The Better of PEZ’25 – A Tour of Flanders quick historical past lesson: That is the holy Flemish biking week (actually two weeks) and the 108th version of the Tour of Flanders is on Sunday, following the Three Days of De Panne (now the Traditional Brugge – De Panne), E3 Saxo Traditional, Gent–Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen. The ‘Flemish World Championships’ are all the time onerous fought for, whoever crosses that end line first in Oudenaarde shall be a star for the remainder of his life.
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Flanders first winner – Paul Deman
The primary Tour of Flanders was on Might 23, 1913. There have been solely 37 riders in that first occasion, which was run over 324 kilometres. After twelve hours, Paul Deman was the primary to cross the road in Mariakerke. Karel Van Wijnendaele was the person behind the race, he was a journalist and was in search of one thing new to publicise his newspaper De Sportwereld, so organising the Tour of Flanders was excellent. The early editions have been all on the exceptionally unhealthy Flemish cobbles, which the organisers have tried to maintain within the race as a lot as attainable. In these early years, De Ronde was sometimes held on the identical day as Milano-Sanremo.
Briek Schotte – The primary Flandrien
Later the organisers needed to make modifications and moved in direction of the Flemish Ardennes for the climbs of the Kluisberg, Kwaremont and the Kruisberg. In 1950, after the dominance of Achiel Buysse, Briek Schotte and Fiorenzo Magni, the long-lasting Muur van Geraardsbergen added to the course. Within the Nineteen Seventies, the Oude Kwaremont and the Koppenberg have been additionally added. These two climbs are nonetheless vital. Throughout that point Buysse and Magni each gained the race 3 times and are joint file holders.
De Ronde – The place legends are made
Clearly, Belgians have gained the Tour of Flanders essentially the most instances, sixty-nine. Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw and Tom Boonen, identical to Buysse and Magni, have gained 3 times. Fabian Cancellara joined the file holders record in 2014 after his wins in 2010 and 2013. The primary Dutch victory got here in 1953, when Wim van Est was the winner. He was joined by different males from the Netherlands: Jo de Roo, Evert Dolman, Cees Bal, Jan Raas (twice), Hennie Kuiper, Johan Lammerts, Adrie van der Poel, Niki Terpstra and Mathieu van der Poel (twice). The winners during the last ten years have all been high names: Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Kasper Asgreen, Alberto Bettiol, Niki Terpstra, Philippe Gilbert, Peter Sagan, Alexander Kristoff and Fabian Cancellara.
2022 Tour of Flanders
Within the 2022 Tour of Flanders the race exploded on the Berendries. A counter-attack together with Alberto Bettiol, Mads Pedersen and Ben Turner shook the race up. Then Tadej Pogačar got here into motion on the Berg Ten Houte, however it was on the Oude Kwaremont that Pogačar attacked for the primary time. Kasper Asgreen was on his wheel, whereas Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock needed to chase from additional again. After the Oude Kwaremont, Dylan van Baarle escaped with Fred Wright, they have been joined on the Koppenberg by Pogačar, Van der Poel and the Frenchman, Valentin Madouas. On the subsequent climb of the Oude Kwaremont, Pogačar gave it one other go. Van Baarle and Wright couldn’t maintain on, Madouas adopted not a lot later. On the Paterberg, Van der Poel needed to grit his enamel to carry the Slovenian. The 2 raced on collectively to the end in Oudenaarde, however Van der Poel and Pogačar began to play video games within the final kilometre and Van Baarle and Madouas returned to the entrance from nowhere. Madouas and Van Baarle handed Pogačar within the dash, behind second-time winner Van der Poel.
2023 Tour of Flanders
In 2023 Tadej Pogačar made up for the earlier 12 months. The Slovenian rode away from Mathieu van der Poel the final time up the Oude Kwaremont. He caught and handed Mads Pedersen after which soloed to his first victory in Flanders. A powerful Van der Poel was second and Pedersen edged out Wout van Aert for third.
No errors for Pogačar in 2023
Final 12 months, Tadej Pogačar didn’t experience and Mathieu van der Poel was anticipated to win the 2024 Tour of Flanders, however the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider took an epic Ronde with a solo effort within the Flemish rain, going solo from the Koppenberg. Surprisingly, Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-B&B Resorts) was second and Michael Matthews was third, however the Australian was declassed in favour of Nils Politt (UAE Workforce Emirates).
2024 De Ronde highlights
Van der Poel to take the file in 2025?
# You may see the 2025 PEZ ‘Race Report’ HERE. #
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