Monday morning in Flanders and hyperbole is not in short supply. Peter Sagan’s victory at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday extended Belgium’s run without a win to four years but unlike twelve months ago, the Flemish press preferred to revel in the visiting conqueror’s triumph than bemoan the lot of the home riders.
Sagan was pictured on the front page of Het Nieuwsblad pretending to down two Duvels beers at once, a gesture always likely to curry favour in this corner of the world, and the newspaper was generous in its praise of the world champion’s solo victory.
“Rock ‘n Roll at the De Ronde” was the headline above a picture of Sagan performing a wheelie as he crossed the line, and Het Nieuwsblad dared to approach a line seldom crossed, too, when it decreed that that Sagan’s winning attack had been a “solo à la Eddy Merckx.”
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Another article described Sagan’s win as a “godsend for the race” and argued that the Slovak was the most compelling personality in contemporary cycling.
“Cancellara: professional the Swiss. Boonen: the smooth, popular Fleming. Wiggins: the weirdo from England. All of them had something that made them particularly popular,” Het Nieuwsblad wrote. “But nobody understands better than Sagan that sport in the 21st century should be fun.”
Het Laatste Nieuws appeared equally smitten – “What a race! What a rider!” it exclaimed – and it also primly noted that since the alteration of the Tour of Flanders finale in 2012, only “great riders” had won and “the same can’t be said of other moments like Milan-San Remo.”
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