A new route but the same finale is the Tour of Flanders news for 2017.

The organisers had to find a way to accommodate the Muur in Geraardsbergen after a lengthy absence. It looks too far out to influence the finish but as the Classics showed last year, the favourites will take a gamble from further out. Paris-Roubaix being the prime example. 

This weeks racing has seen a number of favourites coming to the fore and some outside bets emerge as contenders. 

In true Classic preview style here are some of the favourites based on the standard five star rating…

Peter Sagan ***** Reigning champion and has been in a rich vein of form this season. Has been there or thereabouts in all of the big races.

Greg Van Avermaet ***** Never won the Ronde and crashed out dramatically last season before the race really got going. This season he has smashed through the glass ceiling to start regularly winning the big races. It would be a bit of a surprise if he wasn’t on the podium.

Oliver Naesen **** A rider who came in under the radar until the end of last summer when IAM were closing down and he suddenly starting winning. He has been building his form nicely and was a factor in Gent-Wevelgem last weekend His inexperience a the top level might catch him out. 

Philippe Gilbert **** There we were expecting him to be strong later in April for the Ardennes when he bursts on the Flemish scene and then backs up his classic form by winning 3 Days of de Panne. He might have left too much on the road in winning that race to be honest, but it would be interesting to see a Walloon contenting for this race. 

Alexander Kristoff *** He won in the grand manner two years ago, but has struggled to win either sprints or classics ever since. The way he dominated Niki Terpstra in his 2015 breakaway might now be seen as the best moment of his career. I don’t see him winning but I think he might win the first group sprint. 

Sep Vanmarcke *** Looked like he was going to be in the form of his life back in the opening weekend of the Belgian classics. He has been ill since and then to compound it all, crashed into the BMC team car the other day. Has he been blufffing and is this a Cannondale master plan?? … um no.

Luke Durbridge *** He would have been the outside of outsiders a month ago but having seen Mat Hayman win in Roubaix last season, its clear that Orica have form in winning these races. He was strong in the semi-classics and would have been close to the overall in de Panne but for getting the wrong side of a split. 

All of the others are ** . 

Let’s see how my predictions go eh! 

Paris Roubaix to be wet?

The second best one day bike race (after the Ronde) takes place this weekend for the first time since 2019.

The 2020 Paris Roubaix, or Hell of the North, was cancelled in the April of that year as the Covid pandemic raged. It was provisionally re-scheduled for the end of that year but a surge in cases around the races finish area in Lille saw no race and much sadness for fans.

April 2021 saw…

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So the question on everyone’s lips this week is as to whether that was the greatest Paris Roubaix ever? 

What is for sure is that the feelings that you need foul weather to get a high quality, exciting race have been put to bed. 

It looked madness when a number of the big favourites were off the front before the Arenberg Forest with over 90km to go. But they made the move stick ensuring that Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan were isolated and dropped. 

Sep Vanmarcke and Ian Stannard produced a flourish of late attacks which didn’t stick before Matt Hayman and Tom Boonen got away in the streets of Roubaix. 

Hayman spoilt the local fans day by beating Boonen in the sprint but it was an epic from minute one. 

Here’s to the next one, although we are still very excited by the upcoming Ardennes week. 

No review of the cobbled classics can start without mention of the Dwars Door Vlaanderen crash that took Wout Van Aert out of the big two races of the last 10 days.

Van Aert had been soundly beaten by his main rival Mathieu van der Poel in E3 Harelbeke after a long rainy pursuit but this high-speed collision left us wondering how close he would have got in both Flanders and Roubaix.

With in…

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Just a few words from the 100th Tour of Flanders. 

What a race it was. There was action more or less from the start and in Peter Sagan and Lizzie Armistead we had worthy winners and world champions for both events. 

The course is cruel and demanding, shown especially in the way that the legs of Sep Vanmarcke folded beneath him on the last possible metres of the Paterberg. 

It was there he lost the race. 

What a classy touch by Sep, though, to let Fabian Cancellara cross the line alone on his final appearance in the race. Let’s hope that’s a favour that can be repaid somewhere along the roads this season as Vanmarcke is long overdue a big win. 

One negative element was the crashes which didn’t seem more prevalent than usual, just more severe. Greg Van Avermaert and Tom Boonen denied starring roles by falls a long way out. 

We move on to Paris Roubaix this weekend and the podcast tomorrow will preview that in more depth along with a bit more on the Tour of Flanders.