Watching a Monument on TV is exciting, but the medium does little to portray the real atmosphere and sheer difficulty of the terrain. Climbs look less steep, cobbles look smoother, you can’t hear the crowds or take in the scents of the race, grilled food and wet asphalt. If you haven’t experienced the brutal Arenberg or Koppenberg first hand, it’s hard to understand what the riders endure through a TV screen. If you’ve climbed the Paterberg, you’ll see why Sep Vanmarcke failed during the Ronde in 2016 and why Sagan’s attack was such a perfectly executed racing tactic.