The Spa round of the Superprestige series has been one of my favourite races of the season since its inception, back in 2014. It’s a super-hard course, both the descents and the climbs. And then on top of that, there is that run-up, that is barely walkable, the one that looks steep even on the screen. Today was no different from the previous editions, with probably one exception: the crowd – or the lack of it. Spa is one of those races, where it’s really hard to get around, because the spectators are often flock to popular spots and create bottlenecks. This used the be the case at many parts of the Spa course, but not today. Moving around was easy, even during the elite men’s race. Whether it was the particularly cold weather or just another marker of the general decline in spectator number, I don’t know. I hope it’s the former and not the latter.
Tomorrow will mark my first visit to Mol. It will be another ‘first’ for me this season, though many great races have been held there, I somehow never ended up covering it.
