Lotte Kopecky’s line came before the race: “A lot of stop signs, a lot of traffic lights and a bad road surface”, Sporza reports on training in Canada.
The rest of the delegation backed her up. After reconnoitring the 39.2 kilometres of the time trial, the Belgians returned with the same remark. “It is in a wretched state”, Klaas Lodewyck told Sporza. According to him, the section on the Formula 1 circuit rides fine, and the rest a lot less so.
There we are. For years I have been explaining at the café that there is a red light on the way out of Oudenaarde and that the pros do not have it. People look at me kindly, the way you look at a man who talks about his backpack. And now we learn that pros are training with stop signs, lights and a surface that shakes you about. I’m not saying I do the same time. I’m saying we finally have the same column: the light, the road, the backpack I carry and they do not. Take off the backpack, leave the lights on both sides, and we can talk about it. My Sunday segment runs on a road they resurfaced last summer, and I felt it in the legs before I saw it on the computer.
He has nothing bad to say about the mapping work done by the Belgian staff, who noted the worst spots on the course to warn the riders. He has his own mental map, he says, except that his fits in three words and always ends at the same café.
The women’s time trial is set for 3pm Belgian time, the men’s for 6.45pm. The road races follow, 180.4 kilometres for the women on 26 September and 273.7 kilometres for the men on the 27th.
It’s true, we checked: Sporza.
