The 2022 Classics season had loads of predictable and shock outcomes, with solo assaults, daring descents, crashes and COVID-19, first-time success and padded palmares. Cyclingnews sums up the season with the highlights of the most important one-day races of the street calendar.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – Wout van Aert, Annemiek van Vleuten
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Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) took the honours in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to start out the Classics season at Opening Weekend. The then-Belgian champion completed off a dominant show by his group all through the race. Van Aert went solo from the ultimate climb of the day, the Bosberg, racing 13km dwelling after abandoning a choose group.
Over within the girls’s race, it was Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) who took her first victory of many in 2022. Solely she and fellow Dutchwoman Demi Vollering (SD Worx) have been ignored entrance after the Bosberg, however it was the veteran champion who was the quickest finisher within the two-up dash to the end line. (DO)
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne – Fabio Jakobsen
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It was heartbreak for the breakaway on the second day of Opening Weekend because the peloton raced dwelling to overtake the three-man group within the dying metres of the 195km race. QuickStep sprinter Fabio Jakobsen was the primary man dwelling in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, beating Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) to the road and later making a plea for peace days after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. (DO)
Strade Bianche – Tadej Pogačar, Lotte Kopecky
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Per week after the primary Classics of the season, the motion turned to Tuscany and the white roads of Strade Bianche, the place reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar confirmed he may be the very best nearly wherever. The Slovenian attacked 50km from Siena and was by no means caught, ending off probably the most memorable performances of the spring.
The ladies’s race earlier within the day was a extra tense affair, with Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) racing up the ultimate ramp into Siena collectively. The Belgian champion was one thing of a shock winner after the 2 girls proved the strongest from an elite lead group, with Kopecky getting in prime place on the slender roads by means of the city to the end line. (DO)
Milan-San Remo – Matej Mohorič
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The primary Monument of the 2022 season introduced with it a shock winner, with Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) far firmly among the many outsiders heading into the 293km marathon. However a daring descent off the Poggio, aided by the novel use of a MTB-style dropper seatpost, noticed Mohorič leap away from the sprinters and high favourites and maintain them off on the By way of Roma, finally crossing the road simply two seconds away from Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix). (DO)
Basic Brugge-De Panne – Tim Merlier, Elisa Balsamo
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Late March noticed the peloton head again to Belgium, although the pan-flat Basic Brugge-De Panne was a gentler reintroduction to the north. The sprinter’s races went just about precisely as deliberate, with giant teams coming to the road to do battle.Within the males’s race it was Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) who triumphed, beating Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic) to the end.
Earlier within the afternoon, Elisa Balsamo acquired the higher of Lorena Wiebes (Workforce DSM) and Marta Bastianelli (UAE Workforce ADQ) within the sprint for glory on the finish of a crash-marred race. (DO)
Trofeo Alfredo Binda – Elisa Balsamo
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On the finish of a dynamic, ever-changing race in Cittiglio, it was world champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) who emerged victorious to seize her first one-day race triumph since taking rainbows in Leuven six months earlier. The 24-year-old led an Italian podium forward of Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Workforce ADQ) and Soraya Paladin (Canyon-Sram) after the peloton had come again collectively for a bunch dash within the closing kilometres. (DO)
E3 Saxo Financial institution Basic – Wout van Aert
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It was a day of domination for Jumbo-Visma in Harelbeke, with Wout van Aert main teammate Christophe Laporte dwelling for an arm-in-arm one-two end, 1:35 away from any of their opponents. The pair have been with out equals after attacking 40km from the end on the brutal cobbled climb of the Paterberg, whereas Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) rounded out the rostrum after outpacing a big group of these left a good distance behind. (DO)
Gent-Wevelgem – Biniam Girmay, Elisa Balsamo
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Historical past was made two days later as Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) took the primary victory by a black African in any Basic after triumphing from a small lead group which had damaged clear over the race’s main climb of the Kemmelberg. Rising star Girmay took the most important win of his profession following a cat-and-mouse last run-in, outpacing Christophe Laporte, Dries van Gestel, and Jasper Stuyven to the road.
World champion Elisa Balsamo scored her fourth win of the season within the rainbow jersey from a 38-woman bunch dash end. The win, taken forward of Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ceratizit-WNT) was the Italian’s third win in per week and her final of a surprising spring marketing campaign. (DO)
Dwars door Vlaanderen – Mathieu van der Poel, Chiara Consonni
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After scoring a 3rd place in Milan-San Remo, Mathieu van der Poel continued his restricted Classics marketing campaign with a victory in Dwars door Vlaanderen, taking his first one-day win of the season after probably the most thrilling back-and-forth finales of the spring. He finally acquired the higher of Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) within the dash end after the pair escaped late on, however the previous battle – which included Tom Pidcock, Victor Campenaerts, and Stefan Küng – was one thing to savour.
Chiari Consonni (Valcar-Journey & Service) received the ladies’s race after a day dominated by Trek-Segafredo and a number of assaults from Ellen van Dijk. It was Annemiek van Vleuten who did quite a lot of the work to carry issues collectively, however it was Consonni who reaped the advantages in Waregem, the 23-year-old getting the higher of Julie De Wilde (Plantur-Pura) and Elise Chabbey (Canyon-Sram) within the last dash. (DO)
Tour of Flanders – Lotte Kopecky, Mathieu van der Poel
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The Tour of Flanders served up two spectacularly dramatic finales, with Lotte Kopecky giving the house crowd a thrill by taking the victory within the Belgian champion’s jersey. Kopecky adopted an assault by defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten on the Paterberg and performed off teammate Chantal Van den Broek-Blaak to finest her Dutch rival within the dash.
Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar went on the assault from the penultimate climb, the Oude Kwaremont, and appeared sure to go mano-a-mano in a dash end. Nevertheless, they watched one another too lengthy and chasers Dylan van Baarle and Valentin Madouas got here from behind and caught them. Van der Poel held them off to win the Tour of Flanders, however Pogačar missed out on the rostrum in fourth.
Scheldeprijs – Alexander Kristoff, Lorena Wiebes
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Alexander Kristoff tore up the script in a blustery Scheldeprijs, shrugging off his repute as a sprinter and happening the assault solo to take the win. He made his transfer simply earlier than the course become a brutal crosswind that discouraged the chasers. The one factor crazier was Tim Merlier nearly using backwards into the group sprinting for the minor locations and having to leap over the boundaries to security.
Lorena Wiebes began her dash early to safe her second consecutive Ladies’s Scheldeprijs over Chiara Consonni and Rachele Barbieri.
Amstel Gold Race – Marta Cavalli, Michał Kwiatkowski
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Marta Cavalli claimed the most important victory of her profession with a searing assault after the Cauberg within the girls’s Amstel Gold Race, utilizing an “all or nothing” technique to assault simply because the lead group began to hesitate.
For the second yr in a row, the males’s Amstel Gold Race got here right down to a photograph end. Benoit Cosnefroy celebrated pondering he had received just for the jury to announce Michal Kwiatkowski because the winner by millimetres a number of minutes later.
De Brabantse Pijl – Magnus Sheffield, Demi Vollering
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Cosnefroy was second once more in De Brabantse Pijl, bested by one other Ineos rider. Magnus Sheffield parlayed a 3.5km solo assault into victory and Cosnefroy out-paced Warren Barguil for second.
The rain and attrition additionally noticed a solo winner within the girls’s race, with Demi Vollering slipping away to take the win over Kasia Niewiadoma and Liane Lippert. She made certain to not make the error of the earlier yr the place she celebrated too quickly and was pipped by Marianne Vos.
Paris-Roubaix – Dylan van Baarle, Elisa Longo Borghini
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Elisa Longo Borghini inked her identify into the historical past books within the second girls’s Paris-Roubaix with a 34-kilometre assault simply earlier than the Templeuve sector to win by 23 seconds forward of a chasing group led to the road by favourites Lotte Kopecky and Lucinda Model.
Dylan van Baarle took a spectacular solo victory in Paris-Roubaix within the quickest version to this point, ditching his breakaway companions on the Carrefour de l’Arbre and soloing into the Roubaix velodrome with ample time to have fun. Wout van Aert, beset with punctures, received the dash from the chasing group over Stefan Küng.
La Fléche Wallonne – Marta Cavalli, Dylan Teuns
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The Mur de Huy chosen the strongest climbers as regular, with Marta Cavalli successful La Flèche Wallonne after rocketing previous Annemiek van Vleuten to grab the victory, a big margin forward of third-placed Demi Vollering.
Dylan Teuns received the lads’s Flèche Wallonne with a perfectly-timed acceleration, holding off five-time winner Alejandro Valverde, with Aleksandr Vlasov in third.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège – Annemiek van Vleuten, Remco Evenepoel
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Remco Evenepoel received Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2022, the most important one-day race on the calendar. The Belgian used the Côte de la Redoute because the launchpad and his time trialing engine to carry off the chasers for 29 kilometres. Quinten Hermans beat Wout van Aert within the dash for second.
Annemiek van Vleuten received the 2022 girls’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège by utilizing the identical climb however differently. She launched an assault however then sat up and was caught by the chase. She attacked once more on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons and eventually soloing to the win over Grace Brown and Demi Vollering.
Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa – Remco Evenepoel
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Evenepoel made a fair longer solo assault to win the San Sebastian Basic, utilizing his pre-Vuelta a España type to time trial for 44 kilometres to the victory. He went on to win the Vuelta and the World Championships.
Il Lombardia
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Within the last Basic of 2022, Tadej Pogačar bookended his season with a victory in Il Lombardia. Very like in 2021, Pogacar attacked to type a two-rider breakaway, solely this time slightly than Fausto Masnada, his sufferer was Enric Mas within the dash for victory.
