This year’s Tour of Flanders was far from a vintage edition, simmering nicely throughout but never actually boiling over into a full-blown race. But the second Monument of the season created plenty of talking points nonetheless.
Alberto Bettiol claimed the first victory of his career on one of the biggest stages in cycling, while the Belgians failed to make an impact in their home race. Kasper Asgreen followed in the footsteps of his compatriot Mads Pedersen to finish second on the podium, thus salvaging Deceuninck-QuickStep’s race in the process.
We have put a list of the top conclusions from Sunday’s race below.
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Bettiol had legs and balls, but didn’t need luck
There are times when Flanders Classics’ devotion to the bottom line can make ASO seem like a charitable organisation. Removing the Muur and Bosberg from the finale of the Tour of Flanders and lining the Kwaremont with VIP tents was the most obvious manifestation of their vision of cycling as business, and seven years on, Flanders Classics head Wouter Vandenhaute still finds himself defending the decision.
In an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws last week, Vandenhaute claimed that the Kwaremont-Paterberg finale was introduced to ensure that only riders of the very highest calibre won the Tour of Flanders each year. “Look at the winners when they were still riding on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and finished in Meerbeke: Wesemann, Nuyens, Ballan, Bortolami. You got those kinds of winners,” Vandenhaute said. “What do we have now, after the course change and the finish in Oudenaarde? Boonen, Cancellara, Kristoff, Sagan, Gilbert and Terpstra.”
Implicit in that observation was the fact that such marketable winners are good for business. But what, Het Laatste Nieuws asked, if a less heralded rider like Sebastian Langeveld or Alberto Bettiol were to win the Ronde? “They are not going to win,” Vandenhaute said.
The Belgians underwhelm
Debutants contradict notion that Flanders requires experience
Doubts persist over Sagan
Kristoff
Asgreen the revelation as Deceuninck-QuickStep stick to philosophy
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/6-conclusions-from-the-tour-of-flanders
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