The days before the Tour of Flanders are set aside for the racers to pre-ride the course and get familiar with the cobbled climbs. Inevitably the stars are closely followed by photographers looking for images to go along with their pre-race coverage.
This year, the annual reconnaissance gallery got a strange twist as the printed edition of the Belgian paper Het Laatste Nieuws misidentified Ceratizit-WNT‘s Marta Lach – standing in the background of an image of Wout van Aert on the Koppenberg – as a ‘cyclotourist’.
The gaffe was brought to the attention of the German team on social media, which responded with a generous invitation. “We appreciate mistakes happen but they still happen too often,” Ceratizit-WNT’s post read.
“@HLN_BE you’re welcome to come join us on Sunday so you can get more insight on our side of the peloton. If not Sunday @martusialach would be happy to take you bikepacking instead. Just let us know which you prefer😊”
The Polish rider is part of Ceratizit-WNT’s six-rider team for the Tour of Flanders Women’s WorldTour race along with Italians Alice Maria Arzuffi and Arianna Fidanza, Luxemobourger Nina Berton, Germany’s Lea Lin Teutenberg and Dutch rider Mylene de Zoete. Perhaps the lack of a Belgian presence on the UCI Continental Women’s team has led to the outlet’s inattention.
All eyes in Belgium are most certainly on Van Aert and Ceratizit-WNT did their recon on Thursday, his fellow Belgian race favourite, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx), the women’s defending champion and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) previewed the route with teammates on Friday.
Tour of Flanders reconnaissance gallery
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