This past weekend saw the kick-off of 2013’s spring classics
campaign with the running of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The longstanding kickoff of the cobbled
classics is usually the first half of a weekend double with
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, but the later was cancelled due to an overnight
snowstorm. The right call without a
doubt, but it points to the extremely unpredictable nature of racing in the
north of Europe in spring. That specifically
makes the spring classics such a special time of year. There is no telling what can happen—due to
weather or simply bad luck—in these monuments of the cycling calendar.
A race like the Omloop is a semi-classic and won’t make or
break a career, but it is surely a gauge of early season fitness and a stage
for up-and-comers to make their mark on the cobbled calendar. The biggest thing
for me, though, is simply that it means the classics are upon us. That gets me
going. So today I put together a
veritable smorgasbord of images to get you psyched for the classics that are
coming. Some classic, some recent, these
images should get your blood pumping for the races that are just around the
corner.