Whether it's short and brutal, thigh-burning hills, stone roads, or gravel areas where dust and mud dominate, what we like about spring cycling races are the difficulties the racers have to overcome: obstacles to their progress resulting in continuous selection and more than tangible sporting hardship. The mud and dust that cake the racers' faces at the end of the race, the expressions of fatigue and in some cases the abrasions and injuries on their bodies, bring us back to a primordial idea of fighting a battle.
The gravel roads of the Strade Bianche, the stones of the Tour of Flanders and of the Paris-Roubaix require courage and determination, as well as high-quality bicycles and components and large-section tyres. Extremely durable, sliding and providing as much comfort as possible on those stones and riding at over 50km/h, 32mm tyres have today become the standard.
Tactical intelligence, physical strength and tightrope-riding skills are essential to winning early-season races. Then there is the element of luck, which is decisive in races as uncertain as those held on roads without asphalt. As fans, we don't willingly admit this, but the unknown that looms over every rider as they charge towards the finish line excites us.
Our way of supporting races like the Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders or the Paris-Roubaix is changing and contradictory. We feel sorry for and empathise with the unfortunate racers who are the victims of mechanical failures and falls, but at the same time we enjoy the uncertainty and suspense that accompanies these competitions all the way to the last metre.
The spring classics are one of the culminating stages of the international cycling season, perhaps the most eagerly awaited moment of the year. On cobbles, cycling is close to madness, as the difficulties elevate the competition. The races that take place on stone or on mud follow a kind of outline that has been rewritten and reinterpreted by the riders for over a century. Both the winner and the near-miss winner end up being regarded by fans as a kind of hero. The road, in spring, becomes a veritable stage.
For this reason, the April festival of cycling suffering will never cease to exist: because no cycle racing fan in the world can do without the idea of a champion who wins alone against everything and against everyone by overcoming every obstacle, even those imposed by the inclement weather and roads that were certainly not built to be cycled on.
