- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
We have just passed the zenith of the Spring Classics season for another year. There are many great races at this time of the calendar, but ultimately it is the Ronde van Vlaanderen and the Paris-Roubaix that hold that something extra special.
Never a favourite of mine to race, the Queen of the Classics (Roubaix) is, as Nikki Terpstra put it in a post-race interview, “The most beautiful classic of the year”. Combined with Wiggo’s sentimental pre-race interview in which he described Roubaix as the only race he’ll be watching post-retirement, the 2014 edition did not fall short of the drama which keeps me glued to the race every year in anticipation.
This year saw depth in a young field that has been lacking for a little while at the Ronde and Roubaix – Seppe Van Marcke and Zdenek Stybar have been knocking on the door for a while now, but their continued improvement and consistency is encouraging. Additionally, Peter Sagan took on the Hell of the North for the first time and didn’t disappoint.
Once again, however – and perhaps for the last time – it was a week that belonged to two men: Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen. These two have dominated the cobbled classics for over a decade; whether or not they’ve always prevailed on the podium, they have defined an era of Classics riding.
The Ronde was widely hailed as Cancellara’s most well rounded performance to date. Lacking his usual brutal domination of the entire field, he instead pulled off a textbook tactical performance.
He won with power and strategy in a well-timed attack on the Kwaremont and an even better sprint to outclass not just his break away companions, but the combined might of the OPQS squad. I think I even saw him soft pedal coming into the final kilometres behind Sep Vanmarcke and Greg Van Avermaet.
Vanmarcke, the 25-year-old from Kortrijk, once again showed the form that will likely see him join the ranks of the future Classics heavy-hitters. He would later finish fourth in Roubaix, alongside his third place in the same race last year.
Quick Step-Omega Pharma have been maligned this spring for a series of failures, despite their vastly superior numbers and well-drilled team, to secure the top podium places that were expected of them. Roubaix puts an end to this, with Terpstra capitalising on the exceptional work of teammate and sentimental favourite for the win, Tom Boonen.
Boonen’s repeated surges, beginning with 65 kilometres to go, were really what made the race, splitting the group over and again until only the favourites, who to that point seemed content to follow, were remaining. While the title honours went to the deserving Terpstra, as is so often the case in a team effort it was Boonen who made the race, showing himself once again to be a true Classics gladiator.
We often forget that professional cyclists have real lives, off the bike. It’s been well documented, though, that Boonen and his wife endured the tragic miscarriage of their child only a few days before this year’s Milan-San Remo. That he found the courage and condition to compete in both the Ronde and then Roubaix is remarkable in itself. That he once again returned to some of his best form to animate Roubaix was the showing of an exceptional rider.
Much has been made of Peter Sagan’s personal interaction with the press (and podium girls), but he remains an exciting rider to watch. He certainly has a bright future in these two races, and after a disappointing 16th place at Flanders, 1:25 behind Cancellara, he bounced back to finish sixth at Roubaix in the group containing Boonen, Thomas and Cancellara.
At only 24, we’ll see the best of Sagan in the future – maybe not next year, but soon. The physical maturity required to win in spring may also coincide with a little personal maturity to go with it.
I always have an eye toward the Aussies in the big races but, alas, this year is proving to be another sparse Classics season for us. Australia will always struggle to produce the depth of Belgium and the Netherlands, whose riders are brought up on the cobbles and in the wind, but Australian achievement of any kind in these two races has been non-existent for a while now.
Not so long ago we saw Henk Vogels and Stuart O’Grady place well in the top ten. O’Grady ultimately won the title in his latter years and it looked like Australia had come of age as a producer of cycling champions in every aspect of the sport.
Mitch Docker was the best placed Australian from Orica-GreenEDGE in the 2014 edition, taking 29th position. He has consistently performed well in these races after the leaders he is meant to be riding in support of fall by the wayside. OGE is a well-balanced team but lacks the sheer strength of a Boonen or Cancellara, riders capable of leading and inspiring a team to victory in these tough races.
I’m looking forward to seeing Simon Gerrans perform again at Amstel and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but it will be some time before we see another Australian contender in the big week of one-day racing.
Cycling history is full of great rivalries, but the Cancellara-Boonen battle has been special. It’s unlikely that we’ll see two such riders again anytime soon, but we are beginning to see the makings of a future generation of Spring contenders.
Hopefully, in a few more years, we’ll see the youngest generation of Australians take a step toward being among them.
Fancy a wager on your favourite sport? Head on over to PlayUp for great odds and friendly customer service and pick a winner. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.