There’s an old refrain that you’re going to hear a lot in the next few weeks, and that’s that the cycling season doesn’t really start until Opening Weekend. A lot of people will joke – and some seriously believe – that everything before Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is basically just cycling friendlies, an extension of winter training.
Well, I’m here to tell them that they’re wrong, and by subscribing to that point of view, you miss out on some of the best races of the year. With the Tour Down Under right around the corner, it’s time for us to recognise and appreciate the actual start of the season.
These races set the scene for the year to come, and help get riders race ready – to only start taking things seriously in March would be a huge mistake for anyone. The same is true for us viewers, too – if you don’t start paying attention properly until Omloop, you’re not going to know what’s going on.
Of course, there is a whole host of racing between now and the purists’ start point of Opening Weekend, but the most relevant – and most under-appreciated over here in Europe – is my beloved Tour Down Under.
I remember as a cycling-mad teenager waking up early before school to catch the end of the Bay Crits that used to kick off the new year – not even the Tour Down Under itself, but the low-level pre-cursor races. I’d then wreck my sleep schedule through January to watch the…
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