With
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and
Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne kicking things off at Opening Weekend in the coming days, Classics season for 2025 is almost upon us. As always, two of the premier events of the coming weeks are the
Tour of Flanders and
Paris-Roubaix. One man that knows more than most about these two Monuments is Italian icon Andrea Tafi.
Tafi won the Tour of Flanders in 2002 and Paris-Roubaix back in 1999. In the opinion of the now-58-year-old, arguably the most important factor for potential winners of these races, is the strength of their teammates. "They are very different competitions of course, but in the end the difficulty is almost the same, that is, very high . And when the races get tough, being in a great team makes the difference,"
Tafi explains to Bici.Pro. "The Roubaix cobblestones tend to make natural selection, either you are gifted or you are not. While the Flanders is more of a normal race, if I may use the term, you have to be strong but also intelligent in dosing your strength and arriving still fresh at the decisive moments. In both cases the team is fundamental and without it you don't go anywhere."