Pick whatever sport you like and think about what makes for the greatest showmen in that realm. Surely they are exciting to watch, but why are they exciting to watch? It is not only because they are very athletically gifted. And it is not only, because they exude confidence while swaggering around and showing off that extreme athletic talent. What makes the greatest showmen the greatest showmen is that they write the script for every game, match, event, or race they take part in; this is how they transform themselves into larger than life characters who dazzle the fans in unforgettable ways. On this Opening Weekend in Belgium two of cycling’s superstars dictated how the race would play out…and in a complete power move: neither even factored in winning into their calculations. Omloop Het Nieuwsbald and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne are prestigious Classics to win. To win one of them not only starts someone’s season off right, for most riders the season is already a success the instant they cross the line in victory. But as you shall hear, for the titans of the sport, that was of little interest.
Alas! It was a balmy sunny probably 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit and 5-10 degrees Celsius. Such inappropriate weather for the Opening Weekend. Alas! it seems the Winter Warlocks have already gone into summer hibernation. But surely it was of little matter at Omloop Het Nieuwsbald: always a tough race that tires out the legs. Yes, that is how it started off. The cobbled bergs were doing their proper damage as usual. With 70 km still to go the field was slowly starting to shrink as the domestiques and pretenders were crashing or running out of gas. It was running like a typical Flemish Cobbled Classic, and with 43 km to go the peloton ascended the Molenberg cobbled climb with the early day breakaway less than a minute up the road. It was no surprise to see Matteo Trentin (UAE) and three Quicksteps pushing the pace. Over the top, as is the way of the Classics ten or so riders had a gap. Greg Van Avermaet (A2GR) the reigning Olympic Champion for an extra year with his gold helmet was there, nearly-man Sep Vanmarcke was there, Matteo Trentin was there, a Cofidis rider, a Qhubeka rider, a Bingoal rider, and three Quicksteps were there. One of the Quicksteps was Zdenek Stybar the former cyclocross World Champion, another was the talented Davide Ballerini who already won two stages this year at the Tour de la Provence. And yes, yes, it had to be: one of the Quickstep riders was of course the reigning World Champion wearing his Rainbow Jersey, our beloved Musketeer Julian Alaphilippe. Dear Reader or Listener, you should know where this story is going by now. The group of ten or so caught the early breakaway of five riders, had got a fifteen to twenty second gap over what remained of the peloton behind, and though it wasn’t much: over the next couple of kilometers all viewers came around to declare this would probably be a big selection for the day. The group was strong and working well together, only Groupama’s Kevin Geniets, the Champion of Luxembourg, and the newest Grenadier Tom Pidcock were able to bridge across to the strong front group in the midst of lifting off for the rest of the race.
In only his second Cobbled Classic ever—his debut was only last fall at the Tour of Flanders where you all remember he crashed out—Julian Alaphilippe the Musketeer was captaining the leading group of Omloop Het Nieuwsbald, the mini-Tour of Flanders. Surely if this group just kept working well together they could pry open a more sizable gap to stay away from the rest of the peloton to the Muur at some 18 kilometers from the finish where they could make a further and final selection. With 34 km to go, they had a thirty second gap: Omloop Het Nieuwsbald was coming to a fine boil despite the nice weather. And then with 32 km to go, our Musketeer tore up the typical script. He attacked on the Berendries climb, and no one could go with him. With his arm sleeves rolled down, sunglasses hiding any emotion in his eyes, Alaphilippe rode away seemingly comfortable on his beautiful Specialized Worlds painted bicycle. Julian Alaphilippe was striking out on the attack and cruising. Within two kilometers, he had a 16 second gap over the strong chasing group he just left. Now in this moment, of course, of course we were all excited to see one of our favorite riders out on the attack, but with 32 km to go, surely this is a long way to solo, Julian. Have you attacked too early? Did you want others to go with you? Or are you just feeling that good? Only Tom Pidcock even had the energy to attempt to attack up to you, but he could not find separation. Yes, Julian Alaphilippe was showing some flying form, and giving the people a show. And now the question must be asked: what exactly is Julian Alaphilippe’s Quickstep job description for this race?
This is actually a perennially weird thorny question in cycling. Surely, many riders showed up at this race today with no ambition to win the race themselves, instead they were there to work for others. In what other sport do the majority of competing athletes not try to win the competition they are competing in? But this is the case in every cycling race across the calendar. And so, why was Julian Alaphilippe here? To win the race for Quickstep? Perhaps, but clearly that wasn’t enough for Alaphilippe. Clearly Alaphilippe’s best chance to win would be to have stayed with that strong group, shared the workload so that they stayed away until the Muur where they can then prove who has the strongest legs for the day. Instead Alaphilippe decided to expend way more energy because instead of rotating with ten men and getting 9 rotations of shelter from the wind, he took it all upon himself. And without Alaphilippe, what remained of the peloton was clawing their way back to the 10 or so group Alaphilippe left. And with 21 km to go, even Alaphilippe’s gap to that group of 10 or so was coming back down. Surely, we all realized: Alaphilippe was not here to win, he was here to put in a big day. If he carried a 32 km solo breakaway to the line and took the victory, awesome great, bonus points for him. If he put on a show and won some more fans too, that’d also be awesome. But what he was doing was just selfishly trying to get some hard race kilometers in the legs for later objectives. In a way it was little disrespectful to the race. It was disrespectful, because with 18 km as he was coming into the town of Geraardsbergen, the reckless showmen Julian Alaphilippe was caught not only by his strong 10 or so man chasing group, but also the remaining peloton behind at the very foot of the Muur.
And then came the strange finish that has not been seen at Omloop Het Nieuwsbald for 27 years. Over the Muur van Geraardsbergen, the most famous climb in Belgium, the Kapelmuur, the race regrouped instead of shattering apart. Only Ineos’ Gianni Moscon found some separation over the top—everyone else strung out but the elastic never snapped and some 50 riders formed a peloton once more. And in a few kilometers time Moscon was caught on the top of the Bosberg, the final climb of the day. With 13 km of net downhill left, it looked like Omloop Het Niuewsbald, the mini-Tour of Flanders, would be decided in a 50-man sprint finish. Yes, this race has not ended in a bunch sprint for 27 years. At this point, Quickstep had the numbers and they were prepared to leave it to a sprint. They controlled the front and set a relentless pace that discouraged any attacks in order to keep the group together. And despite his showman antics already, Alaphilippe did his part for the team into the very last kilometer to help hold it together. And having already made the earlier selection and gotten his season off to a hot start with those two Provence stages and just having the contagious Quickstep winning-ethos, Davide Ballerini finished off the day for Quickstep and manhandled the sprint where he won by four or five bike lengths.
Julian Alaphilippe was the strongest rider in this race. He could have won this race if he had just waited until the traditional and ultimate spot to make a winning move on the Kapelmuur. Instead, he re-wrote the script in order to put in a hard day’s work and maybe even give the people a show. His antics led to a bunch sprint won by a teammate in a race that has forgot what a bunch is. And despite that, he was completely upstaged on Sunday at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
Despite having seen the Musketeer Julian Alaphilippe put on an inexplicably reckless show the day before at Omloop, we were still all at a loss with what we were seeing with 85 km to go at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (KBK). We knew he was trying to get some hard miles in his legs when he went to the UAE Tour. He made the most of his one day of racing when he won a hard sprint after a long day of brutal crosswind action. But a staff member tested positive for COVID and the team was set home. He did not start Omloop, but he became the favorite for Kuurne as soon as it was announced he’d be taking part. We all figured, surely he has the quality and talent to be there in the sprint at the end, he’ll have the endurance to do a good finish and might even be the fastest guy here on paper outright anyways. But still, all of us were scratching our heads as we saw Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) reigning and four times the Cyclocross World Champion on the attack on one of the little climbs with the Ecuadorian Grenadier Jhonathan Narvaez who had won a hilly stage of the Giro d’Italia last year as the only man that even bothered to link up with him. There were eight or so riders 3 minutes up the road comprising the early break of the day. What the hell was Van Der Poel playing at trying to bridge up to them? The broadcast had not even started but ten minutes ago. What was the plan here? Truly, I recall my thoughts in the moment: “What the hell is he doing? What an idiot. I could understand if he wanted to try this long-range crap with 50 km to go, from there I’d give him a chance, but this is too far. This is dumb and upsetting, because I want to see him actually take a shot at winning. He’s just ruining his chances to win at this point.” And then I paused and thought for a moment, subconsciously I had just learned the lesson Alaphilippe had taught us yesterday about showmanship, and putting in a big day. I did not consciously know it yet, but I did verbally say “Eh, whatever, let’s have fun with it. Let’s see what he can do.”
So before we go on about how Van Der Poel tears up the script of this race, let us praise another player. Not only was I surprised to see Jhonathon Narvaez on the attack with Van Der Poel, I was surprised to see him in this race. Ecuador is a country that gets its name because it sits on the Equator—a place known for tropical weather and sun, and furthermore the Ecuadorans are to the Colombians like the Canadians or Kiwis are to the Americans or Australians. The Colombians and the rest of the South Americans are mostly known for their climbing prowess and have zero results to speak of in the Cobbled Classics. What are they supposed to know about racing in the harsh North of Belgium? Now the stage of the Giro Narvaez won last year was horrendous with biblical amounts of rain, but still this morning if I had looked over Ineos’ lineup I would have assumed they had one spot left and they made all the South American climbers draw straws to see who would be stuck filling it, and Narvaez had drawn the shortest straw. But here he was…riding with Mathieu Van Der Poel in his Dutch Champion’s jersey inexplicably trying to bridge a three-minute gap to the early breakaway of the day with 85 km to go. What was going through Narvaez’s head as he rode with this O! so talented one? Did the Ineos DS in the car say: “O Johnnie, make sure our team’s represented in any moves that go up the road from here.” That is actually a logical thought in theory, but the two-man composition of chasers had nothing logical about it in practice. The tall big-shouldered Dutch race favorite and a small South American climber made for such a strange pairing, and I absolutely loved it. Van Der Poel literally looked like Achilles, a giant among men on the battlefield, and Narvaez today looked like his trusty aide and friend Patroclus wing-manning his captain on a new adventure. Van Der Poel could not even get a proper draft off him. But if Julian Alaphilippe had taught us anything from yesterday, Van Der Poel didn’t care about getting a draft today. Yes, he’d like to win and he would try, but he more so was here to put in a hard day for the week of racing he was robbed of when his team was booted from the UAE Tour. Just as Alaphilippe used Omloop as training, now it was Van Der Poel’s turn to do the same at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. The only, only other explanation I can think of for this ludicrous scene is the most outlandish of all, and yet there is definitely truth to it: apparently in the past Van Der Poel has had a problem of getting too bored in long road races before things heat up in the exciting Finales—surely, he is a one-hour Cyclocrosser at heart.
With 70 km to go, Van Der Poel and Narvaez were already only 75 seconds down on the day’s early breakaway, and 75 seconds ahead of the peloton behind. With 65 km to go, Van Der Poel and Narvaez were only 45 seconds behind the early day breakaway and now 90 seconds ahead of the peloton. The reckless Madman Plan was working, surely soon they would make the junction with the early break. At the top of the Oude Kwaremont, one of the hardest and most famous Cobbled Climbs in Belgium, with about 60 km to go, Van Der Poel and Narvaez caught what was left of the original break with the peloton two minutes behind; Phase One of the Madman Plan was complete. On the Oude Kwaremont, behind selections were being made in the peloton: Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) kicked off the action, but John Degenkolb (Lotto-Soudal) looked better than he has in years. And Greg Van Avermaet with his Gold Helmet was there too, and Oliver Naesan his friend and training partner and A2GR teammate. Teisj Benoot (DSM), Quickstep’s Asgreen in the Danish Champion’s Jersey, and more than 20 others were chasing hard. With 58 km, they were only some 75 seconds behind Van Der Poel’s front group: now the Finale was really begun.
With 55 km to go, it was time to enact Phase Two of the Madman Plan, shed the deadweight. Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne is full 200 km day, having been on the front all day, most of the guys’ legs in the early break were screaming by the time Van Der Poel bridged up to them. Many would not help him make it to the finish so why not shell out many of them who could not aid him in the quest? But Van Der Poel kept looking over his shoulder before attacking—and he was clearly itching to attack. But what was he waiting for? His newfound friend, the Grenadier Jhonathon Narvaez, his full accomplice in this Madman’s Plan. So on the Kluisberg, the very last proper climb of the day, Van Der Poel ratcheted up the pace—it wasn’t even a full-tilt attack—and Narvaez came to his wheel subliminally knowing the plan already, and only Jonas Hvideberg of the small Norwegian Uno-X team could keep pace with them. For a Pro-Conti, second division, rider like Hvideberg, this is the best shop window he could ask for to find early World Tour suitors for the next season. Behind the other favorites were all forming an elite group of chasers only 52 seconds back. Surely, things were getting tight, the Madman’s Plan was turning into the big ask we always knew it was. By 52 km, the gap was only 45 seconds to the elite group of chasing favorites behind. Meanwhile, up front, two riders from the early break had clawed their way back to the leading trio of Van Der Poel, Navraez, and Hvideberg. The two riders were Patrick Gamper (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Artyom Zakharov (Astana – Premier Tech). And if the day couldn’t get stranger, Van Der Poel turned around to welcome them both each personally to the group. What was he saying to them? Surely, he must have spoken with them and expected them to aid the Madman’s Plan. Surely, he must have impressed upon them that if they did not aid in the escape, he would attack them again once more. Surely this is what he said, because Gamper and Zakharov immediately started sharing the pace. It was a comical scene, and it shall be remembered. Now, the reason all four of these other riders happily worked with Van Der Poel—who they were sure to lose to in a sprint—was because a Top Five result in a major Classic would be a great result for all four of these men. With 50 km to go, the gap was only 41 seconds, yes, surely this would be a big ask for this group to stay away all the way to Kuurne.
And yet, with 42 km to go, the gap had stabilized and was even back up to 50 seconds, the Madman’s Plan was getting a second wind and every single viewer was loving the moment—chuckling at the hilarity of what they couldn’t believe to be seeing. Yes, this was an ideal “Sprinters’” Cobbled Classic, a small group of strong escapees upfront surely already very tired from their more excessive early efforts than the chasers behind, the chasers who had saved more energy sitting behind in the draft of other riders and only showed themselves at need now finally kicking into high gear themselves to bring back the men up front. This escape and chaser dynamic developed a third wrinkle as well, a third group had formed behind to chase back onto that more elite second group, but what this third group lacked in quality it backed up for in quantity. Surely, it lacked in quality for the strongest men besides Van Der Poel were in the second group on the road having proven the strongest over the climbs where the peloton broke up. And then the bane of pelotons in Belgium hit, that quant-itous third group was ravaged by crosswinds over an exposed field—whittling it down into only the most elite men of that group. Yes, it is days like these where the Classics receive their name. This continued for some time. Van Der Poel and his loyal four, the main favorites in a group of 20 or so behind, and a third group of 10 or 15 more minor favorites and top domestiques in a third group who had not yet given up the fight. With 25 km to go, Van Der Poel’s leading five had a tenuous 23 second gap over the 2nd Group, and only a 53 second gap over the 3rd. Surely, this was the definition of a finely balanced race, if ever there was one—touch and go, we say, touch and go. Even that third group was not out of it. If they could catch the second group, the two groups would about double in size and thus potentially double in firepower to bring back the mighty Van Der Poel and is makeshift “teammates” up front. Touch and Go. Truly, it was touch and go.
It is races like these that need to be shown to the people who understand nothing about cycling. It is races like these that showcase the sport well. And we can be thankful for the mighty ones like Julian Alaphilippe and Mathieu Van Der Poel who have a knack of providing us with such spectacles. We all remember Van Der Poel’s 2019 Amstel Gold finish, it was engraved in the heart of every cycling fan, on the Road he punched his ticket into the Club all the way back then. But it wasn’t really until today that he finally received the keycard in his mailbox after two years of them getting lost in the mail. The keycard to the “Makes-Your-Day-Club;” surely it took so long to arrive, because Van Der Poel has the pesky caveat that it is only every one of his Road Wins that Makes Our Day—the keycard do not work whenever he wins a minor non-round-triple-digit Cross race. But here we were, reveling in the beauty of bike racing, as Mathieu Van Der Poel, one of the sport’s great showmen spoiled us by putting his talents to more entertaining that strategically reasonable uses.
They rode through the city streets of Kortrijk, signifying they were close to the finishing line, but of course as tradition in this race, there would be a one pass through the finish before a final lap of 16 kms. And the finely balanced race became much more interesting when finally with 17 kms to go, the third chasing group got within a stone’s throw of the second group. And then in the second group, Greg Van Avermaet, the Olympic Champion, made that third group work for the junction by putting in a surge on the front to keep his second group away—make the third group do the maximum work to catch back on. Meanwhile with 16 km to go, Van Der Poel and his leading group passed through the finish line to begin the final lap, but with Van Avermaet’s surge the gap between the first and second groups was only some 10 seconds—12 at most, I kid you not. Though the last kilometers seem to be on the quiet suburban or village roads of Kuurne, the final lap would take the riders back into the city streets of Kortrijk before rounding back to the finish line they just crossed in Kuurne. Ten seconds, Van Der Poel and companions nervously kept taking looks over the shoulders and could see the shades of the sunglasses on the chasers behind…and yet still they did not give in—like the Trojans who would not lay down their arms. Yes, still the five kept the good corporation: a top five would be a great result for these four assisting Van Der Poel. And meanwhile behind, the beautiful game-theory equalizer in bike racing was taking place to string out the suspense: no one in that second chasing group wanted to be the man to spend the last bit of energy to finally catch the leading five: leave it to someone else. Yes, game theory, a prisoner’s dilemma, no one does the final chasing because it would benefit all but hinder the one to do the final chasing. And while that second group was being cagey about finishing off the job, that third group behind finally caught on and swelled their ranks with 11 km to go. And thus the complexion was changed once more: Van Der Poel and his four men in the lead with now a group some about 40 strong only 10 seconds behind. And yet now they were weaving right and left on the city streets of Kortrijk: no longer were the groups on the same straight stretch of road. And with 8 km to go, by Jove the gap between the two groups was up to 17 seconds: the Kortrijk city streets were giving this Madman Plan its five or sixth live of the day. Was Van Der Poel about to go two for two in road races he’s attended this season? Was he about to follow up his UAE Crosswinds win with a Belgian Classic, that no one thought he would even attend, a week later? He was getting lucky because behind the now big group had no cohesion and could not mount the chase. But the final roads were suburban and village straight wide boulevards—even a few sections of open space were exposed to the dangerous crosswinds. Still with 6 km to go, the gap was 22 seconds. Van Der Poel, Mathieu Van Der Poel was about to pull off another Classic win fully deserving of the name. O! It was too good to be true!
And thus yes, the Madman’s Plan was all too good to be true. With 4 km to go, the gap was still 20 seconds, but then the attacks finally came from the large chasing group: Groupama’s Stefan Kung, Bahrain’s Haussler, and Quickstep’s Asgreen ripped off and launched Cape Canaveral rocket attacks. No one could get separation, but they ate up Van Der Poel’s and his group’s 20 second gap. Attack after attack led to their downfall. With 1.5 km to go, the hilarious Madman Plan came to an end as Van Der Poel and his group was caught. But there was no time for shake hands with his new friends to commemorate a good try, Van Der Poel slotted right in to the chasing pack, ready to try his hand in the sprint despite being out in the wind for some 80 kilometers already. I say this with the most admiration possible, could we expect nothing less from this man? Surely, any that had seen 2019 Amstel Gold even knew we could not count him out to pull off this tallest of order sprints. He slotted in for the last K, and had to hope it just opened up back for him. They took the last turn. Whatever lead out men were left came to the front, we could see Van Der Poel in the mix of the sprint, but he was too far back and too boxed in. It was way too much to ask as we all knew. Trek-Segafredo’s Mads Pederson, the former World Champion, won the sprint, a rider we had not seen all day. Credit to him, he rode a smart race and took a great victory for his team. But Mads’ win was an afterthought compared to Van Der Poel’s performance. I think we all know Van Der Poel could have rode Mads’ race if he really wanted to. But Van Der Poel rewrote the script so extensively today, we didn’t even care about the winner. This was a race that put a smile on our faces that will not fade for three or four days, because we couldn’t believe the hilarious Madman Plan Mathieu Van Der Poel and his unexpected accomplice Jhonathon Narvaez came within a mile of pulling off. It was impressive and beloved, it is another anecdotal proof of why we always watch cycling—when you have superstars like Julian Alaphilippe the Musketeer or Mathieu Van Der Poel the Madman in the race you never know what antics and heroics they might strum up. Yes, I said it at the start, on this Opening Weekend these two showmen were bold enough to not even make winning their top priority. Both got in a hard day’s racing to serve them better for bigger objectives to come, and we got another story-thread to add to the sagas of these living legends’ careers, and these are tales that shall make us chuckle for days and years to come as we look back on their outlandish unbelievability.
Cycling Odysseys 