- We're only at the end of April
but we've already had a whole load of fantastic racing.
So coming up are the most memorable moments
of the 2019 season so far.
- But first, it's got to be Amstel Gold.
- [Commentator] Alaphilippe who takes off on the right side.
Look at van der Poel going from behind, though!
Look at van der Poel on the left hand side!
Mathieu van der Poel's going to do it!
Mathieu van der Poel!
This is incredible!
I have never, ever, seen anything like this in my life!
- [Host 2] I think what made that finish so remarkable
was the fact that van der Poel looked to have
no chance of going for the victory
until 400 meters to go?
- Almost, and seemingly did all of the work by himself
and he became the first Dutchman since 2001 to win the race
and 29 years after his father, Adri, took a victory.
- And to make the day even more memorable
earlier on, we had an equally enthralling race
with the women's event.
- Well, if you think back to last year
one of the most remarkable and
thrilling finishes of 2018 was La Course
with Annemiek Van Vleuten hunting down
Anna Van Der Breggen, catching her on the line,
and that almost happened again here.
- It did, but Niewiadoma was not going to
let that happen this time around.
She took what was her first victory of the season so far
and a memorable win in the classic.
- Now, we all love footage of an epic descent,
so when Niccolo Bonifazio of Direct Energie
went on the attack in Milan-San Remo
it really was something to watch
and he put himself up there as one of the greats.
- He did.
I was watching it with a big group of people
and everybody gasped when they saw him
descending the Cipressa.
He used his local knowledge and reached speeds
of up to 86 kilometers per hour.
And afterwards, he revealed that he
didn't touch his break once.
- What we've got to point out and remember
is that Bonifazio's racing on closed roads
so don't try that at home kids.
- Or down the Cipressa.
- Last year, Annemiek van Vleuten revealed
after the World Road Race Championships
that she fractured her tibia in a crash--
- And she finished seventh, let's not forget,
in the race.
- Yeah, unbelievable.
So most people would be forgiven
for easing themselves back into racing
after the winter without putting too much
expectation on themselves.
- Not so Annemiek, who took fourth at her return
to competition at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad,
then rode everybody off her wheel
to take the win at Strade Bianche.
Stage four Tirreno-Adriatico
will stick in our memories for a long time.
There we saw an in-form Alexey Lutsenko
go on the attack with a long way still to go.
Then he crashed, lost some of his lead.
Then he crashed again on the final
descent towards the finish,
got caught by another group of three,
and then, somehow, still managed to
out-sprint them to take the stage victory.
- He did indeed, and Alexey then went on,
he had another nasty little slide out
a few weeks later the the Tour of the Basque Country,
although, he didn't manage to win
the stage on that occasion.
- No.
Crashing, not a part of the recipe for success.
- Not so much.
Next up is Wout van Aert's performance at Paris-Roubaix.
It really was phenomenal, and it shows that
the level of expectation heaped on him
on the road this season is certainly justified.
- [Host 2] Yeah.
What a race he had.
He had a mechanical in the Arenberg.
He has a crash.
He had a bike change.
He had a puncture.
He had two agonizingly long chases
back onto the main group of favorites,
and yet, somehow, he still managed
to make the ultimate selection at the end.
- He did indeed, and he also recorded
his teammate's best power out,
part on his wheels, which has gotta hurt.
Unfortunately for while, the fuel gage warning
was beeping really loudly and he finally
ran out of gas when the big attacks went.
- He'll be back.
Who doesn't love Thomas De Gendt?
- I certainly do.
We couldn't have a memorable moments of 2019
without including the current king
of the breakaways, now the first stage
of La Bolta Catalunya is quite often
ear-marked as one for the few fast men that
are sent to Spain, normally as a bit of a punishment.
- [Host 2] Yeah, but De Gendt had
different ideas, didn't he?
And not only did he get into the breakaway,
and manage to hold off the bunch,
he did so by almost three minutes,
it's quite a remarkable performance
and he valiantly defended his lead
through to the end of stage three,
which is Mountain Top finish, only relinquishing
that leader's jersey the following day.
- The stage one time trial at the tour
of the Basque country gives us our next
memorable moment of the year.
- Yeah, so on a very slick and very steep
climb on that opening time trial,
- Which, by the way, is only a category three
which shows just how tough this race is.
- Yeah, anyway, George Bennet of Jumbo Visma
who's a very, very talented climber
was struggling to keep any kind of forward
momentum at all towards the top of that climb,
wasn't he, in fact, the metaphorical wheels
kinda fell off towards the top and so did he.
- [Host 1] He certainly did.
But what makes his ride even more
impressive is that he still only
finished 58 seconds off the stage winner.
- Wow.
- Omloop Het Nieuwsblad kicked off the Belgian
classics season with typical Belgian flare
at the Gen Six Velodrome, I even saw a DJ
with his decks in a shopping trolly but
unfortunately as the race rolled out,
it became a bit of a scheduling nightmare.
- [Host 2] It did, to be fair to the race
organizer, I think they were doing their upmost
to give the maximum exposure to both
the men's and the women's race, but in doing so,
they've set them off not too far apart.
The men rode really slowly after the break
without the road and the women rode
really fast and caught the rear end
of the men's perd-son, and what did they do?
They stopped the women's race.
- [Host 1] They did indeed.
Now unfortunately, Nicole Hansen was out
in the lead, she was given her lead
but she was caught soon after, and after
the race Coryn Rivera put this little tweet out.
(slow electronic music)
- Next up, we're heading over to the boards
of Aguas Calientes for a new world hour record.
- The hour record is the pinnacle of cycling
records and probably one of the most painful
as any rider that's ever attempted it will
tell you, it's all about equipment,
preparation, pacing and the ability to lift
that pace as you're going.
- Yeah, so not too hard on this one
and that one hour can probably feel like
a week I would imagine, Campanaert's
had Wiggin's mark of 54.526 kilometers
to beat, that was set in 2015, since then
there's been ten failed attempts but
the Belgian had not only done his training,
he had also done his homework and he set
a new benchmark of 55.089 kilometers.
- [Host 1] So with every new record,
it normally ignites a flurry of interest
and a whole host of new record attempts.
I for one, am really interested to see
who's gonna go for it next.
- De Muller?
- Maybe.
- We're going to finish with a moment
where you just have to say ouch.
(car horns)
So, those were our most memorable moments
of the season so far, but as a lot of you
will know, we have a history of missing
some key ones out, so if we have done so
this time, please feel free to let us know
in the comments section just down below.
- And also if you haven't yet checked out
GCN's live race coverage, head over to our
Facebook page, we have loads of really great
racing coming up this year.
- As well as loads of highlights, worldwide too.
In the meantime, we also do a weekly racing
news show, so if you haven't caught the latest
one, you can find that down just down here.