Interest in cobblestone races has recently increased heavily. Now, many of the big teams want a competitive cobbler and former smaller teams have moved into the 1st division with convincing results from cobblestone riders. The cobblestones have never before attracted so much attention – Season 12 has started with some of the most prestigious races in this category; a Classic has already been decided and tomorrow the new cobblestone tour, Tweedaagse van Antwerpen, begins.
  
  Formerly, the cobblestone races were mostly decided by unknown riders that experienced a once-in-a-career victory. Most teams did not prioritize these races and did not invest in training riders suited for these races. This has now changed and cobblestone races are now enjoying a renaissance.
  
  Last season, for the first time ever the best cobbler of the season was awarded with a prize in the annual season awards. Sieuwerd Bouwens of FFL took the prize, mainly for his success in the cobblestone Classics. Therefore, all eyes are on him now and everyone expects him to follow up his results this season. The manager of FFL has stated that he “can’t wait for the cobble tour” which will be a thrilling competition on the Belgium cobblestone roads – and competition there will be; many great cobblers intend to do well but only one can win.
  
  Pre-Roubaix and Roubaix Classic
  
  This season has started out with two important cobblestone races - the Pre-Roubaix and Roubaix Classic. Some managers consider these Classics as warm-up-races for the real challenge coming up - the Tour. However, these races have shown us which riders we can expect to see challenging for overall GC victory.
  
  Pre-Roubaix

is, as the name suggests, a test before the big classic. This season, the race ended in a breakaway where three well-known cobblers were aiming for the victory. Kelemen Nae, the defending champion of the race, failed to repeat his victory and could only watch as Geeraard de Zwaan crossed the finish line first with Lucas Fisher behind him. A winner and a winning team, Los Estados Unicos, that are relatively new in the top division achieved their first victory in this division. The biggest surprise, though, was the fourth place of Grayson Bankston who is normally considered a sprinter.
  
  The more prestigious Roubaix Classic was raced immediately afterwards. Sieuwerd Bouwens was fifth in the Pre-Roubaix and hoped to regain his title in this Classic. However, the new talent Fakhiri Abdel achieved his first big result with the win, clearly giving his competitors a warning to watch out for him in future. Bouwens was instead second and Ib Eibye came, surprisingly, in third place, managing to match his teammate’s third place from last season.
  
  Tweedaagse van Antwerpen
  
  These exciting races were closer than ever suggesting that the new Belgium Tour will be just as close. The tour starts tomorrow, on day 13, and contains four stages - one prologue and three cobblestone-stages. The tour has never been ridden before and no one really knows the importance of the prologue, a short time-trial. Several time trialists (non-cobblers) are signed up for the race in the hope of winning this stage. Therefore, it will most likely not be decided by the cobblers and the small stage will probably not have a big influence on the rest of the tour. Then, three cobblestone stages follow in which it will be decided who is the strongest and

most powerful cobbler in the world.
  
  There are several riders to watch out for. Riders that most spectators and experts have pointed out as favorites are Sieweurd Bouwens, Lucas Fisher and Geerard de Zwaan. Sieweurd Bouwens won the Antwerpen – Huy Classic last season and knows the Belgium routes very well. His team, FFL, is also strong and is participating with great lead-out men. Lucas Fisher was second in the just mentioned Belgium classic and is also expected to do well in this tour. Los Estados Unicos is signed up with two cobblers that did well in Roubaix and Geerard de Zwaan, in particular, will be followed intensively – from his competitors as well as the spectators.
  
  These are not the only favorites. Other riders worth mentioning are Team Tirilla’s Kelemen Nae, who has a very strong team behind him, and another Danish team, Team Brandt, with two cobblers that can make a powerful duo together – among those is the Roubaix Classic winner, Fakhiri Abdel. And do not forget riders such as Gabriel Hammar, who has yet to achieve his first big result, Jari Frederikson, who did not do well in Roubaix but he has proved his worth before and Arve Guttormsen, a rider that has not been talked much about lately but he also had some excellent results from last season.
  
  With all these great riders, we can look forward to an exciting tour with more than one interesting stage. This tour will be yet another indicator of which teams and which riders we can expect to lead the cobblestone races for the next seasons. They are becoming more and more popular and we will be seeing more big teams that want to compete in these races. This is only the beginning.
  
  Written by Team Tirilla