It’s the opening weekend - what cycling snobs like to call the start of the season!
Saturday we’ll have the Omloop Nieuwsblad for both men and women, the first cobbles of the year, and usually a fun race. A race which usually favours heavier cobble-specialists and flandriens, the new crop of semi-sprinters also stand a chance.
This year it will be hard to look past Mathieu van der Poel, Paul Magnier, and Tim Wellens who’ve shown excellent form. But others - like Brennan, Pidcock, van Aer, de Lie, Turner, and Philipsen - will surely also be in the mix.
Sunday we’ll have much of the same peloton at the line for Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, a race which has traditionally been won by a sprinter or something close to it, but also in recent by strongmen such as Asgreen, Benoot, van Aert, and Stuyven.
The start list is not public yet, but keep an eye out for de Lie, Magnier, Brennan, Milan, Philipsen, Jeanniere, Girmay, and others of a similar vein!
Enjoy!
I don’t know about Van Aert and Philipsen: the fist one will only be coming back after his new cyclocross injury 2 months ago (after being beaten on each CX race he rode before the crash), and the second one didn’t have a good start last week.
Seems like van Aert is ill - or maybe just not in shape - and apparently Merlier has a knee injury I didn’t know about.
