Featured image courtesy of Luc Claessen/GettyImages
These are unprecedented times for sport. Unprecedented in a sense that it does not feel normal to what we’re used to and we wonder when sport will get back to normal post pandemic.
For cycling on the road, 2020 was a fast and frantic year with the season calendar postponed before being re-organised and condensed into hardly any breaks. We saw a Tour de France in September, the Spring Classics in Autumn and unfortunately some races had to be cancelled altogether.
Eerie silence on climbs and in host locations is a shame but of course we live in a time where crowds are a no-go. 2021 might be a new year but there will still be obvious differences with no crowds, face masks and Covid-19 testing.
There is hope that the yearly calendar is back to normal though. I like many other cycling fans watching from home are confident that we’ll see the Spring Classics back in their usual slot, the Tour back in place for July and for British fans, a Tour of Britain come September.
Cancellations are still possible and some have already been called off – the Tour of Valencia in Spain, which although low key is usually the first stage race of the season. A new date could yet be arranged and the same has been announced for the Women’s Tour in the UK, usually raced in June but a new plan to race in October is both sensible and understandable.
Other races such as the Ruta del Sol in Spain and the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal have sadly fallen victim to the virus and both look unlikely to be rearranged. Algarve in particular always attracts star names, so to see it cancelled is disappointing, but for the times we live in, not surprising.
Road cycling lives and breathes in Europe, the European season has got going but we are waiting for both the Classics and the imoortant pre-Grand Tour stage races to commence.
Every year the season actually starts in Australia with the Tour Down Under but for obvious reasons not this year. Not watching highlights of the Tour this year has been incredibly weird, the race itself always offering that first glimpse of peloton colour, new team jerseys and riders competing for current or new teams.
Hence the word unusual. Unusual that my yearly fill of World Tour cycling hasn’t begun with its traditional start.
With Australia limiting international travel during a pandemic you can understand why they cancelled. A small Down Under Festival of Cycling was held but of course that will never be the same as the race itself.
The emotion I have felt in the last few weeks though has been sheer joy. Nothing delights me more than to see European cycling return to action and unsurprisingly it has been thrilling to watch.
Two races in France have been raced, the Étoile des Bessèges and the Tour de la Provence.
Italian Filippo Ganna has begun where he left off after a sensational debut at last year’s Giro d’Italia, the current world time trial champion took four stages in his home country. At Étoile it was another solo attack by Ganna that produced a stage win and on the final stage another time trial success in the rainbow jersey.
For Ganna’s team, Ineos Grenadiers, the last few weeks could not have gone better with Filippo Ganna winning stages and young Colombian Iván Sosa taking the overall GC in Provence.
Belgian Tim Wellens also took a stage plus the final GC at Étoile but for me the first real head-to-head we’ve seen has come in Provence with Stage 3 finishing atop the legendary Mont Ventoux at Chalet Reynard. The current road world champion Julian Alaphilippe managed third place on the day, another sign of good climbing, but it remains to be seen as to what his goals are.
Sprinting has also been in abundance albeit with a few shocks along the way. Italian Davide Ballerini took two stages in Provence for Deceuninck Quick-Step and he even beat Frenchman Arnaud Démare – sprint king at the Giro last year. What surprised me was the way Démare’s Groupama-FDJ team got the leadout for their man all wrong.
At Étoile things were better for the French with Christophe Laporte taking the opening stage and even in defeat, seeing fellow countryman Nacer Bouhanni in second place would’ve made the French fans roar with excitement.
Although the Tour of Valencia was postponed, Spain did manage to hold the Clasica de Almeria with the current European champion Giacomo Nizzolo taking the one-day race – another Italian victory!
Road cycling will have difficulties, with cancellations part of a new normal. From my point of view, my fingers are crossed for the thrills and drama of bike racing on the horizon.
The first World Tour stage race, the UAE Tour, begins this weekend – hopefully the first of many during this unusual time.