Tour of Flanders cycling on home trainers tomorrow

This video, planned for April 2020, says about itself:

De Ronde Lockdown Edition: Tour of Flanders Virtual Race LIVE On GCN Racing

With the Ronde van Vlaanderen unable to take place in 2020, 13 pro riders, including defending Tour Of Flanders champion Alberto Bettiol, and young sensation Remco Evenepoel, go head-to-head on a virtual 30km course, taking in the final 3 climbs of the real-life Ronde. Flanders Classics teamed up with technology partner Bkool & Kiswe for this unique alternative to the race, join us LIVE for the virtual monument.

Translated from Dutch NOS radio today:

Mike Teunissen goes to bed on time nowadays. “Yes, now certainly, because on Sunday it is a race again”, says the rider of Jumbo-Visma laughing when he speaks to the Langs De Lijn En Omstreken radio show in the evening.

Teunissen is one of the thirteen professional cyclists who are allowed to ride the Tour of Flanders on Sunday afternoon – from home, though. Because the cycling classic has been cancelled due to the corona crisis, just like all other sporting events, a select group of cyclists will virtually compete in the finals of Flanders’ Finest.

“I think it’s nice to do something different for once”, Teunissen reacts enthusiastically. …

“I notice from the reactions that many people like that something happens once again, that there is some live sport. Let’s hope it will be a success.”

While the riders in the traditional Tour normally ride over 260 kilometres, the Tour of Flanders ‘Lockdown edition’ is about 32 kilometres this Sunday. That is long enough, says Teunissen. “I think this will be tough enough. I already heard from Thomas De Gendt that he is preparing for a time trial of 32 kilometres. I think I will do that as well …”

On Sunday, the riders will place their bicycles without rear wheels at home in a modern version of a roller bench, which simulates a real cycling race on a computer-controlled basis. It is like participating in a computer game, but with serious physical effort.

The virtual Tour of Flanders will be broadcast live on Belgian television on Sunday afternoon [15:30]. …

Teunissen does not expect that there will be a lot of tactics involved in the race. “The best thing would be if you could play a little team game. But I assume that some guys will start at full speed and leave a gap. And then it is everyone for himself. So I will do that.”

These are the riders who will compete in De Ronde 2020: Lockdown Edition! #DeRonde2020 pic.twitter.com/WhGeihqOv8

— Ronde van Vlaanderen (@RondeVlaanderen) April 2, 2020

So, this will be eight cyclists from Belgium, one from the Netherlands, one from Italy (Bettiol, last year’s winner), one from the Czech republic, one from Ireland, one from Australia.

One should hope that, if other races like the Tour de France will also not be able to go ahead in the open air this year, there will be a similar solution for them.