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Former winners head list of favorites for Flanders
A cold rain fell on the cobbled streets of Brugge on Saturday, possibly a sign of things to come for Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, which traverses the famed cobblestone climbs of northern Belgian. The 269km World Cup classic includes 16 sharp hills, almost half of them on steep, narrow pitches of cobblestone roads through the countryside of Flanders. If conditions are wet, the slick, treacherous climbs become even more of a challenge as the race favorites slug it out.
Wet or dry, there will be plenty of contenders to choose from, including the past five Tour of Flanders winners — Andrei Tchmil (Lotto-Adecco), Peter Van Petegem (Mercury-Viatel), Johan Museeuw (Domo-Farm Frites), Michele Bartoli (Mapei-Quick Step) and Rolf Sorensen (CSC-World Online). Of that group, Tchmil has shown the best form of late, most recently at the Three Days of De Panne, which finished on Thursday. Bartoli suffered from an intestinal problem earlier this week, but is expected to be ready for the start in Brugge. Van Petegem also suffered illness in the past few days, dropping out of the Three Days of De Panne. His team says that he will not be 100 percent, but will be at the start.
Museeuw will be joined by some powerful Domo teammates, most notably the world champion Romans Vainsteins. Bartoli will also have some firepower behind him, including Liege-Bastogne-Liege champion Paolo Bettini and 1999 Paris-Roubaix winner Andrea Tafi.
The U.S. Postal Service heads into the race with a full head of steam, after placing three of its riders in the top five overall at the Three Days of De Panne. That trio – George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde and Viatcheslav Ekimov – will lead the Postal charge.
After beginning in the packed, narrow streets of Brugge, the race will head northwest toward the North Sea, sweep along the coast briefly and then head southeast toward Oudenaarde and the beginning of the hills at the 119km mark. After that it’s a crisscross journey through the countryside, with a dozen climbs coming in the final 80km. The final two, the Mur de Grammont and the Bosberg come one after the other with just 20km remaining, and then it’s a fast run-in to the finish in Meerbeke.
The weather forecast calls for morning showers, wind and a high temperature around 50 degrees F. If those showers stick around through the day, though, things could get interesting ….
