Amaury Capiot: "The Tour of Flanders is almost a bank holiday!”
Amaury Capiot explains why the Ronde Van Vlaanderen is monument in Belgium.
Photo GettyImages
Pre-race
“The Tour of Flanders has a special importance for me: it is a Monument, and the biggest one-day race in Flanders. It is almost a bank holiday on that day. I’m sure that on Sunday it will be amazing at the roadside with many spectators present. I finished in the top 20 two years ago. I hope to improve on that performance this year, to get even closer to the best, even if I know that in this race you also have to be lucky, because the level between the riders is very close. You have to believe in your chances anyway and say to yourself why not. The cobbled classics start with the Tour of Flanders, and after that there will be Paris-Roubaix which will finish this Flandrian cycle”.
The briefing
“I know that there is always a debate between the purists, and even if I love Paris-Roubaix which is also the classic of the flat cobbled classics, for me the Tour of Flanders is one of the most beautiful one-day races of the calendar, because of the cobbled mountains and the fervour of the Flandrians around this event. You can feel that everyone is in communion with the riders on that day. The Ronde Van Vlaanderen is the Flanders race par excellence, the one that makes all riders dream. The succession of hills is the charm of this race, we go there to achieve the best possible results in a very competitive context and in the middle of teams with real specialists for this unique race“.