Roundup: E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem & Volta Ciclista a Catalunya

In a roundup of the latest WorldTour action, Rolling Resistance takes a look at what’s been happening in these three races.

John Degenkolb has enjoyed further success at Gent-Wevelgem after a great start to the season.
Photo © AFP

E3 Harelbeke

Whilst not a full classic, E3 Harelbeke signifies a major one day race around the spring classics season with WorldTour teams competing to claim a prestigious win. The race was an opportunity for Milano-San Remo competitors to have a second, slightly smaller bite at the cherry – and this time it was Slovakia’s Peter Sagan of Cannondale who came out on top.

Last year’s winner Fabian Cancellara was separated from the front escape group and try as he might to galvanise his fellow group members, was unable to drag back the leading escapees of Sagan, Omega Pharma-Quick Step team mates Niki Terpstra and Stijn Vandenbergh, and Team Sky’s man of the moment Geraint Thomas.

On paper, it should have been one of the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team that came out on top, but with the strength of Sagan and Thomas combined, neither were able to make a lasting impression to claim victory. Instead, it was the increasingly experienced Sagan who was able to exact his sprint finish on his rivals and make up for his missed opportunity at the Milano-San Remo. Terpstra showed his form once again by claiming second and Thomas an admirable third in for what is turning out to be a fantastic start of the season for the Team Sky man.

Gent-Wevelgem

The second classic of the season, a 233km race in the heart of Belgium offered a fresh chance for the big names of the pro peloton to claim a classics victory, and John Degenkolb obliged. Thwarted by a puncture close to the finish at Milano-San Remo, this time luck was on his side.

Ironically, he is not even Team Giant-Shimano’s number one sprinter – an honour bestowed upon countryman Marcel Kittel – yet it is he who has been given leadership during the classics season while Kittel focuses on the grand tours. With good reason, it seems!

Degenkolb had already started the season in great form with several wins and here it showed. Steering clear of danger as a crash 8km from the finish wiped out rivals André Greipel, Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas, it was Degenkolb and Peter Sagan left in the group to contest the sprint, with the likes of Arnaud Démare, Tom Boonen, Sep Vanmarcke and Jurgen Roelandts on hand to provide the competition.

In the end, Degenkolb’s form took him across the line first to claim his first monument race, ahead of FDJ’s Démare and defending champion Sagan.

Volta Ciclista a Catalunya

The Volta provided an opportunity for this season’s grand tour contenders to get more miles in the legs in a multi-stage race environment and on form, it was expected that Alberto Contador and Carlos Betancur would figure in the general classification come the end after their victories in Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice respectively.

It was also a chance for Team Sky’s 2013 Tour de France winner Chris Froome to put a marker down following his absence with a back injury from Tirreno-Adriatico and for a true face off against a whole set of grand tour hopefuls for the rest of the season. Stage one saw Giant-Shimano’s Luka Mezgec take victory, who is yet another of the stable of talented sprinters at the team and claim the race’s first leader’s jersey.Stage two followed, with the unfortunate withdrawal of Richie Porte, still suffering from the back end of an illness that saw him withdraw similarly from Tirreno-Adriatico. It left Froome without the man who is expected to be his number two at the Tour de France this summer and represents the slightly-less-than-perfect start to the season for Team Sky. But, it was a second win for Mezgec, proving his resilience in less than ideal conditions.

Stage three was where the GC action began, with the top climbers attacking each other until the summit at La Molina. It was Froome who tried first, testing his legs and back against the likes of Contador, Nairo Quintana and Joaquim Rodriguez. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the attack failed to provide any room and with Contador and Quintana shadowing the moves, Rodriguez stepped up using explosive style to rise to the summit first over the last half kilometre.

The attack won him the leaders jersey, a jersey he had to defend on stage four through thick fog and disruption. Froome again attacked with no success and it was rising stars Tejay Van Gerderen and Romain Bardet who rose to the summit at Vallter 2000, the former crossing the line first. It goes to show that whilst we may consider the likes of Froome, Quintana, Contador and Rodriguez to be right at the top of world stage race cycling, there’s a group of young riders right behind ready to challenge.

Stage five saw a return to the rostrum for Slovenian Mezgec, who made it over the mountains for a third stage win of the Volta. The race was animated by Contador, who attempted a breakaway to reel in the gap to leader Rodriguez but it was a forlorn hope as Team Katusha dragged him back to protect their leader. Stage six however belonged to the breakaway artists, with Belkin’s Stef Clement holding strong and impressing to win from a large group including Jens Voigt, Pierre Rolland and Rudy Molard.

The race concluded in Barcelona, with Lieuwe Westra of Astana winning solo, while Rodriguez defended another late attack from Contador to try and overcome a four-second deficit. It was not to be, however, with Rodriguez winning the GC classification ahead of the Spaniard and stage four victor Tejay Van Garderen on the bottom step seven seconds adrift.

Next up is the second monument of the season, the Ronde van Vlaanderen, on Sunday 6 April.

Tirreno-Adriatico 2014 Analysis

Alberto Contador made a statement of intent for his 2014 grand tour aspirations with a convincing victory in the Race of the Two Seas.

The infamous pistol salute is back.
Photo © Tim de Waele.

Benefitting from a more traditional route that included mountaintop finishes and time trials of the team and individual variety, the 2014 Tirreno-Adriatico attracted the cream of the grand tour hopefuls in a race that mirrored the longer three week races coming later in the season.

Beginning with a team time trial, it was Omega Pharma-Quick Step who ruled the roost, showing impressive cohesiveness and power with a team made up of the majority of Mark Cavendish’s grand tour lead out train. In a discipline that carries similarities with the technique of a well-oiled sprint train, it will serve as a big motivator for the coming season, with Cavendish’s proclamation that this could be the strongest group of riders he’s ridden with embodying their optimism.

The race moved onto a flat stage the following day and with Cavendish in blue thanks to his passing the line first in the previous day’s team time trial, it was an opportunity to show the jersey. However, it was not to be as he got boxed in in the closing kilometre, leaving it to surprise victor Matteo Pelucchi of IAM Cycling to beat off Arnaud Démare and André Greipel.

Stage three’s profile suited the puncheurs, giving the chance for Peter Sagan to exact revenge on Michal Kwiatkowski for his defeat at the Strade Bianche. He duly delivered, succeeding a strong man’s finish ahead of the Pole, Philippe Gilbert of BMC Racing and Simon Clarke of Orica Green-Edge. The result left the pure sprinters far behind, but thanks to his team’s performance on the first day meant Kwiatkowski inherited the blue jersey fromhis team mate Cavendish.

The race then hit a mountain double-header and it was here that Alberto Contador proved his quality and form by winning both stages. Winning back-to-back stages seems to be a trend this season, with Carlos Betancur doing the same to win Paris-Nice, but here it was against arguably the best climber in the world in Nairo Quintana and the might of Team Sky with Richie Porte at the helm, and with notable rivals Daniel Moreno, Rigoberto Urán, Ivan Basso, Chris Horner, Domenico Pozzovivo… and so on.

Also his favour was teammate Roman Kreuziger, the 27-year-old surely a man capable of winning his own grand tour one day, acting as a foil and double threat to the field. It’s a tactic we’ve seen last season to limited effect, but here the duo seemed to be able to step up with that extra one per cent performance when it mattered. Different from the way the Schlecks would work in tandem and support each other on climbs in the past, the pair have worked a system of one-two punches and longer game strategies that paid off here. What chance of a repeat in the biggest race of the year in July?

The race then returned to the flat and here the power and teamwork showed by Omega Pharma-Quick Step in the race opening team time trial was in evidence again, leading Mark Cavendish home to a win so convincing his lead out man Alessandro Petacchi was able to coast over the line to take second place. Granted, in this particular finish there was a crash that involved many Lotto-Belisol riders, perhaps robbing many of the chance to contest the sprint fairly, but the speed and efficiency at which Omega Pharma-Quick Step were able to dominate the lead out will have sent shivers through the camps of Lotto-Belisol and Giant-Shimano.

The final day’s individual time trial also provided some intrigue, with Adriano Malori claiming victory ahead of specialists Fabian Cancellara, Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin. While there are bigger fish to fry for those three, they’ll be disappointed to have been beaten to top spot here.

It was an easy ride for Contador to secure GC victory, but interestingly proved that despite some rocking and rolling on his time trial bike, Quintana has worked to improve his time trial ability in the off-season, nicking a few seconds back in the process. While nowhere near enough to change the overall standings in his favour, it will be a source of encouragement for him as his strives to become a more complete grand tour rider. Thanks to Tinkoff-Saxo’s tactics and his good time trialling, Roman Kreuziger was able to secure the bottom podium step.

The race also provided disappointments for a few riders. Richie Porte withdrew due to illness, putting a dent in his preparations for the Giro d’Italia, while Cadel Evans pulled out citing frustration with his poor form. The Australian is targeting the Giro this season like countryman Porte, while Rigoberto Urán too suffered from poor form, not featuring on the mountain terrain during the event.

Next up on the WorldTour calendar is the classics season, so expect the grand tour names to be taking time to train while the puncheurs, strong men and sprinters battle it out over the next few weeks.

Who’s your favourite for the grand tours this season following the Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice? Get in touch by leaving a comment and let us know!

Paris-Nice 2014 Analysis

The second UCI WorldTour race of the season sees the unlucky Geraint Thomas impress but Columbian Carlos Bentancur wins for AG2R-La Mondiale.

Betancur has allegedly been overweight through the entire race, making his performance all the more remarkable.
Photo © Tim de Waele.

This year’s Paris-Nice has arguably played second fiddle to the (almost) parallel running of Tirreno-Adriatico. With the latter race attracting the real cream of grand tour talent, typified by Team Sky’s decision to transfer Richie Porte from the French event to Italy, there seemed to be a clear favourite in Vincenzo Nibali despite his main target being the Tour de France in the summer.

It was not to be, however. As the race unfolded it became clear that Nibali has yet to hit any kind of form this season as we notably saw him dropped on the Col d’Eze in the final stage after attacking and struggling at other times too. Seemingly in his place, then, stepped AG2R-La Mondiale rider Carlos Betancur, who deserved his GC victory after wrestling the yellow jersey from Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas and holding onto it until the finish line in Nice.

There were other disappointments too, with the Schleck brothers enduring a torrid time and World Champion Rui Costa proving to be the race’s ‘nearly man’ as he failed to claim his first victory in the famous jersey, eventually finishing second, 14 seconds off the lead.

Instead, it was Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas who impressed in his first and unexpected role as team leader, holding the yellow jersey until stage six and unfortunate to retire from the race following his heavy fall on stage seven as he tried to regain it.

There has also been a notably good start to the season from Garmin-Sharp, who’s rider Tom-Jelte Slagter claimed two stages during this year’s edition of the race, and with other Garmin-Sharp riders popping up for much coverage on TV as they hustle their way through the pelotons, the rest of the season looks bright for the American outfit.

In the end, 46 seconds covered the top ten finishers in GC, including French champion Arthur Vichot, Movistar’s Jose Joaquím Rojas and one of Astana’s big hopes for the Giro d’Italia, Jakub Fuglsang.

Indeed, the close nature of the results indicates that race organisers A.S.O. achieved their aim of a tightly contested race by leaving out high mountaintop finishes and time trials altogether. Ironically, of course, it is this that perhaps meant the vast majority of grand tour contenders have migrated over to the Tirreno-Adriatico this year, much to the consternation of race director Christian Prudhomme ahead of the race in the case of last year’s winner Richie Porte. It will certainly be interesting to see what the parcours will hold next year as A.S.O. look to regain more star riders for their race.

But, the race was there to be won this year and plaudits must go to the eventual winner Carlos Betancur and his team AG2R-La Mondiale who masterminded his two stage wins on the way to yellow and the white jersey (for GC and young rider classifications respectively). The King of the Mountains polkadot jersey was won by Lotto-Belisol’s Pim Ligthart while John Degenkolb secured the points jersey in a competition that was missing the big guns expected to feature later in the season. The team classification went to Movistar.

Who impressed or disappointed you the most at Paris-Nice? Let us know by dropping us a comment above.