on stage 3 through Niamh Fisher-Black.
The two-day Tour des Alpes Maritimes (17-18 Feb) ended with two sprints. With the majority of the peloton’s sprinters either in UAE or Belgium, this left the way clear for Ethan Vernon to take his first win for his new team Israel-Premier Tech, despite a spirited solo breakaway effort from Andrea Mifsud of French continental side Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur – keep an eye out for him in the future. Stage 2 was won by Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), and combined with his high placement on stage 1, this was enough to win him the overall also.
The UAE Tour (19-25 Feb), the unofficial sprinter’s World Championships, boasted an impressive array of fast men, but there was no denying that the king of them was Tim Merlier. The Soudal-QuickStep rider took three stages (1, 4 and 6) and only missed out on stage 5 by the width of the rubber on his tyre. That stage was won by Olav Kooij (Visma-LAB), who timed his sprint to perfection.
Outside of the sprint stages, the early part of the race belonged to the home side, UAE Team Emirates. They occupied every step of the podium on the time trial, with Brandon McNulty taking the win, and the next day the leader’s jersey switched to Jay Vine, though it was Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale’s Ben O’Connor who was victorious on stage 3’s ascent of Jebel Jais, one of two climbing stages. The French team rode a brilliant team race to launch the Aussie to victory.
The stage was set for a final day battle up Jebel Hafeet, and as the climb wore on it became clear that UAE would surrender the overall win, as Jay Vine went out the back, leaving a big group of stage hopefuls and GC riders to contest the rest of the climb. With Ben O’Connor in pole position on GC but with no teammates remaining he was open to attacks, and Lotto-DSTNY’s Lennert van Eetvelt took the opportunity to plunder both the stage and the GC with a huge attack on the closing stages of the climb. The 22-year-old Lotto-DSTNY rider promised much with his off-season training ride data, and already impressed in Mallorca winning the Trofeo Serra Tramuntana, But this was a true statement of intent, as Van Eetvelt followed in the footsteps of the likes of Adam Yates and Remco Evenepoel to win in the desert.
Meanwhile in Spain, the four-stage O Gran Camiño (22-25 Feb) also suffered from alterations to its route, but this was due to adverse weather conditions rather than farmers. The first day’s time trial went ahead, but on road bikes, and with an agreement that it would not count towards the general classification. INEOS Grenadiers’ TT machine Josh Tarling won the stage, and Jonas Vingegaard won the remaining three, ahead of Lenny Martinez and Egan Bernal. And I don’t think it stopped raining for the entire race.
The Tour of Rwanda (18-25 Feb) was won by young British multi-discipline talent Joseph Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech).
ONE DAY RACES
First up was the Classic Var (16 Feb), the one-day portion of the repurposed Tour des Alpes Maritimes, and what a great race it turned out to be. With plenty of action and a strong selection of riders on the start list, it’s my pick of the week for ‘One to Watch’ – read about it below.
The Spring Classics began with the much-anticipated Omloop het Nieuwsblad (24 Feb) and the race really delivered, with plenty of attacks and surprises. While it looked set to be a good day for Visma-Lease A Bike from the start, it turned out to be a GREAT day, but not for the reasons most had predicted.
The race kicked off early, as is the standard in the classics these days, and a breakaway of six riders moved clear – 50% of them from the Dutch team – and you’d probably not have been mad to think they could make it all the way to the finish. The group included Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte and new boy in yellow Matteo Jorgenson, who was the first to really strike out for home, right before the iconic Kapelmuur climb. From there though, everything changed, with the peloton who most had written off closing in on the chasers and two new riders breaking clear – Nils Pollitt, now riding for UAE Team Emirates, and Jan Tratnik of Visma-LAB. These are two riders who know how to put their foot down on a flat piece of road and they opened an unassailable lead. Tratnik was able to accelerate to the finish line and take the first classics win of the season for Visma.
In the women’s race, all eyes were on Lotte Kopecky as she sought to retain her title. However there were many hoping to spoil the SD Worx party before it could even begin, and Lidl-Trek had the numbers in the final selection of the day with Elisa Longo Borghini and Shirin van Anrooij both looking back to their best and trying to find ways around the World Champion. They had Marianne Vos for company, though, another rider working her way back to full fitness following surgery on an iliac artery in 2023. Vos was riding her first Omloop and when she pulled clear with Kopecky at the finish, the veteran Dutchwoman was able to use her experience and speed to out-sprint the Belgian and take victory on her first attempt. It was so good to see her back in winning form.
Day 2 of Opening Weekend saw two different races. For the women, Omloop het Hageland (25 Feb), a race with a strong line-up despite not having World Tour status. EF Education-Cannondale continued their strong start to the season as they celebrated a long-range solo victory for Kristen Faulkner. Faulkner rode her first race for her new team after a long period out of action following a training crash.
The men took on the slightly flatter cobbled classic Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (25 Feb), and while it’s normally considered a race for the sprinters, once again the rulebook was ripped up under the pressure of Visma-LAB, with Wout van Aert once again in the driving seat. When he pulled clear with a group of 3 others with over 80km still remaining in the race, there were no guarantees that they would stay away, especially given the evidence from the previous day. Van Aert had learned from his mistakes though and alongside Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar), piled on the pace and extended the gap to ensure the win would come down to the three of them. Van Aert sprinted clear to take his second victory of the season, and prove he’s already in great shape ahead of his main goals.
A pair of French races took place alongside the Belgian Opening weekend, with UAE Team Emirates dominant across the weekend. Juan Ayuso won the Faun Ardeche Classic (24 Feb) ahead of Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), and though two of the three were active again in the breakaway the following day (Ayuso and Skjelmose) it was Ayuso’s teammate Marc Hirschi who reaped the rewards, taking his first win of the season at the Faun Drome Classic (25 Feb).
The women raced the 1.1 Clasica de Almeria (25 Feb) with Lauren Stephens of Cynisca Cycling taking the win.
BEST BITS
A new section designed to highlight the best of the racing, for anyone who has missed it and wants to go back and catch up – ‘one to watch’ is a stage or race that I think is really worth catching up on, if you have some time. And ‘star of the week’ is self-explanatory – who’s impressed with their performances, particularly ‘under the radar’ type riders.
ONE TO WATCH
Despite the excitement of Omloop, my pick for this newsletter is a race far fewer of you are likely to have actually watched, the Classic Var (16 Feb). The final climb of Mont Faron saw the race come to life, and the leading group of riders gradually diminishing as the cream rose to the top. In the final few kilometres the selection slimmed down to six, packed together up the narrow, winding pitches of the climb.
Groupama-FDJ went on the offensive, with David Gaudu trying to drop riders like a man possessed in service of his teammate, Lenny Martinez. When Romain Bardet took off on a climb on which he owns the Strava KOM, it looked like it might be a done deal, but Tobias Johannessen gave chase and overcame the veteran Frenchman, putting daylight between himself and the rest. As he crested the hill, he raised his arms - just as Martinez sprinted through and rolled him on the line – a line which it later transpired the Uno-X rider had believed to be in a different place. Martinez was victorious, and poor Johannessen will not make that mistake again.
All in all, it was a cracking watch, hinting at the climbs of the Tour de France, and the pure thrill of a group of talented climbers kicking lumps out of each other uphill. Along with a fabulous twist at the finish. Catch it if you can.
Last gasp victory (image credit: Classic Var instagram)
STAR(S) OF THE WEEK(S)
There have been some cracking rides from comeback queens Marianne Vos and Kristen Faulkner this week, and from young stars pushing on to big things – Oier Lazkano mixing it with the big boys and taking a spring classic podium spot for his troubles, and Lennert van Eetvelt’s stunning effort on Jebel Hafeet all stand out as star performances this week.
CYCLOCROSS DISPATCH
This is it folks, the final weekend of cyclocross has come and gone, and it’s time to round up the final results and draw a line under our off-road winter. And what a season it’s been. A winter of two halves if you will, on the men’s side, pre- and post- MVDP, and a season in which several women have proven themselves, but Fem van Empel once again crowned herself Queen of Cross.
Here are the final results before we drag ourselves away from the mud and sand and focus totally on the tarmac (and cobbles. And a bit of gravel here and there - I’m looking at you, Strade Bianche).
It may have been the end of the season for most, but for Toon Aerts the weekend marked a return to the field for the first time in two years, as the Belgian, now riding for Deschacht-Hens-Maes had been sitting out a two-year ban for doping (he maintains his innocence).
The Exact Cross Sint-Niklaas (17 Feb) ended in victories for Lucinda Brand and Michael Vantourenhout, with Aerts narrowly missing out on the podium in his first appearance. On the following day, the X2O Trofee came to a close in Brussels (18 Feb). Lucinda Brand made it a double winning weekend in the women’s race, with Marion Norbert Riberolle close behind in second. In the men’s it was another fourth place for Toon Aerts, with Eli Iserbyt taking the win. Lars van der Haar and Fem van Empel won the overall X2O Trofee series, with Cameron Mason heartbreakingly missing out on the podium by just a few seconds.
And the very final race of the season, the standalone Internationale Sluitingsprijs Oostmalle (25 Feb) was won by Niels Vandeputte and Lucinda Brand respectively.
/fin
FINAL THOUGHT – On attrition, and resilience
It’s been a great week for comebacks. Marianne Vos and Kristen Faulkner have both shown what it means to reach the highest level once again after difficult physical circumstances. Tao Geoghegan Hart returned to GC action in the Algarve and Stefan Küng returned to full fitness following his horror crash in last year’s European time trial championship.
On the flip side, we saw Florian Sénéchal crash out of Omloop, fracturing his collarbone. A couple of weeks ago, Oscar Onley broke his for the third time in the past two years. And we heard recently that Taco van der Hoorn is still unable to return to competitive cycling after his concussion in the 2023 Giro. Weeks or even months of recovery and recuperation lie ahead of these riders as once again, their careers are put on hold while they nurse their bodies back to full health.
Is there another sport like this? In which multiple careers are on pause at any given time, while athletes recover from serious concussions, fractures and other potentially life-changing injuries? The insanely high attrition rate feels unfair, not least because it is so random in nature, and so unforgiving. And yet the cruel hand of fate is met in the elite cyclist by stoicism, and a physical and mental resilience that must also be unrivalled in the world of sport. To return time and time again from injury and once again place yourself in harm’s way speaks to the dedication, single-mindedness, and commitment of every elite rider. And perhaps, the need to be slightly unhinged.
It goes without saying that nobody wants to see crashes, and if we do see them, we hope they are as innocuous as possible in terms of their outcome. But even those that do not end in injury result in major frustration, as riders see their goals go up in smoke, their day done, and hopes extinguished. Once again, the resilience comes into play, as more often than not they will shrug, and simply say some version of ‘on to the next.’ They are truly a unique group of humans.
THE LAST WORD
Thank you all so much for subscribing to the newsletter, plenty more exciting stuff to come as we head into the serious part of cycling season. By the time you hear from me next, we’ll have had Strade Bianche, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, and we’ll be looking ahead to our first Monument of the season – Milano-Sanremo.
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Cheers,
Katy