Cobbled/Single Day/Flandrian classics campaigns begin the season for real

Up until this past weekend the vast majority of the racing in the early 2016 season has been under sun drenched skies in warm climates. What the Belgians might refer to as the pre-season, what I might call the tune-up racing where the big names are racing for fitness and form. Maybe that's a little unfair to some of the races, but that's January and February of a new season for you. Until this weekend that was, when the racing arrived in Belgium and kicked off the cobbled classics campaign. Now the racing is for keeps.

And it's funny though, because after the two opening races this weekend -- the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne -- the riders will head south again to training camps, the Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Milan-San Remo before they turn up in Belgium again almost a full month later for the Dwars Door Vlaanderen and eventually the Tour of Flanders. So in many ways these two races are pre-season races in the cobbled classics season; a chance for riders and team management to access form and build a strategy for when they arrive back again in a months time.

Still, the two races do in way mark the real beginning of the European season and what follows on at Paris-Nice, Tirenno and San Remo is only the continuation of the schedule. The Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad released their cycling season guide on the weekend and many fans really begin to sit up and take note of results. As I said, they're racing for results now and not just fitness.

That is the classics men, of course. The little skinny men we will see soar in the summer won't be anywhere near a Belgian or northern French road anytime soon if they can help it. The Cobbled/Berg/Muur season -- let's call it the single day classic season -- belongs to a different kind of rider and it's the coming six to eight weeks in which their entire seasons are built upon.

Someone like Tom Boonen, in the last chance saloon of his career will see this spring as make or break. Even Peter Sagan. While the world champion will win races across the entire season, there is no doubt that his season will be judged upon what he does in monument races like Milan-San Remo, Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The time is nigh for the 26-year old to finally step up and win one of those three big races this spring. Failure to do so will see questions really begin to mount regardless of what else he wins the rest of the year.

Anyway...the cobbled/single day/Flandrian classics season is underway and it was perennial second place man Greg Van Avermaet who drew first blood ahead of the other perennial second place man, Sagan. The big Belgian beat the Slovak in a five up sprint from a group that had been away for a while but had held the chasing peloton at bay. Young Belgian phenom, Tiesj Benoot  -- of whom much is expected this spring and for many springs to come -- was third ahead of Luke Rowe and Alexis Gougeard.

As the run in to the finish approached it became clear that all five seemed content to duke it out in a sprint. Gougeard looked spent while the rest clearly fancied their chances with perhaps Rowe and Benoot lacking the legs to make a late attack. And so Sagan v Van Avermaet always seemed the likely duel to the line with the Belgian proving too powerful on the day. Early days for Sagan to worry about being nipped and he still showed some good form.

Flanders will remain his ultimate target as it will for Van Avermaet, though in a statistical anomaly that some call the curse of the Omloop, nobody who has won here has gone on to win at Flanders. Indeed, the win in Gent has often led to a poor season results wise for the victor, but curses -- if you believe in such nonsense -- are made to be broken and I get the feeling Van Avermaet won't let it hang over him too heavily. He'll be glad of snapping his second place curse more-so and in doing so might yet prove to be the ideal successor to Tom Boonen...at least until Benoot is ready!

As for Sunday's race, Jasper Stuyven won the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne by 17 seconds ahead of pre-race favourite Alexander Kristoff. A fine solo win the young Belgian who attacked alone with about 14km to go after several moves by others, and splits in the main field, failed to result in a winning move. It was Stuyven`s first major one-day race win.

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Rider of the week

Jasper Stuyven for that solo victory ala his team-mate Fabian Cancellara at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.