Flemish Races: A Classic Re-Shuffle
blazing_saddles
Posts: 21,832
Found this on another site and thought it worthy of note:-
It looks like Belgian TV-producer Wouter Vandenhaute, who bought the Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Volk and Paris-Bruxelles, was able to convince the UCI to change the sequence of the Flemish (semi-)classics. His goal is to give the Flemish Cycling Week more international exposure by e.g. organizing Gent-Wevelgem on sunday before the Tour of Flanders. By doing so he wants to upgrade the status of Gent-Wevelgem which is now often skipped by the Flanders & Roubaix favourites.
What will happen with the KBC Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde is not clear yet.
The 2010 calendar:
Wednesday 24 March: Dwars Door Vlaanderen (to be confirmed)
Sunday 28 March: Gent-Wevelgem (UCI confirmed)
Wednesday 31 March: E3-prijs Harelbeke (to be confirmed, used to be on Saturday, the day before the Brabantse Pijl))
Sunday 4 April: Ronde van Vlaanderen (UCI confirmed)
Wednesday 7 April: Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen (to be confirmed)
Sunday 11 April: Parijs-Roubaix
Wednesday 14 April: Brabantse Pijl (to be confirmed, used to be on Sunday before the Ronde)
It looks like Belgian TV-producer Wouter Vandenhaute, who bought the Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Volk and Paris-Bruxelles, was able to convince the UCI to change the sequence of the Flemish (semi-)classics. His goal is to give the Flemish Cycling Week more international exposure by e.g. organizing Gent-Wevelgem on sunday before the Tour of Flanders. By doing so he wants to upgrade the status of Gent-Wevelgem which is now often skipped by the Flanders & Roubaix favourites.
What will happen with the KBC Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde is not clear yet.
The 2010 calendar:
Wednesday 24 March: Dwars Door Vlaanderen (to be confirmed)
Sunday 28 March: Gent-Wevelgem (UCI confirmed)
Wednesday 31 March: E3-prijs Harelbeke (to be confirmed, used to be on Saturday, the day before the Brabantse Pijl))
Sunday 4 April: Ronde van Vlaanderen (UCI confirmed)
Wednesday 7 April: Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen (to be confirmed)
Sunday 11 April: Parijs-Roubaix
Wednesday 14 April: Brabantse Pijl (to be confirmed, used to be on Sunday before the Ronde)
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
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Comments
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That's interesting, makes G-W into a bigger deal. Logical I suppose as you have an "empty" weekend after Milan-San Remo. ASO might not like it, with the Criterium International but that always attracts a different rider. All makes sense to me.0
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I quite like that E3 Prijs Harelbeke / Brabantse Pijl weekend. Two classics live on Sporza in one weekend! By being on the weekend they've become serious prizes in their own right.
And no Driedaagse De Panne before the Ronde?? Why not keep the E3 on the Saturday?0 -
Confirmed by the UCI now;
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... endar.html
Gent-Wevelgem is moved to the Sunday, a week before Flanders.
Note that the Tour of Catalunya has moved to March, around the time the recently defunct Semaine Catalane was held.0 -
I reckon the E3 will gain statue as well
I like it"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0 -
Let's hope the courses for the Canadian races are decent, it sounds like they'll be a replacement for the GP Zurich, and will help to start the end of the season well0
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Wasn't there a Montreal World Cup race ages ago, that nobody took seriously and was scrapped because European riders just couldn't be bothered?
Catalunya in March? So no serious mountain stages then anymore....0 -
I hear the organisers of the E3-Prijs are not happy about the reshuffle.0
