“I’m hoping for rain on Sunday but we can deal with whatever comes.”
In flying form after her third place at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Elise Chabbey is looking forward to the Ronde van Vlaanderen course. Tough, challenging, hard, and full of action are the types of races that Elise thrives on and Flanders, how Ronde van Vlaanderen is affectionately known, has all that and more.
CANYON//SRAM Racing’s roster for Flanders on Sunday 3 April will be Alena Amialiusik, Elise Chabbey, Tiffany Cromwell, Kasia Niewiadoma, Soraya Paladin and Sarah Roy.
Elise will make her Flanders debut on Sunday.
“It’s my first time racing Flanders. As I’ve heard and seen, it’s a challenging and long course. I expect it to be a bit like Dwars Door Vlaanderen, but harder,” explains Elise.
“I have no pressure. I know it’s the kind of race that I can be strong at and that means I’m looking forward to racing it. We have so many experienced riders in our team that have raced Flanders many times before and I can use their experience. We have sprinters and punchers and I hope it’s a combination that will make us as a team hard to beat.”
Despite a lot of focus on the new and exciting entry to the course, the Koppenberg climb and its 22% slopes, Tiffany says it won’t be the winning moment of the race.
“Everyone who knows Flanders knows the Koppenberg and its notoriously slippery and narrow slopes. Usually, it’s the Kanarieberg when things are heating up and the Koppenberg comes at a similar time in this year’s race but the Koppenberg is more challenging and selective. Even so, I don’t think it will be the winning move but it will be very dangerous and very selective. I see it as being the start of when the race heats up and the key moments are thick and fast in every single section that follows. You can’t afford to waste any energy on the Koppenberg or any energy chasing back afterwards,” describes Tiffany.
The 158.6km race with its 11 climbs and 6 cobblestone sectors can be followed on Twitter with #RVVwomen and #RVV22. The race starts at 13:25CEST and broadcasts start at 15:00CEST on GCN, Eurosport, FloSports, SBS Viceland, Sporza, RTV, Rai Sport, TV2, France TV, ESPN, Supersport, and Sky.