It will be another weird cycling season
It was 5:30am when my alarm woke me up to catch the first interesting race of the season: Omloop het Nieuwsblad. I was ready, and also ready to make a mountain of crepes while watching the race.
There had been lots of theories of how another weird corona season would commence. Would we see a more traditional season, although without supporters along the roads, or would it be another atypical season.
Today’s race proved the latter. It didn’t follow its traditional pattern and oddly enough ended in a group sprint. Davide Ballerini won with several lengths the sprint.
Thus far the conclusions are that many racers lack race form. For example, Trek with Jasper Stuyven wasn’t ready. The cyclocrossers are expected to be ready. Wout Van Aert, Mathieu Vanderpoel, and we already saw Tom Pidcock today in form. And Julian Alaphilippe is always ready. I was bit disappointed that AG2R with Greg Van Avermaet and Oliver Naeseen, and a number of teammates, weren’t able to put up anything against the Wolfpack of Deceuninck-Quickstep.
Tomorrow is Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, which ends traditionally in a group sprint. However, with Mathieu Vanderpoel starting, we may end up with a less traditional episode. My prediction: Alexander Kristoff in the sprint.