It may seem unusual for the biggest Flemish race of the year to be one suited to Italian riders. Looking back through the results over the 103 years of the Ronde Van Vlaanderen though reveals that the Italian job is more common than most other countries bar the home side. After all, the original Lion of Flanders, Fiorenzo Magni, earned the title with his hat-trick of victories in the 1950s. In more modern times the wins of Gianni Bugno (by the slimmest of margins over the last Lion of Flanders Johan Museeuw), Michele Bartoli, Gianluca Bortolami, Andrea Tafi and Allesandro Ballan are still fresh in Flemish minds as ones that got away from the locals.

Even fresher in the Italian collective consciousness now are the wins of Alberto Bettiol and Marta Bastianelli last Sunday in Oudenaarde. While Bettiol wasn’t widely touted as anything more than an outsider or dark horse (and without a single Pro win to his palmares), Bastianelli came to Flanders with a much more storied resumé, and a glut of form already in the early season. The former World Champion and current European Champion continued her hot streak in the cold climes by taking a three-up sprint for her first Ronde victory.

Our man on the ground Russell Jones once again picked the right bike to photograph before the race, but could only offer a drunken email later in the day to say he was now half-man/half beer, and incapable of stringing a sentence together vocally, let alone by using his fingers. Thankfully they worked ok earlier in the day, and he got to chat with Marta’s mechanic Luca Rocchi about her unique bike.

“You see the chain? Ok, so, the team is sponsored by KMC, so the chain is a new chain, it is blue and black like the jersey. The oversize pulleys..they are from Ceramic Speed, and match her jersey also. The bottom bracket is from Ceramic Speed too (BB30), and we are super happy with them, really good.”

“Marta has a 52/36 in the front and the cassette is a 11-30, and she has run it all season. 170 cranks, SRM Origin PowerMeter carbon cranks, which are really easy to change the length (they feature adjustable crank arm lengths). The blue K-Edge chain catcher works for the cobbles but also has a magnet fitted for the power crank too.”

“We have the special wet edition Schwalbe Pro One tubeless, and Marta rides the 28 version, 3.8 bar, really low, and generally the back is a little harder, she has 4.2. We tested them at the start of the season before the Omloop down to 3.5, and with the 28 tubeless it’s really comfortable during the cobbles and we were super happy, especially as until now we don’t have any punctures.”

“Marta has 38cm bars, and she asked me to use the buttons (Shimano Di2 Satellite gear shifters), the top one (mounted by on the handle tops by the stem) is for the cobbles and for the Flanders climbs, as obviously you don’t ride on the brakes every single climb. She has single layer bar tape, but it has a gel inside and she rides with gloves too.”

“The stem, 90mm, it is custom painted, with the rest of the bike. It’s just something to celebrate (European Champion) as it doesn’t happen every single day. We tried to do something different for her, like the chain, like the stickers for the wheels which they sent especially for her, the stars, everything.”