The movie
The "Grand Tours" (the
Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a Espaņa) seem to
fill the largest space in the public's attention when it comes to
professional bicycle racing, but as time has gone by, I've become
much more a fan of the Spring Classics. These one-day races pack more
excitement and action into a few hours than the Tour de France does
in a double handful of stages (or, often, the whole race). There's no
sitting back and letting somebody else win the stage because the
leader has such a large time advantage in the bag; no, in a Classic,
the only thing that counts is who crosses the finish line first.
Whether it's a veteran pro or a new guy with not a single win in his
palmares yet, every rider who pulls away from the peloton could be a
threat.
The 2005 Het Volk and Ghent-Wevelgem
races are exemplars of great Classics racing. Each race is one of the
most exciting editions of that race that I've seen in a long time,
making the overall package one with real punch to it.
Before I go into details, I'll point
out that this DVD continues the (to my mind) rather odd practice of
putting the races in reverse order. Though it's the second DVD in the
set, Het Volk takes place before Ghent-Wevelgem, and for greatest
enjoyment, you should definitely watch it first. In fact, for maximum
enjoyment, the only way to go is to watch the Spring Classics in
order from beginning to end: Het Volk, (Paris-Nice would come next,
though it's not a Classic), Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders,
Ghent-Wevelgem, Paris-Roubaix, Fleche Wallonne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
In particular, this year's Ghent-Wevelgem coverage is made much more
interesting if you had just watched the Tour of Flanders DVD, since
the questions that Paul Sherwen asks of the riders in the pre-race
interviews directly relate to their performances in the previous race
and their plans for this one (and for the upcoming Paris-Roubaix).
For both races, Phil Liggett and
Paul Sherwen provide the commentary, and do a great job of it as
usual.
Het Volk
The chilly, early-season Het Volk
(taking place on a snowy February 26) is the first major race in the
pro cycling calendar, and as such it's always of interest to cycling
fans, who get to see riders on new teams after the winter trading
season. Of course, the question of who's fit and who's not is also
very much on everyone's mind... including that of the riders, many of
whom are struggling to get used to the cold Belgian weather after a
winter spent training in sunnier climes.
The Het Volk course is an
interesting one, winding through the Belgian countryside (at this
time of year, looking stark but still beautiful) and spiced up with
cobbled climbs. In that sense, it's more challenging than
Paris-Roubaix, which is famous for its cobbled sections but is
generally quite flat.
The peloton includes a number of big
names out for an early-season victory, such as veteran Peter van
Petegem; the young Tom Boonen, heralded as perhaps the successor of
Johann Museeuw; Steffen Wesemann for T-Mobile; and George Hincapie
for the US team Discovery Channel; and others. Most importantly,
everyone is eager and aggressive, so we get a lot of action. An early
breakaway is very threatening, and there's a big fight to get it
back, with plenty of give and take in the peloton. The finale is
something special as well, with unexpected action and a very exciting
finish.
Running approximately an hour in
length, the Het Volk DVD coverage is perfect: not too much, not too
little, and well edited. All in all, the 2005 Het Volk is one to
remember.
Ghent-Wevelgem
I took a break after watching Het
Volk to watch the next races in the Classics series, namely Milan-San
Remo and the Tour of Flanders. The latter race in particular provides
a great lead-in to Ghent-Wevelgem. Paul Sherwen does an outstanding
job of getting pre-race interviews with the key riders. Sure, we get
to hear from a lot of the more minor riders just because they happen
to be British or Australian, but it's still fun to hear what they
have to say, and Sherwen also gets great interviews with the "heads
of state" as well. His questions help put Ghent-Wevelgem into
perspective, as he references both the recent performances in the
Tour of Flanders and the riders' hopes for the more prestigious
Paris-Roubaix that will happen in just a few days.
The 2005 Ghent-Wevelgem ranks right
up there with the most exciting Classics I've seen, and certainly
this is probably the best Ghent-Wevelgem I've seen. It's a relatively
flat course, with two climbs up the Monteberg and the Kemmelberg late
in the race adding a hurdle for the sprinters but an opportunity for
explosive climbers. Tom Boonen is an obvious favorite for this race,
but other quite strong contenders include Erik Zabel, George
Hincapie, Tom Steels, Magnus Backstedt, Andreas Klier, and Thor
Hushovd. Eternal favorite Andrea Tafi is on the start list as well,
cheerfully refusing to commit to whether he's going to retire this
year or not.
In terms of racing action, the way
that Ghent-Wevelgem unfolds this time just can't be beat. There's
aggressive riding, breakaways, and chases the whole way, and on
various occasions it looks like we have "the break" of the
day... only to find that the race is re-shaping once again. In
particular, the final twelve kilometers or so of the race are
positively nail-biting, especially the last three kilometers. I'd
really recommend trying not to look at the cover of the DVD, the menu
of the DVD, or the images that play behind the opening credits, as
any of these could spoil the surprise and excitement of a simply
fabulous Ghent-Wevelgem finish.
The hour-long coverage is just
right, giving a smooth and well-edited flow of events. Paul Sherwen
also does a nice job of wrapping up the race with some interesting
post-race interviews with the riders.
The DVD
The two races are conveniently
packaged in a single-wide keepcase; Het Volk has one disc, and
Ghent-Wevelgem the other. The only fault I would find is that the
cover art spoils the finish of Ghent-Wevelgem, and that the menus and
the opening credit montage give away key moments in each race. On the
other hand, the disc art for both is nicely done, as it's attractive
while not spoiling anything, and the art and menus for Het Volk are
perfect.
Video
Both Het Volk and Ghent-Wevelgem
both look quite satisfactory. The image quality isn't perfect, as
it's somewhat soft overall, but considering that it's live television
footage, it's reasonably good. Het Volk looks more subdued, as it
took place on a gray and slightly rainy day, but in both this race
footage and that of Ghent-Wevelgem, colors look natural and there are
no real flaws or issues.
Audio
First the good track: Het Volk
sounds very good. The overall track is crisp and clean, with a
natural-sounding commentary that's always distinct and clear. The
track also includes a nice "race ambiance" background, so
below Liggett and Sherwen's commentary we hear the cars, the sounds
of the peloton on the road, the crowd, and so on. It's a pleasing
track.
Ghent-Wevelgem sounds odd at first,
so that it took me a little while to figure out what was the matter.
Here, there's absolutely no race sound at all: it's just the
commentary on top of a totally soundless image. While Liggett and
Sherwen sound clear and natural, the overall effect is much less
engaging. It's not until it disappeared that I realized how much more
interesting the soundtrack is when we hear more of the race itself in
the background. On top of that, there's also a brief moment in the
middle of the track when the commentary cuts out, leaving a gap of
dead silence for a few seconds before picking up again.
Extras
The only special feature is a start
list for each race, printed on the reverse side of the DVD cover.
Final thoughts
The 2005 DVD of Het Volk and
Ghent-Wevelgem is really as good as it gets for these one-day Spring
Classics. The quality of the field is outstanding, the races are
action-packed from start to finish, and the finale is extremely
exciting in both cases. The hour of coverage given to each race is
just right, with the footage being well edited to cover all the most
exciting parts of the race. While the audio track for Ghent-Wevelgem
is disappointing, overall the DVD transfer is satisfactory. Highly
recommended.
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