Our Spring Racing Schedule

WORDS: KIT NICHOLSON

IMAGES: HONOR ELLIOTT

We are powering up for a packed Spring Classic campaign. Find out when and where we’ll be racing until the end of April.

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It’s almost the start of our stacked spring racing block, from the relative warmth of our Spanish training camp to the famous ‘Opening Weekend’ in Belgium, right through to a huge final week that includes the inimitable Paris-Roubaix Femmes.

NORTHWARD BOUND

From the sun-blushed hills of Spain, we head north to the windswept landscapes that host the Spring Classics. Always a highlight of the pro calendar, these races have a distinct character, combining ancient roads and often dreadful conditions with the grit and determination of those who race over them.

The so-called ‘Opening Weekend’ serves as the overture that begins this series of attritional one-day races in Belgium and the Netherlands, starting with the hard and fast Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on the last Saturday of February. We’ll be heading to Belgium a little earlier with our classics specialists to recon the Omloop route.

Feb 26 — Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Vrouwen Elite

Feb 27 — Omloop van het Hageland

IN THE THICK OF IT

After the iconic opener of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, races come thick and fast until the end of April. Many of the one-day races that litter the calendar in March are considered ‘dress rehearsals’ for April’s Monuments, but they’re huge events in their own right. And many represent a happy hunting ground for Le Col-Wahoo.

Marjolein “Majo” van’t Geloof is one of our leaders who has set her sights on these early season races. Majo will hope to build on last year’s results on the way to her big goal of breaking into the top 10 at Paris-Roubaix.

Mar 1 — Le Samyn des Dames

Mar 3-5 — Bloeizone Fryslan (formerly known as the Healthy Ageing Tour)

Mar 9 — GP Oetingen

Mar 16 — Danilith Nokere Koerse

Mar 24 — Oxyclean Classic Brugge-De Panne (WWT)

Mar 27 — Gent-Wevelgem (WWT)

Mar 30 — Dwars door Vlaanderen

END ON A HIGH

The traditional Ardennes ‘week’ that closes out the spring racing block will look a little different this year. A clash with the French elections means that the second edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes swaps weekends with the Amstel Gold Race, which now finds itself sandwiched between the two most Monumental weekends of the year – the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. 

There’s a huge amount of heritage in the Spring Classics, and none more so than over the bergs and cobbles of Flanders and Roubaix. These events land differently, the build-up creates an atmosphere of thrill that transcends the action of the race itself, and the bone-shaking surfaces raise the riders to a supernatural level – their discomfort and passion become somehow tangible. It makes or break.

Apr 3 — Ronde van Vlaanderen (WWT)

Apr 6 — Scheldeprijs Vrouwen Elite

Apr 10 — Amstel Gold Race (WWT)

Apr 13 — De Brabantse Pijl Dames

Apr 16 — Paris-Roubaix Femmes (WWT)

Apr 20 — La Flèche Wallonne (WWT)

Apr 24 — Liège-Bastogne-Liège (WWT)