Cav crushed at Milan-San Remo

Not a good day for Cav, who had
hoped for a second win today
(image credit: Mogens Engelund CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sky's Mark Cavendish was a favourite for 2012's opening Monument - it is, after all, the Sprinter's Classic and he's the fastest sprinter in the world - but it all proved too much for him today. Whether he's not on the form we thought he was or whether it was simply an off day is not yet clear, but the 27-year-old Manxman began showing signs that all was not well with around 94km to go, visibly experiencing pain as he climbed Le Manie and apparently ordering the team to go on without him.

He dropped into the grupetto two minutes behind the peloton before Bernhard Eisel gave his all in dragging him back towards the peloton (with what looked suspiciously like a bit of slipstream help from team cars), but it wasn't enough and the current World Champion was fortunate just to finish the race. Both men, along with team mate Ian Stannard, were among the 51 riders to fail to finish the race.

Cancellara misses birthday bulls-eye
As the race entered its final quarter it became obvious that Poggio di San Remo, the final hill, was going to be a war zone with numerous riders realising they'd seen the chances of winning massively increase with Cav's demise. Vacansoleil's ever-popular Johnny Hoogerland won himself even more fans with some brave attacks, but it was Valerio Agnoli of Liquigas who really took charge. An enormously talented climber who looks destined for great things in the coming years, he put in a stellar effort out in front of the peloton forcing them to hurry up. At one point, he was going so fast he managed to almost crash after overcooking it on a bend - while going up hill.

Simon Gerrans
(image credit: GreenEDGE)

Things became very different on the other side of the summit and Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack-Nissan, also a favourite, looked dead set for the win as he plummeted like a stone. The Swiss rider, who will turn 31 on Sunday, is well-known for his abilities in a descent and once he and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) had taken the lead from Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) the race looked like a done deal.

However, through a superhuman effort 31-year-old Australian Gerrans clawed back his lead in the final metres and just pipped Cancellara to the line in the sprint; scoring a second consecutive win for Australia, 98 years after Australians first contested this race and seeming surprised afterwards at his own achievement - "Without question Fabian was the strongest, I can’t deny him that. He was going like a motorbike," he told the press. Cancellara, who spent much of the race looking like he was enjoying a gentle jaunt around the park, admitted the last section had been hard on him, too: "I had lactic acid coming out of my ears," he said.

Fabian Cancellara: "I had lactic acid coming out
of my ears"
(image credit: Fliedermaus CC BY-SA 1.0)

The race saw three nasty crashes. Columbia-Coldeportes' Carlos Juan Quintero went down hard, causing widespread concern when it became apparent he wasn't moving and was seen being strapped to a backboard and stretchered off. Fortunately, it confirmed a short while later than he had regained consciousness and was able to recognise people around him, the backboard being used as a precaution. At first believed to have suffered a fractured skull and jaw, but it was confirmed later that he'd got off relatively lightly with a broken collarbone. FDJ's Dominique Rollin and Katusha's Vladimir Gusev crashed with 22.3km to go on Cipressa, taking favourite Philippe Gilbert with them and ending his chances. Finally, a rider initially believed to be Tom Boonen crashed on the last corner, seeming to hit the barriers. It turned out to actually be his Omega Pharma-Quickstep team mate Matteo Trentin - the team's website provided an update after the race...

Trentin has scrapes on his body, including his right elbow and gluteal region following the crash in the final corner. While the injuries do not appear to be serious, the team will closely monitor Trentin’s condition in the coming days.

Edvald Boasson Hagen was the best-placed Team Sky rider with 25th place, followed by Thomas Löfkvist in 30th. Garmin-Barracuda's David Millar was the best Brit in 112th place, it's notable that #MSR - the official Twitter tag for the race - was the top trend for the UK, yet at the time of writing there is no mention of the race on the BBC Sports website. Sky covered it, but tucked away on the cycling page rather than on the main sports news page.

What now for Cav?
Cav's crushing defeat has, perhaps inevitably, brought his not-inconsiderable-in-numbers detractors out of the woodwork. Is he in fact the rider he has been portrayed to be? Will he be a factor in this year's Tour de France? Will Team Sky face problems as they split into two parts at the Tour, one dedicated to driving Bradley Wiggins to the General Classification and one driving Cav to stage wins? The answers are simple.

Cav may lost won Milan-San Remo, but that's the way it is with one-day races. We all have off-days - even Eddy Merckx lost races occasionally. He is joint 11th (with Costante Girardengo) on the list of riders with the most Grand Tour stages wins, is current World Champion, won Milan-San Remo in 2009, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne this year and numerous other races. He is, without any doubt whatsoever, one of the most superbly talented professional cyclists Britain has ever produced; to mutter that he is anything else is ridiculous. Secondly, Cav is set to be a factor in the Tour for some time yet - when he has the legs, which he usually does, and he's in the right position to launch himself into a sprint, he's virtually unbeatable. Thirdly, at Paris-Nice this year Team Sky frequently looked more like an expertly-drilled combat unit than a cycling team (well, apart from the skin-tight lycra and, uh, bikes, that is). Time and time again they proved that they are capable of tasking half the squad with protecting Wiggins, keeping him safe and travelling at a sufficiently high speed to score the lowest overall time while at the same time sending out commandos to harry the peloton, attack rivals and take stage wins. They will, it seems, experience little difficulty in chasing the GC and stage victories.

Results

1 Simon GERRANS AUS GEC 6:59:24
2 Fabian CANCELLARA SUI RNT +0
3 Vincenzo NIBALI ITA LIQ +0
4 Peter SAGAN SVK LIQ +2
5 John DEGENKOLB GER PRO +2
6 Filippo POZZATO ITA FAR +2
7 Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ ESP KAT +2
8 Alessandro BALLAN ITA BMC +2
9 Daniel OSS ITA LIQ +2
10 Daniele BENNATI ITA RNT +2
11 Xavier FLORENCIO CABRE ESP KAT +2
12 Luca PAOLINI ITA KAT +12
13 Simon GESCHKE GER PRO +12
14 Oscar GATTO ITA FAR +12
15 Matthew Harley GOSS AUS GEC +20
16 Giovanni VISCONTI ITA MOV +20
17 Jacopo GUARNIERI ITA AST +20
18 Francisco José VENTOSO ALBERDI ESP MOV +20
19 Koen DE KORT NED PRO +20
20 Johnny HOOGERLAND NED VCD +20
21 Mark RENSHAW AUS RAB +20
22 Tom BOONEN BEL OPQ +20
23 Björn LEUKEMANS BEL VCD +20
24 Sacha MODOLO ITA COG +20
25 Edvald BOASSON HAGEN NOR SKY +20
26 Marco MARCATO ITA VCD +20
27 Anthony GESLIN FRA FDJ +20
28 Pablo LASTRAS GARCIA ESP MOV +20
29 Francesco GAVAZZI ITA AST +20
30 Thomas LÖVKVIST SWE SKY +20
31 Matti BRESCHEL DEN RAB +20
32 Lars BOOM NED RAB +20
33 George HINCAPIE USA BMC +20
34 Egoi MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN ESP EUS +20
35 Francesco REDA ITA ASA +20
36 Angel MADRAZO RUIZ ESP MOV +20
37 Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI ESP EUS +20
38 Angel VICIOSO ARCOS ESP KAT +20
39 Rinaldo NOCENTINI ITA ALM +20
40 Sebastian LANGEVELD NED GEC +20
41 Bram TANKINK NED RAB +20
42 Simone PONZI ITA AST +20
43 Damiano CUNEGO ITA LAM +20
44 Gianluca BRAMBILLA ITA COG +31
45 Niki TERPSTRA NED OPQ +1:05
46 Patxi Javier VILA ERRANDONEA ESP UNA +1:24
47 Dmitriy MURAVYEV KAZ AST +1:24
48 Jérôme PINEAU FRA OPQ +1:35
49 Francesco FAILLI ITA FAR +1:35
50 Kris BOECKMANS BEL VCD +1:35
51 Rui Alberto FARIA DA COSTA POR MOV +1:35
52 André GREIPEL GER LTB +1:48
53 Dominique ROLLIN CAN FDJ +1:48
54 Tony GALLOPIN FRA RNT +1:48
55 José HERRADA LOPEZ ESP MOV +1:48
56 Christophe RIBLON FRA ALM +1:48
57 Andrey AMADOR BAKKAZAKOVA CRC MOV +1:48
58 Danilo HONDO GER LAM +1:48
59 Davide CIMOLAI ITA LAM +1:48
60 Nicki SÖRENSEN DEN SAX +1:48
61 Paul MARTENS GER RAB +1:48
62 Maarten TJALLINGII NED RAB +1:48
63 Danilo DI LUCA ITA ASA +1:48
64 Gustav LARSSON SWE VCD +1:48
65 Karsten KROON NED SAX +1:48
66 Elia FAVILLI ITA FAR +1:48
67 Anders LUND DEN SAX +1:48
68 Heinrich HAUSSLER AUS GRM +1:48
69 Greg VAN AVERMAET BEL BMC +2:20
70 Matthieu LADAGNOUS FRA FDJ +2:41
71 Matteo MONTAGUTI ITA ALM +2:41
72 Matteo TOSATTO ITA SAX +2:41
73 Valerio AGNOLI ITA LIQ +2:44
74 Manuele BOARO ITA SAX +3:23
75 Kiel REIJNEN USA TT1 +3:27
76 Rémi CUSIN FRA TT1 +3:39
77 William BONNET FRA FDJ +4:09
78 Grégory RAST SUI RNT +4:44
79 Yaroslav POPOVYCH UKR RNT +4:44
80 Steve CHAINEL FRA FDJ +4:44
81 Johan VAN SUMMEREN BEL GRM +5:37
82 Borut BOZIC SLO AST +7:37
83 Nikolas MAES BEL OPQ +7:43
84 Stijn VANDENBERGH BEL OPQ +7:43
85 Jon IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI ESP EUS +7:43
86 Arthur VICHOT FRA FDJ +7:43
87 Philippe GILBERT BEL BMC +7:43
88 Kristijan KOREN SLO LIQ +9:28
89 Michael SCHÄR SUI BMC +9:28
90 Marcus BURGHARDT GER BMC +9:28
91 Frederik WILLEMS BEL LTB +9:28
92 Jelle VANENDERT BEL LTB +9:28
93 Kevin HULSMANS BEL FAR +9:28
94 Baden COOKE AUS GEC +9:28
95 Manuel QUINZIATO ITA BMC +9:28
96 Paolo BAILETTI ITA UNA +9:28
97 Juan Pablo SUAREZ SUAREZ COL COL +9:28
98 Michael MORKOV DEN SAX +9:28
99 Andreas KLIER GER GRM +9:28
100 Eduard VORGANOV RUS KAT +14:39
101 Frederico ROCCHETTI ITA UNA +15:54
102 Pier Paolo DE NEGRI ITA FAR +17:04
103 Vicente REYNES MIMO ESP LTB +20:18
104 Marcel SIEBERG GER LTB +20:18
105 Robert HUNTER RSA GRM +20:18
106 Pim LIGTHART NED VCD +20:18
107 Fabian WEGMANN GER GRM +20:18
108 Elia VIVIANI ITA LIQ +20:18
109 Tyler FARRAR USA GRM +20:18
110 Robert WAGNER GER RNT +20:18
111 Hayden ROULSTON NZL RNT +20:18
112 David MILLAR GBR GRM +20:18
113 Taylor PHINNEY USA BMC +20:18
114 Murilo Antonio FISCHER BRA GRM +20:18
115 Marzio BRUSEGHIN ITA MOV +20:18
116 Markel IRIZAR ARANBURU ESP RNT +20:18
117 Maxime BOUET FRA ALM +20:18
118 Adam HANSEN AUS LTB +20:18
119 Peter VELITS SVK OPQ +20:18
120 Dmitriy GRUZDEV KAZ AST +20:18
121 Jeffry Johan ROMERO CORREDOR COL COL +20:18
122 Oleg BERDOS MDA UNA +20:18
123 Juan Pablo FORERO CARRENO COL COL +20:18
124 Filippo BAGGIO ITA UNA +20:18
125 Bertjan LINDEMAN NED VCD +20:18
126 Frederik VEUCHELEN BEL VCD +20:18
127 Fabio Andres DUARTE AREVALO COL COL +20:18
128 Lloyd MONDORY FRA ALM +20:18
129 Arnaud GERARD FRA FDJ +20:18
130 Manuel BELLETTI ITA ALM +20:18
131 Alexander KRISTOFF NOR KAT +20:18
132 Pablo URTASUN PEREZ ESP EUS +20:18
133 Mikel LANDA MEANA ESP EUS +20:18
134 Ruben PEREZ MORENO ESP EUS +20:18
135 Jure KOCJAN SLO TT1 +20:18
136 Julien EL FARES FRA TT1 +20:18
137 Georg PREIDLER AUT TT1 +20:18
138 Tom VEELERS NED PRO +20:18
139 Johannes FRÖHLINGER GER PRO +20:18
140 Cheng JI CHN PRO +20:18
141 Lars Ytting BAK DEN LTB +20:18
142 Gerald CIOLEK GER OPQ +20:18
143 Diego CACCIA ITA FAR +20:18
144 Luca MAZZANTI ITA FAR +20:18
145 Sébastien HINAULT FRA ALM +23:02
146 Kristof GODDAERT BEL ALM +23:02
147 Marco COLEDAN ITA COG +23:02
148 Gianluca MAGGIORE ITA UNA +23:02
149 Daniele RIGHI ITA LAM +23:02
DNF Stuart O'GRADY AUS GEC  
DNF Tomas VAITKUS LTU GEC  
DNF Svein TUFT CAN GEC  
DNF Matthew WILSON AUS GEC  
DNF Claudio CORIONI ITA ASA  
DNF Carlos Alberto BETANCUR GOMEZ COL ASA  
DNF Paolo CIAVATTA ITA ASA  
DNF Francesco GINANNI ITA ASA  
DNF Danilo NAPOLITANO ITA ASA  
DNF Fabio TABORRE ITA ASA  
DNF Enrico GASPAROTTO ITA AST  
DNF Maxim IGLINSKY KAZ AST  
DNF Franck OSORIO COL COL  
DNF Luis Felipe LAVERDE JIMENEZ COL COL  
DNF Victor Hugo PENA GRISALES COL COL  
DNF Carlos Julian QUINTERO COL COL  
DNF Marco CANOLA ITA COG  
DNF Enrico BATTAGLIN ITA COG  
DNF Paolo LOCATELLI ITA COG  
DNF Angelo PAGANI ITA COG  
DNF Filippo SAVINI ITA COG  
DNF Juan Jose OROZ UGALDE ESP EUS  
DNF Amets TXURRUKA ESP EUS  
DNF Gabriel RASCH NOR FDJ  
DNF Vladimir GUSEV RUS KAT  
DNF Simon SPILAK SLO KAT  
DNF Alessandro PETACCHI ITA LAM  
DNF Grega BOLE SLO LAM  
DNF Diego ULISSI ITA LAM  
DNF Davide VIGANO ITA LAM  
DNF Maciej BODNAR POL LIQ  
DNF Paolo LONGO BORGHINI ITA LIQ  
DNF Greg HENDERSON NZL LTB  
DNF Matteo TRENTIN ITA OPQ  
DNF Roy CURVERS NED PRO  
DNF Roger KLUGE GER PRO  
DNF Thomas LEEZER NED RAB  
DNF Maarten WYNANTS BEL RAB  
DNF Mark CAVENDISH GBR SKY  
DNF Bernhard EISEL AUT SKY  
DNF Mathew HAYMAN AUS SKY  
DNF Jeremy HUNT GBR SKY  
DNF Salvatore PUCCIO ITA SKY  
DNF Ian STANNARD GBR SKY  
DNF Jonas Aaen JÖRGENSEN DEN SAX  
DNF David TANNER AUS SAX  
DNF Gabriele BOSISIO ITA UNA  
DNF Matteo FEDI ITA UNA  
DNF Daniele COLLI ITA TT1  
DNF Vegard Stake LAENGEN NOR TT1  
DNF Martijn VERSCHOOR NED TT1