Cyclopunk's Weekend News Digest 24-25.03.12

The Weekend's News: Gent-Wevelgem - Trofeo Binda - Volta a Catalunya Stages 6&7 - Criterium Internationale - Posthuma pukes*, Hinault breaks a wrist, Pettachi still ill, WADA praises Pro Cycling, 12 Brits finish in Normandy - This Weekend's Races

(* sorry, couldn't resist)

Gent-Wevelgem

Tom Boonen
(image credit: DarkSideX CC BY-SA 2.0)

The weekend's most important race by far wass Gent-Wevelgem, a true Flanders Classic over 235.4km of fast flat countryside followed by positively malevolent hills. Though not officially a part of Vlaamse Wielerweek, having been shifted into its current time slot only two years ago, the tricky combination of steep climbs in the latter half of the highly selective parcours - which tends to discourage bunch sprints, despite the flat final section - has made it one of the highlights of the ten-day "week" that for many fans is the highlight of the European cycling season.

Kemmelberg was left covered in human corpses after savage fighting during the First World War. Cyclists experience nothing like the suffering of the young men who gave their lives to free Belgium almost a century ago, but with a gradient than hits 23% in one point it's a climb they dread. With that in mind, the organisers usually see to it that it's climbed twice - as is the case this year when it comes round at 179km and then rears its cobbled back once more 17km later to form the 7th and 10th climbs. Casselberg also appears twice as Climbs 1 (138km) and 2 (144km) with a different route up on each occasion. The steepest part is 10%, made more difficult by cobbles but made worth it by the castle on top. Baneberg, the race's second steepest with 20% in one part, is also climbed twice; it's the 6th climb at 168m and the 9th at 191km.

The other climbs are Catsberg, climb 3 at 161.6km; Le Vert Mont, climb 4 at 168km; Vidaigneberg, climb 5 at 173m; Baneberg, climb 6 at 174km; Schomminkelstraat, climb 8 at 187km and finally Monteberg, the 11th at 203km when there is just over 22km left to the finish line. If the sprint specialists make it in one piece over that lot, the rest of the race is all theirs. (Parcours details)

Lizzie Armitstead
(image credit: AA Drink-Leontien.nl)

Gent-Wevelgem's greatness was doubled this year due to the fact that it had a women's race too. Using a route broadly similar to the second half of the men's race, it covered 116km with the first 69 or so on the flat before heading up Vidaigneberg, then Baneberg at 70km, Kemmelberg at 78km and Monteberg at 82km. The remainder had a few small, unchallenging climbs before settling into the final flat 10km section, making a bunch sprint a more likely scenario.

If you're one of those people who thinks that women's cycling isn't as competitive as the men's, watch this video footage and see AA-Drink-Leontien.nl's 23-year-old British star Lizzie Armitstead sprinting over the finish line to victory, beating Iris Slappendel (Rabobank). (Full Women's results when available)

The leaders settled into a nice rhythm once the last of the hills were out of the way, various riders taking their turn up front as they concentrated on getting themselves to the bunch sprint that was by now inevitable. Meanwhile, at the back the race had enetered a state of flux, splitting into two groups with 35km to go and sending Sky into a bit of a panic when they realised Mark Cavendish was in the wrong one. Their efforts to put things right never came to fruition, and with 14km to go the gulf has windered to 49".

Though he must have realised that doing so would spell depleted batteries if he succeeded, Cav decided he was going to have to take matters into his own hands and made a brave attempt to bridge the gap himself - and chapeau to him for trying. It was too late, though; his chances of ever winning this race lying on the roadside some kilometres back the way they came.

The race ended in a rather tatty sprint with riders veering this way and that, leading to what looked like a very painful crash for Greg van Avermaet (BMC) and José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar), both of whom hit the road hard. Far more pleasant to watch was a duel between Oscar Freire (Katusha) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) - the two men seemed to be in a race of their own, fighting one another 4th (Freire) and 5th. In front of them, Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Tom Boonen was the only one riding smoothly, putting down all his power and earning his record-matching third victory in Gent-Wevelgem as he out-sprinted Peter Sagan (Liquigas), leaving Matti Brescel (Rabobank) to take 3rd. (Full results when available)

Trofeo Binda

AA-Drink-Leontien.nl's British star Emma Pooley, one of the most successful riders of her generation, was an immediate favourite for this race; but she will have been under no illusions that beating Rabobank's Marianne Vos, who is well on her way to becoming one of the most successful cyclists in the history of the sport, takes superhuman effort.

Marianne Vos - a true superstar

There are those who fear that Vos is not good for women's cycling, that her domination and victory after victory after victory will somehow reduce competition as other riders become disillusioned with fighting among themselves for second and third places. In fact, the opposite is true. Vos' incredible winning streak is due to her first-rate athleticism, and other teams are having to step up their efforts in response - which can only be good for cycling. We saw plenty of evidence to support this today with numerous riders working hard to remain in contention - by all accounts, it was a superb and thrilling race - and when she crossed the line alone, the 24-year-old superstar deserved the glory every bit as much as she deserved it in each of her other triumphs.

GreenEDGE's Loes Gunnewijk may have finished 17th, but she'd put stupendous work into a break which led for many kilometres and for many will have been the highlight of the race. Tatiana Guderzo (MCipollini-Giambenini-Gauss) also earned her spurs, finishing 34" behind Vos for 2nd place. Trixi Worrack (Specialized-Lululemin) was with her and took third, the two women part of an eight-woman group that included Judith Arndt (GreenEDGE) for 4th, Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-Mistral Home) for 5th and Pooley for 8th. (Full results)

Volta a Catalunya

Michael Albasini
(image credit: Manfred Werner-Tsui CC BY-SA 3.0)

(Live streams)

The world's third-oldest stage race moved onto its penultimate stage on Saturday, then drew to a close on Sunday. Stage 6 covered 169.4km extending between Sant Fruitós de Bages and Badalona Centre Comercial Màgic; the latter being nothing more than a shopping mall every bit as bland as ever other example in the world, despite the tempting name. Strangely, the biggest mountain along the parcours - 965m L'Estany - is uncategorised and as such offered no points, the climbing specialists instead concentrated on 540m Alt di les Vilaredes, 687m Alt de Sant Feliu de Sasserra and 355m Alt de la Conreria, all Category 3s.

Samuel Sanchez
(image credit: Petit Brun CC BY-SA 2.0)

A car crash 72km into the parcours halted the race for a while. No riders were involved and despite severe damage to the car, the driver and passenger fortunately escaped serious injury.

With so many of the favourites gone following the Stage 3 blizzard, many riders with previously little chance of victory have redoubled their efforts and want to grab what they can. With a downhill finish Stage 6 looked set to be a battle among the sprinters, as indeed turned out to be the case. However, a small hill 2km from the line proved decisive when Euskaltel-Euskadi's Samuel Sanchez used it to attack the group before accelerating downhill and keeping a small lead all the way to a 2" victory over GreenEDGE's Allan Davis; a well-deserved win for a very popular team that has seen more than its fair share of bad luck over the last few years and is still experiencing sponsorship issues. It has to be remembered that the men in orange are more than just another commercially-sponsored team - for the Basques, one of the most cycling-obsessed peoples on the planet, they are a symbol of national pride. (Stage 6 results / GC)

In this race, there's none of that time trial or flat stage nonsense and despite being the shortest at 119.8k, Sunday's Stage 7 squeezes in some tough terrain. It has three Cat 3s in the shape of Alt d'Ullastrell (400m), Alt de Castellbisbal (170m) and Alt de Valvidrera (370m), but Cat 2 Alt del Tibidabo - 490m high and very steep - is the most pressing issue before the race rolled up to the finish line in Barcelona. (Map)

Saur-Sojasun's Julien Simon took the stage after proving the best man in a mass sprint. GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini was never really in danger of losing his General Classification lead after starting the stage with a 1'30" advantage: having entered the race as nobody's favourite for overall victory, first place in Stages 1 and 2 followed by the cancellation of Stage 3's results due to heavy snow and a shortened parcours saw his team changing tactics t protect him - and his lead - throughout the rest of the race. (Stage 7 results / Final GC)

Criterium International

Cadel Evans
(image credit: Ludovic Péron CC BY-SA 3.0) 

The 81st Criterium Internationale kicked off on Saturday with two stages of the 275km, two-day race. Having begun in 1932, the event was for many years considered to be the French National Championship - which meant that only French riders were eligible to race until 1979 when foreigners were invited for the first time. That same year, Joop Zoetemelk became the first non-Frenchman to win and the French gradually lost their dominance; winning eight of the 33 editions since. This year, organisers have elected to change the usual format - Stage 1, an 89.5km road race and Stage 2, a 6.5km time trial, take place on Saturday, then the 179km Queen Stage 3 road race took place on Sunday and ended with a very tough 941m climb in 15km to the finish.

Florian Vachon (Bretagne Schuller) won Stage 1 after getting a 2" lead over Danilo Wyss (BMC). Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale) crossed over one second later for third place. Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan), the most successful post-1979 rider with five overall victories, was 9th; last year's overall winner Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) was 14th and the best Brit was Chris Froome (Sky) in 30th. Luke Rowe (Sky) was 37th. Australian Michael Rogers was the best Sky rider with 19th, team mate Lars Petter Nordhaug was 41st making him the best-placed Norwegian. Auber 93's Guillaume Faucon did not finish.

2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans (BMC) didn't surprise many people when he was victorious in the time trial - we've seen time and time again how he uses his great physical power to muscle a bike around any parcours at a speed almost nobody can match. It's probably safe to assume that Andy Schleck was keeping a close eye on proceedings somewhere and equally safe to say that with so many time trial kilometres and so few climbing metres in the Tour this year that the stage made uncomfortable viewing for him.

Pierrick Fédrigo
(image credit: Gsl CC BY-SA 2.5)

A three-man break made up of Nicolas Vogondy (Cofidis), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R-La Mondiale) and George Bennett (RadioShack-Nissan) remained out in front until they reached the mountain, at which point the peloton swept them up before beginning to fall apart as the climb took its toll. Euskaltel-Euskadi, spurred on by Sammy Sanchez's victory in Stage 6, took the driving seat for a good portion of the mountain with Igor Anton - shadowed by Cadel Evans - looked as though he might take the stage for a while; but ultimately it was FDJ-BigMat's Pierrick Fédrigo who won out. Jumping away from the pack accompanied by Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Lars Petter Nordhaug (Sky) as the final kilometre came into view, he powered off as the terrain flattened out a little and fractionally beat them across the line. Evans joined them jut a little too late, recording the same time but taking fourth - however, his performance was more than enough for the General Classification which he wins by 8". Chris Froome was best-placed Brit overall with 65th place, while five-time winner Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) was a surprising 91st. (Full results)

Other News


Joost Posthuma is ill - the 30-year-old RadioShack-Nissan rider posted the following on Twitter:

Joost posthuma ‏ @joostposthuma
That was not good. My sickness starts again. #badluck

Sebastian Hinault (AG2R-La Mondiale) broke his wrist during Friday's E3 Harelbeke race, his team have confirmed. The 38-year-old Breton also damaged his shoulder.

Alessandro Pettachi (Lampre-ISD) will not ride in Gent-Wevelgem as he is still recovering from 'flu.

WADA boss John Fahey says that while sport in general needs to commit to more anti-doping blood tests, professional cycling should be congratulated for setting a good example. The Authority has set a target for 10% of all tests carried out to take the form of blood tests, which at present is the only method to reliably detect some drugs such as human growth hormones, but cycling is the only sport to have come anywhere near achieving this. "Cycling had a very bad record going back ten years or so ago," says Fahey. "They have at least stopped denying the problem; and [have] worked with a program to deal with the problem."

Five British riders - Erick Rowsell (7th), Rob Partridge (11th), Jonathan McEvoy (14th), Simon Yates (26th) and Scott Thwaites (27th) - have finished in the top 30 at the Tour of Normandy. Seven other Brits completed the eight-stage race. (Overall GC results)

Tweets

Mark Cavendish ‏ @MarkCavendish
So did a recon of the last 100km of #GentWevelgem today & I can say it's mightily more difficult than the past! Should be a great race!

This weekend's races

 18/03 - 25/03 Vuelta Mexico Telmex 2.2
 23/03 - 01/04 Tour du Maroc 2.2
 19/03 - 25/03 Ciclista Volta a Catalunya WT
 22/03 - 25/03 30th Volta ao Alentejo / Credito Agric ... 2.2
 4/03 - 26/03 81st International Criterium 2.HC
 19/03 - 26/03 Tour de Normandie 2.2
 20/03 - 25/03 Settimana Coppi e Bartali 2.1
 24/03 25th Tour of the Great Veenkolonien Nat.
 24/03 49th Tour Flevo Nat.
 24/03 Rijswijk cycling race Nat.
 25/03 74th Ghent - Wevelgem WT
 25/03 Women's Gent-Wevelgem
 25/03 Trofeo Alfredo Binda - Comune Di Cit ... CDM
 25/03 Youth Tour of Dommelen Nat.
 25/03 Tour of the IronMan Nat.
 25/03 Van Esch Tour Nat.

Daily Cycling Facts 24.03.12

Kwok Ho Ting
(image credit: Nicola CC BY-SA 3.0)

Pierre Harvey, born in Rimouski, Quebec on this day in 1954, became the first male Canadian athlete to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympics in 1984 when he represented his country in cycling and cross-country skiing.

On this day in 2011, Kwok Ho Ting scored a surprise victory in the 15km Scratch Race at the Appeldoorn World Track Championships despite not preparing for the race and competing against a very strong field.

Other births: Klaas Lodewyck (Belgium, 1988); Leopold Heuvelmans (Belgium, 1945); Jairo Pérez (Colombia, 1973); Do Eun-Cheol (South Korea, 1963); Stanley Jones (Great Britain, 1888); Rudi Valenta (Austria, 1921); Siegbert Schmeisser (East Germany, 1957); Christopher Dotterweich (USA, 1896, died 1969); Pier Hoekstra (Netherlands, 1947); Thomas Allier (France, 1975); Raphael Kazembe (Malawi, 1947); Masanori Tsuji (Japan, 1946, died 1985); Marcel Thull (Luxembourg, 1951); Walter Freitag (Austria, 1925).

Cyclopunk's News Digest 23-24.03.12

 Today's News: Julian Simon wins Volta a Catalunya Stage 5 (video!) - Boonen wins E3 (video!) - Kevin van Impe announces retirement - Tiernan-Locke out of Coppi e Bartali, Ulissi takes Stage - Provisional Critérium International start list released

Click to enlarge

Volta a Catalunya Stage 5

The Volta a Catalunya never really leaves the mountains, but no stage this year can replace what would have been a spectacular Stage 3 - spectacular, that is, had it not have been cut short by heavy snow. Stage 5 came closest, meanwhile; with 207.1km, a 930m Category 2 and a 650m Cat 1 it could be considered a substitute Queen.

The start line was in Ascó on the Ebre river, a village made famous by two things - the excellent local fishing and a nuclear power station; the latter being the site of a radiation leak in November 2007 (which wasn't reported to the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council until April the following year), then after a very short downhill section in the first few kilometres, the terrain swung upward and then upward some more, reaching the 552m summit of La Granadella after 40km. Another short descent followed, then the riders headed into the sky again for that Cat 2, Villanova da Prade. A much longer descent encouraged high speeds down to Montblanc, at 390m considerably shorter than its namesake and in fact the lowest point for the next 50km or so, then they were heading upwards once more on the uncategorised 725m Sant Coloma de Queralt before more downhilling into a 45km section between Igualada and Monistrol de Montserrat with just a few small (but reasonably steep) climbs.

Cat 1 Alt de Montserrat was next and the point where the final outcome began to take shape. Cyclopunk's choices today were Michael Albasini (GreenEDGE), Denis Menchov (Katusha) and Rigoberto Uran (Sky). It was the 25-year-old Colombian from Sky who came closest to expectations, looking very much as though he was going to take a second consecutive win until Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun) got the better of him in the final sprint and took the glory.

GreenEDGE continued as they did yesterday, rallying together around Albasini who, due to the decision not to count Stage 3's results towards the General Classification, unexpectedly remains race leader. With two stages left to race, it makes sense - with just one Cat 2 and six Cat 3s remaining, the Swiss rider's luck looks increasingly as though it might last. (Full results when available)

E3 Prijs

Click to enlarge

If mountains aren't your thing (there are, apparently, a few cyclists out there who don't like 'em), then some down 'n' dirty cobbled Flanders action is probably what you're after - in which case, the legendary E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke on Friday was almost certainly right up wour cobbled street.

The UCI 1.HC-rated race that started in 1958 is for many fans a Monument in all but name, the latter half of its 203km studded with plenty of the near-vertical grinds that characterise Flanders races. The 2012 edition appears little changed from 2011; which is a good thing, because it means the riders faced some of the  some of the most dreaded hills in the region: De Muur with a maximum gradient of 19.8%; La Houppe, which at its steepest is "only" 10% but extends for 3.44km; Berg Stene, max. 17%; Boigneberg, max. 15%; Eikenberg, max. 11% but cobbled for 1.2km; Taaienberg, max. 18% and cobbled for 1.25km; Paterberg, the toughest of them all at max. 20% with cobbles for almost 0.4km; then Knokteberg and Tiegemberg, max. 13.3% and 9% in the final 25km. There are various cobbled sections thrown in for good measure too, such as Holleweg and the (in)famous Paddestraat. (Course guide)

Tom Boonen scores a record 5th E3 win
(image credit: DarkSideX CC BY-SA 2.0)

Cyclopunk was predicting a win for RadioShack-Nissan's Cancellara and the Swiss rider would certainly have liked one after coming so close at Milan-San Remo the day before his birthday last week, but it was not to be. His day got off to a bad start with a crash soon after the race began - fortunately he was unhurt and lost little time; but in the next few kilometres he was seen on at least two occasions to dab a foot on the road in order to stay upright, evidence perhaps that he might have been a little off-colour. In the Flanders Classics, the parcours has as much of a say in deciding the winner as riders' strength and skill and does - when the 31-year-old got a puncture not much further up the road it began to look as though today wasn't going to be his day. A second crash and two more punctures confirmed it and he had to settle for 22nd place.

Bad luck also befell Garmin-Barracuda's David Millar - a rider who has known more than his fair share of bad luck over the years. The 35-year-old crashed and broke the same collarbone he broke in the 2009 Paris-Nice. Second breaks often being more complicated, he may now need to undergo invasive surgery to repair it. Carlos Barredo (Rabobank) was also hurt. The 30-year-old collided with Cancellara who was changing a wheel on Oude Kwaaremont. As tends to be the way in a collision with Spartacus, who is 1.86m of solid bone and muscle, Barredo came off second best - he landed heavily on his arm and was confirmed to have broken it by his team some time after the race.

Things went much better for Tom Boonen of Omega Pharma-QuickStep, a team that is enjoying a phenomenal start to the season. Having spent the race concentrating on getting through with a good time, he waited as team mate Sylvain Chavanel recruited Astana's Dmitriy Muravyev into a two-man escape as the race entered the final 7km - a clever move which sent Sky and Vacansoleil into a flurried, successful attack to catch them and bring them back to the pack. One or two others had a go but got nowhere as the top teams began to ready themselves in the last 3km, then Sky stepped up the tempo going into the sprint. Boonen seemed to have left it too late but then outsprinted sneaky Oscar Freire who had been patiently lurking among the pack with an impressive display power, throwing himself over the line to a record fifth victory. Freire took a deserved second, followed by Sky's Bernhard Eisel in third. (Full results when available)

Kevin van Impe retires from racing

Kevin van Impe - nephew of Lucien, winner of the 1976 Tour de France - has announced his retirement after what his Vacansoleil-DCM team called "years of bad luck" when revealing the news via Twitter.

"Kevin approached us this winter to ask if he'd be able to help the team leaders in their Spring Classics campaign," says manager Daan Luijkx. "It's unfortunate that he won't be doing that, but his happiness is more importnat. I think he is wise to take this decision and I wish him all the best with his family."

"I feel relieved to have made the decision," the 31-year-old says. "I'm very pleased with the support the team have given me in recent months and happy that they respect my choice." 

Van Impe was at the centre of a controversy in 2008 when anti-doping officials demanded he provided a sample after approaching him at a crematorium where he was making funeral arrangements for his son, then threatened to sanction him if he refused. Shocked at the insensitivity, riders mounted protests at Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico that year and no charges were brought.

Other News

Britain's best hope at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali, 27-year-old Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, has been forced to abandon the race after contracting a stomach complaint. Currently leading the UCI Europe Tour, the Endura Racing rider will not concentrate on making a full recovery as soon as possible to preserve his advantage. Diego Ulissi (Lampre-ISD) won a second consecutive stage victory in Friday's Stage 5 after beating Danilo di Luca (Acqua&Sapone) over the line, while NetApp's Bartosz Huzarski took a sufficiently good time in third place to go to tomorrow's final stage time trial as race leader, 10" ahead of di Luca. Neither man is especially well-known for their TTs, so at this moment the outcome is impossible to predict.

Critérium International organisers have released a provisional start list. The famous event is due to take place over three stages and 275km this weekend.

Tweets

Koen de Kort ‏ @koendekort
Having no skin left on your entire right side of the body looks like this (all bandaged up) 

Daily Cycling Facts 23.03.12

The Ronde van Vlaanderen was held on this day in 1924, the year that the race was won for the first time by Gerard Debaets who would win again in 1927 to become the first man to two victories and had also been the fastest Independent (semi-professional riders who were responsible for paying for their own food and board) at the 1923 edition. He took 10h00'19" to win against a very strong field that included 2nd place René Vermandel (winner in 1921), 3rd place Félix Sellier who had won a remarkable stage as an Independent at the 1921 Tour de France and would win Paris-Roubaix in 1925, 5th place Jules Vanhevel who had won in 1920, 6th place Nicolas Frantz who won the Tour de France in 1927 and 1928 and held the Luxembourg National Championship for twelve years, 7th place Denis Verschueren who won in 1927 and 8th place Maurice De Waele who won the Tour de France in 1929.

Belgian Etienne de Wilde was born in Wetteren, East Flanders on this day in 1958. he won Stage 12 at the 1980 Vuelta a Espana, the Dwars door Vlaanderen in 1983, the Nation Road Rae Championship in 1988 and Stage 7 at the 1989 Tour de France and Stage 3 in 1991 along with many other road races; but was also the National Omnium Champion for 1986 and 1988, the European Omnium Champion for 1989, the World Points Champion for 1993, World Madison Champion in 1998 (with Matthew Gilmore) and European Madison Champion in 2000 and 2001 (again with Matthew Gilmore) he is remembered primarily for his track success.

Chris Hoy
Chris Hoy was born in Edinburgh on this day in 1975 and, as well as being the first British athlete to win three Olympic gold medals in a single year since 1908 (Henry Taylor the swimmer, fact fans!), is the most successful Olympic cyclist of all time.

Chris Hoy
(image credit: Nick J Webb CC BY 2.0)

Unusually, Hoy was first inspired to take up cycling by the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - if any other professional cyclists were, they're not admitting it. As a result, be began racing BMX when he was 7 and would be ranked 2nd best in Britain, 5th best in Europe and 9th in the world. He took up rowing while at university and joined the Dunedin CC in 1992. Two years later, he joined the City of Edinburgh Racing Club and began to concentrate on track racing. Hoy's large and muscular build (he's 185cm tall and weighs 92kg) made him a natural for events requiring explosive acceleration and high-speed sprints, so in the early days if his career he specialised in 1000m time trials and team time trials, usually taking the third position in the team so that he would be the one to sprint over the line. He would be rated the best 1000, time trial rider in the world before the event was dropped from the Olympics after 2004 (when he won his first gold), when he began training for other events.

Hoy's medals to date include nine gold, six silver and five bronze in World Championships, four gold and one silver at the Olympics and two gold and two bronze at the Commonwealth Games. He was selected as the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year in 2003 and 2008, the the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2008 - he was the first cyclist to win the award since Tom Simpson in 1965. He has also been awarded an MBE, thus becoming Sir Chris Hoy (but here at Cyclopunk, we don't observe such archaic traditions and so prefer to call his Chris Hoy) and is a Knight Bachelor. There is a velodrome in Glasgow and a train operated by SouthEastern railways named after him.

Michela Fanini, 1973-1994

Michela Fanini was born in Lucca, Italy on this day in 1973 and came from a cycling family: her grandfather was a frame builder of considerable repute, her grandmother a noted professional cyclist and her father is a race organiser. She won the National Road Race Championship in 1992, then left the 1993 with a silver medal before winning the 1994 Giro Donne. On the 16th of October that year, while attending a training camp, a car in which she was travelling was in an accident and she was killed at the age of 21. The Giro di Toscana-Memorial Michela Fanini race and SC Michela Fanini racing team are named in her honour.

Hossein Askari, born in Khomein, Iran on this day in 1975, won his National Individual Time Trial Championships in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. He also won the General Classification at the Tour of Indonesia in 2005, the Azerbaijan Tour in 2007 and 2008, the UAE International Emirates Post Tour in 2008 and the President Tour of Iran and the Tour of Qinghai Lake in 2010. Now aged 37, he continues to ride for the Tabriz Petrochemical Team, one of the most respected on the Middle Eastern and Asian cycling scenes.

Danny Pate, born in Colorado Springs on this day in 1979, was Junior National Cyclo Cross Champion in 1997, Under-23 National Road Race Champion in 1998 and Under-23 World Time Trial Champion in 2001. He was 3rd in Stage 15 at the 2008 Tour de France, then 3rd in Stage 18 at the Giro d'Italia and in the overall General Classification of the Critérium International in 2009. For 2012, he will ride with the British-based Team Sky.

Óscar Vargas, born on this day in 1964 in Urrao, Columbia, was professional between 1985 and 1985. In 1989, he came 3rd in the General Classification and won the King of the Mountains at the Vuelta a Espana.

Damian McDonald was an Australian cyclist born on the 12th of May 1972 who won a gold medal in the 2004 Commonwealth Games. He died on this day in 2007 in the Burnley Tunnel Explosion that occurred after a crash and fire in the Melbourne tunnel.

On this day in 1975, tandem cyclists Veronica and Colin Scargill completed their 29,000km trip around the world.

On this day in 2011, seven Estonian cyclists were kidnapped by an armed criminal group shortly after crossing the border from Syria into Lebanon. There are many theories as to who the group were, ranging from an anti-Israeli group responding to the arrest of Palestinian engineer and suspected manufacturer of Hamas' Qassam rockets Dirar Abu Seesi a few weeks earlier to a local drugs gang hoping to make money by ransoming them. Following their release 113 days later, the cyclists described the captors as "Islamic extremists with Kalashnikovs" and said that the men had demanded to know if they were either Jewish or Danish. When released, they were underweight but otherwise in good health.

Albert Dejonghe, who was born in Middelkerke, Belgium on the 14th of February 1894, winner of Stage 4 at the Tour de France the following year, then finish in 5th place at the 1925 Tour and 6th in 1926, died in the city of his birth on this day in 1981.

Other births: Mark Cassidy (Ireland, 1985); Armido Rizzetto (Italy, 1893); Kamil Kuczyński (Poland, 1985); Carlos Alzate (Colombia, 1983); Ivan Popov (Bulgaria, 1951); Katie Mactier (Australia, 1975); François Verstraeten (Belgium, 1887, died 1965); Yu Kau Wai (Hong Kong, 1965); Guglielmo Segato (Italy, 1906, died 1979); Cenobio Ruiz (Mexico, 1934); Wi Gyeong-Yong (South Korea, 1940); Unni Larsen (Norway, 1959); Denis Dmitriyev (Russia, 1986); Jean-Pierre Muller (Luxembourg, 1910, died 1948); Pierre Gosselin (Belgium, 1932); Yovani López (Colombia, 1975); Sergio Salazar (Colombia, 1986); Franz Stocher (Austria, 1969); Ernst Nievergelt (Switzerland, 1910, died 1999); Bernardo Rimarim (Philippines, 1962); Jason Kenny (Great Britain, 1988); Marcel Ernzer (Luxembourg, 1926, died 2003); Verner Blaudzun (Denmark, died 1946).

Cyclopunk's News Digest 22-23.03.12

Today's News: Uran wins Catalunya Stage 4 - Bad news for women's cycling as GP Ciudad de Valladolid suspended - Divide and conquer the Rabo Women, says AA Drink boss - Longo for the Olympics

Volta a Catalunya Stage 4

Stage 3 at the world's third oldest stage race proved rather unsuccessful with six riders failing to start, 33 failing to finish (full list at the bottom of this article) and 55km lopped off the end by organisers due to heavy snowfall on the Hors Categorie climbs - a pity, as it had the makings of a spectacular Queen Stage.

Stage 4 looked far more likely to go ahead as planned - there were climbs, but with the highest point (Alt de Fontllonga, 675m) along the 199km parcours almost 1,300m lower than Stage 3's Port Aine summit finish there was little chance of the riders not reaching the finish line as planned today. While the terrain was lower, the stage was by no means easy: there were three Category 2 climbs and a number of short but steep hills in between them. Fontllonga was the first categorised climb, beginning 20km into the race, then there were a couple of uncategorised ascents right after the feed station at 100km and two ascents of the Alt de Les Paumeres in the final 60km; the road taking the same way up but varying on the way back down.

Rigoberto Uran
(image credit: Laurent Brun CC BY-SA 2.0)

An six-rider break made the most of it, trying their hardest to keep a good lead over the hills - and they very nearly embarrassed the pack, too, the majority of them evading capture until the final 400m. Three riders had other ideas: Rigoberto Uran (Sky), Denis Menchov (Katusha) and Sylvester Szmyd (Liquigas-Cannondale) decided they hadn't quite finished having fun and launched themselves up the road to the line. In turned out that Uran (one of Cyclopunk's top tips today, no less!)  was the quickest and he won the stage, Menchov crossing close him behind and Szmyd taking third. (Stage results / GC)

Interestingly and despite riding for rival teams, Uran and Menchov train together as both have homes in Pamplona - a fact that was Uran's mind as they battled one another over the line. "I was thinking that if he beats me, I won't buy him any more coffees," he told reporters after the race.

As predicted, GreenEDGE's tactics were noticeably different today: with Michael Albasini remaining race leader this morning after the judges' decision not to count Stage 3 towards the overall results, the Swiss rider unexpectedly retained the race leadership; so the team is now concentrating on keeping him a good rate of knots through the rest of the race. It worked today, leaving him with a 1'32" over second place Steve Morabito of BMC. With so many of the favourites no longer in the race after yesterday there are many lesser-known riders with a massive increased chance of winning, so right now when there are three stages left it's too early to predict the eventual outcome. However, if GreenEDGE continue to work together to protect their new champion, Albasini may well prove to be the man. (Map)

Julian Dean,  Jakob Fuglsang, Wilco Kelderman injured
In addition to the 33 riders to abandon during Stage 3, Julian Dean (GeenEDGE) and Jakob Fuglsang were absent from the start line this morning. Dean, in his first race after recovering from a broken shoulder, had swerved to avoid a crash caused when several riders slipped on the icy road ahead of him and collided with a stationary car, breaking his leg. "We are especially distraught about this loss," says Neil Stephens on the team's official website. "From a sporting perspective, it’s terrible to lose a rider to a crash. From a personal perspective, we really feel for him. He has a lot of bad luck this year." Meanwhile, RadioShack-Nissan's Jakob Fuglsang sustained a broken hand and also misses the rest of the race - not a good birthday present for the Danish rider who turns 27 today. Wilco Kelderman - who crashed during Stage 4 and was taken to hospital with a bleeding wound above his eye - suffered only minor cuts and bruises, Rabobank have confirmed.

GP Ciudad de Valladolid suspended

The GP Ciudad de Valladolid, due to have taken place on the 3rd of June this year, has been suspended by race organisers. No reason has been given, but with several races - including several other Spanish races as Spain's economy is in a poor state - experiencing difficulties in finding sponsors, it's likely that financial difficulties are the cause.

The race, first held in 2010 when it was won by Charlotte Becker, formed part of the UCI Women's World Cup, its demise reducing the number of events in the series to eight - the lowest since 2000. With numerous other women's races such as the Holland Ladies' Tour experiencing problems this year, the announcement is likely to lead to further calls that the UCI allocate more funds in order to protect and develop the women's sport, especially after recent reports showing that cycling is in overall good financial health.

Rabo Women - "Weaker than people think"

Or that's what manager Michael Zijlaard thinks, anyway.  "Marianne Vos is very strong and hard to beat, but you have to try it, " he told his AA Drink-Leontian.nl riders as part of a pep talk. "Her team is weaker than people think, so you should try to isolate her quickly."

In fact, that's a tactic many believe may work. Vos, at 24 years old, has emerged as one of the strongest riders the sport has ever seen and dominates women's cycling; but rivals noted that she was weakened without her team around her at the recent Ronde van Drenthe. "I know you will not beat Vos very often, but I do think you should try," he added. "But don't let her lead you to the slaughter - if you, you know what happens."

However, Vos relishes competition; so much so that Rabobank claimed in January that it was considering entering her into a few men's races to prevent her becoming bored. She can also change her plans during a race according to conditions and has won many a race on her own. Whether it does work remains to be seen.

Jeannie Longo to ride at the Olympics?

The apparently immortal Jeannie Longo
(image credit: Matthieu Riegler CC BY 3.0)

If anyone ever drops a nuclear bomb in France, two species are sure to survive: cockroaches and Jeannie Longo. Right after a scandal in which she failed to notify the UCI's doping control officials of her whereabouts on two occasions, missed one test entirely and, most damning of all, her husband and trainer first confessed to purchasing and was then charged with trafficking EPO after police raided their home earlier this year, the 53-year-old current National Time Trial champion has made it onto the French pre-selection list for this year's Olympic Games.

Spokesperson Isabelle Gautheron says that Longo - who has been a National Champion 59 times - completed and returned all the paperwork sent out by the Fédération Française de Cyclisme. "Longo should not be penalised," she told L'Equipe, "it [the doping case] is her husband'sproblem. He has been indicted for the purchase of drugs, for personal use from what I read in the press. Longo needs to try to go the Olympics. She is a competitor and will fight."

If Longo gets to London, it will be her eight time at the Games. When she competed in 2008, she lost to Nicole Cooke, who was one year old when Longo first took part 28 years ago in 1984.

Tweets

WorldTour Verity @UCI_WorldTourFDJ in the end found the shovels they were looking for according to race fan! #voltacatalunya (Pic)

DNF, Stage 3, Volta a Catalunya: Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Saur-Sojasun - Cyril Bessy (Fra) Saur-Sojasun - Roger Kluge (Ger) Project 1t4i - Thomas Damuseau (Fra) Project 1t4i - Javier Francisco Aramendia Lorente (Spa) Caja Rural - Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM - Rafal Majka (Pol) SaxoBank - Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr) Sky - Richie Porte (Aus) Sky - Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky - Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan - Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack-Nissan - Andy Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan - Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Rabobank - Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Omega Pharma-QuickStep - Gaëtan Bille (Bel) Lotto Belisol - Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Lotto Belisol - Kenny De Haes (Bel) Lotto Belisol - Mehdi Sohrabi (Iri) Lotto Belisol - Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale - Timothy Duggan (USA) Liquigas-Cannondale - Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale - Daniel Teklehaymanot (Eri) GreenEDGE - Julian Dean (NZl) GreenEDGE - Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Garmin-Barracuda - Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat - Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat - Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi - Pierre Cazaux (Fra) Euskaltel-Euskadi - Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC - Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana - Amir Zargari (Ira) AG2R La Mondial - Sébastien Minard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale. DNS: Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne - Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) SaxoBank- Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank - Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Movistar - Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar - Juan Horrach Rippoll (Spa) Katusha.

Daily Cycling Facts 22.03.12

Marcel Buysse

The second edition of the Ronde van Vlaanderen was raced on this day in 1914. Despite 47 riders taking part - an improvement on 1913 when only 37 showed up, the event was not a huge success - years later, organiser Karel van Wijnendaele explained, "Sportwereld was so young and so small for the big Ronde that we wanted. We had bitten off more than we could chew. It was hard, seeing a band of second-class riders riding round Flanders, scraping up a handful of centimes to help cover the costs. The same happened in 1914. No van Hauwaert, no Masselis, no Defraeye, no Mosson, no Mottiat, no van den Berghe, all forbidden to take part by their French bike companies."

However, one rider from a French Team, Alcyon, insisted on being at the race - Belgian Marcel Buysse, brother of Lucien who won the Tour twelve years later. At 280km, the race was considerably shorter than the first edition which had been 324km; this reduction making a notable difference to the winning time of 10h20', compared to 12h3'10" the year before. The finish was moved from Mariakerke to Evergem for one year only.

Henri van Lerberghe - owner of cycling's greatest ever nickname, "The Death Rider of Lictervelde" (see the entry for the 29th of January to find out why he was called that) - took second place in 1914 and due to the outbreak of the First World War had to wait five years before his chance to win in 1919, when the race was again run on the 22nd of March. Van Lerberghe's race was remarkable for many reasons: first of all, he showed up with all the gear he'd need - clothing, spare parts, tools and so on, in short everything he could conceivably need in a bike race with one exception: he didn't have a bike. After asking around, he managed to find someone who was willing to lend him one and organisers let him take part. He was well-known for attacking far too early in races, using up his energy while other riders were pacing themselves for the final sprint which, more often than not, forced him to abandon long before the finish line; so spectators were not at all surprised when he suddenly shot off with 120km still to go. Before too long, he was tired and hungry - but then, he came across a Bianchi-Pirelli official who was waiting with food for Marcel Buysse, and persuaded him that since Buysse had abandoned (Buysse did in fact abandon the race, but whether or not he'd done so at this point is unknown) he might as well have the food instead.

The Death Rider of Lichtervelde

Now revived, he rode off. Some way further on, he came to a level crossing as a train was passing through. Not fancying the wait, he simply shouldered his bike like a cyclo crosser, jumped up and pulled open a train door before running through the carriage and leaping out the other side where he remounted his bike and rode off. Towards the very end of the race, just before he entered the Evergem velodrome that hosted the finish line, van Lerberghe decided he was feeling thirsty. So - as if he hadn't already guaranteed his place as possibly the coolest rider in the history of cycling - our hero stopped at a pub and had a couple of leisurely pints of beer. He might have spent the rest of the afternoon in there too had word not reached his manager who came out to find him and ask him not to throw away the race. This, apparently, seemed a reasonable enough request so he finished his pint, left the pub and rode into the velodrome to win the race and complete his victory lap. Once done and with a completely straight face, he told the packed crowd to "Go home - I'm half a day in front of the field."

The next - and final - time the race was held on this date was in 1931 when it was won by Romain Gijssels, who would win again the next year to become the first man to win two editions.


Mario Cipollini
Mario Cipollini, who was born in Lucca, Italy on this day in 1967, had a career that extended from 1989 to 2004 - much longer than most but more remarkable in that he remained at the top of the sport for the majority of it, still winning races at a time when most other riders would have faded into the amorphous blur of the peloton and been hoping for an occasional lucky top ten finish. Like Fabian Cancellara and other riders we've looked at over the last few days, his name is the best response that can be given to fans who complain that modern cycling lacks the characters of earlier times.

The muscle skinsuit, later auctioned for 100,000,000 Italian
lira - then equal to US$43, 710
(image credit: Cyclostyle)

Cipo's height and weight guaranteed that he stood out among sprinters - at 190cm tall and 79kg, he appeared enormous when compared to rivals. He was also one of cycling's most flamboyant personalities, which won him many fans but frequently brought him into conflict with other riders and with race organisers. Like many sprinters, he suffered badly on mountain stages and would sometimes abandon races when the climbs became too tough - his habit of then releasing photographs to the press of himself relaxing on a sunny beach with a drink in his hand won him friends and enemies in equal habits. He had a fine sense of theatre, persuading the other members of the Saeco team to join him in dressing up as Roman soldiers and partying hard during a rest day at the 1999 Tour de France, guaranteeing press coverage and disapproving grumbles from race officials, and his dress during races was sometimes equally as noticeable - in 2004, when he became race leader, he eschewed the yellow jersey in favour of a yellow all-in-one skinsuit which could best be described as being bias-cut in a way designed to promote his sex-symbol image. Once again, organisers were not impressed and fined him. This led to him being banned from entering for two years - and his insistence that all future contracts included a stipulation that sponsors would pay his fines which, due to the headlines he guaranteed, they were happy to do. Other skinsuit designs included tiger stripes and - most notably of all - one printed with a lifelike representation of the human muscles which created an disturbingly realistic illusion that his skin had been peeled off.

He was widely rumoured to be a womaniser and to live a playboy lifestyle, once telling the world that he believed that "if I hadn’t been a professional cyclist, I’d probably have been a porn star." It was an image that he cultivated until it became legendary - some writers, most notably Lance Armstrong's biographer Daniel Coyle, have argued meanwhile that it was purely an image that he used it to demoralise opponents; well aware that rivals would feel crushed when a rider they believed to have been up partying all night easily sprinted past them the following day. That he possessed the intelligence to use psychological warfare is apparently in little doubt, for he is also widely regarded to have been the inventor of the now-common lead-out train that has seen Mark Cavendish win so many races and a World Championship, tucking in among a group of team mates who wear down the opposition by keeping the pace high, then emerging for an explosive sprint to victory when the finish line comes within a few hundred metres. It still works to this day, but when Cipo introduced the tactic it took the racing world by storm.

At Paris-Nice, 1997
(image credit: Eric Houdas CC BY-SA 3.0)

Yet despite the glorious nicknames - Mario the Magnificent, the Lion King - and the Italian Stallion image, Cipollini was a likable character who could be surprisingly down-to-earth and deferential to those cyclists he considered heroes - in 2003 when he won his 42nd Giro d'Italia stage, breaking the record of 41 set by Alfredo Binda that had stood for seventy years, he told journalists that he would have considered himself fortunate just to polish Binda's shoes. He was also visibly upset by Marco Pantani's death. "I am devastated," he said,  "it's a tragedy of enormous proportions for everyone involved in cycling. I'm lost for words." He frequently became angry at what he saw as injustices in races, either those that resulted in a loss to himself or other riders, and threatened to retire from racing in protest many times. Finally, with a week to go before the 2005 Giro, he really did; saying that injuries sustained in a crash the day after he beat Binda's record were the cause - but just three years later he returned with Rock Racing to compete in the Tour of California. He was due to ride with them in Milan-San Remo that year too, but announced again that he would retire claiming disagreements with the team's management as his reason - perhaps his sartorial tastes were too garish even for them.

Among Cipo's 191 professional victories are the 2002 World Championship, the 1996 National Championship, his 42 Giro stage wins (a record that still stands and which, since it took to long for Binda's previous record to be broken, is likely to do for some time), three Points Classification Giro victories, 12 Tour de France stage wins, 3 Vuelta a Espana stage wins, 12 Tour de Romandie stage wins and one Points Classification win, three victories at Gent-Wevelgem, Milan-San Remo, 11 stage wins at the Volta a Catalunya, 14 stage wins at the Tour Méditerranéen and numerous prestigious one-day races.

Leontien van Moorsel

Van Moorsel conquered depression and anorexia to become
one of the most successful professional cyclists of all time
(image credit: Frans Meijer CC BY 2.0)

Leontien Martha Henrica Petronella van Moorsel, who was born in Boekel, Netherlands on this day in 1970, started racing at the end of the 1980s and rapidly established herself as one of the strongest riders of the day with a World 5km Pursuit Championship (1990) title on track and two World Road Race Championships (1991, 1993) and two Tour de France Féminin overall General Classification victories (1992 and 1993).

In 1994 she was forced to put her promising career on hold as she battled anorexia and depression. Thankfully, the strength that let her beat Jeannie Longo was a match for her inner demons too and she returned to competition in 1997 to win the GP Boekel, the National Track Pursuit Championship and the National Individual Time Trial Championship. She was better still a year later, taking the National titles for the Pursuit, Points Race on the track, the World Individual Time Trial Championship and the National Individual TT and Road Race Championships. She retained them all in 1999 and added the World Road Race Championship, the Greenery International, another GP Boekel and the Holland Ladies' Tour. Over the years until retirement at the end of 2004, she would win 196 professional races, and six Olympic medals (four gold, one silver, one bronze) and in 2000 alone took 34 victories. She remains one of the most successful Dutch athletes of all time.

 Jakob Fuglsang

Jakob Fuglsang
Jakob Fuglsang was born on this day in 1985 in Geneva, to Danish parents and of Danish nationality. He began his professional cycling career as a mountain biker with the Cannondale-Vredestein team, winning two Danish Juniors Cross Country Championships (2002, 2003), a National Cross Country Championship at Elite level in 2006 and then the World Under-23 Cross Country Championship in 2007 before switching to road cycling.

He announced his move in memorable style by winning the Danmark Rundt in 2008, then repeated it in 2009 and added overall victory at the Tour of Slovenia, three podium finishes at the Vuelta a Espana and 6th overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné, then a year later won hi National Time Trial Championship, a third Danmark Rundt, 3rd place at the Tour de Suisse and 4th at the Giro di Lombardia. Later that year, he was given the honour of announcing the formation of Leopard Trek to the world and would ride with them in 2011 and it was with them that he won his first Grand Tour stage -  the Stage 1 Team Time Trial at the Vuelta a Espana. Fuglsang will join the Schlecks and other Leopard team mates at the new RadioShack-Nissan-Trek team formed by Leopard and Radioshack's merger in 2012 - while he currently rides in support of General Classification contender Andy Schleck in Grand Tours, there is every reason to expect him to achieve more personal victories as he enters his best years.

At RadioShack-Nissan-Trek Fuglsang will ride alongside Ben King, with whom he shares his birthday (though King was born in 1989). King won the Junior titles at the US Road and Time Trial Championships in 2007, then became National Road Race Champion in 2007 at Elite and Under-23 level along with Under-23 National Criterium Champion. In 2011, he won the Youth Category at the inaugural Tour of Beijing.


On this day in 1819, the English Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle printed a short article describing a new machine named a Velocipede. "The crowded state of the metropolis," it said, "does not admit of this novel mode of exercise; and it has been put down by the Magistrates of Police; but it contributes to the amusement of the passengers in the street."


Ludovic Turpin, winner of Stage 5 at the 2006 Critérium du Dauphiné, was born in Laval, France in 1975.

Other births: Asmelash Geyesus (Ethiopia, 1968); Johanna Hack (Austria, 1957); Martina Růžičková (Czechoslovakia, 1980); Viola Paulitz (Germany, 1967); Gilberto Chocce (Peru, 1950); Jan Hugens (Netherlands, 1939, died 2011); Zain Safar-ud-Din (Malaysia, 1938); Harold Ade (USA, 1912, died 1988); Gunhild Ørn (Norway, 1970); Aleksey Petrov (USSR, 1937, died 2009); Rudolf Baier (Germany, 1892).

Cyclopunk's News Digest 21-22.03.12

Today's News: Terpstra and Van de Ree victorious at Vlaanderen - Cav dropped by discarded bidon - Many abandon as Brajkovic wins in the Catalonian snow - Five riders banned for ephedrine use

Terpstra triumph and Van de Ree victory at the Dwars door Vlaanderen

Niki Terpstra
(image credit: Thomas Ducroquet CC BY 3.0)

Niki Terpstra won the semi-classic, marking the beginning of Vlaamse Wielerweek, on Wednesday. The Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider escaped in a large break during the latter half of the 201km race with some riders staying off the front for almost 90km, then left them behind after launching an attack of his own during the last 30km on the 20% gradient slopes of Paterberg. He soon proved himself the strongest man of the race and crossed the line unchallenged, team mate Sylvain Chavanel a short way behind him for second and Koen de Kort of 1t4i third.

For me, it's the best victory ever together with the 2010 national road championship," the 27-year-old Dutchman said after the race. "Today I had super strong legs. Going solo was something I have done in the past, so I know it is possible to finish in a great solo like today."

Chavanel, back after a bout of bronchitis, was equally pleased: "It doesn't matter who is the winner, whether me or Niki. I am super happy for him and the team. For me, the most important thing is I am in good shape after the bronchitis I had. Now I feel better and I look forward to the next races." (Results)

Monique van de Ree
(image credit: 1t41)

1t4i did even better in the women's race with Monique van de Ree beating Gilke Croket (Top Sport Flanders-Ridley 2012) and Petra Dijkman (Kleo) in three-rider sprint to the end. Team mate Adrie Visser picked up the points in the intermediate sprint earlier on in the race. Best Brit was 39-year-old Claire Thomas in 26th, then Sarah Coney in 29th and Emma Silversides in 56th, while Emma Trott didn't finish. (Results)

Monique van de Ree ‏ @MoniquevdrHell yeah, I did it! Just WON Dwars door Vlaanderen!! Really happy, and also thanks to my team mates!#that's the spirit!#1t4i <3 winning ; )

Good news for women's cycling: while some fans felt that this year's women's event - the first in the Dwars' history - felt like it had been rather hurriedly put together, organisers are pleased with how it went and hope to improve it over the coming years.

Britain's Mark Cavendish (Sky), best-placed Brit with 58th, performed far better than expected considering how tough the Flanders hills can be, but was in an accident caused by a discarded bidon (dropped, he says, by a Katusha rider) late in the race. Luke Rowe (Sky) was 64th, while the best Sky rider was Australian Christopher Sutton in 35th.

Mark Cavendish ‏ @MarkCavendish
200km on Belgiums worst roads. All ok. 15km from finish, peloton's riding easy & a dickhead throws a bottle in my front wheel. Crashed hard.

Coming just a day after Alejandro Valverde crashed out of the Volta a Catalunya in almost identical circumstances, it would appear that all riders need to be reminded to throw empty bidons away from the road - not least of all because doing so makes it easier for trophy-hunting fans to retrieve them. "Said it before: EVERYONE involved in a bike race should take a written & practical test to get [a] licence," he added.

Volta a Catalunya

Stage 4 (click to enlarge)

Stage 3, the intended Queen Stage, ended 55km short of the original finish line on Wednesday after the decision to locate it at ski resort with almost a month of the ski season still to go proved questionable when riders faced heavy snow and freezing rain over much of the parcours; forcing organisers taking the decision to cut the overall distance to 155km with a  repositioned finish 10km from the summit of Port del Canto. Astana's Janez Brajkovic took full advantage, unexpectedly finding himself with a chance to win and the peloton nowhere in sight after spending most of the race in a ten-man break. The stage results will not be counted towards the overall General Classification, leaving GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini as race leader. (Stage results / GC)

The finish

In addition to the six riders who didn't start this morning, a total of 33 riders including Sky's Bradley Wiggins abandoned at various points along the parcours; some saying they were shaking so much with cold they could not to continue. Schleck's reasons are not yet known, leading many to suggest he might not be on good form for the upcoming Ardennes Classics.  However, those who have followed his career will understand that Andy's one of those riders, not uncommon among climbers who have very little body fat, who can perform at his best only on a fine day - the cold will have taken a lot out of him on this stage. Among the many other ridersl other riders to quit were Frantisek Rabon (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Julian Dean (Garmin-Barracuda), taken to hospital after a crash 10km into the race.

The stage may have been cut short, but mountain fans have no need to despair - this is Catalonia, in the Pyrenees, and they don't bother with any of that flat stage rubbish round here. Stage 4 has three Category 2 climbs - 675m Alt de Fontllonga and two ascents of 510m Coll de Paumeres; then there are several more before the end of Stage 7. (Stage 4 map.)

Other News
One Spaniard and four Brazilian riders have been suspended from competition after failing anti-doping tests at races in 2010 and 2011. Spanish Constantino Zaballa, who announced his retirement earlier this year, will be stripped of all results for a nine-month period after a sample he provided at the 2010 Tour of Asturias. Brazilians Flavio Reblin, Wagner Alves, Elton Silva and Tiago Damasceno were all banned for two years due to positive tests for the same drug at the Volta ao Sao Paolo and Tour of Rio in 2011.

A new Eddy Merckx biography says that the Belgian rider could have died at any moment during his racing career. While writing the book, author Daniel Friebe consulted cardiologist Dr. Giancarlo Lavezzaro who revealed that he had noticed irregularities in Merckx's cardiograms, believed to be nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - a disease in which part of the heart muscle is thicker than it should be and a leading cause of sudden death in young athletes and which today would prevent the rider, who won 525 races, from being issued with a licence. (More at Cycling News)