This Sunday night, March 31st, we get the next big race of the season, the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Official site here http://www.rondevanvlaanderen.be/en), otherwise known as the Tour of Flanders. The second of the ‘monuments‘, it comes just ahead of the Paris Roubaix, which will be run and won next weekend. The Tour of Flanders takes place every 14th Sunday of the year.
This from the official web site.
The Tour of Flanders was conceived of in 1913 by Karel Van Wijnendaele, co-founder of the sportspaper ‘Sportwereld’. In that era it was customary for publishers of newspapers and magazines to organise cycling races as a way of promoting circulation.
For us Aussies, SBS will be streaming and showing it live on SBS One.
SBS’s coverage of the Tour of Flanders begins at 10:30pm AEST Sunday 31st March with live streaming online at Cycling Central, with coverage on SBS ONE starting at 10.30pm.
For live race tickers, video and audio, steephill.tv and cyclingfans.com are the places to check.
You can check the route map on this PDF.
Complete start list is available here.
As usual, Inrng.com has an excellent preview to the race.
Here is video of last years final 50kms. Including vision of Cancellara hitting the deck, killing his spring classics campaign.
I’ll be up for I. Who’s your pick mate? .