This short film produced last year will really whet your appetite for this season’s spring classics. The cobbled classics which Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) describes as “a one day war” could be particularly interesting as it seems there could be a lot of riders in contention.
2016 will see Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick Step) and Fabian Cancellara clash for the last time after some epic battles over the last ten years as the Swiss rider is set to retire at the end of the season. Between the pair of them, they have won Paris-Roubaix seven times and the Tour of Flanders six times.
John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) had a brilliant 2015 when he took victory in both Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix and will be looking to add to his tally of classics victories.
Last year, Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) became the first rider ever to win the Three Days of De Panne, Tour of Flanders and Scheldeprijs in the same season and is building up a nice palmares of one day wins.
Will this year see Zdeněk Štybar (Etixx-Quick Step) stand on the top step of the podium of Paris-Roubaix having finished in 2nd, 5th and 6th places in previous years?
Will Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) finally win a monument having finished in the top ten on seven previous occasions? And there are more riders who could be in contention such as Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing), Geraint Thomas (Team Sky), Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step) and Lars Boom (Astana).
Let’s hope that all the main contenders can remain injury-free in the run-up the classics.
Mark Lyons John Slattery Patrick Fox
Only two more months till it all starts!
There’s nothing better in pro cycling than classics season. And the highlight of that period is the cobbled classics! It all kicks off with the Omloop on Feb 27. Not long now!