The 2022 Classics season had plenty of predictable and surprise outcomes, with solo attacks, daring descents, crashes and COVID-19, first-time success and padded palmares. Cyclingnews sums up the season with the highlights of the biggest one-day races of the road calendar.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – Wout van Aert, Annemiek van Vleuten
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Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) took the honours in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to start the Classics season at Opening Weekend. The then-Belgian champion finished off a dominant display by his team throughout the race. Van Aert went solo from the final climb of the day, the Bosberg, racing 13km home after leaving behind a select group.
Over in the women’s race, it was Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) who took her first victory of many in 2022. Only she and fellow Dutchwoman Demi Vollering (SD Worx) were left out front after the Bosberg, but it was the veteran champion who was the fastest finisher in the two-up sprint to the finish line. (DO)
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne – Fabio Jakobsen
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It was heartbreak for the breakaway on the second day of Opening Weekend as the peloton raced home to overhaul the three-man group in the dying metres of the 195km race. QuickStep sprinter Fabio Jakobsen was the first man home in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, beating Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) to the line and later making a plea for peace days after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. (DO)
Strade Bianche – Tadej Pogačar, Lotte Kopecky
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A week after the first Classics of the season, the action turned to Tuscany and the white roads of Strade Bianche, where reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar showed he can be the best just about anywhere. The Slovenian attacked 50km from Siena and was never caught, finishing off one of the most memorable performances of the spring.
The women’s race earlier in the day was a more tense affair, with Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) racing up the final ramp into Siena together. The Belgian champion was something of a surprise winner after the two women proved the strongest from an elite lead group, with Kopecky getting in prime position on the narrow roads through the town to the finish line. (DO)
Milan-San Remo – Matej Mohorič
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The first Monument of the 2022 season brought with it a surprise winner, with Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) far firmly among the outsiders heading into the 293km marathon. But a daring descent off the Poggio, aided by the novel use of a MTB-style dropper seatpost, saw Mohorič jump away from the sprinters and top favourites and hold them off on the Via Roma, eventually crossing the line just two seconds clear of Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix). (DO)
Classic Brugge-De Panne – Tim Merlier, Elisa Balsamo
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Late March saw the peloton head back to Belgium, though the pan-flat Classic Brugge-De Panne was a gentler reintroduction to the north. The sprinter’s races went pretty much exactly as planned, with large groups coming to the line to do battle.In the men’s race it was Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) who triumphed, beating Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic) to the finish.
Earlier in the afternoon, Elisa Balsamo got the better of Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) and Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) in the dash for glory at the end of a crash-marred race. (DO)
Trofeo Alfredo Binda – Elisa Balsamo
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At the end of a dynamic, ever-changing race in Cittiglio, it was world champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) who emerged victorious to grab her first one-day race triumph since taking rainbows in Leuven six months earlier. The 24-year-old led an Italian podium ahead of Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) and Soraya Paladin (Canyon-Sram) after the peloton had come back together for a bunch sprint in the closing kilometres. (DO)
E3 Saxo Bank Classic – Wout van Aert
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It was a day of domination for Jumbo-Visma in Harelbeke, with Wout van Aert leading teammate Christophe Laporte home for an arm-in-arm one-two finish, 1:35 clear of any of their competitors. The pair were without equals after attacking 40km from the finish on the brutal cobbled climb of the Paterberg, while Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) rounded out the podium after outpacing a large group of those left a long way behind. (DO)
Gent-Wevelgem – Biniam Girmay, Elisa Balsamo
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History was made two days later as Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) took the first victory by a black African in any Classic after triumphing from a small lead group which had broken clear over the race’s major climb of the Kemmelberg. Rising star Girmay took the biggest win of his career following a cat-and-mouse final run-in, outpacing Christophe Laporte, Dries van Gestel, and Jasper Stuyven to the line.
World champion Elisa Balsamo scored her fourth win of the season in the rainbow jersey from a 38-woman bunch sprint finish. The win, taken ahead of Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ceratizit-WNT) was the Italian’s third win in a week and her last of a stunning spring campaign. (DO)
Dwars door Vlaanderen – Mathieu van der Poel, Chiara Consonni
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After scoring a third place in Milan-San Remo, Mathieu van der Poel continued his limited Classics campaign with a victory in Dwars door Vlaanderen, taking his first one-day win of the season after one of the most thrilling back-and-forth finales of the spring. He eventually got the better of Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) in the sprint finish after the pair escaped late on, but the preceding battle – which included Tom Pidcock, Victor Campenaerts, and Stefan Küng – was something to savour.
Chiari Consonni (Valcar-Travel & Service) won the women’s race after a day dominated by Trek-Segafredo and multiple attacks from Ellen van Dijk. It was Annemiek van Vleuten who did a lot of the work to hold things together, but it was Consonni who reaped the benefits in Waregem, the 23-year-old getting the better of Julie De Wilde (Plantur-Pura) and Elise Chabbey (Canyon-Sram) in the final sprint. (DO)
Tour of Flanders – Lotte Kopecky, Mathieu van der Poel
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The Tour of Flanders served up two spectacularly dramatic finales, with Lotte Kopecky giving the home crowd a thrill by taking the victory in the Belgian champion’s jersey. Kopecky followed an attack by defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten on the Paterberg and played off teammate Chantal Van den Broek-Blaak to best her Dutch rival in the sprint.
Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar went on the attack from the penultimate climb, the Oude Kwaremont, and seemed certain to go mano-a-mano in a sprint finish. However, they watched each other too long and chasers Dylan van Baarle and Valentin Madouas came from behind and caught them. Van der Poel held them off to win the Tour of Flanders, but Pogačar missed out on the podium in fourth.
Scheldeprijs – Alexander Kristoff, Lorena Wiebes
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Alexander Kristoff tore up the script in a blustery Scheldeprijs, shrugging off his reputation as a sprinter and going on the attack solo to take the win. He made his move just before the course turned into a brutal crosswind that discouraged the chasers. The only thing crazier was Tim Merlier almost riding backwards into the group sprinting for the minor places and having to jump over the barriers to safety.
Lorena Wiebes started her sprint early to secure her second consecutive Women’s Scheldeprijs over Chiara Consonni and Rachele Barbieri.
Amstel Gold Race – Marta Cavalli, Michał Kwiatkowski
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Marta Cavalli claimed the biggest victory of her career with a searing attack after the Cauberg in the women’s Amstel Gold Race, using an “all or nothing” strategy to attack just as the lead group started to hesitate.
For the second year in a row, the men’s Amstel Gold Race came down to a photo finish. Benoit Cosnefroy celebrated thinking he had won only for the jury to announce Michal Kwiatkowski as the winner by millimetres several minutes later.
De Brabantse Pijl – Magnus Sheffield, Demi Vollering
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Cosnefroy was second again in De Brabantse Pijl, bested by another Ineos rider. Magnus Sheffield parlayed a 3.5km solo attack into victory and Cosnefroy out-paced Warren Barguil for second.
The rain and attrition also saw a solo winner in the women’s race, with Demi Vollering slipping away to take the win over Kasia Niewiadoma and Liane Lippert. She made sure not to make the mistake of the previous year where she celebrated too soon and was pipped by Marianne Vos.
Paris-Roubaix – Dylan van Baarle, Elisa Longo Borghini
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Elisa Longo Borghini inked her name into the history books in the second women’s Paris-Roubaix with a 34-kilometre attack just before the Templeuve sector to win by 23 seconds ahead of a chasing group led to the line by favourites Lotte Kopecky and Lucinda Brand.
Dylan van Baarle took a spectacular solo victory in Paris-Roubaix in the fastest edition to date, ditching his breakaway companions on the Carrefour de l’Arbre and soloing into the Roubaix velodrome with ample time to celebrate. Wout van Aert, beset with punctures, won the sprint from the chasing group over Stefan Küng.
La Fléche Wallonne – Marta Cavalli, Dylan Teuns
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The Mur de Huy selected the strongest climbers as usual, with Marta Cavalli winning La Flèche Wallonne after rocketing past Annemiek van Vleuten to snatch the victory, a large margin ahead of third-placed Demi Vollering.
Dylan Teuns won the men’s Flèche Wallonne with a perfectly-timed acceleration, holding off five-time winner Alejandro Valverde, with Aleksandr Vlasov in third.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège – Annemiek van Vleuten, Remco Evenepoel
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Remco Evenepoel won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2022, the biggest one-day race on the calendar. The Belgian used the Côte de la Redoute as the launchpad and his time trialing engine to hold off the chasers for 29 kilometres. Quinten Hermans beat Wout van Aert in the sprint for second.
Annemiek van Vleuten won the 2022 women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège by using the same climb but in a different way. She launched an attack but then sat up and was caught by the chase. She attacked again on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons and finally soloing to the win over Grace Brown and Demi Vollering.
Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa – Remco Evenepoel
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Evenepoel made an even longer solo attack to win the San Sebastian Classic, using his pre-Vuelta a España form to time trial for 44 kilometres to the victory. He went on to win the Vuelta and the World Championships.
Il Lombardia
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In the final Classic of 2022, Tadej Pogačar bookended his season with a victory in Il Lombardia. Much like in 2021, Pogacar attacked to form a two-rider breakaway, only this time rather than Fausto Masnada, his victim was Enric Mas in the sprint for victory.
