Giant crowds, 25 different climbs and a brewery as race sponsor, what’s not to like about the Amstel Gold Race?
That said this is a different race to the events we’ve seen in recent weeks. It is the most modern of the spring classics thanks to its relative youth as an event on the calendar but also one defined by suburban roads rather than medieval farm tracks. It also marks a change in the season where grand tour contenders compete alongside one day specialists.
The Amstel Gold race is on tomorrow but this is a busy weekend with some excellent alternative races. Sometimes a big race can overshadow the others, for example two weeks ago the Flèche d’Emeraude was on at the same time as the Tour of Flanders but I doubt many noticed the clash.
By contrast there’s the Tro Bro Leon race on Sunday which criss-crosses Brittany and uses farm tracks. These are dirt roads and muddy in the wet. Sometimes called the Paris-Roubaix of Brittany, the comparison isn’t quite right since the Tro Bro Leon has no cobbles, even if it does have dangerous roads. Instead of a cobble, the winner gets a piglet to take home. Rouleur Magazine’s blog has a nice feature on this, including a picture of the prize piglet. It’s a nice race in its own right. Even the website is good.
A note of thanks to Ride Cycle Review for sponsoring the Inner Ring for April. The Australian magazine has long been a good read. When I’ve visited Australia it’s been something to make the long flight back to Europe more pleasant.
But you don’t need to visit Australia any more in order to pick up a copy, it is now available online via Zinio, the electronic magazine distribution site.
A rider punctures in a race. They’re forced to stop and to stand by the side of the road, often holding up a wheel in the air with a forlorn look on their face. You’ve probably seen it on TV many times, maybe you’ve experienced it too.
Hopefully the rider will get a spare wheel and return to the action. But precious energy is wasted and when the pace is high the rider can lose time and placings. Look to Sylvain Chavanel in Paris-Roubaix last Sunday. One minute he’s at the front of the race, the next minute he’s out of contention. It happens so many times a year it seems normal. But is it? Would you work with a tool that let you down so often? If a rim or a crank failed this often nobody would use it.
An outsider to the sport would probably be amazed by the number of punctures that happen in a race. The energy wasted, the races lost, these incidents aren’t a mere inconvenience or hassle. Punctures cost results and points. At times even careers and reputations can be ruined. Why?
Eddy Merckx, The Cannibal by Daniel Friebe
During his career Eddy Merckx won roughly one third of all the races he started. For an unbroken period of seven years he finished no lower than first in every grand tour he completed.
Daniel Friebe’s biography is more than the story of Merckx, it is a history of cycling under the reign of rider known as The Cannibal as told by interviews and anecdotes from the riders who saw their hopes, ambitions and earnings swallowed up by the insatiable Merckx. Yet many now seem cheerful about the whole experience.
What does the picture above remind you of? No, this isn’t a Rorschach test, it is a painting by British artist Chris Billington. Can you see anything that looks like a bike race?
Slosse is a family-owned stonemason business from Orchies in northern France, a cobblestone’s throw from the route of Sunday’s race in Orchies. The company was started by 1898 and has flourished since, these days supplying everything from bathroom tiles to tombstones and shiny bank atriums.
But it has a tiny sideline and for the past ten years it has supplied the trophy for Paris-Roubaix. Some races offer gold trophies, some have silver cups, but Paris-Roubaix rewards the winner with a block of stone.
A fast start, an early breakaway, crashes in the Arenberg forest. So far, so typical of Paris-Roubaix.
Then with 56km to Tom Boonen and team mate Nicki Terpstra got a gap and then on the cobbled section at Auchy-lez-Orchies, Tom Boonen rode away from his team mate, launching a solo move that saw him ride to a record-equalling fourth win in the queen of classics. This was the moment the race was won.
The Belgians might say the Tour of Flanders is the best race of the year. Italians could say Milan-Sanremo is the most beautiful. But the hardest race of the year? With labels like “hell”, “brutal”, “hardest of the hardest”, “queen of the classics”, Paris-Roubaix must be the toughest race of the year.
There can be moments when Paris-Roubaix crosses from a race to a circus event thanks to the giant cobbles, the mud and more. But there is something beautiful in the contest and the way the race transforms the landscape that makes this a special race. It’s also high entertainment on TV.
The Route | Tactics | The Contenders | How hard are the cobbles? | The Tech | Weather | TV Viewing
Startlist | The Trophy | History
The weather for Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix race is uncertain but if riders make it to the finish then a shower is guaranteed. Indeed Paris-Roubaix must be the only race where the washing facilities make up part of the legend.
The showers inside the velodrome are as much a part of the ritual as is the photo of the winner lifting the cobbled trophy in the air. Do other sports treat the showers or locker room with the same reverence?