The level of excitement one feels towards watching particular races is influenced by a multitude of factors. Let’s explore the standout moments throughout each season, shall we?
A Feeling of Spring
There is acertain ceremony I follow at the beginning of the year. In the first few weeks I regularly check if a nicely formatted race calendar is already released. This year a redis post by nz-is-beautiful was the first version I could find. Thanks to the ongoing cycling virus that infects more and more colleagues in the office I printed it three times, two for my fellow cycling enthusiast and one for my wall at the desk.
The first glimpse of some classics actions is always brought to us by Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and offered me a first chance to root for Nils Politt who I always rooted for but even more so after sharing a train shuttle at the airport with him. Sadly he experienced the full force of Visma – Lease a Bike and could “only” secure second place against winner Jan Tratnik.
Le Samyn is also refreshing to see, you can really make out how much it means to all riders attending and I get the feeling that it is often more raced by hearth then by tactics. Then comes Strade Bianche. Monument or not, I enjoy the chaotic gravel section phase and always look forward to the finale where one of my favorite watt bombs ever occured:
Spring Classics
Next follows the first phase of the year were there is almost too much cycling going on at once with Paris–Nice and Tirreno Adriatico running in parallel. Additionally the pain of an average 9-5 worke kicks in with only being able to watch the last 10-20 km of each race as VoD on this years successor of GCN (Discovery+). A new factor of determining of whether to closely follow a race manifested itself this year: Does one and only one of the two GC dominators (Pogacar and Vingegaard) participate? I really enjoyed Paris—Nice this year with constant battles of different groups fighting for the win on each day.
Now we are in full swing with races that almost always deliver and are a must watch:
- Milano Sanremo
- E3 Saxo Bank Classic
- Gent Wevelgem
- Tour of Flanders
- Paris Roubaix
- Amstel Gold Race
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège
You are fully saturated with countless great races during the week and the magical 4 week sunday highlights that look like this in the calendar:
These are also races worthwhile to watch the whole broadcast (unlike Milano Sanremo where the first few hours are reserved for catching up on sleep). Following this intense phase I only look out for one further race before the Grand Tours begin: Eschborn–Frankfurt. The appeal of this race is a personal one. As a german fellow you experience a cocktail of emotions: Rare and beautiful scenery of places you visited before, cringe live broadcast that only focuses on the german riders by state television and the question of “will it end up in a bunch sprint or does the breakaway take the win?”.
Heading into the Grand Tours
As much as I enjoy watching one-day races, only a few of them offer as much excitement as a grand tour. There is a certain atmosphere that surrounds a three-week race, and I anticipate it so much that even the team presentation becomes part of my watch list. Further thoughts on the Giro will be explored in the second part of this article, along with a glimpse at the second half of the season.
I hope you enjoyed accompanying me on my journey through the first half of the season. Until next time!