As Fabian Cancellara powered-away from a select group containing Tom Boonen with 50 kilometers remaining in last week’s Paris-Roubaix, a collective verdomme could be heard from the legions of Belgian fans that had made the trip to Roubaix to witness what they had hoped would be the Belgian Champion’s record-tying 4th victory in the Hell of the North. Unfortunately—as they had several times over the past few weeks—they went home disappointed—again.
You see, this spring is the first time in over 100 years that Belgium has been shut-out in the cobbled classics. The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, Ghent-Wevelgem, the 3-Days of DePanne, the Tour of Flanders, the Scheldeprijs, and Paris-Roubaix—none were won by Belgians. Add this to the fact that Belgians haven’t been winning many races abroad, and suddenly the situation looks much more severe.
In the past, teams like Quick Step earned their bread and butter at the cobbled classics, thereby buying themselves time during the Grand Tours when the team’s riders often struggled to earn results. “No Tour stages? No problem! We won Flanders and Roubaix, remember?” Well, after a disastrous spring for Quick Step, that excuse won’t work this year. Omega Pharma-Lotto, Belgium’s other big-budget squad, might just save some face should Phillippe Gilbert come through with a win in the Ardennes; but he’s Belgium’s only top favorite, making the odds of a hometown win much longer.
Excuses have been flying in attempt to explain the drought. For me, Belgian teams aren’t deep enough to control races anymore. As long as Quick Step and Lotto fill their rosters with home talent that’s never really been tested against top international competition, they’ll never be more than glorified kermesse teams. Aside from Stijn Devolder (another story entirely) Tom Boonen had men such as Wouter Weylandt, Nikolas Maes, and Maarten Wynants at his side during Sunday’s race. Fabian Cancellara—with Matti Breschel as his lieutenant—had Stuart O’Grady, Baden Cooke, and Gustav Erik Larsson controlling the race for him. With a strong team able to dictate the initial course of the race, Cancellara was free to rest for the selections came before and after the Arenberg Forest. Boonen on the other hand, isolated and anxious, was forced to try and make the race for himself, nervously attacking at times when he would have been much better served having a teammate do it for him. As a result, he had nothing left when it came time to respond to the fresher Cancellara. Clearly, a multi-national contingent produced better results for Saxo Bank, whereas Quick Step’s Flem-centric approach netted nothing more than 5th-place—behind Saxo Bank, Cervelo, and Sky, all teams with more diverse rosters.
Patrick Lefevere, Quick Step’s GM, needs to return to the days of Mapei, when he had a classics team composed of the best classics racers from several countries—Belgium included—generating wins from an array of riders, both domestic and foreign. Last year, Lefevere opened his pocketbook to try and entice Alberto Contador to join the fold; this off-season he might be better served by reassessing the core of his current team, perhaps jettisoning some of his Belgians for younger, foreign talent.
And don’t blame Boonen. His Roubaix mental lapse notwithstanding, Tommeke rode a classics campaign of which many would be proud—unless they’re Tom Boonen. With top-5 rides in Milan-San Remo, the E3 Prijs, the Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix, his job is safe and secure. As for everyone else, consider yourselves on notice.
