Chris has a scraggly beard and an Alpine look, having arrived in Vermiglio ten days ago, during which he designed the route for Sunday's race and didn't let a morning go by without checking the snow conditions. The bearded Flemish man, aka Chris Mannaerts, is the cyclocross manager of Flanders Classics, the Belgian company that organizes the World Cup and the main Flemish road classics. The first contacts with the people of Trentino he had them however Thomas Van der Spiegel, CEO of Flanders Classics, who speaks Italian because he was a professional basketball player and played in Bologna and also in Rome.
«The surveys – says Chris – began in August two years ago with the first emails asking if there was interest in a cyclocross trial on snow. We have a plan to bring cross-country skiing into the Winter Olympics program, so we need to demonstrate that we can organize on snow.They told us we had a 60 percent chance of finding snow and that was enough. The hard part was and will be until the race to find it. the right balance between ice and snow. Every morning we made surveys along the entire circuit, which is 3 kilometers long.. It's not short, but it's balanced."
To make cyclocross a winter sport, a location was chosen where the winter season is in full swingThe plan is clear, the idea is also well-founded, given that cyclocross is universally recognized as a winter sport. The snow variable is the great novelty of Vermiglio.
Have you spoken to the riders about this snow race?
We didn't ask them for their opinion, nor did we contact them to ask them to come. It's the World Cup, not an exhibition raceBut they also know we have this plan, because we've talked about it. They knew the race would be on snow, but it could have been in Switzerland, or even in France.
Have you had any reactions from them?
Riders are curious. Before this job, I was with Van Aert in the previous team. I remember that When the calendars came out, everyone was there looking at the routes, commenting and talking about them.
Is it that difficult to organize a race on the snow?
One might have thought that it was so, we had never built trails on the snowWe've had races where it snowed, but never like this. But if I look back at the day we arrived and think about what we did, it's not too different from organizing the Koppenberg race. We have experience with courses. When you have a start and finish line and a flat space for the pits, the race is done.The variable is the weather. And as in every race the morning of the race will be decisiveLast week, the race was held in Boom. It was supposed to be a fast course, but it rained in the morning and they couldn't stand up. Have you seen the photos?
It might snow again here…
And in that case, we'll have to beat the snow. Or the temperature could suddenly rise, and then it would be a problem. As long as it stays around freezing, we shouldn't have any problems. If it were to hit ten degrees, we'd be in trouble.This operation is successful if the riders can compete in a technically valid race and express their potential.
Is there any curiosity in Belgium?
Newspapers with millions of readers have been following the news since Monday. They're all talking about Vermiglio, as we pronounce it up there. Large photos, full pagesThere's an air of a great event.
Do you really think there is an Olympic chance?
I think so, and without distorting the specialty. We could talk about studded tires again in case of ice, but on snow they would not be necessary.Cross can find its place and the UCI is also aware of this and has seen what a great boost the inclusion of BMX in the summer program has had for the federations.
How many of you came from Belgium?
At first three from Flanders Classics and a team of Belgian workers, specialized in the construction of the routesWe designed it, they built it. Now others will arrive, so there will be 6 or 7 of us. Our work usually starts on the Saturday of the week before the race. This time we arrived on Thursday, because more days of work were neededAnd then we'll dismantle everything by Sunday evening, Monday morning at the latest.
Who will win on Sunday?
Looking at the route, it will be a race to push. We need a man with great strength and given Boom's Van Aert, it will be difficult to resist him.The difference in Boom was huge. Then there could be the Pidcock surprise and the Iserbyt question mark: is being so light on the snow an advantage? One thing I'm sure of...
About what?
We'll have a great event. The goal of Flanders Classics isn't to push racing around the bell tower in Belgium. Without forgetting our origins, Our goal is to make this sport internationalAnd on Sunday we'll have a story to tell.
