The cycling heart of many Flemish people is bleeding after the heavy crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen and the subsequent cancellations for the Tour of Flanders. Organizer Flanders Classics regrets the absences, but still expects another cycling festival.
It seems as if the Tour of Flanders will no longer be received as the highlight of the Flemish spring after the loss of several trendsetters left and right, but the organization once again underlines who will be there.
“The Ronde is the largest one-day race in the world and transcends who participates,” says CEO Tomas Van Den Spiegel at Radio 1.
“The absence of Wout van Aert and Jasper Stuyven is a disappointment, but we must also realize that a lot of other top players will be racing on Sunday.”
“Every rider has setbacks in his career, but Sunday’s winner will be no less than last year’s winner or next year’s laureate.”
“It is a great pity that we will not see all the top players at the start, but for the same money we will get two world champions on the podium on Sunday.”
I hope everything goes safely and I say that every year. It has nothing to do with what happened on Wednesday, because the organization remains a feat anyway.
Tomas Van Den Spiegel (Flanders Classics)
Lotte Kopecky and Mathieu van der Poel are the absolute favorites. “They can both become record holders. So it can be a great day.”
“At Lotte we cannot of course assume that everything will go smoothly, although we do hope so. We have made a lot of efforts with our organization for women’s cycling and that coincides with the emergence of Kopecky.”
“She helped put the sport on the map and young girls now have a role model,” said Van Den Spiegel, who has only one wish for Sunday.
“I hope everything goes safely and I say that every year. It has nothing to do with what happened on Wednesday, because the organization remains a feat anyway.”
