The Euro road season is a strange beast. For us, all the best races of the year are at the beginning, when temperatures are still low, the cobbles are omnipresent and the riders are a special breed of tough. Then the weather gets warmer and the stage races take over and the winner of a three-week race is known after week one.

We could look at drone shots of the Arenberg Forest all day, and there’s something almost romantic about a ploughed field with a pavé track running through it and a clump of trees in the distance that always makes the (my) heart sing. Festka are obviously cut from the same cloth as they are still glancing fondly over their shoulder at Spring and looking forward to April 2018.