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Tour of Flanders highlights a full week ahead

Published: Mar. 30, 2009
Rabobank trains on the roads of Flanders this week.
Rabobank trains on the roads of Flanders this week.
Photo: Agence France Presse

It’s another busy week of racing in Europe, with stage races in Belgium, Portugal and Italy, the second round of the women’s World Cup and a smattering of one-day races in France and Spain.

Without question, the main feature is the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. In cycling-crazed Belgium, this is their Super Bowl.

The entire nation seems to come to a standstill to watch the 258.9km battle from Brugge to Meerbeke (with plenty of beer-drinking along the way). This year’s route features 16 of the infamous cobble-stoned climb where most of the major attacks go down.

Tuesday to Thursday, March 31 to April 2

33rd Three Days of De Panne (Bel, 2.HC)

There are plenty of big names sharpening their knives ahead of Sunday’s Tour of Flanders with this four-stage, three-day battle across the cobbles of Flanders.

Defending champion Joost Posthuma will lead the Rabobank colors and Filippo Pozzato, fresh off victory Saturday at Harelbeke, hopes to continue on his winning ways for Katusha.

Leif Hoste, a winner in 2006, leads a strong Silence-Lotto lineup while Tom Boonen and Stijn Devolder headline the all-mighty Quick Step team.

Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad), racing last week at the world track cycling championships in Poland, is back on the road after winning Milan-San Remo. Martijn Maaskant leads Garmin-Slipstream with Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) hoping to score some strong results after a disappointing sixth at San Remo.

WEB: Three Days of De Panne

Tuesday to Sunday, March 31 to April 5

39th Settimana Ciciclistica Lombarda (Ita, 2.1)

Defending champion Danilo Di Luca (LPR) is back for this Italian-heavy stage race in and around Bergamo. Italians will be using this six-day race to hone their form ahead of the Ardennes classics and the Giro d’Italia.

This race typically crowns an up-and-comer, with the likes of Riccardo Riccò, Robert Gesink and Alexander Efimkin winning recent editions.

Juan Mauricio Soler, Chris Fromme and John-Lee Augustyn headline a robust Barloworld crew while Italian national champion Filippo Simeoni and his Flaminia team will be hoping to overcome a disastrous Tirreno-Adriatico that saw nearly the entire team pull out with a stomach virus.

Giovanni Visconti and Dario Cioni lead ISD while American Tejay Van Garderen and track star Theo Bos are the top names on the Rabobank continental team.

Danilo Napolitano (Katusha) and Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) will be the top guns in the mass sprints.

Wednesday to Sunday, April 1-5

27th Volta ao Alentejo (Por, 2.1)

Rock Racing should do well against this field of mostly Spanish and Portuguese teams, with Oscar Sevilla, Paco Mancebo and Tyler Hamilton listed on the American team's roster. An individual time trial and some hilly stages should make for some competitive racing.

Last year’s champion Hector Guerra is back with Portuguese-backed Liberty Seguros (which has nothing to do with the former Spanish team run by Manolo Saíz). Xavier Tondo, a winner in 2005, will lead Andalucía-CajaSur while Christophe Moreau stretches his legs for Agritubel.

WEB: Volta ao Alentejo

Friday, April 3

23rd Route Adélie de Vitré (Fra, 1.1)

The 197.8km course starting and finishing in Vitré in western France near Rennes is usually a French affair. Jason McCartney and JJ Haedo will try to break up the party for Saxo Bank while Jimmy Casper, a winner of a stage at Critérium International, will look to continue the good ride for his small, Bessons Chaussures team.

WEB: www.routeadelievitre.fr/

Saturday, April 4

11th GP Miguel Indurain (Spa, 1.HC)

Named after five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain, the race is held west of his hometown village near Pamplona in the hills around Estella.

Fabian Wegmann, third in Sunday’s Brabantse Pijl, has won two of the past three editions of the race and his Milram team will be back to defend the team colors. Several riders looking to shine in next week’s Vuelta a País Vasco will tackle the hilly course.

Defending Tour champ Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam), Olympic road champion Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) are some of the top Spanish riders who’ve committed to starting.

WEB: www.edosof.com/2009/estella

36th Hel van het Gergelland (Ned, 1.1)

Tony Martin (Columbia-Highroad) won this last year as part of his breakout season, though he won’t be back to defend his title as Columbia isn’t listed among teams on a preliminary start list. Smaller squads get a chance to shine in this 190.5km course starting and finishing in Eijsden.

WEB: www.helvanhetmergelland.nl/

Sunday, April 5

93rd Tour of Flanders(Bel, PT)

Known as the Ronde van Vlaanderen in Flemish, this is perhaps the season’s most thrilling and emotional one-day race on the calendar.

Milan-San Remo is longer, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is older and Paris-Roubaix might have more prestige, but nothing can match the sheer magnitude and raw passion of Flanders.

An estimated 1 million fans line the roads as the 258.9km course winds from the start on the Grote Markt at St-Niklaas in Brugge to the rather innocuous finish line in Meerbeke.

In between are the infamous hellingen or cobblestoned climbs. The 2009 route features 16 of these decisive, dramatic short but steep climbs.

All the big guns will be present for the start of classics week, the major goal of the season for such Belgian stars as Tom Boonen and Leif Hoste.

Quick Step comes with perhaps the best team on paper, with defending champion Stijn Devolder and two-time champ Boonen leading an impressive squad. Boonen will be trying to become just the fifth man to win Flanders three times.

Silence-Lotto, the other top pro Belgian team, will be looking to win with three-time runner-up Hoste and new recruit Philippe Gilbert.

It’s likely that reigning world champion and 2007 winner Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) will not be racing, but the Italians will be well represented with Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas).

Another question mark will be Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank), who’s suffered through a string of injuries and illnesses that has taken the wind out of his spring campaign. Martijn Maaskant will be leading the way for Garmin-Slipstream, but the team will be missing an on-form Tyler Farrar, out with a shoulder injury suffered at Milan-San Remo.

George Hincapie says he’s on his best form in years and will be supported by a strong Columbia-Highroad team. Cervélo TestTeam will also bring a deep squad, with Heinrich Haussler, Thor Hushovd and Roger Hammond. Canadian Dominique Rollin is also expected to earn a start. Nick Nuyens and Juan Antonio Flecha take the reigns for Rabobank.

Not surprisingly, Belgium boasts the most winners with 65. Italy is second with 10 and Holland third with nine. No North American has ever won Flanders.

Four men have won a record three times each. Italian Fiorenzo Magni won three straight from 1949-51 with three Belgians matching the feat. Achiel Buysse won three in the 1940s, Eric Leman in the 1970s and Johan Museeuw, the Lion of Flanders, winning in 1993, 1995 and 1998.

Only nine riders have won Flanders and then gone on to be victorious the following week at Paris-Roubaix. Boonen was the last to do it, in 2005, the same year he won the world championship in Madrid.

WEB: www.rvv.be/en/

6th Tour of Flanders (Bel, World Cup)

The cobblestones of Flanders are featured in the second round of the 10-stop women’s World Cup. Last year, Judith Arndt edged Kristin Armstrong to claim the victory.

The women tackle 11 climbs on the 130.8km course from Oost-Vlaanderen to Meerbeke, including the decisive Kapelmuur and Bosberg climbs in the final 15km.

Marianne Vos won the Trofeo Binda last weekend in Italy to open the World Cup season and claim the first leader’s jersey.

WEB: www.rvv.be/en/