Flemish Cycling Classics.
There are quite a few cycling enthousiasts here. I suppose that some have seen what happened yesterday. An enormous 'chute' (accident) during a descent that will change the outcome of the upcoming classics. Most of the big names were casualties in that accident.
The Dwars door Vlaanderen Classic ('Through Flandres') has a few kms of dangerous descent: downhill from the 'Kanarieberg' (Canary Mountain), on a well-paved, wide and mostly traight road. The speed rises to 75 - 80 km/hr at some points. Ironically, commentators on Flemish TV, all ex-profs, criticized that route as being too dangerous: the pack is too close together. Not a stretched line like you see in the Alps during the tour. Only seconds after one of the commentators mentioned it again, they men on the bikes touched each other and a total crash @ 80 km/hr was the result. It's a miracle that no one died on the pavement!
Big names for the Tour de Flandres, Paris-Roubaix, Amstel Gold and the LBL are out: broken ribs, broken shoulders, broken hands, elbows and wrists; open wounds on their back. Biggest names here: Wout van Aert, Jasper Stuyven, Biniam Girmay and Mads Pedersen (the latter beat MvdP last week during the E3).
MvdP, Mathieu vd Poel, was not in yesterday's race. Tom Pidcock will not start in the Tour de Flandres.
