The Cycliste Moderne, March 26, 2006

Criterium International Recap

The 75th Criterium International took place this weekend in the hilly region of northern France along the Belgian border. The race is unique as it is intended to be a “mini-Tour de France.” Three stages take place over two days. Saturday is a flat stage for sprinters, Sunday morning is a short but hilly stage for the climbers, and Sunday afternoon is the usually decisive short time trial.

Historically, the winner of Criterium International has been a strong general classification rider who does well in the climbing stage and then either wins or finishes high up in the time trial. The list of past winners is a whose who of grand tour podium finishers. Jacques Anquetil, Raymond Poulidor, Bernard Thevenet, Bernard Hinault, Joop Zoetemelk, Sean Kelly, Miguel Inderain, Laurent Fignon and Laurent Jalabert are all past winners. American Bobby Julich has won the race twice in 1998 and again last year.

This year marked Team CSC’s third consecutive win at the race following Jens Voight’s 2004 win and Julich’s win last year with Tour de France favorite Ivan Basso winning Sunday morning’s climbing stage and taking second in the afternoon time trial.

Saturday’s sprint did not go as planned as an early break got away including most of the expected favorites including Floyd Landis of Phonak who had already won Paris-Nice and the Tour of California. However, Landis crashed late in the stage ending his chance to win the race. Rabobank’s Erik Dekker was aggressive and ultimately won the stage finishing just ahead of Basso.

Dekker stayed with Basso on Sunday but had a late mechanical that gave Basso the stage win and GC lead. Basso then rode a strong time trial to secure his victory. Criterium International is a good barometer for who is on track for quality results in the Grand Tours come May and July. Certainly Basso is on form and should be strong for both races if he elects to actually ride both this year.

One Week to the Tour of Flanders

Next Sunday is the Ronde Van Vlaanderen or Tour of Flanders. It is probably my favorite race of the year because you do not win the Tour of Flanders by being lucky (as many recent Paris-Roubaix winners have been). The winner of the Tour of Flanders wins by being able to ride away from the peleton.

Tom Boonen will be back to defend his title and won his third consecutive E3 Prijs Vlaanderen on Saturday in Belgium. The race is an important warm up for the Tour of Flanders including many of the same climbs that the riders will go over next week. The key move of the day came on the Paterberg about 40km from the end. The Paterberg is very short but very steep with an average gradient of over 12%.

Oscar Friere of Rabobank showed good form winning Sunday’s Brabantse Pijl. Although Boonen did not ride Brabantse Pijl, Friere defeated a strong field and showed that his ongoing back problems may be resolved.

Discovery Channel has had strong rides from its classics team this spring with Leif Hoste, Roger Hammond, Stijn Devolder and Max Van Heeswijk all riding well at the moment. Discovery could have the most depth of any of the teams at the Tour of Flanders next week, but that depth did not help them last year when the team failed to cover the late move of Tom Boonen even though they had Armstrong and Hincapie in the final group.

The dark horse could be Alessandro Ballan of Lampre-Fondital. The Italian rider has had good form this spring and has been very aggressive. Ballan was part of the almost decisive break at Milan San Remo last weekend finishing 8th and finished second to Boonen on Saturday. He has shown excellent form and is not intimidated by any of the main riders.

During the Tour of Flanders, the Paterberg comes too early to be decisive, however, if you are not in the lead or close to it after the Koppenberg you probably won’t win it. The Koppenberg is the place where riders lose the Tour of Flanders.