The Tour de Flanders sub-23, also known as the Tour de Flanders Espoirs, has announced the indefinite cancellation of the event due to the problems of organizing the race each year and other reasons that have led to its loss of prominence.
In statements collected by the Cycling Weekly portal Win Van Herreweghe, director of Flanders Classic, revealed two of the factors that have influenced this decision. “Se celebrated on bad dates, the same weekend as Paris-Roubaix. Furthermore, it is difficult for the city of Oudenaarde to organize two major events in two weeks “, since only one week before the elite category tests, ‘De Ronde’, are held.
Van Herreweghe also highlighted that another fact that has motivated this indefinite cancellation is the absence of great figures from the U23 peloton, either because they are running in other tests and also because of the trend that many junior category cyclists have made the leap to professionals. without going through the sub-23 category. “Let’s not forget the fact that we see more and more junior riders skipping the under-21 category, but at least we keep the Kattekoers in the Nations Cup and the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in the under-23 category.”
In this way we will have to wait to see the Tour of Flanders sub-23 on the calendar again, a test in which cyclists of the stature of Giovani Visconti, Salvatore Puccio, Kenneth Van Bilsen, Rick Zabel, Dylan Groenewegen or Eddie Dunbar and that he hopes to crown another future cycling star in his next edition.