Simon Richardson: The spring classics. For many bike racing fans, this is the most important
and exciting time of year. Monuments like Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are the stuff of
legend where only the strongest riders win. While only a select few ever get to race them,
you can on a normal year, go and try your own luck on the very same cobbles by making a pilgrimage
to the Hallowed turf in Flanders and Roubaix. Or you can find your own cobbles and make your
own classic. [music]
[laughter] Sean Kelly:
The final now, we can hear the helicopter. Simon: Bristol's House and the
[unintelligible 00:00:59] Sean, how does it compare?
Sean: [inaudible 00:01:01] worse than the [unintelligible 00:01:03]
[laughter] [music] Simon:
Bristol is one of the major cities in England but commonly thought of as the coolest,
most fun and generally best place to live well, perhaps in the world. Yes, I grew up here but no,
I'm not biased, no, not at all, in fact. Anyway, what you can't argue with, is the fact that the
city lends itself well to a DIY spring classic. Its industrial past means that there's still a
myriad of sectors of pave and we've got hills in abundance including one which is reputedly
the steepest residential street in the world. [music]
We join our race at the sign-on at Brunel's Buttery down by the harbor side.
Our first rider to sign-on is Simon Richardson with something of a home advantage and also as the
unofficial race organizer today, we're pretty sure he's rigged it. Next it's James Lowsley-Williams
a rider who's only fairly recently out of the Pro-peloton but who has really let himself go.
Ollie Smith is a colleague here at GCN but a man who keeps himself behind the scenes.
Next we have international man of mystery and all-round cycling connoisseur Tom Southam and
finally, we've got a late entry. It's nine time monument winner and world number one for five
consecutive years, Sean the King Kelly. Simon: What, Sean Kelly? Yes, who am I
trying to kid, of course, we knew that Sean, the King Kelly was joining us today. Now,
it's for a very good reason Sean is famous as well as for being one of the all-time greats but
for riding Vitus bikes for much of his career and he still has an association with the brand today.
They have just launched this which is the Vitus Vitesse EVO, a brand new, all-round
race bike. Not only have they kindly lent us three of these for us to ride around Bristol,
they've also arranged for Sean to join us as well, basically to show us how it's done and
add a bit of firepower. James Lowsley-Williams:
Si, tell us what all this is about. Simon: Okay right. Well, firstly guys
welcome to the first ever GCN spring classic in October. Now, the idea is simple, we've plotted
25 kilometer long route that includes 13 sectors of Pave and two Bergs. Now, this does differ from
a normal race it's, 10 times shorter than Peru Bay, for example, but also because Bristol is
like an actual city. If it was a race around it would cause chaos and at least one of us
would probably die. Instead, this is a point based system, a point is going to be allocated
as to your finishing position on key, safe, sectors of cobbles. Then we're going to finish on
the Velodrome de Queen square, where it's triple points on offer. Okay, normal UCI rules apply.
James: You mean no riding on pavements? Simon: Exactly yes, and also no urinating
in public. Right, should do it. James: Let's go.
Simon: All right. James: You're ready?
Simon: As the Peloton rolls out, I will quickly talk you through the route. It pays homage
not just to Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders but also
Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Strade Bianche and it's with these two that the Spring classics really
kicks off. The Peloton will make their way out of Bristol and up Cote Du Providence Lane
before turning onto a sector of Strade Bianche or perhaps Strade Grigio, to be strictly accurate,
for sector one and two, over the iconic Clifton suspension bridge and then quickly
into Pave. After that the cobbles come thick and fast, sector three is our first Flandrian Hill,
Albert Hill-Berg and then more Pavé before the Muur Van Totterdale and then a hectic finale
before the Velodrome Du Queen's Square. [music]
Simon: We've got our little peloton here, I'm joined with Sean on the front
we're heading to Liege so start of our bikes, really and then onto Strade Bianca.
Get your point of view on how to ride the cobbles, how to ride the classics, and getting tips.
Sean: For all the classics, ride the cobbles is pretty simple and straightforward.
When you've got the good legs, you just pedal across the cobbles. That's what it's all about.
Simon: Do you have to ride a slightly different position on the bike?
Sean: You usually sit on the tops, on the hoods, and you ride on the center of the
cobbles a lot. Some of the times, you go to the side. In the earlier part of the race,
you ride on the center on the crown of the road. As the race goes on and everybody starts to
suffer, everybody looks for the easiest option or the easier option. That means riding in the side.
Simon: Right, Sean. We've hit first berg. This is Liege I'm in the wrong gear.
Right. We're on to the first obstacle of the day. King Kelly spinning gear he could only
have dreamed of 30 years ago. This is the Cote Du Providence Lane, just one kilometer long
but it is a nasty little climb, averaging 9% but with two sections of over 60% gradients. [music]
Speaking of gears, Tom, you'll notice is riding a vintage Vitus, one of two he's
faithfully restored. Unfortunately, he's not riding his Sean Kelly era 979 today
but has controversially elected to use the Andre Schmiel Vitus from 1998. [music]
There's still a long way left to go with plenty of chances to make a difference
but this should soften up the legs of those that are anything less than
top four. From that face, it looks like Lowsley-Williams might be that man. [music]
Right. We're quickly on to Strade Bianche It is the local rider, Richson, who leads everybody
onto the gravel as we suspected, trying to make that insider knowledge pay dividends.
The joustling for position has started. We're on to the off-road stuff now. [music]
Some cracking on-board footage there,
really getting a feel for this sector. It made them look like they weren't going that slow.
Made a big attack, got a few legs on them. Here they are. [music]
It looks like Kelly's already looking for the smoother line on the grass.
Strade Bianche is one race he actually hasn't won, although that's because it didn't exist
back when he was racing. [music]
Right. We've beat up Liège,-Bastogne-Liège we've done the white roads of Strade Bianche. Now,
we're on the way to the Pavé. I'm sitting on Sean Kelly's wheel.
Onto the dramatic Clifton Suspension Bridge, the jewel in Bristol's crown. Kelly is focused only on
the road ahead, tightening his shoes in readiness for the upcoming pavé. [music] The bunch led by
Southam keeping a high tempo. What we don't know though is if any alliances have been formed within
that group. Could he be working for another rider? [music]
Onto the first section of pavé now, Southam leads, Kelly in second wheel. It's only short but it is
particularly rough. [music]
Some fantastic slow-motion footage of the king in
action there. [music]
Fast running to sector two,
King Square, short sharp sector of pavé. [music]
It's actually just a one-star sector, 50 meters long and not particularly selective but it all
adds up. It will stretch the peloton out before our first key prime line where points are on
offer. It's Albert Hill-Berg. [music]
It's a straight 15% climb, quick dog leg through a car park before hitting
the final uphill section of cobbles with the bonus points on offer at
the top. [music]
Southam emerges first from the car park, probably just trying to keep on top of his 22-year-old gear
ratios. Kelly, once again in second wheel, spinning a fast cadence and floating over
the cobbles. [music]
Richardson seems to have moved back into the lead, sensing danger on this opening left-hander
Kelly foot out. It's a long tough sector and gaps are starting to appear in the Peloton now.
Just as well we're on to the feed zone next and a bit of recovery before the
biggest and most dangerous test for the riders. Right unlike a proper spring classic, even one in
October, this is not the kind of race where you grab a Musette at 45k an hour, instead you grab
a flat white so while we're just taking a moment to drink our coffees and eat our cake, we're going
to dive in some bike tech. Vitus has a colorful history in cycling, right back to their origins
in Southeastern France in the 1930s through to its rescue from administration by CRC who've
now reinstated it as an independent brand with its own independent, passionate team behind it.
There are a whole load of very famous Vitus bikes from over the years but perhaps the pinnacle was
the 979, one of the most successful race bikes of all time. A lot of that perhaps down to Sean but
also a number of other very famous riders who used to race it. With this Vitesse Evo, modern Vitus
are looking back to their roots, it is a proper race bike designed in-house and then refined with
input from Sean and also the Vitus pro team. No, it's not an out and out aero bike,
they have one of those in their range so instead, we're going to start with the weight. It's just
840 grams for a size medium frame but actually at the top of Sean and the pro team's list
of priorities was lateral stiffness and to that end, Vitus say they've boosted lateral
stiffness by 34.9% across the board and the bottom bracket has improved a whopping 50%.
The improvements in lateral stiffness don't have to come at the compromise of compliance,
you can see with the drop seat stays and the integrated seat clamp plus some carbon wizardry,
Vitus say there's plenty of compliance in here, plus you can fit 30 millimeter wide
tires in here. It ships with 25 mil wide tires that are tubeless-ready
and that is something that I definitely wish I'd taken advantage of before the start this morning.
Sean: It wasn't your fault? Simon: No, definitely not.
James: Now what I didn't tell you is I actually pumped Si's tires up to 110
so he might be struggling on the cobbles and it was Sean's idea to be fair.
Simon: Now another thing that's clearly been taken from the Vitus pro team and
Sean is the geometry of these bikes, so the stack heights are really low and the reach
is nice and long across the board from size extra small right up to extra extra large. This bike
is actually Sean's that I've borrowed to demonstrate on. He has unsurprisingly chosen
the range-topping SRAM eTAP access version. All the bikes share the same frameset right
down to the 105 equipped entry-level model. Now it is a far cry from the bike that Sean
used to race on, that's for sure, not least the gear ratios that you get on SRAM RED eTAP.
The bottom gear here is minuscule compared to what he used to have to race on.
Sean: Okay guys, come on, drinking coffee and eating cakes, you're not going to get fit.
Simon: Wait, wait a sec, sorry guys, hang on. [music]
Sean Kelly might not be so eager to leave when he sees what's coming next.
Moon Street is a particularly dangerous sector although not because of the
pave. [music]
Lowsley-Williams like a fish out of water here. It's out of the frying pan and into the
fire though, this is now the big one, the Muur Van Totterdale. An average gradient of 22% but
a maximum gradient of 33%, eye-watering stuff, and it's Lowsley-Williams who's attacking. This
actually looks quite impressive, he's got daylight behind him can he hold on till the summit.
Hank crests the summit, Southam just manages to get up, Richardson struggling on his wheel,
Smith then King Kelly perhaps suffering from his large piece of carrot cake.
We are on to the finale now and it is all still to play for.
Down onto the harbor side, we've got just two kilometers remaining all on pave.
Southam still looking ominously strong,
Kelly using every inch of the road to fight back to his preferred second wheel.
Lowsley-Williams fighting hard for it. The pace is really high now, perhaps even over 30Ks for each.
[music]
It's anyone's guess as to who's going to take this one. Out of the final corner and it's Smith
on the left of your screen. Southam and Kelly locked together in the right and oh, that was
close. That's going to go down to a photo finish to decide who claims the points on the line.
Final confirmation there. Kelly takes maximum points making up for a poor showing in the Mure
van Totterdale to take the win. Southam second, Lowsley-Williams in third, Smith in fourth,
and Richardson despite organizing the thing finishing in the last place.
Sean: It was a pretty easy one really but it was good enough for me in my fitness level at
the moment but it's nice to ride cobbles. Some of those sections were riding very nice and some
difficult sections. In built-up area it brings back a lot of memories of course when you're in
Belgium, you have that sort of cobble sections in the towns or village going through the streets,
in front of people's doors. Simon: Sean, the Vitus guys were
saying that you had quite a hand in developing this bike, what in particular were you focusing
on when you were giving your feedback. Sean: The first thing I looked at was
the look of the bike. It's always important that it looks good, it looks fast. One of the things
I suppose in the rear end the tire clearance is something I was looking at because now as we know,
the tires are getting bigger every year it seems to me, so that seems to be the way it's going.
Simon: Talking about tire clearance, see when you rode Paris–Roubaix you rode on 23mm wide
tubulars so this must be like night and day now going to 28, 30s even,
do you wish you'd had wider tires back then? Sean: Well if I had a bike like this I'd have won
four or five Paris–Roubaix's but yes, it's amazing the way the bikes have improved.
When you look at the bike that I was riding I still have got a Vitus bike back home which
I raced in the Vuelta and another one that I raced in some of the classics.
It's amazing the way the bike has changed. Now the tires as you say in the Paris–Roubaix on the
cobbles it's so much more comfortable because you have the wider tire so that gives you a softer and
a more comfortable ride. I think the gearing is probably the greatest thing in the biking because
the climbs we are doing today, the gradient there. When I was riding you had 42, 24 and you have to
get up climbs now we have such a ratio you can spin up any climb. You see the guys when they're
racing the way they can spin up those climbs. Simon: Guys thank you so much for that,
that was an absolute blast, and Sean in particular for making the trip across for
the first-ever GCN sprint classic in October. Who won, not entirely sure although that's kind
of not really the point is it? Probably Sean but you don't need 194 wins, 193 is plenty I think.
Sean: I don't know if I'm leader of the points board but I'll take the win.
It has been a difficult season with everything going on. It'll be my first win of the year so
I'll definitely take it. Thank you very much. Simon: Well, there you go and Sean's the winner,
well I'm sure. Right, great stuff, please give the video a big thumbs
up if you've enjoyed it [00:19:01] [END OF AUDIO]