Eroica, the new Classic
The Team Chef
2 Comments
Like many cycling fans, I lose more than just a little enthusiasm for the remainder of the pro season at the conclusion of the Tour de France. The second half of the pro calendar is simply an anti-climax. Granted, the combination of early season Classics, followed by the Giro d'Italia, and finally the all consuming event that is the Tour, is a very tough act to follow. It certainly doesn’t help that the third grand tour of the year, Spain's Vuelta, is also the weakest of the lot. The World Championships and Giro di Lombardia are standout single day races, but aside from those two, there is not a whole lot that gets me excited. Some might argue that I’m looking past some good races, but quite honestly, I’ve already forgotten who won of this year’s Clasica de San Sebastian, Vattenfall Classic, and Paris-Tours.
My post Tour malaise finds its roots in the dull personalities of the second half Classics. With but one big exception, there is simply nothing the likes of Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, or Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Indeed, those are races with charisma. What a shame there is only one Classic worthy of comparison during the late season, October's Giro di Lombardia. It's fitting that the curtain comes down in Italy, where it was raised back in March with Milan-San Remo. Lombardia, with its Lake Como and Madonna del Ghisallo, is perhaps the most beautiful course in all of pro cycling; a perfect ending to the professional cycling season. Is it too much to hope for another late season epic to accompany Lombardia, helping to fill the void left by Le Tour?
On the 9th of October there was just such race held for the first time, the Monte Paschi Eroica. The event is organized by none other than RCS sport, which also owns the Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, and Giro d’Italia. It is based upon the l’Eroica, the amateur gran fondo run two weeks prior, where participants ride vintage bikes and wear retro wool clothing. The professional version has all the special ingredients required for instant Classic status, right down to its name, eroica, Italian for “heroic.” The race takes place among rolling grape covered hills, olive groves, and the cypress lined back roads of the Italian Chianti region of Tuscany, finishing in the Piazza del Campo, the town center of medieval Siena. In addition to its picturesque landscape, the course also has that special x-factor, like Paris-Roubaix’s treacherous cobbles-seven sectors of dusty, lung choking, white gravel roads known as le strade bianche. These graveled roads, 70 of the race’s 180k total, also include some leg-breaking hills with sections at 15%-18% grades. As testament to the difficulty of the Eroica, only 42 of 113 starters finished, including two time Giro champion Gilberto Simoni, and Classic’s winners Filippo Pozzato (Milan-San Remo), and Alssesandro Ballan (Flanders). CSC’s Alexander Kolobnev, fresh off his runner-up placing for the World Championship title nine days earlier, was the eventual winner. Yes, The Monte Paschi Eroica is exactly what the doctor ordered as a remedy for the post Tour blues. Hats off to RCS for introducing the race; may it grow in stature.
Photo: 2007 Monte Paschi Eroica ,The Italian Cycling Journal
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Reader Comments (2)
I thought the world championships end the season as opposed to the race of the falling leaves (lombardia)?
Lombardia is the traditional season finale.
This year the Road Championship was held in Stuttgart, Germany on September 30th.
http://www.radwm2007.com/
Lombardia took place on October 20th.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/oct07/lombardia07/