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

Milan-San Remo Trivia

Lucien Petit-Breton won the first
Milan-San Rem in 1907

Want to see a video of Milan-San Remo in 1960? There are two at the bottom of this list!

Lucien Petit-Breton won the first Milan-San Remo in 1907. He won the Tour de France that year too (as he would again in 1908).

The 1907 edition began at 04:00, before the sun came up. It was 288km long and 33 riders took part - 62 had registered to take part, but 29 failed to show up due to cold and windy weather. Organiser Eugenio Costamagna was unsure if anyone was physically capable of cycling the route he chose, but Petit-Breton took 11h04'15" to reach the finish line. Only 13 other riders finished the race.

Milan was chosen as the start of the race because it was then the centre of the Italian bicycle manufacturing industry. It finished in San Remo because the idea to hold the race was first thought up by the Unione Sportiva Sanremese, a sports club in the town.

In the early days, riders were not permitted to receive any help during the race. They couldn't change bikes if one was broken and were not allowed to make use of spare parts - if something broke, they had to either fix it themselves or abandon the race.

Milan-San Remo, 1910

In 1910, snow fell so heavily on the Passo del Turchino that only four out of 63 riders made it over the mountain. Luigi Ganna, who had won the year before, was one of them but became the first rider to be  disqualified when judges discovered he'd been given a lift in a car. Winner Eugène Christophe took 12h24" to reach the finish line, but suffered such bad frostbite that it took him two years to recover.

The Passo del Turchino has also appeared in the Giro d'Italia, most recently in 2009 when Stefano Garzelli was the first to the summit.

Australian riders took part for the first time in 1914. They were Charles Piercey, Ivan "Snowy" Munroe and Donald Kirkham - Munroe and Kirkham were also the first Australians to take part in the Tour de France that same year. The first Australian to win was Matt Goss in 2011. He's in the race again today (1, GreenEDGE).

1953 was the first year in which Milan-San Remo was won in less than seven hours - Loretto Petrucci took 6h59'20".

Eddy Merckx won Milan-San Rem seven times (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976) - a record not just in this race, but in all the one-day Classics. Costante Girardengo is in second place with six wins (1918, 1921, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1928).

Bianchi is the most successful team in Milan-San Remo - they won 17 times. Their first winning rider was Lucien Petit-Breton in the first ever race (1907) and the last was Felice Gimondi (1974).

The Italian rider Wladimiro Panizza holds the record for taking part the most times - he rode in 18 editions and finished all but one of them.

No rider has ever won Milan-Remo for more than two years consecutively. The first to win two in a row was Costante Girardengo in 1925 and 1926. Eddy Merckx did so three times. The most recent rider to do so was the German Erik Zabel in 2000 and 2001 - he also won in 1997 and 1998 and thus shares the honour of being the third most successful rider in this race with Gino Bartali (1939, 1940, 1947, 1950).

Tom Simpson wins, 1964

British riders in Milan-San Remo: Tom Simpson, who died on Mont Ventoux during the Tour de France of 1967, became the first British rider to win in 1964. Mark Cavendish won in 2009 and is a favourite for victory today (201, Sky) - the other British riders this year are David Millar (106, Garmin-Barracuda), Jeremy Hunt (205, Sky) and Ian Stannard (208, Sky). Irishman Sean Kelly won twice, in 1986 and 1992.

Italian riders have won Milan-San Remo 50 times. The Belgians are in second place with 20, then the French with 12. Britain shares sixth place with Ireland and Switzerland, each on two wins.  Fabian Cancellara (191, RadioShack-Nissan) is also a favourite today, so there's a good chance that either Britain or Switzerland will be moving up to share fifth place with the Netherlands.

Milan-San Remo almost invariably ends in a bunch sprint, which has led to it becoming known as the Sprinter's Classic. The Giro di Lombardia, which pre-dates Milan-San Remo by two years, is the Climber's Classic. The two races are sometimes called sisters.

Fausto Coppi, considered by some to be the greatest
cyclist ever, leads the race over Capo Mele in 1948

Each year, Milan-San Remo is the first of the Monuments; the five most important Classics and, in the opinion of many, the most important races of all after the three Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a Espana). Its sister, the Giro di Lombardia - the only Monument to take place outside March and April - is the last.

In the early days of the race, the Passo el Turchino was often the decisive point in the race. As cyclists have become fitter and the bikes have improved, the peloton hardly changes shape as it sweeps up and over today. More climbs have been added over the years - the Poggio di San Remo in 1960 (added in an attempt to prevent the race ending with a bunch sprint every year), the Cipressa in 1982 and Le Manie in 2008. There are also the three Capi, low hills situated between Le Manie and Cipressa.

Turchino is by far the highest point in the race with a summit (marked by the tunnel) at 532m above sea level. Le Manie is second at 318m, Cipressa third at 239m and Poggio fourth at 160m. The Capi are mere bumps by the standards of professional cycling: Capo Mele is 67m, Capo Cervo 61m and Capo Betra 130m. You can see an altitude profile here.

Most riders dislike riding through tunnels even today when they're brightly-lit. In the early days of Milan-San Remo, they were dark, damp, cold and frightening places and even the toughest riders hated them. Fans would line up along the sides with lanterns so their heroes could see where they were going.

In 1984, the Dutch rider Jan Raas was in a crash that threw him into the air. He landed in a tree and broke some ribs.

1990 was the fastest Milan-San Remo ever. Gianni Bugno won in 6h25'06" at an average speed of 45.8kph.

Of the riders taking part today, Spain's
Oscar Freire is the most successful in
this race with three wins
(image credit: Petit Brun CC BY-SA 2.0)

The longest period between wins by the same rider is eleven years. Gino Bartali won his first edition in 1939 and his last in 1950. He holds the same record at the Tour de France, where he won his first in 1938 and his last in 1948.

Cheng Ji, riding today with the 1t4i team (178), is the first Chinese rider to ever take part in Milan-San Remo.

In 2004, Erik Zabel was so certain he was going to win that he sat up on the bike and raised his arms in the air. Spanish rider Oscar Freire saw an opportunity and launched himself at the finish line, getting ahead and winning the race. Freire is riding again today (111, Katusha) - he's known as a clever rider and could pull off a similar trick today.

200 riders are registered to take part today. Six of them have won it before:  Matt Goss (1, GreenEDGE), Mark Cavendish (201, Sky), Fabian Cancellara (191, RadioShack-Nissan), Filippo Pozzato (81, Farnese Vini - Selle Italia), Oscar Freire (111, Katusha) and Alessandro Petacchi (121, Lampre-ISD). Freire has won three times, the rest once each.

Milan-San Remo has been held every year since 1907 except for 1916, 1944 and 1945.

This year, the race is 298km (185 miles) - which makes it the longest of the Classic races. That's the same as riding from London to Liverpool.

Videos: Milan-San Remo 1960

Cyclopunk's Weekend News Digest 17-18.03.12

News this weekend: Cav crushed at MSR - Small triumph at Classica Cita di Padova - Demare and Cordon take Cholet - Vuelta a Asturias loses two stages - Merckx's MSR predictions - Vachon victory at Classic Loire Atlantique - Mansilla caught in dope test

Races this weekend
Mark Cavendish, a favourite for San-Remo, suffered a humiliating defeat when his legs gave out on him as he climbed Le Manie in 2012's first Monument. With numerous riders realising their chances to win had thus been massively increased, the Poggio di San Remo turned into a free-for-all with Fabian Cancellara leading right into the final few metres before being beaten by a tiny margin... more.

Carmen Small
(image credit: Optum ProCycling)

Carmen Small-McNellis of Optum ProCycling was the surprise winner over on the other side of Italy at the Classica Cita di Padova where she beat a very strong field including current World Champion Giorgia Bronzini, Martine Bras, Judith Arndt and Cyclopunk's top tips Chloe Hosking and Emma Johansson. The 31-year-old American put the pedal to the metal in the final 9km and raced away from a nine-rider group that had led the race since the eighth and penultimate lap, crossing the finish line alone and unchallenged leaving MCipollini's Monia Baccaille to lead the peloton home. (Results)

20-year-old Arnaud Demare of FDJ-BigMat won the 35th edition of the men's Cholet Pays de Loire after escaping the pelotn accompanied by Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun, second place).  Mickaël Delage (FDJ-BigMat, third), Adrien Petit (Cofidis) and Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ-BigMat) in the final part of the race (full results when available).

Audrey Cordon of Vienne Futurscope won the women's race when she crossed the finish line alone 45" ahead of a 34-women group that included her team mate Pascale Jeuland (second place) and Emilie Moberg (Hitec Products-Mistral Home, third). Claire Thomas was best-placed British women in 10th place (full results).

 A full list of the weekend's ongoing stage races and single-day events is available here.

Vuelta a Asturias shortened
The Vuelta a Asturias, like so many races in the current economic climate, is experiencing financial difficulties. In response, organisers have been forced to reduce their event from five days to three. The start date has not yet been announced, but is expected to be at the end of April.

Eddy Merckx on MSR: "I think Cav has a good chance"
Belgium's favourite son was the first rider inducted into the Giro d'Italia Hall of Fame on Friday, chosen as he's the only living rider to have won the race five times (Alfredo Binda, the first to five wins, died in 1986 and Fausto Coppi, the second, died in 1960.

Merckx is the only living rider to have
won five editions of the Giro d'Italia
(image credit: Nationaal Archief, public domain)

Whilst there, he took the time to give his thoughts on Milan-San Remo. "Gilbert isn’t so on form but we’ll see what happens," he says - which is no surprise, least of all to Gilbert who freely admits his performance thus far this season has been lacklustre and has stated that he doesn't rate his own chances. "I think Mark Cavendish has a good chance. If they don't drop him on the Poggio, he is hard to beat."

He also believes Vincenzo Nibali has a chance, but could easily throw it away: "Nibali is going well, he’s a classy rider, I saw him win a stage in Oman. However he’s got to learn to use his head more and race more intelligently. He lost Oman because he made a mistake. If he’s going well, he could get away on the Poggio and so perhaps win Milan-Sanremo."

Who else? "Cancellara looks good, so too does Sagan, Boonen and Van Avermaet. Nobody has talked about Oscar Freire but he’ll be there after 300km and could win his fourth Sanremo."

Other News
Florian Vachon of Bretagne-Schuller won the Classic Loire Atlantique after a two-man sprint that saw him pitted against Vacansoleil-DCM's Mirko Selvaggi.

A sample provided by Luis Mansilla at the Vuelta Ciclista a Chile on the 10th of January this year, has been found to contain traces of the banned red blood cell-boosting EPO. The 25-year-old Chilean rider, who says he is innocent, was 8th overall at the Argentinian Tour de San Luis earlier this year, coming behind Levi Leipheimer (1st), Alberto Contador (2nd) and Vincenzo Nibali (4th) but ahead of Sylvain Chavanel (9th). If traces of the drug are now found in his B sample, he may face a ban of up to two years.

Daily Cycling Facts 17.03.12

The Ronde van Vlaanderen was held on this date in 1929, when it was won by Jef Dervaes who raced for Genial Lucifer-Hutchinson with a time of 7h1'50" - 4'10" ahead of La-Francaise Diamond Dunlop's Georges Ronsse.

Paris-Nice began on this day in 1936, the only time the race has started on this date. The winner was Maurice Archambaud of Mercier-Hutchinson, who would become the first man to win two editions three years later.

Dario Cataldo
(image credit: Jejecam CC BY-SA 3.0)

Dario Cataldo
Dario Cataldo, born in Lanciano, Italy on this day in 1985, was the surprise winner of the 2006 Girobio ("Baby Giro," the Giro d'Italia for young riders) which earned him his first professional contract with Liquigas for 2007. Unfortunately, almost as soon as he's secured it he was hit by a car during a training ride and injured, missing the start of the season, but he recovered in time for the Tour de l'Avenir as won Stages 2 and 7. The l'Avenir frequently provides us with indications of future greatness, revealing those riders who will go on to win Grand Tours; but a very disappointing 2008 season during which he abandoned the Giro d'Italia persuaded Liquigas not to renew his contract.

QuickStep signed him for 2009 and he has remained with them since; a 4th place finish for Stage 3 of the that year's Giro, 2nd in Stage 11 a year later and 6th for Stage 18 in 2011 suggest that he is earning his keep.

Darren Kenny
Darren Kenny, born in Salisbury on this day in 1970, was a reasonably successful rider who had an accident on the R756 Wicklow Gap in the Tour of Ireland. He knew immediately that he'd hurt his neck, but didn't realise how seriously. Further accidents worsened his injury until he had to give up cycling and was placed on medication to control the serious pain he suffered. His career was over though he was only 20 years old.

Ten years later, in his own words he "was just lying on the sofa putting on weight and on heavy medication." Deciding he needed to take action, he began cycling again and, after a friend persuaded him that he still had a future in racing, got in contact with the British Cycling Federation. After scoring impressive results at the Track Cycling Championships, he was invited to join the Paralympic team.

Since then, Kenny's career has been phenomenal. In 2004, he won two gold medals and a silver at the Paralympics. In 2005 he won five gold and one silver at the World Disability Championships and set a new paralympic Hour Record, followed by two gold and two silver the next year and two gold and two bronze the year after that. In the 2008 Paralympics, he won four gold and one silver - making him one of the most successful athletes - paralympic and able-bodied - of all time.

David McCann
(image credit - Photo: Mogens Engelund

David McCann, born in Belfast on this day in 1973, won the Irish Road Race Championhip in 2000, 2001 and 2006 and the National Time Trial Championship in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010. He also won the Manx International in 2002; the Tour de Korea in 2005; the Tour of Indonesia in 2006; the Suir Valley 3 Day (and Points Classification) in 2009; Jelajah Malaysia, the Tour de Taiwan and the Tour of the Philippines in 2010 and the Tour of Ordos in 2011. In 2002, he and several team mates tested positive for 19-Norandrosterone, a metabolite of the banned anabolic steroid nandralone. However, each rider insisted that they had not intentionally used the steroid and subsequent investigation traced it to a contaminated batch of (permitted) glutamine supplement provided by team sponsors Maximuscle. Since there was no evidence to suggest that the riders had been aware the drug was in the supplement, McCann was given the minimum suspension of six months.


Valter Bonča, born on this day in 1968 in Slovenia, won the Österreich-Rundfahrt in 1989 and 1992, the Tour of Slovenia in 1995 and became National Time Trial Champion in 2000.

Albertus "Ab" Geldermans, born in Beverwijk, Netherlands on this day in 1935 was professional for just seven years, but during that time he rode seven Tours de France. His best year by far was 1962 when he won the Road Race and Time Trial at his National Championships, won Stage 10 and came 10th overall at the Vuelta a Espana and wore the yellow jersey for two days before finishing 5th overall at the Tour de France. In retirement, he became directeur sportif for the Dutch national team, playing an important role in Jan Janssen's 1968 victory - the first Tour win ever by a Dutch rider.

On this day in 2011, Cycling Weekly began a campaign to try to get the British broadcaster ITV to show more cycling on its digital channels. It currently shows the Grand Tours and the Tour of Britain (and heavily-edited footage from Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2010 and Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Paris-Nice 2011), but also holds the rights to cover Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Tours, La Flèche Wallonne and the Criterium International. To date, ITV haven't increased coverage, but you can e-mail and ask them to do so at viewerservices@itv.com

Other births: David Boucher (France, 1980); Gorik Gardeyn (Belgium, 1980); Magdalena Sadłecka (Poland, 1982); Andrew Whitford (New Zealand, 1965); Muhammad Ashiq (Pakistan, 1935); Vasily Davidenko (Russia, 1970); Sivaporn Ratanapool (Thailand, 1954); David Mulica (USA, 1949); Eugen Schnalek (Austria, 1911).