What now for Wiggins?

With Team Sky potentially set to omit Bradley Wiggins from the Tour, where does the biggest star in British cycling go from here?

Many think Wiggins still has the ability to enjoy more days like this. But for whom will that be? Photo © Reuters

Bradley Wiggins dropped a bombshell last week during an interview with the BBC that he would be very unlikely to ride the Tour de France this year.

The response has been mixed. Most journalists and cycling insiders seem to believe that it is the right, or at least most logical thing, to do while Wiggins’ fanbase has condemned the ‘decision’.

As Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford has been moved to point out in response, the decision has yet to be finalised. Presumably, this leaves the door ajar for Wiggo to impress. A victory at the Tour of Switzerland certainly would do that – but would it be enough?

Given the ongoing media-fuelled saga between the pair, there is a certain logic to leaving Wiggins out of the team for the betterment of Froome’s chances – after all, the less distractions there are, the better. The rivalry between the two would inevitably be a sub-story throughout the Tour – so better just to nip it in the bud now.

Also, regardless of Brailsford’s assertion that the riders (read: Froome) do not pick the team, it would be counter-intuitive to not place Froome’s preferences as an important cornerstone in deciding who is picked and who isn’t. You’d want the team leader to be happy and content with the selection, therefore that rider’s opinion needs to be at least respected – and in this game, respect usually means concession.

With that in mind, it’s understandable that Wiggins felt it inevitable that he wouldn’t be picked for the Tour. He knows better than anyone what’s going on in the team and he also knows that Froome is now top dog for the grand tours. If it were the other way around, it’s likely he’d have something to say about Froome’s inclusion too, and he probably appreciates that through a combination of age, experience and circumstance.

Wiggins, though, is not done yet. Whether by accident or by design, his declaration that he wont be present for the Grand Dèpart in Yorkshire this summer has turned into something of a PR coup. His popularity, fundamentally, dwarfs all other British cyclists. A combination of his irreverent personality and ability to appeal to the British sense of… Britishness… and his huge success on the track and road has seen to that. Even Mark Cavendish and Chris Hoy have never had such a universal appeal as Wiggins. Therefore, removing himself from the biggest summer of cycling Britain has ever seen has been seen by most as, at best, undesirable.

To most, his absence will be seen as a travesty – and he probably knows this. So what has he to lose by, essentially, kicking up a fuss by displaying the aura of a beaten man when it comes to the selection for the biggest cycle race in the world? It’s an aura that British cycling is unaccustomed to from it’s most popular star.

Multiplying the issue is the sense that it’d be a PR disaster for Team Sky, the Tour and the Grand Dèpart to have one of world cycling’s biggest stars absent.

It would seem that Wiggins is exercising his great influence as a human being, setting himself against the autonomic machine and slightly dry nature of Team Sky and its leader Chris Froome. In doing so, he has cast Froome in the role of pantomime villain and has at least claimed a small victory in that regard should he not be selected.

With his contract running out at the end of the 2014 season, Wiggins also has options. Safe in the knowledge that he’s likely to be overlooked for the Tour for the forseeable future, and with Team Sky’s questionable success in the classics that he has stated are of interest to him, he may be best served by moving elsewhere after this season’s Commonwealths and Worlds.

So, where would he go? Orica Green-Edge seem an enticing option, proving this year their strength in the classics through Simon Gerrans. They’ve also never really figured in the grand tours, which having Wiggins on board would help address.

Other options? Italian outfit Lampre-Merida may look to replace veteran Chris Horner after his shaky year thus far, while Omega Pharma-Quick Step may also take a punt if Wiggins decides he wants to focus solely on the classics (the likelihood of him being considered ahead of Rigoberto Uran is at best 50-50). Perhaps even the new team mooted by Formula One star Fernando Alonso could see Wiggins installed as the experienced man needed to lead them through their early years.

Then it’d be off to the 2016 Olympics for Wiggins and potentially into retirement – or a tilt at the one-hour record.

What do you think could become of British cycling’s main man?

Grand tours are back!

When the grand tours come around, it’s holiday season for the keen cyclist.

Caption: The 2014 Giro has descended on Northern Ireland, but its draw will affect millions over the next three weeks.
Photo © Getty

Well, you might not actually get time off work and the daily chores remain as tedious as ever, yet we all seem to find time to have the three-week extravaganzas of bike racing on the TV or computer in the background.

Well, I say in the background: what I actually mean is the coverage takes centre-stage and dominates your afternoons. Perhaps its in a little window on your desktop or in full HD on your 42 inch plasma; either way it renders you useless for the following three and a half hours as you watch unfold some of the most dramatic bike racing in the world.

Naturally, we’ll still be going out on our own bikes trying to post new PB’s on Strava or out on group rides to discuss the previous day’s stage and the upcoming parcours – yet for those three weeks, it really is about admiring the best GC riders out there.

Funnily enough though, with the absence of Messrs Nibali, Froome, Contador, Valverde and Porte, there seems to be a (relative) lack of top talent at the GC table. That said, with the likes of Rodriguez, Quintana, Evans, Basso and Irish hopefuls Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin on the start list, it’s hardly going to be a dull race either.

It’s also a sign of the times. We know who the very best riders are because they’re the ones who turn out at the Tour de France. In cycling circles, the Giro is considered on a par with the Tour, yet its pull has paled in comparison to the big money circus the Tour represents.

And so it is; with more money – read: media coverage, sponsors, big names and therefore prestige – rolling around the Tour, teams want their best chance of victory to come there, with the Giro (if not desolate) left a little short changed compared to its French counterpart in terms of raw talent.

Another example is the sprinters competition. With only Marcel Kittel racing of the ‘big three’, he has a great chance to dominate the flatter stages, while others look to scramble for second and third spots on the podium. Obviously, that doesn’t mean those sprinters will give up – Alessandro Petacchi has enough pedigree and experience to be a factor and with Elia Viviani on hand, you can expect a challenge to be in the offing from at least two teams aside from the Giant-Shimano sprinting behemoth.

So, should we be considering reducing the length of the Giro (and the Vuelta) to compensate for this – placing the Tour at the official heart of the season, rather than as one part of the coveted Giro-Tour duo and the treble grand tour ‘grand slam’?

I think not. Yes, the Tour does have a special place in the hearts of many – I myself became hooked on cycling through watching the Tour each year alone – but I challenge anyone to go to Italy and tell the tifosi that their race is any less important than France’s greatest. In fact go to Spain too and belittle theirs – they’ll love you for that… For that is what shortening the race amounts to.

And let’s not forget, the Giro and Vuelta have provided us with as much excitement as the Tour has done in recent years. I’ve yet to meet a cycling fan who’s thought, “No, I’ve decided that three weeks of tense, exciting and dramatic racing from somewhere other than France is far too much,” instead angling for more races in a summarily rearranged calendar.

The three-week format of the grand tours is as important as the single day duration of the classics. We love them because their length and style characterises the very race it’s attributed to. In my view, a two-week tour is too small to really filter out the very best – and places it too close to a Tirenno-Adriatico or Paris-Nice in focus and type. Besides, we already have the ‘Race of the Two Seas’ and ‘Race to the Sun’, anyway!

But most importantly, the charm of the race would be lost. A three-week tour is like a fine wine; getting better with age. There’s opportunities for each of the different disciplines, rest days, stage parcours and sheer fortune to affect the standings of the race, with the cream eventually rising to the top. It’s extremely rare to find that a grand tour champion is undeserving of the title, while the points jersey is won by the rider who wins the most points – can’t say fairer than that (even if the purists would like to see more bias back to stage wins than intermediate points opportunities – perhaps more on that another time!).

All the while, we find ourselves immersed in the imagery and spectacle of a truly marathon event – and that is why I think a grand tour should remain a glorious three weeks of professional cycling escapism.

Catch the entire Giro d’Italia live on Eurosport from 9 May – 1 June 2o14.

Froomedog Returns

Chris Froome proves a difficult spring can be put behind him as he excels at the Tour de Romandie – but has his preparation for Le Tour been irretrievably damaged?

It’s a return to winning ways for the 2013 Tour de France champion – something he seems particularly happy about (above)! Can he raise his game to compete with his 2014 rivals?
Photo © Graham Watson

Spring has not been particularly happy for 2013 Tour de France champion Chris Froome. After an admittedly good start to the season in the Tour of Oman, the Team Sky rider has had to deal with injuries and illness as he prepares for his defence of the calendar’s flagship race.

A lot of rhetoric has been written as, while Froome has been on the sidelines, Alberto Contador especially has been mopping up the plaudits as the form GC rider so far in 2014. But it doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t be in top condition for the Tour.

Contador’s wins, while extremely impressive against the likes of Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana, were nonetheless at a very early part of the season and with his outspoken intention to return to his old serial-winning ways, we shouldn’t be surprised that he has hit such good form so early.

It’s significant that Nibali, who is also targeting the Tour, has not been in such prolific form, while Quintana has had his eyes elsewhere this year as he adapts to being ‘The Next Big Thing’; both are focused on their own approaches which significantly differ from that of the Spaniard.

The original plan for Froome was to largely repeat his build-up last season: after all, why change a winning formula? With the possible exception of Quintana, Froome was head and shoulders above the rest of the field over the course of the race – possibly the greatest vindication of his preparation one could ask for.

To his and Team Sky’s credit, they haven’t panicked following his setbacks and have instead stuck to their plan; replacing the races he’d withdrawn from with carefully controlled training designed to keep him on track. It’s an approach that Team Sky have perfected over the past four years, firstly with Bradley Wiggins then Froome as team leader – leading to three podium and two grand tour wins so far.

It seems it has paid off once more, with Froome able to see off the challenges at the Tour de Romandie and defend his title. By all accounts, he is back on track despite the issues he’s faced this season.

The only concern for him now is the competitive mileage in his legs. Of course, his training will deal with the distance and elevation he’ll need to cover to be in top condition, but will he be race ready? It’s widely accepted in all sport that there is a vital difference between fitness and race-readiness. Entering a three-week race, despite his experience, requires this level of readiness. As much for the physical capacity, it’s the psychological preparation that makes race winners.

This is where Contador is likely to have the advantage, while it can be argued that Froome will have the fresher legs come July if he prepares tactically well. The third piece in the puzzle, Nibali, sits in the middle having been unspectacular yet racing gamely throughout – his form bettering as time goes on.

It will be fascinating to see which approach pays off in the summer.

Roundup: La Flèche Wallonne & Liège-Bastogne-Liège

The spring classics season concluded with even more spectacular racing from Belgium.

Valverde is looking increasingly strong this season, but will soon need to show his form in a multi-stage event to prepare for his attempt at the Tour de France.
Photo © Getty Images

La Flèche Wallonne

The race from Bastogne to Huy, held on a 194km route, was keenly contested by a series of high profile riders, but not before a crash dispatched two before they could lay claim on the Huy.

Damiano Cunego and Joaquim Rodríguez were the two riders caught up in the main accident of the day and meant that both were unable to stretch their legs on the final climb – particularly disappointing for Rodríguez considering his prowess on the shorter, more punchy climbs. It also left Amstel Gold winner Philippe Gilbert out of position, losing time behind the resulting concertina effect on the road.

That left the likes of Belkin’s Bauke Mollema to start the initial attacks on the Mur de Huy, with Michal Kwiatkowski in tow countering the manoeuvre in a race that once again showed how strong and important he could be for the Omega Pharma-Quick Step grand tour teams (and therefore Mark Cavendish) this year.

It was also a chance for Dan Martin to show his burgeoning form after an illness-affected classics season, and he impressed – having been caught up in the same delay that ended Gilbert’s hopes, he found himself back in contention right to the finishing line.

Unfortunately for the Irishman, he had too much work to do at to fend off the eventual winner, Alejandro Valverde. In the post-race interviews, he said, “Every year I seem to get a little bit better but again I was a little too far back at the bottom of the climb. With a few hundred metres to go I did think I might have had it but he [Valverde] flew past and left me for dead.”

And so it was; the man who has had one of his most successful starts to a season, Valverde, launched a final effort that Martin was unable to answer and claimed his second Flèche Wallonne, from Kwiatkowski in third.

 

Liège-Bastogne-Liège

All of La Flèche Wallonne podium riders were also in contention with 20km to go of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with Domenico Pozzovivo and Julián Arredondo ahead of the trio, who were joined by Tinkoff-Saxo’s Roman Kreuziger, Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang and BMC’s Philippe Gilbert.

It was a particularly skittish final 20km though, with the continual attacks off the front boosting the pace of the chasing pack keeping the two leaders within close proximity. It became a strange scenario where the breakaway couldn’t build a gap, yet the favourites were holding themselves up just enough to allow teammates to rejoin and establish a sizeable peloton ahead of the finale in Liège.

On the final climb in Liège though the days tactics played out, with Orica-GreenEdge (for Simon Gerrans) and Movistar (for Valverde) dominating the front of the group, before the attacks began to blow the race apart.

At the summit though, only Pozzovivo had survived of the escapees earlier, with newcomer Damiano Caruso having joined him. They set about their task of working together to reach the finish line of the final spring classic of the season before getting swallowed up by the chasers, and with 3km to go they held a 12 second gap.

By this time, the real strongmen and marquee figures of the peloton had filtered through and worked hard to bring back the two riders out front. It also meant riders started attacking again off the front as some tried to solo their way back to the leaders (perhaps hoping a game of cat and mouse would ensue and give them an opportunity to capitalise).

In a final twist, Dan Martin who seemed perfectly placed to figure for the victory lost his front wheel seemingly innocuously on the final turn at 300m to go, clattering to the floor (his hopes of defending his La Doyenne title ending there and then).

That left Gerrans to hold off Valverde and Kwiatkowski to take the win. After the race, he paid tribute to his team, saying, “At 30km to go, I really didn’t have the legs, so I really have to thank my team for getting me in the right place come the end.”

It represents a neat bookmark for Gerrans, who started the year in the Tour Down Under with overall victory. He now enters the next rounds of multi-stage races at the front of the pack and in great form.

Review: Amstel Gold Classic

Philippe Gilbert returned to form as he claimed the Amstel Gold Classic in a race that reflected the action-packed start to the classics season so far.

Gilbert attacks on The Cauberg on his way to victory over that, one of his very favourite climbs.
Photo © Bettini Photo

The Amstel Gold Race each year promises a great race, especially considering it can be a target for non-one day specialists to test their legs. This year, the likes of Alejandro Valverde, Simon Gerrans, Samuel Sanchez, Daniel Moreno and Andy Schleck all started the race, but its notoriously attritional reputation hit home hard as Schleck, Joaquim Rodriguez (crashes) and Dan Martin (allergies) all abandoned.

The race proceeded with animations from crowd favourite Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), often seen at the head of a strong breakaway group including Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Peter Weening (Orica Green-Edge) and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Belisol).

It was a group that was tightly controlled by the main peloton, though, having seen Roman Kreuziger ride to victory for Saxo-Tinkoff last year and while the group stayed out in fragments until seven kilometres to the finish, it never gained an advantage that was likely to prove decisive.

The end of the Amstel Gold Race is infamous for the Cauberg climb (often simply referred to as ‘the Cauberg’ among cycling aficionados), so with the main group back at the front of the race the favourites became the strongmen and punchy climbers with what was left of their teams.

That left BMC in an optimum position, having saved their riders for the final climb from an ensemble that could rival any classics-oriented outfit. Samuel Sanchez went off the front and sapped the energy from the chasing pack; his attack weakening their opponents who needed to respond. In the end leaving Philippe Gilbert in the perfect place to launch his assault on the climb and the finish line having been dragged back to his teammate. It seemed a well-played one-two punch.

It marks a return to form for the recently beleaguered Belgian, who two years after securing a historic quadruple in the Ardennes Classics, has had precious little to celebrate. Still, with his third win atop The Cauberg, 2014 could be the year where we see the former world champion back at the front.

On the day he was strongly challenged by Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) and Simon Gerrans (Orica Green-Edge), they couldn’t hold a candle to him and had to settle for second and third places on the rostrum, respectively.

“My teammates really did a great job before the final ascension of the Cauberg,” said Gilbert to the waiting media.

“During the briefing, it was planned for Samuel [Sanchez] to do an attack at the foot of the Cauberg, so it was not a surprise for me, but I think it was one for my adversaries. I only had to wait for the best moment to attack,” he said.

It goes to show that pro cycling is as much about the tactics of the team as it is about the form of the nominated team leaders. BMC, who boast one of the strongest lineups of the WorldTour series, now look like a serious threat for the remainder of the major races this season. The question remains though: Will they be able to convert this awesome collection of talent into success in the grand tours and remaining classics?

Roundup: Paris-Roubaix & Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco

Rolling Resistance brings you up-to-date on the latest action from the WorldTour series.

Paris-Roubaix

The 2014 edition was a record breaker, but not for the reason expected. A race that was held almost flat out from start to finish, the racers averaged the fastest ever speed in a Paris-Roubaix race, clocked on the line at 45.49km/h.

Any other hopes for a record from Tom Boonen (gunning for his fifth title) or Fabian Cancellara (aiming for a third Flanders/Paris-Roubaix double) where to be unsuccessful though, as they came in a high-quality bunch 20 seconds down on the winner, Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Niki Terpstra.

Terpstra was majestic come the final stages and his solo break for the line laid waste to opponents (namely team mate Boonen and Cancellara) who are famous for their tactical nous and strength in the closing stages of classics races. Perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise as Terpstra has been very much near the front of many races in this early stage of the season – here employed probably as the first of a two-stage assault on victory by the OPQS team – yet to many he was a smart pick at the bookies (if you were that way inclined), along with other outsiders Geraint Thomas, Sep Vanmarcke, Bradley Wiggins and John Degenkolb.

Testament to the form book, all these riders made it inside the top 10 come the finish line, finishing together with Degenkolb (himself the most high profile sprinter of the group) at the head.

Terpstra beat off the competition with a decisive break, with Degenkolb (left) and Cancellara (right) leading in the chasing pack.
Photo © AFP

On his win, a clearly delighted Terpstra said, “To win in the biggest classic of all is a dream come true.

“[It’s] probably the best day in my career. With three guys in the front group, we were very strong. Tom and I came back in the finale and in the last cobbled section I attacked,” he said.

Whatever happens now in the upcoming one day races, Terpstra will now be delighted with his palmarès for this classics season, a season where there have been four different winners of the first four classics races.

Next is the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday 20 April. Coverage will be live on British Eurosport and highlights available on Sky Sports.

Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco

While the spring classics have been dominating the WorldTour scene in recent weeks, stage-race riders have been getting their racing done in less prestigious week-long races.

The Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, or the Tour of the Basque Country, played host to a plethora of grand tour hopefuls still looking to develop form for the Giro and beyond.

On paper, the race was over as soon as it had begun, though, with Alberto Contador of Team Tinkoff-Saxo winning the stage and in doing so setting himself up for a week-long stint in the leaders jersey all the way to the finish on Saturday’s time trial.

Indeed, here he showed very impressive form on the hilly course, only six seconds down on specialist time-trialler Tony Martin. But interestingly, it’s Contador’s excellent form of late that has proved a talking point with many claiming he is now favourite for the Tour de France in July over the likes of defending champion Chris Froome.

Contador has shown prolific form thus far. Can he hold it together through to the Tour de France?
Photo © Tim de Waele.

At the beginning the of the season, Contador himself had stated that he was going back to basics; to ride as he did in his Tour de France-winning glory days, trying to win as many races as possible and use those races as his conditioning for the main event. It’s a tactic that he’s not followed so stringently in recent years since his ban for the use of clenbuterol was confirmed, and it would seem his form has suffered somewhat as a result.

Now, with his outspoken statements that the Tour is his main goal among many, he is at least securing the “among many” portion of his goal. The question now is whether or not he can maintain his condition all the way through to the summer months where it is likely the vast majority of his competition of late will have peaked.

Elsewhere in the general classification were Michal Kwiatkowski and Jean-Christophe Peraud in second and third respectively, while Alejandro Valverde, Tejay Van Garderen, Cadel Evans and Thibaut Pinot all figured inside the top 10. For British fans, there was reason to cheer as youngster Simon Yates of Orica Green-Edge finished 12^th in the standings.

The Spartacus of Flanders!

Cancellara emphatically claims his third Ronde van Vlaanderen.

This image speaks a thousand words for Cancellaras indomitable spirit and strength of will in the classics races.
Image © EPA

De Ronde, as the race is known colloquially, is arguably the biggest of all the classics. Some claim it’s the cobbled climbs, notable for their surface and short sharp nature that make the race so special. One thing is for sure though, it’s Fabian Cancellara who has them tamed.

There were three clear favourites for the race before it began, with Cannondale’s in-form superstar Peter Sagan, Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Tom Boonen and Trek Factory Racing’s Fabian Cancellara the chosen trio. Each had enjoyed success at the beginning of the season – and both Boonen and Cancellara pointed to the threat posed by Sagan despite a classic having yet to appear on his palmarès.

However, on a day that had a bit of everything including crashes that put both riders and spectators in hospital and non-stop action from start to finish, it was Cancellara who prevailed by simply out-riding and out-classing his rivals. At 18km to go, he made a break for it and never looked back, fatally wounding the chances of Sagan and Boonen in the process having identified the final two climbs, the Kwaremont and Paterberg, as the weakness in their armour.

Following his break, he engaged in some great tactical cat and mouse, where he took on Belgians Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and out-manoeuvred them to sprint to victory. It was a sprint rehearsed at the Milano-San Remo, but this time came off superbly.

It was a remarkable feat that proved his form in spite of losing high-profile lieutenants Gregory Rast, Yaroslav Popovych and Stijn Devolder, who were halted by various illness and crash-related maladies. As Directeur Sportif Dirk Demol put it, “These are the three that would normally be there with Fabian until deep in the final. We never panicked but it was a tricky moment for us. Fabian proved to be [physically] and mentally strong.”

Excellence.

Perhaps most interesting though is the continued excellence of Cancellara. A renowned time-triallist and classics rider, he has emerged as one of the great cycling strongmen of all time. Actually, this has been known for a while, but with every success it bears repeating.

His record is outstanding: since his first monument victory at Paris-Roubaix in 2006, he has gone on to claim a total of seven victories, seven further podiums and three additional top-ten finishes. In fact, in the last 12 classics he has raced in, he has failed to finish only once – and of the remaining 11 has finished on the podium. That’s some going.

It means he is also now tied with rival Boonen on total classics victories, and is also equal with him, Achiel Buysse, Fiorenzo Magni, Eric Leman and Johan Museeuw as three time winners of the race in Flanders. Certainly, he feels at home in Flanders now: “I’m not the Lion of Flanders [the famous symbol of the region and race], but the Spartacus of Flanders,” he proclaimed after the race.

What price on a fourth next year? But for now, his focus shifts to the Paris-Roubaix this weekend, where he will again seek to match Boonen as a four-time winner and establish himself as the outright most successful monument rider currently still pedaling in the pro peloton.

Next up is the third monument of the season, the Paris-Roubaix, on Sunday 13 April.

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.

Milano-San Remo 2014 Analysis

Aleksander Kristoff wins the 2014 Milano-San Remo at a bunch sprint ahead of Fabian Cancellara and Ben Swift.

Kristoff showed his mettle by outsprinting strongman Cancellara and Britain’s Ben Swift and Mark Cavendish.
Photo © Getty Images

Yes, you read that right. Kristoff ahead of Cancellara and Swift at a bunch sprint. In adverse conditions, although not quite as poor as the 2013 race, it became a strong man’s finish as Kristoff burst to the front at just the right moment.

The race was animated by a four-man breakaway, but the real action began on the slopes of the Cipresśa, where Astana’s Vincenzo Nibali went on a charge to test his legs. It was perhaps a shock from a man who hadn’t shown much in the way of form so far this year, but he became a prominent figure as soon as he reached the descent as he left the remnants of the original breakaway behind.

The gap opened to 50 seconds and he held on until halfway up the Poggio, by which time the sprinters teams had taken control of the peloton and organised a chase. Inevitably, new attacks went off the front once Nibali was reeled in, and BMC’s Greg Van Avermaet was at the centre of it.

It was to no avail though, even with attempts by various others including teammate Philippe Gilbert, and it was clear that the peloton was geared for a bunch sprint with the likes of Gerald Ciolek, Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish in the pack ready to pounce.

André Greipel was a man who did not figure however. Struggling up the final climb, he was absent and used all his strength to return to the peloton, but it was too late to mount a serious challenge for victory.

That left the rest of the challengers to fight it out and for a moment, it looked as though Mark Cavendish might take a second Milano-San Remo title. However, even with his trademark streamlined sprint, it seemed he had also had his legs deadened by the Poggio climb and inclement weather conditions and was only able to hit the front momentarily and too early. He’ll be pleased that he was able to climb better than Greipel here to put himself in a position to win considering his lack of training for the event and his late start to the season. Once the disappointment has passed will be able to see the promise for the grand tour sprints to come.

Next up came the podium placers: Kristoff hit the front following excellent lead out work from Katusha team mate Luca Paolini and there was nothing to stop him, a combination of good legs and great timing putting him first across the line. Behind him came a charging Fabian Cancellara, who was visibly annoyed at the missed opportunity at the bunch sprint having seen Cavendish falter. Following the race, Cancellara commented that he had raced for a sprint when no opportunities to make a break transpired on the Poggio and proved here that on the right day he could figure once again in the cobbled classics to come should they end in a sprint.

Third place went to Team Sky’s Ben Swift who showed good composure to take a maiden podium at a monument race. Certainly one for the future, Swift will now try to build on this as Sky’s main sprinter for the rest of the season and establish himself among the big sprinters on the world stage.

The classics season has only just begun to bare it’s teeth!

Were you surprised by Aleksander Kristoff’s win at Milano-San Remo? Tell us what you thought of the race by leaving a comment. 

Preview: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2014

While the classics have gotten underway, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya offers further opportunity for grand tour GC racers to build form.

It’s a sad fact that this Spanish race is often forgotten in the aftermath of the Milano-San Remo monument, but its importance is just as valid for the rest of the season.

This year the race has a high quality field that is suited to its hilly parcours and it will offer a kind of racing more akin to that we’ve seen at Paris-Nice and especially Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Contenders

Chris Froome – The 2013 Tour de France winner has returned following his back injury and will be looking to get his preparations back on track following his withdrawal from Tirreno-Adriatico. The best stage racer of last year, it will be interesting to gauge his form against that of Tour rival Alberto Contador.

Alberto Contador – El Pistolero is perhaps the favourite for this year’s edition with his dominant win in the Tirreno-Adriatico against a very strong lineup. Contador is a rider that excels when the parcours is mountainous, but even more so when confidence is high. His dispatching of Movistar’s Nairo Quintana last week will have fanned those flames of belief.

Dan Martin – The Irishman enters this year’s race as defending champion. With this year’s Giro d’Italia on his schedule due to the Grande Partenza, it is likely the Volta will provide vital preparation for him. Mostly absent so far this season, his form is largely unknown at this stage.

Carlos Betancur – The Paris-Nice winner enters this race on a high and moving towards a more competitive ‘race weight’. Already regarded as a top climber thanks to his performance at last year’s Giro, Betancur has proved his underlying form is good, however it remains to be seen how he tackles bigger ramps.

Joaquim Rodriguez – The Spaniard has had a low-key start to the season, this being his first WorldTour race since last year’s Il Lombardia in the autumn of 2013. That race confirmed him as the world number one on the WorldTour rankings list, so he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with should he be selected, but he is traditionally a late bloomer in terms of form.

The Race

The Volta is known for it’s hilly parcours that takes in many significant climbs; 25 of them in fact. Significantly, the race has two summit finishes in stages three and four up to La Molina and the hors catégorie Vallter 2000-Setcases respectively, and it’s here that the GC contenders will be making their move. Our ‘contenders’ list notwithstanding, we could witness attacks from Chris Horner, Nairo Quintana, Sammy Sanchez, Tejay Van Garderen and Pierre Rolland as the race shakes out.

The danger of course is that the race might stagnate because the roads are so well known – if riders don’t live in nearby Girona, they’ll visit regularly for training camps because of the variety and quality of roads in the area. But the organisers have gone to great lengths to throw in second and first-category climbs followed by descents to stage finishes, encouraging attacks to animate the race and help riders steal time on their rivals.

Thrown into the mix too is a ‘sprinters’ stage on stage five, while the race finishes in Catalonia’s capital Barcelona. It promises to be an exciting race to add contrast to the classics season.

Stages

This year’s route of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.
© Volta Catalunya
Graphics © Google

Monday 24 March – Stage 1, Calella to Calella, 165 km

Tuesday 25 March – Stage 2, Mataró to Girona, 171.2 km

Wednesday 26 March – Stage 3, Banyoles to La Molina (Alp), 162.9 km

Thursday 27 March – Stage 4, Alp – Valter 2000 to Setcases, 166.4 km

Friday 28 March – Stage 5, Llanars to Vall de Camprodon, 222.2 km

Saturday 29 March – Stage 6, El Vendrell to Vilanova i la Geltru, 163.9 km

Sunday 30 March – Stage 7: Barcelona (Montjuic) to Barcelona (Montjuic), 120 km

You can catch the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya live on Eurosport throughout the week.