Spring Classics: Riders to watch as cycling season begins

With the 2023 cycling season well and truly under way, Dylan van Baarle soloed his way to victory in the seasoning opening race at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Belgium).

Rivals Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard started the year in flying form. Pogacar won three stages at Vuelta a Anadalucia in fine style to win the race overall and Vingegaard won all three stages at O Gran Camino to take the overall victory.

When the pair meet at Paris-Nice (March 5-12) they will both be unbeaten before the all-important showdown at the Tour de France. It promises to be an exciting year for cycling, so let’s take a deeper look into the upcoming spring classics.

Milan-San Remo

First up we have Milan-San Remo, the second Italian classic on the racing calendar after Strade Bianche and the longest monument race on the cycling schedule. This year’s edition is 294km long with two key climbs; the first one being 22km from the finish. They first take on Cipressa 5.6km with a gradient of 4.6% followed closely by Poggio 3.6km at 3.7%. With the quality of riders in this year’s race (Tadej Pogacar, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, Matej Mohoric all in line to start) I feel this will come down to a small bunch finish.

Trek – Segafredo Danish one-day racer, sprinter and former World Road Race champion MADS PEDERSEN finished sixth on his first attempt in 2022.

The last five editions of this race finish have seen three small bunch sprints and two solo breakaway riders including last year’s when Bahrain-Victorious rider Matej Mohoric rode solo with an attack 4.3km from the finish to just having enough time over the chasing pack that included Pedersen.

Trek – Segafredo won this race back in 2021 with Belgium one-day specialist Jasper Stuyven and will want to regain the crown after going close last year. With a strong ally like Stuyven by Pedersen’s side, Trek – Segafredo will be reluctant to let this race be decided by a breakaway given Pedersen will be one of the strongest sprinters in the race with a Tour de France stage victory and three Vuelta a Espana stage victories under his belt.

I’m backing Pedersen to come out on top at around 16/1.

Should the race be decided by a solo breakaway like in 2022, then a rider capable of doing so is fellow Danish rider MAGNUS CORT NEILSON. It’s clear to see the EF Education-Easy Post rider is in good form after winning two Stages of Volta ao Algarve in February, one of which came from a breakaway. The two climbs in the race shouldn’t bother Magnus as I expect to see an attacking display from him.

It’ll be more of a question of if he can hold off the likes of Pogacar, Van der Poel, Mohoric and van Aert. Given the good form he’s in, it certainly wouldn’t be a shock and at 33/1 he's also of interest.

Tour of Flanders

The 110th edition of the Tour of Flanders is set to be an exciting one; big-name stars such as Tadej Pogacar, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel are all in line to start the race. The course is second longest course in the spring classics calendar at 274km with the riders taking on six cobbled sections and 19 climbs throughout the race.

Mathieu Van der Poel has dominated the Tour of Flanders the past few years and he will be looking to become only the seventh rider to win the Tour of Flanders two years in a row. His form in this race over the past three years reads 1-2-1 so it’s no surprise to see that he’s at the top of the betting along with Slovenian wonder Pogacar and fellow one-day race nemesis van Aert.

However a rider that I’ll be paying close attention to is Flemish-born DYLAN TEUNS at as big as 200/1 in places.

In 2022, the Isreal Premier Tech rider recorded his best classics season to date, including finishing sixth in last year’s edition of the Tour of Flanders after only being out-sprinted by 4/6 hot favourite van der Poel. He then followed this up with a solid 10th position at Amstel Gold Race before going on to win La Fleche Wallone, out-sprinting Alejandro Valverde and Aleksandr Vlasov to the top of the infamous Mur de Huy.

With another spring classics campaign lined up, I’m expecting Tuens to be firmly in and around the mix again and if he’s following last year’s form then he'll make prices from 150/1 to 200/1 look extremely generous from an each-way perspective.

Groupama – FDJ rider VALENTIN MADOUAS had somewhat of an under the radar breakout year in 2022, winning the Mountains classification at Paris-Nice along with winning two stages at Tour Luxembourg towards the back end of the campaign with his best result as a pro coming courtesy of third in the 2022 edition of the Tour of Flanders behind van der Poel.

Madouas has started 2023 with promise at Volta ao Algarve (Portugal) with a fourth place finish on the queen stage beating the likes of Tom Pidcock, Jai Hindley and Joao Almeida. I can’t help but feel there is more to come from this young French rider this year and wouldn’t surprise me should he be in the mix come the end of this race.

Paris-Roubaix

Paris-Roubaix, also known as the ‘The Hell of the North’, is the most notorious classics race in the cycling calendar. Riders will have to navigate 256km, including 29 infamous cobbled sections equalling to 55km and finishing in the Velodrome Andre-Petrieux. It’s a race you won’t want to be missing.

Last year when riding for Ineos Grenadiers, 22/1 chance Dylan van Baarle (now riding for Team Jumbo-Visma) clocked the fastest ever time set at Paris-Roubaix, completing the race in 5h37m1s after attacking solo 40kms out from the finish. Paris-Roubaix historically isn’t a race that favours the favourites due to the nature of the race, only two winning in the last eight editions, so it’s easy to look away from the top of the betting.

With that in mind FLORIAN VERMEERSCH catches my attention at a best of 70/1. The 23-year-old one-day specialist has his sights firmly set on this race, after finishing second in the 2021 edition behind Sonny Colbrelli and in front of Dutch superstar Van Der Poel following a three-man sprint in the velodrome on his first try. He is good each-way value, especially with Vermeersch having two more years' experience under his belt since his memorable second place.

Another rider to keep an eye on is BINIAN GIRMAY at 33s.

Intermarche – Circus – Wanty have started 2023 in high flying form, sitting second in the UCI World Ranking table after six victories in the opening few months of the year. In 2022, Girmay became the first African rider to win a classic cycle race when he won Gent-Wevelgem in a sprint ahead of Christophe Laporte, Dries Van Gestel and Jasper Stuyven.

Binian showed his versatility as a rider by being able to compete in the one-day races, winning the 2022 edition of Gent-Wevelgem, and capturing his first grand tour stage at the Giro d’Italia. His versatility across all terrain as a rider will certainly help with the cobbled sections and should he be near the front end of the race, then relying on his sprinting ability in the velodrome.