Cycling’s heartland: A look back at winning the 2019 Tour of Flanders
One year ago, Alberto Bettiol and the EF Education First squad won the big one. Ronde van Vlaanderen, Tour of Flanders, De Ronde. The race goes by many names, but in the Flanders region of Belgium, it has marked the beginning of cycling’s “holy week” every year since 1945.
Holy week is the week between the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the two biggest one day races in the cycling calendar. Officially, it’s called cycling’s holy week because the two consecutive Sundays often fall on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Unofficially, it’s called cycling’s holy week because these are perhaps the most important weekends on the cycling calendar.
This year, the race has been cancelled, but that won’t stop us from looking back on one of our finest days of all time at the team.
“Everybody would love to win that race, they dream about it the night before, and you have a lot of disappointment afterward because only one person can win. You can feel the tension at the start and during the race and relief afterward.”
DS Andreas Klier
“It’s a big party for the supporters out there on the street and each team wants to join the party.”
DS Andreas Klier
One year ago, Alberto Bettiol and the EF Education First squad won the big one. Ronde van Vlaanderen, Tour of Flanders, De Ronde. The race goes by many names, but in the Flanders region of Belgium, it has marked the beginning of cycling’s “holy week” every year since 1945.
Holy week is the week between the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the two biggest one day races in the cycling calendar. Officially, it’s called cycling’s holy week because the two consecutive Sundays often fall on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Unofficially, it’s called cycling’s holy week because these are perhaps the most important weekends on the cycling calendar.
This year, the race has been cancelled, but that won’t stop us from looking back on one of our finest days of all time at the team.
“Everybody would love to win that race, they dream about it the night before, and you have a lot of disappointment afterward because only one person can win. You can feel the tension at the start and during the race and relief afterward.”
DS Andreas Klier
“It’s a big party for the supporters out there on the street and each team wants to join the party.”
DS Andreas Klier
“Andreas said from the car: ‘If you can, just go.’ And I closed my eyes and went. I looked over the top. I had a gap, and from the car they said to keep pushing on, keep pushing on.”
Alberto Bettiol
“In the car, on the bus, at home, they believed in me, but I didn’t believe until 100 meters from the finish. Then I turned back, and I could see I had the victory.”
Alberto Bettiol
“Behind this success is the work of thousands of people. Behind this win is my teammates and all the staff at EF, from all the service guys standing for hours with the wheels, we were covered 27 times on course today, the sport directors, the mechanics, the media guys, the directors. Everyone, everything. It’s a dream.”
Alberto Bettiol