This article is part of 'Belgian Week' on Cyclingnews, a special run of features to celebrate the start of the Classics. For all our Belgian Week content click here.
The Tiegemberg is far from the steepest climb in the Flemish Ardennes, but the contours on the map would be altogether tighter if the cartographer had accounted for its positioning in the final, frantic kilometres of E3 Harelbeke.
A year ago, Oliver Naesen began to lose contact with the winning move at Harelbeke following Philippe Gilbert’s sustained application of pressure on the Tiegemberg, and he crested the summit with 20 metres or so to recoup: a relative eon in the units of measurement particular to this corner of the world at this time of the year. Even so, Naesen stuck grimly to his task as the road dipped over the other side, and gradually began to claw back the inches that separated him from Gilbert and the third man in the equation, Greg Van Avermaet.
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That Naesen counts Van Avermaet as both a training partner and friend was of no help whatsoever to his pursuit, however. No, rather than stall Gilbert, his one-time foe at BMC, Van Avermaet came to the front just as his friend was drawing close enough to touch their coattails. He delivered a stinging turn that threatened to distance Naesen all over again.
In Flanders, a race is a race and Naesen wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Friends or not friends, it’s professional cycling,” Naesen says a year on. “We made it clear to ourselves and to each other: no matter how good he is or I am, we just have to race full for the victory. I would never be angry if he rides against me and I don’t think he would be angry if I ride against him. The day after you have to be able to say, ‘Yesterday was a race and today is another day.’”
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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/naesen-even-the-greatest-riders-are-only-normal-people
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