The Tour of Flanders will take place this weekend in Belgium, while the Paris-Roubaix, the other most famous Flandrian classic, scheduled for April 11 has been postponed until the fall. Why such different decisions on both sides of the Franco-Belgian border?
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No it was not an April fool: the organizers of Paris-Roubaix announced last Thursday, April 1, the postponement of the queen of classics for the second consecutive year. By decision of the Hauts-de-France Prefecture. Reasons put forward: the deterioration of the health situation in the region and the announcement of a third country-wide confinement.
While Belgium is in a comparable health situation, the country has maintained its cycling races. Yet his government decided on a new, strict confinement a week ago. After a jump of more than 40% of contaminations. Schools are closed and it is forbidden to meet more than four people outside.
Cyril Saugrain, former French professional cyclist, has been commenting for eight years on road cycling races in Belgium for the RTBF. Asked about this subject, he answers us, as a good connoisseur of the French and Belgian cycling worlds.
The little queen, the passion of the flat country
The passion for cycling that drives the Belgians has nothing to compare with that of the French for this sport. There are thousands of cyclists who circulate on the same roads every day in Belgium.
In every Belgian village there is a cyclist. In France, you do not have a cyclist in each village. This shared passion brings people together. Everyone feels united and interested.
On the Tour of Flanders, usually there are fields at the edges of the circuit which are rented out to accommodate hundreds of spectators who will spend their day under marquees watching the event in front of the screens except when the riders pass by. their fields, which happens several times, it’s the race that wants that.
Watch the races on TV, a message understood
First of all, there is a real collaboration between the organizers of the race and the political authorities up to the local elected representatives so that these races take place.
Then, around an event like the Tour of Flanders, communication to the public is not done at the regional level as for the Paris-Roubaix, but at the national level. Because Belgium is a small country, its area is equal to that of Hauts-de-France: the message therefore gets across more easily. Especially since it is relayed by all the very numerous cycling associations that go to me the territory.
The Tour of Flanders is a national event, almost religious for Belgium and even more so for Flanders. Look at what happened with the three days of La Panne, the cycling event that prepares the riders for the Tour of Flanders. The event took place on March 24. Usually, there are a lot of spectators at the end of this race. But for this 45th edition, the Belgians remained … in front of their television sets.
@AnthonyTurgis explain to @JfKerckaert why he is in good shape on the eve of the Tour of Flanders@francetvsport @TDE_ProCycling
The race tomorrow is to be followed on https://t.co/Xd0zZgL36N pic.twitter.com/2eiB9kZNAe– Stéphane Robert (@ steph_r75) April 3, 2021
A race easier to secure
The Tour of Flanders leaves from Antwerp and arrives in Oudenaarde. Or around fifty kilometers in total, while Paris-Roubaix is 280 kilometers. The paved sectors of the Tour of Flanders are crossed several times by the riders and are located in a hilly sector, therefore difficult to reach for the public and easy to secure, by only a few hundred police officers.
Flanders await their cycling tour
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© DIRK WAEM – ERIC LALMAND / Max PPP
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A race to follow live with FranceTV Sport, Sunday April 4
from 10 o’clock :
from 1.30 p.m .:
Tour of Flanders 2021: the list of riders entered
#Cycling Asked by Jean-Francois Kerckaert, Julian Alaphilippe, unhappy last year after a fall, does not consider himself the big favorite for victory on the eve of the Tour of Flanders! pic.twitter.com/bSb91p9emr
– France tv sport (@francetvsport) April 3, 2021
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