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📊The Monuments📊

As promised in my introductory post, it's time to get Monumental...

What are they?

A mostly arbitrary classification of five of the oldest, longest, most prestigious and most difficult one-day races. It doesn't really mean anything beyond a higher UCI point earning but it's a handy starting point for the Classics (one-day races).

Milano-San Remo 🇮🇹 (mid-March)

The longest single race on the men's calendar, this gruelling ~300km outing regularly yields some of the most exciting racing of the season.

But only at the very end. It's an endurance test finishing with the final two climbs, the Cipressa and the Poggio, where the race-winning moves are often made.

Don't bother tuning in to MSR until they're at least on the Cipressa – about 20km from the finish. Outside of a favourite crashing, almost nothing that happens in the first six hours will matter toward the final result.

Expect: To be bored if you start watching early on, but fifteen minutes of absolutely electrifying racing after a long day out. Oftentimes an unexpected winner.

Ronde van Vlaanderen 🇧🇪 (late March/early April)

Spring is well and truly underway; it's time to head to Flanders!

The culmination of Belgian cycling's Holy Week, the Ronde combines cobbles with short, sharp climbs in the Flemish Ardennes for a brutal Sunday's racing. Every climb has a name and a history: the Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg, Koppenberg are some of the most iconic and decisive.

Expect: So many Vlaamse Leeuw flags the roadside looks like a daffodil field, aggressive and tactical racing, riders potentially having to dismount on the steepest of cobbled sections.

Paris-Roubaix 🇫🇷 (early April)

The only French Monument, Roubaix is affectionately known as l'Enfer du Nord/the Hell of the North. That's fitting for the conditions riders face: it's pancake-flat but the challenge lies in the bone-shaking cobbled secteurs (rated 1 to 5, 5 being the worst), usually totalling ~50km

The weather often comes into play, with wind and rain rendering the cobbles slippery and dangerous, shown on the 5-star Trouée d'Arenberg in 2021 (left). Finishing in the Velodrome André-Pétrieux (right), the winner even gets one of the cobbles as a trophy!

Expect: Pavé-induced punctures and other mechanicals, commentators debating the pros and cons of a wet Roubaix. A winner usually on the larger side of pro cyclists, as size = absolute power and more stability on the cobbles.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège 🇧🇪 (late April)

Rounding out the Ardennes end of the spring classics, LBL is the most climber-friendly of the Monuments, with enough hills to put many of the larger riders out of contention. First held in 1892, earning the race its nickname of La Doyenne, it continues to entertain to this day.

Don't let the lack of cobbles or inordinate length of the first three, LBL is still a brutal race of ~260km with 4,400m of climbing!

Expect: Hills. Hard, and plenty of them. Often better weather than the other three.

Il Lombardia 🇮🇹 (mid October)

Usually regarded as marking the end of the road cycling season proper, Lombardia favours punchy climbers as it meanders through Lombardy – another region steeped in cycling history.

It's a beautiful race, often taking in the shores of Lake Como while chasing up and down the foothills of the Alps. Autumnal conditions can affect the race with potential for slippery roads and chilly descents.

Expect: Assuming past performance predicts future results, Tadej Pogačar to win his fifth consecutive title, equalling Fausto Coppi's record. Beautiful helicopter shots of the landscape; it's not nicknamed the Race of the Falling Leaves for nothing.

👋 Welcome to @pro-cycling-primers! 👋

So. Netflix dropped last year the second season of Tour de France: Unchained, and inspired by the fantastic work of @f1-primers, I thought I would start this sideblog to create an introduction of sorts for new fans, and eventually create a repository for all sorts of informative posts here on cyclblr :)

Welcome! Please feel free to ask questions or submit your own primers/guides/introductions on anything you like; particular race/edition of race, rider, team, rivalry, history, lore, tech, whatever! I will also reblog any guides I see/am tagged in.

Please correct me! I'm a lone cycling fan hoping to attract more people to the sport, and don't know or purport to know everything about the sport.

This post will change as this blog grows and more primers are posted :)