Preview: Wall Classic Geraardsbergen 2023 – Arad successor to Matteo van der Poel

Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 1:40 PM

“Three walls are world-famous in this world: Berlin, the Chinese and Gerardsbergen. That’s right, because all three made history,” the new Muur Classic organization writes on its website. From this year, the Muur van Geraardsbergen will have a private race Out for a day on the legendary slope.

date

Well, completely new… In fact, this Muur Classic is nothing less than a continuation of the Stadsprijs Geraardsbergen, a traditional fair race up to the foot of the Muur, which has had no fewer than 104 editions in the national calendar. In doing so it also held the title of the oldest fair race in Belgium.

“Because of the increasing professionalization of cycling, the future seems to offer little perspective for fairground racing,” says the organization. However, with Mathieu van der Poel, they took an impressive win at the Moore last year.

Eddy Merckx, Michel Polentet, André Chmmel, Robbie McEwen and Thomas de Gendt also color the list of tributes inaugurated by Alois Bersen in 1912. Ferdi Van den Houte has had seven hits at Geraardsbergen: a record number.

The famous slope of the Geraardsbergen Wall has always played a leading role on the race course. But the Wall has achieved its legendary status mainly because of the Tour of Flanders, which was the penultimate and often decisive climb until 2011.

“But in the recent past we were often a transit city. Competitions in which the local organization puts in a lot of work for little return,” says the organizing committee. “So our ambition is to develop an international cycling race with the Muur Classic, with our beloved calf bite as a banner.”

For this first edition, the Muur Classic has been awarded the 1.2 position by the UCI, but the ambition is clear to get the 1.1 position as soon as possible.

The last ten winners of the City Award Geraardsbergen
2022: Matthew van der Poel
2021: Zandro Morris
2020: It was not held due to the Corona crisis
2019: Haakon Allerst
2018: Alfred Dekker
2017: Zandro Morris
2016: Michael Rimm
2015: Bjorn Luckmans
2014: Denise Quinn
2013: Nicholas Verekin

latest edition

The latest edition of the Gerardsbergen City Award was all about the presence of Mathieu van der Poel. After a disappointing Tour de France – in which he announced his resignation at the eleventh stage – he was finally ready to compete again. Stadsprijs was supposed to be the start of their World Cup preparations in Wollongong.

I have to say: the competition wasn’t really intense. After all, teammate and brother David van der Poel was the only ProTeam-level rider to start, and there were no WorldTour riders. So the Van der Poels team easily became one and two.

Van der Poel has already succeeded in Muur twice – Image: Cor Vos, 2020

“This is only the second fair race I’ve been able to win. It always looks so easy, but it’s so hard to win,” van der Poel replied afterwards. “I actually won a very nice stage here at the BinckBank Tour. It’s clearly a difficult environment.”

With further victories at the Izegem Koerse and the Grand Prix of Wallonia, the two-time Tour of Flanders winner can still go into the Road World Championships in Australia with confidence. But you probably remember how it ended up there…

Gerardsbergen City Award Result 2022
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Decionink), with a time of 3:18:11 seconds.
2. David van der Poel (Alpecin-Dekyonink) in 54 seconds
3. Bart Lemmine (Volcrussels) in 54 seconds
4. Elias van Breusegem (Tarteleto-Isorex) in 59 seconds
5. Peter Scholting (Volker Wessels), 1 minute 22 seconds
match report

turn

Who says Gerardsbergen says wall. The legendary downhill from the Tour of Renewi and former finalist of the Tour of Flanders will also be featured several times at the Muur Classic.

However, the first domestic tour prepared by the organization has yet to take place. After all, over the cobblestones of Feisten one does not turn right towards the traditional Muur, but into Oude Steenweg left (380m by 7.8%). There we do not find any cobblestones, but there is still a hard asphalt road.

Moreover, that round is spiced up by Barrekeberg (1 kilometer by 4.2%) and Blankötter (1.5 kilometer by 3.2%). But the Denderoordberg – which we also saw on the course at Renewi’s Tour last week – is where the forwards have their best chance. The one kilometer at 5.5% becomes particularly difficult because of the stony surface.

During the first three local rounds of about 25 kilometers, that is, there is no wall yet, in the next three rounds, cycling enthusiasts can enjoy cycling on the famous Oudenbergstraat and Kapelmuur streets, accounting for a total of 1.1 kilometers with a rate of 7.8% (maximum 18.5%) . .

It is remarkable: unlike in previous years, we no longer have to look for the finish line in the middle of the historical backdrop of the market, but a floor higher, over the cobblestones of the famous Westen. We also know the arrival from the Renewi Tour.

Wednesday, August 30: Gerardsbergen – Gerardsbergen (177.8 km)
Begins: 2.30 p.m
finish: between 6.55pm and 7.20pm

Favorite

Moving to UCI 1.2 status wouldn’t do the field any good at the moment – after all, we couldn’t miss someone as eye-catching as Mathieu van der Poel. But this new project is still in its infancy. With Bolton Equities Black Spoke, Green Project-Bardiani, CSF-Faizanè and Flanders-Baloise, three ProTeams will be in attendance, but all eyes will mainly be on the Alpecin-Deceuninck coaching squad.

Timo Kilish knows what it means to win in 2023 – Photo: Cor Voss

This is mainly due to the presence of Tim Kelish, which not long ago proved that it can also handle prices a level or two higher. It is no coincidence that it has been clear for some time that it is only a matter of time before the former racer takes the step towards forming the WorldTour. His sprint win in the Tour de Wallonie was impressive, but Kelish wasn’t averse to cobblestones either. Otherwise, you won’t get second place in the Antwerp Port Epic and third place in the GP of Denain.

The development of Alpecin-Deceuninck brings with it Simon Dahers Another dangerous man is on the way. The speedy 22-year-old was crowned Belgium champion with the Under-23s last week, which is always an important stepping stone in the fight for a professional contract. Dehairs have a strong set of sprinter’s legs, but they’re also always good when there’s a lot of twisting and turning going on, like in a fair race. And let this match often remind you of that.

Speaking of carnival races: David van der Poel, that third strong pawn in Roodehoft’s forces, came out strong in the shawl of Sils van Merxem. Mateo’s older brother rode the attack all day, but eventually saw teammate Lionel Tamino take the win. Van der Poel also showed his legs in the Baltic Series round, and he has a huge advantage over the rest. After all, he was runner-up here last year, so he knows the track better.

Gianni Marchand is the leader of Tarteletto-Isorex – Image: Cor Vos

also Gianni Marchand He had already failed the Gerardsbergen City Award. Two years ago, he should have let Xandro Meurisse just lead the way on the cobblestones of the market. Marchand is a rider who has been around for a long time, but has never raced at a ProTeam level. However, the Tarteletto-Isorex leader has already shown great things and even climbed to the podium at the Tour of Baloise Belgium.

Teammate Timothy Dupont She found a second breath in Tarteletto-Isorex. The 35-year-old Dupont, glorious last year’s stage winner in the ZLM Toer against Olaf Koeij and Ilia Viviani, hasn’t lost much sprint speed. He also showed his qualities again at the Qinghai Lake Tour. The Gerardsbergen Wall is of course a different story, but in this field of participants the West Flemings have no chance whatsoever.

It’s also interesting to see what ProTeams has to offer. Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè saw the 24-year-old Luca Colnaghi He recently performed strongly on the Tour of Denmark, and at the World Cup in Leuven – where he finished seventh among the under-23 team – this talent also showed he is not averse to the Flemish descent. colleague Enrico Zanuncello He is the kind of winner on smaller tours like the Taiwan, Belgrade and Qinghai Lake tours.

Italy’s ProTeam also has serious names – Photo: Cor Vos

The other ProTeam, Flanders Baloise, pits Ward Vanhoef and Elias Maris against it, while New Zealand’s Bolton Equities Blackspeak have James Foucher and Luke Mudgway in their ranks. Also a former passerby Adam TopalikRomanian Edward Michael Grosso The trio Themo Willems – Dan van Sintmartensdijk –Quinn Vermeltfort It can turn out to be dangerous.

Favorites according to WielerFlits
**** Timo Kilic
*** Gianni Marchand, Simon Dahers
** Timothy Dupont, Luca Colnaghi, Adam Topalek
* Edward Michael Grosso, Enrico Zanuncello, David van der Poel, Ward Vanhoef.

Site organization
List of participants (ProCyclingStats)

weather and television

Riders could face a downpour in Gerardsbergen on Wednesday. Temperatures could rise to 19°C if we did weatheronline can we believe. Three Beaufort winds are blowing from the southwest.

The match can be watched in Belgium via Proximus Pickx live broadcast.