Tour of Flanders: Attack of the Shimano Car!

The great part about pro cycling is how many different types of events they hold. Most are familiar with the grand tours, the Tour de France at the very least.

At this time of year, it’s time for the classics. It’s a different breed of races as you never know if an early move will hold or if it’ll come down to a sprint finish.

The cobbled races hold some extra entertainment value watching the world’s best riders ride up unevenly paved stone roads implementing pain to all that dare. This year’s edition of Tour of Flanders was another great race, but had more drama than usual.

The big move came when Niki Terpstra and Alexander Kristoff became strange bedfellows working together the last fifteen miles, holding off the chasing group with Kristoff playing to his strength as the superior sprinter.

Unfortunately, this great race was also marked by a couple of crashes, not caused by typical race circumstances, but from the neutral car itself! The first happened from a six man breakaway group that was holding a four minute lead:
 

 
If that wasn’t enough, part deux happened as a FDJ car was pulling over to help a rider, when again the Shimano car asserted itself this time by rear ending!

 
Needless to say, this was another great race and we have Paris-Roubaix to look forward to next week as well!