Seeing so many riders on the ground in Dwars Door Vlaanderen and then the Tour of the Basque Country was grim. The fact that so many star names were involved has invariably given these incidents more prominence; more than the huge crash in the Roue Tourangelle a couple of weeks back. Unjust but if it leads to more debate and eventual safety measures than it might benefit all.

Safety improvements have been a regular topic, rightly so. Changes are coming but they can’t come soon enough. And they won’t solve everything, far from it.

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Mathieu van der Poel goes solo with 60km to go. His moved looked telegraphed but there was nothing his rivals could do, because when they tried Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Gianni Vermeersch made sure they could not.

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The last of the cobbled classics and the most exceptional one, in every sense. And yet the obvious outcome is a repeat of last Sunday with Mathieu van der Poel going away for a solo win.

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Is Paris-Roubaix the last of the cobbled classics or a race apart? Surely both, it’s so different from the previous cobbled classics as the pavé are bigger and rougher. If someone came up with the race today it would never happen.

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All change. Professional cycling has seen rising interest from the Middle-East, especially Saudi Arabia. Now this has gone from tentative handshakes and side sponsorships to a takeover with the news that the Tour of Flanders has been bought by Saudi investors. The race is to be rebranded as the “Flanders Tour presented by Al Lua” and move to the desert.

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Mathieu van der Poel attacks on the Koppenberg. Matteo Jorgenson and Mads Pedersen try to chase but they’re quickly distanced, the Dane loses 30 seconds by the top but fared better than the rest of the lead group as they were left walking up the climb. Van der Poel left them standing.

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The Ronde happens this Sunday and its an event of national significance in Belgium, a million people will stand by the road, multiples will watch it on television.

This year’s overlap with Easter isn’t evoking stories of miraculous resurrection, instead Flemish fans are still mourning the “de wonde van Vlaanderen“, the wound of Flanders and particularly the absence of Wout van Aert. Mathieu van der Poel is going for a third win but can he and his team keep a lid on what now promises to be an open race?

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You probably know the Tour of Flanders is this Sunday. But all the other races? With the season busy now and more probably readers today than back in early January, a reminder that you can get the pro cycling calendar for 2024, free to download for your diary or phone. It’s packed with all the men’s and women’s pro races for the road season.

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Do you ever wonder that to win somebody’s got to lose? With all the focus on Tadej Pogačar and Jumbo-Visma winning so often these days, others are on the receiving end. Right now Cofidis are having a difficult to start to the season but if they can just get one win then they can start to look down on others. Or at least Arkéa-B&B Hotels which is having a lean spell comparable to Garmin’s drought of 2015-2017.

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A look at the team finances of the Ag2r Citroën team from 2022. It’s back in the days when the squad had brown shorts, Greg van Avermaet and more but these are the latest set of published accounts so a closer look.

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