Cobbled Climbs and a Bucket (list) full of Belgian Chocolate Easter Eggs
Photos and Words by Jeff Curtes
Everyone (even in warm sunny Sydney!) dreams of seeing and riding The Spring Classics… the legendary riders, the infamous cobbled climbs, and the chaos that the incredibly insane parcours guarantee. And a chance to ride the routes a day before the hard men battle for legendary status? What the hell have I been doing every April? This was the year, and without hesitation, I booked a flight from Sydney to Brussels and was off…
Two weeks of Belgian Chocolate, Belgian Beer, Belgian cobbles and of course, a little race over the border in France. What could be better really? I posed that question to the Flanders Classics press manager and he cleverly responded, “Miami, Florida.” I took it as it was raining and cold in Belgian.
Despite epic conditions of rain and cold for our 239km RVV cyclo sportive on Saturday (in which my hands are still with limited movement), the 99th RVV race day was graced with clear skies and a perfect Easter Sunday. In my planning I leaned on veteran fellow photographer Daniel Wakefield Pasley of MFS fame for all the help of a newbie Classics shooter…without him I wouldn’t be here. Moto booked for RVV, best driver (@sturmenator) in the business sorted for Paris Roubaix, and an assignment from Enve to liaise with MTN Qhubeka…check.
Info on the cyclo sportifs… Here’s the Flanders Classics info and app… Learn about #BicyclesChangeLives.
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Follow Jeff on Instagram and pick up his book, Chasing Epic at the Athletic.
