Cycling News from around the World 14.04.12

Cadel: "I cannot win Amstel Gold" - Anderson on GreenEDGE - Gilbert now racing to win - Tiernan-Locke and Klöden abandon at Castilla - Houanard and Pozzato will miss Amstel Gold - Injured US soldiers take to handcycling - Bamboo bikes in India - Calling charitable cyclists

"I cannot win" Amstel Gold says Cadel

There's usually plenty of macho posturing in display by the favourites during the run-up to any important race, but when asked if he fancies his own chances for the the biggest event this weekend Cadel Evans gives a somewhat surprising answer: ""Not at all. I can not win the Amstel Gold Race," he says, explaining that he'll be competing against riders who have trained specifically for it while he has his sights set on the Tour de France. He does, however, rate team mate Philippe Gilbert - and says his main job is to assist him.

Meanwhile, Alejandro Valverde is more confident about his own prospects. "The Amstel Gold Race is the only one of the Ardennes Classics missing from my list," says the Spaniard, who returned to competition this season after a two-year doping ban. "Liège-Bastogne-Liège is more special to me, but I'll take what I can grab," he adds. However, he realises that there'll be stiff competition and lists several riders whom he believes could take victory: "I'd have to first get past Joaquim Rodriguez, Samuel Sanchez and Peter Sagan. [Also] In such long races you should always take into account the Schleck brothers, and Philippe Gilbert." (More from SportWereld)

Phil Anderson

Phil Anderson bigs up the GreenEDGE women, echoes de Vlaeminck on Paris-Roubaix
"A quiet time in the classics" for the men while the women "are performing above all expectations and are currently dominating the early European season events" is how Phil Anderson - the first non-European to wear the Tour's yellow jersey - sums up GreenEDGE's season so far. Writing for ROAR, Skippy also echoes Roger de Vlaeminck's thoughts on Tom Boonen's Paris-Roubaix victory: "Despite my boredom," he says, "it is apparent that Tom Boonen is on fire with a successive win in Paris-Roubaix." (More from ROAR)


Gilbert's ready to race
On the eve of the Amstel Gold Race - which he won for the last two years - Philippe Gilbert believes that he's finally up to speed after a disappointing start to the season marked by illness, crashes and problems with his teeth. "To be at your best in this walk of life, you need to be 100%. I didn’t realise that how much of an effect dental problems could have on the body," says the 29-year-old, who switched to BMC for this year after three seasons with Lotto-Belisol.


Other Racing News
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Endura) and Andreas Klöden (RadioShack-Nissan) have abandoned the Vuelta Castilla y León due to very bad weather.

Steve Houanard (AG2R-La Mondiale) will miss the Amstel Gold Race after a crash at Paris-Roubaix left him with a badly sprained wrist and extensive bruising. The 26-year-old is also reported to be suffering gastroenteritis. Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini Selle Italia) will also miss the race due to a knee injury sustained at Paris-Roubaix.


Cycling
Injured US soldiers take to handcycling
US servicemen injured while on active duty are discovering that handcycling is the ideal way to keep fit, active and have fun. "It’s very enjoyable, it gives you a good sweat - a good workout," Erin Schaeffer, an army truck driver with eleven years military experience before a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's Paktika province shattered both his feet, told the DVIDS military news service.

The Wounded Warrior Project organises twelve annual long-distance rides for those already handcycling and brings the sport to newcomers with five clinics at various locations around the world. “Our main objective is to honor and power wounded warriors,” explains Carlos Garzon, an event co-ordinator who works at the organisation's Joint Base Lewis-McChord headquarters in Florida. “Cycling is my tool. I know from experience that I can bring a smile to anybody on a bike, regardless of what bike it is or what the injury is.” (More from DVIDS)

Nothing new about bamboo - this American bamboo bike
dates from 1896

Manipur looks to bamboo bikes to cut pollution
The Manipur Cycling Club of North-Western India have linked up with the South Asia Bamboo Foundation to promote bamboo bikes as an alternative to motorbikes and cars - and they've already produced BMX, utility and racing versions. There's nothing new about making bikes from bamboo, one of the world's fastest-growing plants, but a newly-developed process in which each culm is soaked in water, smoked and then treated with chemicals to make it termite-resistant create a material that is stronger and lighter than steel. A skilled frame designer can also make use of its natural springiness, creating a bike that is stiff enough to handle well but soft enough to take the sting out of India's roads. (More from the Weekend Leader)

Calling Charitable cyclists
If you work in London and have ever thought your lunchbreak would be the ideal time to get some extra training under your belt, you can put it to good use on the 11th and 18th of May by joining JDRF’s stationary bike race outside the Canary Wharf tube station (I tried to jump my mountain bike roof once, but got chased away by security guards) - and you'll help raise funds for research into diabetes whilst doing so. (More from HITC)

The Joshua Tree, a charity that works with the families of children suffering immune system-suppressing illnesses, is running a Land's End to John O'Groats In A Day fundraiser and needs cyclists to make up numbers on the relay teams that will complete the ride. (More from the Northwich Guardian)

Daily Cycling Facts 14.04.12

Paris-Roubaix winner (1985 and 1991)
later became directeur sportif at FDJ
(image credit: Julius Kusuma CC BY-SA 3.0) 

Paris-Roubaix was held on this day in 1985, 1991, 1996 and 2002. Curiously, 1985 and 1991 were won by Marc Madiot and 1996 and 2002 by Johan Museeuw. Francesco Moser was a favourite in 1985 and, had he won, would have been the second man to achieve four wins (the first - and to date, only - being Roger De Vlaeminck in 1977) as well as having become the second man to win in three consecutive years as he had been in 1980; but he crashed in a pothole among the cobbles, his support crew taking so long to reach him that he lost all hopes of victory. Madiot then joined an eight-man break some 15km from the finish before out-sprinting them, entering the velodrome alone to win by 1'57". In 1991, he won by 1'07".

After the 1985 race, Dutchman Theo de Rooij spoke to reporters. "It's bollocks, this race," he told them. "You're working like an animal, you don't have time to piss, you wet your pants. You're riding in mud like this, you're slipping ... it’s a pile of shit!" One of the reporters asked rhetorically if he would be entering again. De Rooij looked at him for a moment, then replied: "Sure. It's the most most beautiful race in the world." That year, the 1.9km Vertain to Saint-Martin-sur-Écaillon cobbles were used for the first time.

Johan Museeuw
(public domain image)

1996, the year Museeuw won the first of his three victories, saw the first use of the 2.5km Quérénaing to Maing cobbled section, which has been a feature of every Paris-Roubaix since. It was also the first year that the newly-laid Espace Charles Crupelandt - a 300m length of cobbles leading to the velodrome and named after the 1914 winner, who would recieve an unfair lifetime ban and die blind with both legs amputated - was used, having been created to commemorate the centenary of the race. The cobbles are interspersed with inscribed stones detailing all the winner of the first hundred years, which had to the section becoming known locally as the Chemin des Géants, the Road of Giants.


2002 brought Museeuw's third and final victory (he's won in 2000, too). The weather that year was band with heavy rain and strong wind, but Museeuw found reserves of strength when his opponents had been ground down; attacking the peloton with 40km still to go and crossing the finish line with an advantage of more than three minutes. For the first time that year, an extra 0.5km was added to the Templeuve - Le Moulin de Vertain cobbles and would become known as Templeuve - Le Moulin de Vertain Pt. 2, making the section 0.7km in total. The first 0.2km had been in use since 1992, the final 0.5km being discovered completely buried at about the same point. It was dug out by Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix - an organisation fans dedicated to finding new cobbled sections and maintaining them in a usuable state - to mark the one hundredth edition of the race.

Rik van Steenbergen

The Ronde van Vlaanderen has also been held on this date, in 1935 and 1946. The 1935 edition was won by Louis Duerloo who collected a newly-increased prize of 2,500 francs - the total prize fund having been upped to 12,500 francs to reflect the growing popularity of the event which, two years later, would attract half a million spectators.

In 1946, victory went to Rik van Steenbergen who had become the youngest man to ever win this race two years previously. It became apparent early in the race that van Steenbergen was going to win - as soon as the riders set off, it was obvious to all that not only was he on perfect form, he was having the sort of day that all cyclists dream about in which his body worked in perfect unison with his machine. He remembered years later that it had been the best ride of his life: "I could do whatever I liked, ride better than anyone. In the end I was with Briek Schotte and Enkel Thiétard. They were happy just to follow me. We made an agreement. I said that they could stay with me until we got to Kwatrecht. I wouldn't drop them provided they'd do their best to work with me. They were happy with that. They didn't have a choice. Under the bridge at Kwatrecht I just got rid of them."

La Flèche Wallonne has fallen on this date, too - the 47th edition in 1983, the 57th in 1993 and the 63rd in 1999. 1983 brought a second win for The Badger Bernard Hinault, the same year that he won his second Vuelta a Espana. The race began at Charleroi and ended at Huy, as it has done every year since 1998, and covered 248km. In 1993 it ran 206km from Spa to Huy and was won by Maurizio Fondriest who would also win Milan-San Remo and a second World Championship that year. In 1999, it started in Charleroi and ended in Huy for a second year and covered 200km, won by Michele Bartoli who would win three of the five Monuments during his career.

1999 also saw the second edition of La Flèche Wallonne Féminine, held on the same date as the men's race but on a shorter course. The winner was Hanka Kupfernagel, and for the first time the race became part of the UCI Women's Road World Cup.

The UCI

The Union Cycliste Internationale, known (and not necessarily loved) by cyclists worldwide as the UCI, came into being in Paris on this day in 1900, with the intention of creating a new international governing body in opposition of the British-controlled International Cycling Association after a heated row over whether Great Britain should be permitted one team at the World Championships rather than four to represent England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The ICA had existed since 1892 but, with France, Italy, the USA, Switzerland and Belgium all opting for UCI membership, it was quickly superceded. Britain was barred from membership until 1903, by which time the organisation had completely replaced its predecessor.

The UCI controlled cycling as a single entity until 1965 when, pressured by the International Olympic Committee, it split into three branches - the Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC) in Rome,  the Fédération Internationale de Cyclisme Professionnel (FICP) in Luxembourg and the UCI (now based in Geneva) acting as a central authority. As Eastern Bloc cyclists were almost invariably amateur at the time, in effect the FIAC became almost a separate organisation devoted to developing the sport beyond the Iron Curtain and grew to be far larger than the FICP with some 127 federations under its aegis. FIAC riders rarely competed with FICP riders, despite the best Eastern Bloc amateurs being esaily the equal of Western professionals; as would prove to be the case following Perestroika when East European and ex-Soviet cyclists were freed to seek professional contracts and made a massive impact on the European racing scene. In 1992, the two subsidiary bodies were reabsorbed into the UCI as it relocated to Aigle, also in Switzerland, where it is still based.

Emile De Beukelaer, first president
of the UCI

The organisation has had nine presidents during its history, all men. The first, serving between 1900 and 1922,  was Emile De Beukelaer, who had been one of Belgium's most successful cyclists during the 1880s and attended the formation of the UCI as the representative for the Ligue Velocipédique Belge Belgian federation. The second, Frenchman Léon Breton, served from 1922 to 1936, the third was the Swiss Max Burgi between 1936 and 1939.

The position was then taken by Alban Collignon, another Belgian,  between 1939 and 1947, followed by Frenchman Achille Joinard who came close to losing his position in 1955 when he was accused of having personally received five million francs in return for ensuring the World Championships would be held in France rather than in Italy. Joinard was largely responsible for the popularisation of the Peace Race, an event that took place in East Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia during the Cold War and which he termed "the Tour de France of the East." It was also Joinard who coined the term "la bicyclette est la fille de Bretagne" - "the bicycle is the daughter of Brittany" - to reflect the enormous love the Bretons still hold for the sport.

His replacement was Adriano Rodoni, the first Italian to serve, who held the position between 1958 and 1981 - Rodoni too courted controversy in 1964 when he prevented the Italian cyclist Giovanni Pettenella from having to undergo an anti-doping test ordered by the IOC at the 1964 Olympics. The Spaniard Luis Puig took over from 1981 to 1990 who, unusually, had not been a professional cyclist himself; becoming a cycling coach after an athletic career in baseball, swimming and hockey.

Hein Verbruggen
(image credit: SpeakLouder)

Puig's replacement was Hein Verbruggen, whose background offered a sign of the times - never an athelete, his career had been in business management before an interest in cycling led to the presidency of the Dutch Federation, then to the UCI. In 2008, investigative journalists from the BBC uncovered documents apparently showing that under Verbruggen, the UCI had received payments equal to approximately US$5 million from Japanese race organisers, which the broadcaster claimed was a bribe or reward for backing the inclusion of keirin in the Olympics. Verbruggen continues to deny the claims, and the UCI ignored the BBC's requests for an explanation. In 2010, Floyd Landis - then undergoing a doping investigation - claimed that Verbruggen had  accepted a bribe worth US$100,000 from Lance Armstrong to submerge a failed anti-doping test said to have occurred in 2002, also saying that there would be no documentary evidence of the payment. However, the UCI - now under Verbruggen's successor Pat McQuaid - was able to produce documents showing that they had in fact received two payments, one to the tune of US$25,000 from Armstrong personally which was used to develop new anti-doping controls for junior races and one of US$100,000 paid by Armstrong's management company that had been used to purchase a Sysmex blood testing machine. That the UCI was so open in admitting that it had in fact received the payment Landis alleged, provided evidence proving it had and then also proved a second payment that had not been previously been mentioned in the case is considered by most to be indication that nothing dishonest had taken place; though McQuaid is on record as stating that in his opinion Verbruggen's decision to accept the payments was a mistake.

Pat McQuaid
(image credit: Oblongo CC BY-SA 2.0)

Pat McQuaid took over when Verbruggen retired in 2005 and at the time of writing remains president. He, his father, his two brothers, one cousin, one uncle have all been professional cyclists. His career was not without controversy as he and Sean Kelly broke the boycott on athletes competing in apartheid-era South Africa. After retiring from racing, McQuaid worked as a teacher before becoming director of the Irish National Team from 1983 to 1986 and then president from 1996 to 1999. In between, he served as director of a number of major races including the Tours of China and Langkawi and afterwards served as chairman of the UCI's road racing commission. Compared to that if his predecessor, McQuaid's presidency has been relatively free of controversy, though he has come under increasing attack for his attitude towards women's cycling which many athletes, managers and fans believe he doesn't take as seriously as the sport deserves; especially since the 2011 World Championships when he said that in his opinion, women's racing is insufficiently developed for athletes to deserve a guaranteed minimum wage (as their male counterparts get) nor equal prize money to that on offer in men's races.


Russell Williams, who was born in London on this day in 1961, won the British Junior Road Race Championship in 1978 and added a number of track titles before retiring from competition in 1999. Today, he is better known a a cycling commentator on the British Eurosport television channel.

On this day in 1931, the first edition of the British Highway Code was published and went on sale at one old penny (1d) - equivalent to less than one half of a modern penny (1p). The Code, then as now, outlined the rules of the road for drivers, motorcyclists, those in control of animals and cyclists.

Francesco de Bonis, born in Isola del Liri on this day in 1982, won the GP Folignano and Trofeo Internazionale Bastianelli in 2007, then Stage 4 and the overall Mountains Classification at the Tour de Romandie one year later. In 2010, the UCI announced that it had discovered discrepancies in the tests recorded on his biological passport and requested that his National Federation ban him from competition for two years - the ban was subsequently put into place and began on the 27th of May that year.

British rider Ian Wilkinson, who was born in Barnoldswick on this day in 1979, won the National Under-23 Mountain Bike Championship in 2000 and the National MTB Marathon at Elite level in 2008. He also competes in cyclo cross, track and road racing and has achieved good results in all three disciplines.

Roger Rammer was born in Vienna on this day in 1890 and took part in the Olympics of 1912. He rode in the Team Trial event, where the Austrians came 7th, and in the Individual Time Trial where he was 23rd. Like many cyclists, Rammer disappeared after his time in the spotlight came to an end and it's not known what he did for the rest of his life nor when and where he died.

Martín Emilio Rodríguez

Martín Emilio Rodríguez, born in Medellín on this day in 1942, is one of the most successful Colombian cyclists of all time. Nicknamed Cochise, after his Apache chief hero, he entered the Vuelta a Colombia for the first time in 1961 and won it two years later - as he would again in 1965, 1966 and 1967. He also won the National Championship in 1965 and the 4km Pursuit at the 1962 Central American Games, 1965 Bolivarian Games, the 1966 and 1967 American Games and 1967 PanAmerican Games and set an unofficial Hour Record in 1970 before going on to compete in 1975 Tour de France, which he finished in 27th place.

Rodriguez teamed up with Felice Gimondi during the early 1970s and they won the Baracchi Trophy and  Verona Grand Prix together in 1973. After his Tour de France, he retired from professional racing but won a stage at the 1980 Vuelta a Colombia as an amateur. He maintained close links with cycling in retirement and is  currently employed by the UCI Continental team Gobernacion De Antioquia-Indeportes Antioquia.

Other births: Jeffrey Spencer (USA, 1951); Juraj Miklušica (Czechoslovakia, 1938); Ulises Váldez (Cuba, 1948); Robert Raymond (Belgium, 1930); Pierre Gouws (Zimbabwe, 1960); Geoff Kabush (Canada, 1977); Francesco Zucchetti (Italy, 1902, died 1980); Vilho Oskari Tilkanen (Finland, 1885, died 1945); Steven Maaranen (USA, 1947); Oleksandr Honchenkov (Ukraine, 1970).

Amstel Gold Race 2012

The Parcours (click to enlarge)

We've all enjoyed a spectacular few weeks'-worth of bike racing in Flanders at the Cobbled Classics - now it's time to move on to the Amstel Gold Race, the first of the Ardennes Classics. This one is held in a part of Limburg, the most southerly part of the Netherlands, that were it not for a land corridor that at its narrowest is less than 5km wide would be a Dutch enclave sandwiched between Belgium and Germany. The start line is at the 17th Century Staadhuis in Maastricht (50°51'4.78"N 5°41'28.89"E), right up against the Belgian border on the western side and believed (with some dispute from Nijmegan) to be the oldest city in the country. It's also, of course, the Capital of Europe; birthplace of the European Union and euro currency.

The race consists of three parts, the first being the longest and the last the shortest, and after the flat landscape of Flanders (which, as we know, is not without some serious climbs), the beautiful Ardennes landscape is a refreshing change. It's a region of forested hills that is very different to the rest of the Netherlands - and the people too are very different. They have their own distinct folklore and traditions, their own cuisine and - most notably - their own language, Limburgish, which shares similarities with Dutch and German but is distinct and has numerous dialects of its own. Back in the early days of the 1960s and 1970s, the Gold was known as something of a sprinters' race, but as the course was altered over the years (it had to be - the first time it was run, the organisers simply drew the route on a map and completely forgot to take rivers into account) it became a climbers' race and lately it's turned into an event for the attackers (and for the last two years, Philippe Gaumont's race).

The race passes through Ubachsberg, 2007

Nevertheless, it remains hilly - There are no fewer than 31 climbs during the course of its 256.5km route and the many of them surpass 10% at some point on the way up - it's a toughie alright, and not everyone will make it to the last climb of the day. It's also well-known for large numbers of crashes - the Netherlands is a densely populated nation and Limburg is a very densely populated region where few houses have garages, meaning a lot of parked cars become an added hazard, as does Limburg's apparently inordinate love of excess street furniture.

Steephill have an altitude profile here.
Race Itinerary
Official website
Provisional start list

Kasteel Elsloo

The Parcours
The first climb, Maasberg, is only 10.7km from the startline. It's not too harsh with an average gradient of 4.4% but it reaches 11% at the steepest point - far gentler than some of the killer slopes we saw in Flanders (like the Flanders climbs, there are cobbles here) but enough to discourage the weaker members of any early breaks. Kasteel Elsloo sits at the bottom of the climb; which reveals it to be a house designed to look like a castle rather than the real thing which would have been placed in a more strategically advantageous position at the top. In fact, it began life as a brewery and was later converted into a home, then abandoned following a series of fires before passing into the ownership of a margarine magnate. Adsteeg, with a steeper average of 4.7% but less difficult at the steepest part (8%) than Maasberg, is the next climb at 32.5km and will be familiar as a common feature of the Dutch National Championship road race.

7km further up the road is Lange Raarberg (Climb 3, average 4.3%, maximum 6%). The name translates into English as "long, strange mountain;" but disappointingly it's no stranger than most other hills and derives its name from its proximity to the village Raar (which is itself not very strange and derives its name from Limburgish for "open land," perhaps once the most striking feature in the forested region). At 54.7km, the riders arrive at Bergseweg - one of the easiest climbs with a average gradient of only 3.4% - then at 66.6km it's Sibbergrubbe, also not steep (3.75%) but attractive with the sunken road (the grubbe) set in a time-worn groove in the landscape. While roads such as this are undeniably very pretty to look at, they serve to trap sharp bits of flint and thorns from surrounding fields and hedgerows and, as such, become puncture traps.

Valkenburg

Then, at 72km, it's Cauberg. Beginning at the city gates of Valkenburg and the 6th climb of the race, it's a much harder prospect with an average gradient of 8% and maximum of 12%. The hill has a long history and is the site of Roman catacombes, flint mines that date back even further into the Neolithic period and were still in used by the pre-Roman Celts who named the hill Kadeir (which, through various mutations, led to its present name), 20th Century limestone mines (the Gemeentegrot). It has serious cycling history, too - in addition to the Amstel Gold, the World Championships, Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana have all passed this way and for the last two years there's been an important cyclo cross race here too. Just beyond Noorbeek (one of the country's most attractive villages) Wolfsberg (Climb 7) is at 93.2km - the average gradient is 5.8%, but it's 12% at the toughest part.

Loorberg, at 98.8km, is Climb 8. The average gradient of 5.1% is steeper than the previous hill but its maximum 9% makes it less daunting. At 108.9km Schweibergerweg (Climb 9) tops out at around 8.6% with an average of  3.7%, then at 115.3km Camerig (Climb 10) with its maximum gradient is 9%, but an average of 7% prevents it from ever being described as easy - in fact COTACOL, a book of hills in the Low Countries compiled by Daniel Gobert and Jean-Pierre Legros, rates it as the hardest climb in the Netherlands.

Drielandenpunt, Climb 11 at 128.3km, marks the point where the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet (a tripoint, which is far commoner phenomenon than many people imagine - there are 176 around the world, depending on how political borders are drawn across the globe). According to the official website, the average gradient is 3.8%. The maximum according Aerodata International Surveys  is a very tough 14.1%. The hill is also known as Sneeuwberg, snow mountain, and at 322.5m above sea level is the highest geographical point in the country. Having crossed the border for a brief sortie into Belgium, the riders climb to the village of Gemmenich (Climb 12, ave. 6.4%) and then into the Vijlenerbos forest nature reserve (Climb 13, ave. 5.1% and remaining so to the end, where a nasty little ramp closer to 13% awaits) and on to Epen - the maximum gradient for this section is 9.7% and the average 3.4%, with downhill sections. On the way, the riders begin the second part of the parcours

Monument on Gulperberg

After 144.4km, the race tackles Eperheide (Climb 14, max. 10%, ave. 4.5%) and the arrives 8km later at Gulperberg, Climb 15. One of the steepest hills in the race, when approached from the east - as will be the case - the average gradient is 8.1%, but there's a sudden increase just after halfway where the maximum is 15%. Van Plettenbergweg (Climb 16, ave. 3.7%, max. 8%) is next in line, followed by Eyserweg (Climb 17, ave. 4.4%, max. 9%) less than 2km later and Huls (Climb 18, unknown gradient) with its 128.5m TV and radio antenna 5km after that.

Vrakelberg (Climb 19) lies at 168.1km, another tough hill with an average gradient of 7.7% and maximum of 13%, the road surface here tending to be rather rough and poorly-maintained; then at 176km the riders find themselves back on Sibbergubbe (now Climb 20) as the parcours traces the same route as the first part but heads the other way. Cauberg (now Climb 21) is climbed for the second time at 181.5km, then 3.5km later they reach Geulhemmerweg (Climb 22, ave. 6.2%, max. 11.9%) and then head back into Maastricht. 5.7km later the race reaches Caldier en Keer where riders begin the third part of the parcours.

Bemelerberg

At 198.7km lies Bemelerberg (Climb 23, ave. 4%, max. 6%) where limestone outcrops, mostly created by quarrying, add greatly to the attractiveness of the landscape. Three climbs from earlier come in the next 30km: Wolfsberg (now Climb 24, 215.8km), Loorberg (now Climb 25, 221.4km) and Gulperberg (now Climb 26, 229.7km) before the race heads on to Kruisberg (Climb 27) at 235.2km - not the one that features in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, but an even steeper hill with an average gradient of 8.4% and a maximum of 17%.

Eyserbosweg is Climb 28 at 237.3km - less than 2km from Kruisberg, it's a real test with an average gradient of 7.9% and maximum of 17%, making it a likely place for some riders to abandon. Fromberg (Climb 29, ave. 4.8%, max. 9%) lies 3.7km further on, followed by Keutenberg (Climb 30) 4.5km later - this being where the race gets serious on a slope that averages 6.1% but, at the steepest point, hits a cruel 22% - the same maximum as the legendary Koppenberg. Even with Keutenberg over, the riders aren't finished climbing: after another 10.3km, they reach Cauberg (now Climb 31) for a third and final time, ascending to the finish line in Valkenburg.

Freire's not the strongest nor the
fastest, but you can achieve a lot
if you use your head (and you're
as sneaky as a thieving alleycat)

The Favourites
Philippe Gilbert (BMC) has had a slow start to the season, but he seemed to have finally come back to life at the Brabantse Pijl where he showed signs of finding the excellent form he was on last year. Having won for the last two consecutive years, Gilbert has to be  favourite today - for the top five and possibly the podium, if not for first place. If Gilbert's not got what it takes, his team mate Cadel Evans might have: he's got experience in the Ardennes having won La Flèche Wallonne in 2010 and he's got the form to bully his bike over the climbs and his rivals out of the way. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) has shown time and time again that he can both sprint and climb and he also won the Enenco Tour after it came down this way and climbed some of these very hills last year. Like Gilbert, he may be outclassed for the top step of the podium, but there's a reasonable chance that he'll be somewhere nearby. Thomas Lövkvist (Sky) - the boy has form, he won the Circuit des Ardennes in 2003 and 6th at La Flèche Wallonne in 2009. Now aged 27 and entering what may be his best years, he's continually improved his climbing to become a formidable all-rounder. Samuel Sanchez showed us all at the Tour of the Basque Country that, when he wants to be, he's one of the world's very best climbers - and as part of the Euskaltel-Euskadi team that trains all year round in the High Pyrenees, these green hills hold few fears for him. Don't forget that Sanchez holds another ace in the form of his legendary descending ability, too - a rare talent for a climber. Oscar Freire (Katusha) is a devastatingly fast sprinter and not a bad as many of his ilk when it comes to the climbs, but what really stands him in good stead is his brain - there has been more than one occasion when he's made full use of the chaos at the end of a race (and this one gets really chaotic) to sneak past the big guns when none of them are looking his way and steal victory from under their front wheels.

Wildcards: a Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), either one of them. Both are physically capable of winning this race; whether or not the actually can depends on whether they can stop pratting around and get themselves into gear (Johny must spend every day wanting to knock their heads together). Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) - stranger things have happened, and he was 4th at the Brabantse Pijl last year. (Provisional start list here)

Weather
It's looking as though rain is likely, with a 40% chance of at least some at Maastricht during the day. Chances are it'll be light showers, but some heavier squalls are possible too - when the wind blows from the north over Limburg, the hills force low-lying air currents that have crossed the Netherlands from the North Sea to suddenly increase in altitude and cool so that water vapour condenses to form clouds and precipitation. On the other side of the region at Vaals rain is slightly more likely with a 50% chance of drizzle. It's not going to be warm, either - the actual high of 9C isn't exactly toasty to begin with, but once the wind (up to 28-30kph) is taken into account it'll feel a good 4-5C lower than that. All in all, not a very nice day.

Local Sights

Kasteel Geulle

Maastricht, as might be expected, has a mixture of charming ancient and stunning modern architecture. It's very Belgian in character - which, despite the stereotype, does not mean boring because Belgians + beer + bikes = Saturnalia. Sittard (19.4km), hometown of cyclist Eddy Beugels, has what must be one of the most quintessentially European town squares anywhere on the Continent. Meersen (38.1km) is home to Kasteel Geulle, a fortified manor house surrounded by a wide moat. Raar (40.7km) has two tiny roadside chapels, one dating from the middle of the 19th Century and the other from the early 20th. Valkenburg (46.6, 66.4, 71.1, 175.8, 180.6 and 255.7km) preserves small sections of its medieval city walls and two gatehouses. Mheer (89.8, 212.3km) also has a castle, dating from the 14th Century with various 15th, 16th and 17th Century additions and Hoogcruts (95.1, 217.8km) a ruined 18th Century monastery that resembles an English country house of the same period. Mechelen (107.1, 148.9, 225.9km) has a very beautiful half-timbered house, the Heerenhof, that dates from the 12th Century. Vaals (125.5km) is a town made of important monuments with over 70 sites and buildings considered of architectural merit. Many of the villages along the parcours have half-timbered houses that in many cases are historically important.

Cycling News from around the World 13.04.12

No surgery for Tony Martin - Urgent call to female cyclists: Save the Balfron Open! - Bak back for Romandie  - British cycling fatality map - LAPD doubt road rage incident - Oxford to host Halford's Tour - Belize race solution not entirely satisfactory - 2012 Le Tour de Filipinas - Mexico City hands Sunday to cyclists

Tony Martin describes his injuries

Tony Martin, now with Omega Pharma

Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Tony Martin, the current World Time Trial Champion, has given more details of the accident which, in his own words, left the left half of his face "totally smashed." In addition to the broken cheekbone reported yesterday, he has a fractured eye socket and lower mandible (jaw) as well as pain in his arm and ribs.

"All I know is that I was going about 35 to 40 km/h on a slightly descending bike path when probably a woman in a car crossed the path. Then the lights went out," says the 26-year-old, who was unconscious for around 15 minutes after the crash. He remains upbeat, however - "Actually I am doing quite well. My girlfriend is taking care of me here. My mother and brother have arrived from Frankfurt. I am being taken care of in the best way."

Omega Pharma-Lotto have since confirmed that the rider will not require surgery. "My first objective now is to take all the time necessary to heal well. I thank all those who with their messages gave me a support in these difficult days. I really appreciate them," the rider says on the team's website.

Balfron

Urgent: Calling all British female cyclists
The Balfron Women's Open Road Race is in danger of being cancelled due to low numbers of riders signing up - and it's open to all female cyclists (provided they either hold a British Cycling racing licence or purchase a day licence), not only those eligible to race in Scottish Championships - details on eligibility here.

The race is due to take place on the 20th of May in the Stirlingshire town (56° 4'18.56"N 4°20'14.29"W) and consists of six laps of an 11km circuit beginning at 09:30. The official race website is here and entry details are here.


Bak back for Romandie
32-year-old Lars Bak, who sustained a broken wrist at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, will make his comeback at the Tour de Romandie; say Lotto-Belisol. The Danish rider underwent medical tests on Thursday and was discovered to be recovering well.


Cyclist/pedestrian fatality map
See Me, Save Me - an organisation that aims to increase driver awareness of pedestrians and cyclists and cut deaths - has published a new interactive map created by ITO World that shows the site of every pedestrian/cyclist fatality involving a vehicle of more than 3,500kg gross weight between the 1st of January 2000 and the 31st of December 2010. London, quite frankly, is terrifying. See the map here.


LAPD doubt cyclist's accident claims
Los Angeles police have revealed their doubts over the version of events supplied to them by Susanna Schick, known as "Pinkyracer," a cyclist who claimed to have been chased down and deliberately hit by the driver of a white Lexus on a cycle lane in the city a few days ago. The incident has sparked widespread anger among local cyclists, many of whom have accused police and the law of not doing enough to prevent road rage and drivers of endangering cyclist's lives. Schick remains in hospital with three broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a triple fracture to the pelvis.

However, having viewed CCTV footage, police have announced that they're not quite sure Schick's explanation of the incident matches what actually happens. The footage shows that the Lexus did pull in front of her, though whether it was in the bike lane is unclear, but does not drive in a manner that could be described as aggressive - Schick becomes infuriated at this point, says LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon, and begins slapping or punching the car as she passes it and the car then follows her as a police vehicle pulls up behind. "The Lexus never hits her, never touches her, by the officers' account, but one of the officers notices that the front tire starts wobbling, and she falls over after going through the intersection," Vernon says.

The case is still being investigated, but serves as a reminder that we as cyclists must be above reproach. If we lie in an attempt to highlight dangers faced on the roads, we're likely in these days when there are CCTV cameras on every street to be exposed. If that makes the public think we're all a load of liars, embellishing accidents to paint drivers in a bad light or to chase compensation claims, it won't do any of us any favours.


Other News
Oxford to host Halford's Tour
Oxford has been announced as host of one round of the Halfords Tour Series, to take place on the 22nd of May this year. Like most university cities, Oxford is well-known for its cycling scene but has seen little in the way of races over the years - local bike shop manager Jon Harris says, "It seems like an exciting thing. I would say it was quite unusual to have top cyclists come to Oxford. (Wow, he sounds like he can hardly contain his excitement, eh folks?) In keeping with the successful format used last year, riders will race around several laps of a 1km city centre circuit, allowing spectators to see them pass by several times. There will be a women's race at 7pm. (More from the Oxford Mail)

Belize race solution not entirely satisfactory
After a long period in which their domestic racing scene has been dominated by foreign riders, the Belize Cycling Association was facing problems with few companies interested in sponsoring races. So they came up with a novel solution: at the nation's biggest cycling event, the 84th Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic, they offered $5,000 as the top prize if a foreigner won and $15,000 if a Belizean won. It worked, sort of. Belizean Giovanni Choto escaped with a small group early in the race and eventually won (in the words of El Guardian, "He rode bravely and lifted the spirit of an entire nation"), but with local riders unwilling to assist big-name foreigners in chasing down the group the race became boring. (More from El Guardian)

2012 Le Tour de Filipinas
80 cyclists set off from Manila this morning at the start of the 2012 Le Tour de Filipinas. Stage 1 is short at 159km, but with temperatures expected to reach 35C the eleven international and five local teams are likely to find it challenging. (More from the Manila Bulletin)

Mexico City hands Sunday to cyclists

Mexico City is changing for the better

Mexico City is not generally considered to be one of the world's great cycling cities - it's better known for streets blocked with motorised traffic belching out the choking fumes that then hang in the air above as a poisonous smog. Things are changing, however, under the leadership of Marcelo Ebrard. Five years ago he launched Bicycle Sunday,  which every week sees several of the city's main thoroughfares are closed to motorised transport and bikes, pedestrians and skaters given automatic right of way on many others. His rivals were sure it would be doomed to failure and dismissed it as a publicity stunt, but it very rapidly became more successful than even supporters hoped and now as many as 80,000 cyclists make the city look more like Amsterdam on a sunny Sunday. "We shattered a myth that a megalopolis like Mexico City is not capable of considering the bike as a means of transport,” says Environment Secretary Martha Delgado. (More from the Washington Post)

Daily Cycling Facts 13.04.12

Rik van Steenbergen
(public domain image)

Paris-Roubaix was held on this date in 1952, 1958, 1969, 1975, 1980, 1986, 2003 and 2008. The 1952 winner was Rik van Steenbergen, who had also won in 1948 when he had won the Ruban Jaune, a prize established by Henri Desgrange to recognise the rider who set the fastest average time in a race more than 200km long during any one year (he chose yellow for the same reason the leader's jersey in the Tour de France is yellow: his L'Auto newspaper was printed on yellow paper), with an average speed of 46.612km - a new record, which stood for another three years after his 1952 triumph.

The 1958 winner was Leon Vandaele. The race that year was notable for two reasons: firstly, it took the unusually long time of just over eight hours to be completed, and secondly because it finished in a 23-man sprint - the largest in Paris-Roubaix history. 1969 was won by Walter Godefroot who achieved the very rare distinction of beating Eddy Merckx, who was 2'39" behind as Godefroot crossed the line. 1975 brought the second of Roger de Vlaeminck's record four wins and he too beat Merckx into second place.

Carrefour de l'Arbre
(image credit:  John.john59 CC BY-SA 3.0) 

In 1980, the Italian Francesco Moser became the second man in the history of the race to win in three consecutive years. The full 1.7km  cobbled section between Orchies, Chemin des Prières, and Chemin des Abattoirs (a fitting name for a Paris-Roubaix cobbled section if ever there was one) was used for the first time that year, the final 0.7km having been ridden in the opposite direction since 1977. Four entirely new cobbled sections made their first appearances: the first was a 1.4km stretch of the Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes to Sars-et-Rosières, to which another 1km would be added two years later; the second was the 1.2km Auchy-lez-Orchies to Bersee; the third was the 1.8km Camphin-en-Pévèle with a right corner that is often covered in mud and considered one of the most dangerous along the parcours and a final 300m made up of some the roughest cobbles anywhere in the race; the fourth was the notorious 2.1km Camphin-en-Pévèle to Carrefour de l'Arbre, considered to be the most difficult and dangerous section after the Trouée d'Arenberg and the place where many subsequent editions have been won and lost.

Sean Kelly, who had become the only Irish rider to win the race two years earlier, won for a second time in 1986. The same year, he won Milan-San Remo and would do so again in 1991, and he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège the same year as his first Paris-Roubaix and again in 1989 and the Giro di Lombardia in 1983, 1985 and 1991 (plus the amateur version in 1976), making him the joint third most successful Classics rider of all time. For the first time, the finish was relocated to the Avenue des Nations-Unies outside the offices of the race's main sponsor, mail order company La Redoute; where it would remain until 1988.

Frans Bonduel in 1932

Peter Van Petegem won in 2003, a week after he'd won the Ronde van Vlaanderen which had been held on the 6th of April that year - and thus became one of only ten men to have won both races in a single year. Tom Boonen scored the second of his three wins in 2008 after beating Alessandro Ballan and Fabian Cancellara in a final sprint. For the first time in three years, Paris-Roubaix did not form part of the UCI ProTour series - instead, the UCI wanted to include it in a new Historical Calendar series (since absorbed into the WorldTour series), a proposal that was at first resisted by race organisers the Amaury Sports Organisation until they eventually conceded two weeks before the race was due to take place. The first 100km of the race were covered in two hours, one of the fastest intermediate average speeds every recorded in the race and the overall average of 43.406kph was the fastest since 1964.

The Ronde van Vlaanderen fell on this day in 1930 when it was won by Frans Bonduel, the rider who went on to win Stage 17 and finish in 7th place overall at the Tour de France later that year. Bonduel enjoyed an unusually lengthy professional career that lasted for twenty years between 1928 and 1947. He died on the 25th of February in 1998 when he was 90 and there is a street in Baasrode, the town in which he was born, named after him.

In 1936, the first ever edition of La Flèche Wallonne was held on this day and covered a distance of 236km from Tournai to Liège. It was won by Philemon De Meersman (15.11.1914-02.04.2005), a Belgian rider who was professional for just three years up until the outbreak of the Second World War. The next time it was held on this date was in 1949, when started at Charleroi and stretched for 231km, once again to Liège. The winner was Rik Van Steenbergen, and he would win again nine years later. The race would not fall on this date again for four decades, the next time being 1988 when the 243km parcours between Spa and Huy was covered fastest by Rolf Gölz - a German rider who seems to be largely forgotten a quarter of a century later, despite having held amateur Worlds and professional Nationals titles as well as winning Stage 8 at the 1988 Tour de France and numerous other races. It has not been held on this date since.

Nicole Cooke

Nicole Cooke at La Flèche Wallonne, 2010
(image credit: Les Meloures CC BY-SA 3.0)

Nicole Denise Cooke, born in Swansea, South Wales in this day in 1983, is one of the most successful British cyclists of all time and, arguably, the most successful Welsh cyclist in history. Cooke began to cycle competitively with the amateur Cardiff Ajax CC - of which she is still a member - when she was 11, and was successful right from the start. He first major win was the National Road Race Championship, at Elite level, in 1999 - as she was 16 at the time, she is the youngest rider to have ever won the title. Two years later, she became the youngest woman to win the British Elite Cyclo Cross Championship. In that same year, she won the World Junior titles in mountain bike, time trial and road race - a unique achievement.

Cooke turned professional in 2002 and won a third National Road Race Championship, then added a Commonwealth Games gold medal. She was National Champion again in 2003 and won the World Road Cup and the Amstel Gold Race as well as the bronze medal at the World Championships, then in 2004 she won her fifth National title and the Giro Donne. A sixth National title came a year later, and a seventh in 2006 along with the General Classification at the Tour de France Féminine, then the greatest women's race in the world.

All in all, Cooke has won 10 National Championships, making her the second most successful rider in the event after the legendary Beryl Burton with 12 victories. She won the World Junior Road Race twice and the World Elite once, the Tour de France Féminine twice; with a total of 68 victories to her name to date. 2010 and early 2011 were not good for Cooke and poor results a she struggled to recover from an illness led to much of the British cycling press (that small part of it that takes notice of women's cycling, at any rate) to write her off, declaring that her career was over. However, a stage win at the 2011 Giro Donne and 4th place at the World Championships in Copenhagen (leaving her the best-placed British woman) suggest that she's not finished yet.

Olaf Ludwig
Olaf Ludwig was born in Gera - then East Germany - on this day in 1960. He began riding with the snappily-named SG Dynamo Gera/ Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo whilst still a teenager, riding on the winning teams in two World Junior Team Time Trial Championships in the late 1970s, and remained an amateur until 1990 when the Reunification allowed him to sign a professional contract with Panasonic. A sprinter of considerable repute who by this time had won numerous stages at the Tour de l'Avenir, an Olympic gold medal, several National Amateur Championship titles and a record 38 stages at the Peace Race, it came as no great surprie when he won Stage 8 and the overall Points competition of the Tour de France in his inaugural professional year.

Olaf Ludwig
(image credit: Etixer CC BY-SA 3.0)

Like many sprinters, Ludwig suffered badly on the climbs and as such was never a contender for the General Classification of the Grand Tours or many of the other stage races, but in a flat race with a straight finish he often seemed unbeatable - so much so that comparisons are frequently made between him and Mark Cavendish, whose technique closely resembles that of Ludwig.

In 1991, Ludwig was ranked 9th in the world by the UCI, won Stage 7 at the Tour de Suisse, Stages 2 and 5 at the Tour of Ireland and stood on the podium of the Tour de France six times, this time coming 3rd in the Points competition. In 1992, he won Stages 5 and 10 at the Tour de Suisse and the World Road Race Championship, the Four Days of Dunkirk, the Dwars door Vlaanderen and Stage 21 at the Tour de France, this time coming 4th on Points. In 1993, he won Stage 13 at the Tour but abandoned after the next stage; then a year later he won Stage 4 at the Tour of Britain as his career began to wind down, victories coming fewer and further between before his retirement in 1996.

In retirement Ludwig was employed by Telekom, the team with whom he spent his last four professional seasons, as a public relations agent. Later, when the team became T-Mobile, he would become a manager but ended his association with the organisation in 2006.

Tadej Valjavec

Tadej Valjavec
(image credit: McSmit CC BY-SA 3.0)

Tadej Valjavec, born in Kranj on this day in 1977, won the Slovenian National Road Race Championships in 2003 and 2007 and has achieved consistently good results in a variety of races including 4th at the 2003 Tour de Romandie and 7th at the 2009 Tour de Suisse. His Grand Tour results have also been good, with 17th, 19th and 10th overall at the Tour de France between 2006 and 2008 and 9th, 15th and 34th overall at the Giro d'Italia from 2004 to 2006 (including, in 2004, 2nd place on the Queen Stage 14) and 13th and 8th in 2008 and 2009.

On the 4th of May 2010, the UCI announced that Valjavec was among a number of riders under investigation for suspicious blood values - usually an indication that a rider has been found to have an unusually high red blood cell population, indication of either undetected EPO use or blood transfusions rather than a failed anti-doping test. He strongly denied that he'd cheated and continues to do so, claiming that an illness he'd failed to report to the testers was the cause of the suspicious results. The Slovenian Federation found in favour and declined to charge him, also criticising the UCI's use of biological passports (a system that aims to keep an accurate record of a rider's test history). The UCI, meanwhile, disagreed and referred the case for appeal at the Court for Arbitration in Sport which subsequently over-ruled the Slovenian decision, found him guilty and banned him on the 22nd of May 2011, effective as of the 20th of January 2011, and disqualified his results between the 19th April and 30th of September 2009 - including the 8th place finish at the 2009 Giro, his best ever Grand Tour result.


Alex Steida, born in Belleville, Ontario on this day in 1961, became the first North American cyclist to lead the General Classification of the Tour de France in Stage 2, 1986. He was also leading the Mountains, Points and Youth Classifications. Unfortunately, the remainder of the race did not go his way and he finished in 120th place overall, then never entered again.

Juan Carlos Domínguez, born in Íscar, Spain on this day in 1971, won the General Classification, Mountains Classification and Stage 5 at the Vuelta a Murcia in 1997 and numerous Spanish races until 2007. That year, he recorded an unusually high haematocrit level of greater than 50% - evidence of possible EPO use or illegal blood transfuion - at the 2007 Eneco Tour of the Benelux and was banned for fifteen days.

(Copyright unknown)

Dino Bruni, born in Portomaggiore on this day in 1932, won a silver medal at the Olympic Games of 1952 and competed again in 1956. He won Stages 4 and 16 at the 1959 Tour de France - but, due to much poorer results on other stages (especially the mountain stages) was 64th overall with only Louis Bisilliat finishing after him - and Stage 21 in 1962, also Stages 1 and 17 at the 1960 Giro d'Italia.

Fabrizio Guidi, who was born in Pontedera, Italy on this day in 1972, won the Points competition at the 1996 Giro d'Italia, then one stage in 1999 and 2000. He also won three stages in the 1998 Vuelta a Espana and the overall Tour de la Région Wallonne in 2006 before retiring in 2007 with more than 40 professional victories to his name.

Other births: Ian McGregor (USA, 1983); Ángel Vicioso Arcos (Spain, 1977); Geneviève Robic-Brunet (Canada, 1959); Anton Joksch (Germany, 1900); Peter Clausen (Denmark, 1964); Klaus Kynde Nielsen (Denmark, 1966); Christoph Sauser (Switzerland, 1976); Yves Landry (Canada, 1947); Óscar Giraldo (Colombia, 1973); Igor Dzyuba (Uzbekistan, 1972); Roman Kononenko (Ukraine, 1981); Stephen McGlede (Australia, 1969); Ed McRae (Canada, 1953).

Cycling News from around the World 12.04.12

G-Man says London is main goal - Tony Martin injured - Schleck brushes off Brabantse disaster - Energiewacht Tour Video Review - Provisional Amstel/Women's Fleche Wallonne start lists - Cycling Ireland receives financial boost - Cipo to open British bike show - Paul Smith opens bike shop in Harrods - MP backs Yorkshire Tour bid - Could you ride for The Clan?

Thomas: London is "main 2012 goal"

Geraint Thomas

Geraint Thomas has replied to comments made by British Cycling coach Chris Sutton, who said recently that he believed the Welsh rider had felt pressured into staying away from the Tour de France this year to concentrate on the Olympics.

Speaking to Wales Online, Thomas said: "I have always said London was my main 2012 goal and I don’t want to jeopardise my chances. But a home Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and to have a chance of winning a gold medal is amazing. Being British is part of the reason I am committing to the Games and I won’t deny that. Other nations maybe don’t see the Olympics as important as the British. Being Welsh is also an important factor and we don’t have that many gold medal prospects. To be one of those makes me massively proud." He also says that he has known Sutton since he was 14, that he knew beforehand what Sutton was going to say and that there is no rift nor secrets between them.

Tony Martin, now with Omega Pharma

Tony Martin injured
Tony Martin, World Time Trial Champion, was injured in an accident involving a car during an accident involving a car yesterday near his home in Switzerland. Early reports suggesting that he hit the car now appear to have been mistaken and it seems the car driver was at fault. Having lost consciousness, the Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider was taken to hospital where he was found to have a fractured cheekbone.

His condition is described as stable and updates will be released via the official team website. It won't be known until further tests have been carried out whether or not he'll require surgery, though a fractured cheekbone frequently does in order to prevent facial disfiguration, nor how long he'll be forced to remain away from competition.

Schleck crashes out of Brabantse Pijl
RadioShack-Nissan's Andy Schleck (our favourite for the race) crashed during yesterday's Brabantse Pijl and received a minor injury to his hand. "The doctor said if my hand still hurts tomorrow I should have it x-rayed but I feel confident that there isn't a problem," the Luxembourgian rider explained in a team press release.

However, many noted that his performance in the race was not what it has been early in recent years, leading to concerns that he will not have the form to do well in the Grand Tours this year. Andy, however, is more optimistic and brushes yesterday off as bad luck. "Three guys crashed in front of me so I couldn’t avoid it at all.  I chased back and got to the bottom of the climb, so I shifted to the small ring and realized my bike was broken. I lost the peloton again," he says. "I’ve been lucky for two years with no crashes so I hope this was the last crash of the season."

Other News
The organisers of this year's Energiewacht Tour, which was won by Ina-Yoko Teutenberg last week, have produced a video review of the race showing highlights of the event. Hailed as one of the finest showcases of women's cycling for some time, the six-stage event featured very fast and aggressive racing on a series of short circuits. The video can be seen on the official race website.

A provisional Amstel Gold start list has been published. The race is due to take place this Sunday. A provisional list for the Women's Fleche Wallonne has also been made available here.

Cipo to open bike show

Insurance provider FBD has signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Cycling Ireland, the latest gesture the company has made in its ongoing efforts to support Irish sport (it also sponsors several football leagues and is expected to also soon announce a similar deal with Irish tennis) and a huge boost for the country's cycling ambitions. Precise details have not yet been announced, but terms are thought to be sufficient to give the Federation's Talent Team 2020 - which aims to send an eight-strong team to the Olympics that year - access to top-level equipment, coaching, race experience and scientific support. (More from Sports Pro Media)

Mario Cipollini will cut the ribbon to open the new IPC Road Cycling Show at Sandowne Park on the 21st of April, say organisers, where he'll meet fans and sign autographs (unless, that is, it's raining or there's a bit of a hill on the way to the ribbon, in which case he'll probably be helicoptered away before sending back photos of himself with exotic cocktail in hand on some tropical beach somewhere). Tickets to the show are £12 in advance, £15 on the door and can be booked here. (More from Cycling Weekly.)

Fashion designer and professional cycling fan Paul Smith has opened a bike shop in the sports department of Harrods. The shop sells a selection of doubtless-not-very-cheap t-shirts, jerseys and magazines in addition to offering a custom bike building service from bike firms Mercier, Paris, Brompton and the legendary Condor.

Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart has urged the people of Yorkshire to pledge support for their region's bid to host the start of the 2016 Tour de France. "The Tour de France is one of the world's top sporting events, and hosting it in our county would be fantastic. In 2007 the race visited London and the South East, bringing with it a huge boost in tourism and media coverage," he says - a statement that is almost enough to earn him forgiveness for A; spending £426 of taxpayer money on new bed linen and towels in 2007 and B; being a Tory. You can add your support to the bid here.

Could you ride for The Clan?
Requirements are simple: you'll need to be committed, brave and a skilled BMX/trials/mountain bike stunt rider.

Oh - and female. The Clan, based in Scotland, is the only stunt team in the UK with female riders; its aim, in the words of manager Iain Withers, being to teach children "cycling is cool and fun and exciting for everyone. We were going round schools for Cycling Scotland and there was a lot of research that made it quite clear that if girls are going to get into cycling they need female role models to look up to."

Originally, Withers thought it would be difficult to find suitable female riders in such a male-dominated sport and so he was pleasantly surprised when six very talented women applied. This year, ten have already applied for the place. Got the skills? More information here. (More on the team from The Guardian.)

The Clan in action

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Mark Cavendish ‏ @MarkCavendish 

Sometimes I can be such a twat. Wish I realised it before it happened!

Daily Cycling Facts 12.04.12

Crupelandt in 1912

Paris-Roubaix was held on this date in 1914, 1925, 1936, 1953, 1959, 1970, 1981, 1987, 1992, 1998 and 2009. Charles Crupelandt won for the second time in 1914, having previously done so two years earlier, and thus became the last man to win before the race was suspended during the First World War, and the start was moved to Suresnes where it would remain until 1928. Crupelandt  was injured in the war but survived and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, one of France's greatest honours and a medal reserved for those who have demonstrated heroic courage in combat.

However, at some point after being demobilised - there is a lack of clarity concerning the dates which vary from 1914 to 1917 to three years after the war ended - he was charged with a crime and sentenced to two years in prison. In response, the Union Vélocipédique handed him a lifetime ban, almost certainly after being pressured into doing so by Crupelandt's rivals. He was able to continue racing under the aegis of another organisation and won the unofficial National Championships in 1922 and 1923, but it spelled the end of what had been a very promising career - one that Henri Desgrange once predicted would lead to victory in the Tour de France - and which led to the eventual destruction of his life and health. When he died in 1955 - at Roubaix - both his legs had been amputated and he was blind. To mark the centenary of the race  in 1996, the commune of Roubaix laid a 300m stretch of cobbles along the centre of the Avenue Alfred Motte on the final approach to the velodrome that hosts the finish line. Set among the cobbles are inscribed stones commemorating all of the winners int he first 100 years of the race, which has led to the section's unofficial name Chemin des Géants, Road of Giants. The official name is Espace Charles Crupelandt.

1925 winner Félix Sellier had won Stage 13 at the 1921 Tour de France after Henri Desgrange, who was angry that riders had refused to attack the eventual overall winner Léon Scieur and even more angry that as a first class cyclist he'd been assisted earlier in the race by riders in the second class, decided he'd punish the peloton by splitting two groups up and allowing the second class to set out two hours ahead of the first class. The first class, not wanting to be beaten by a bunch of amateurs, rode hard and fast to catch them up. They did catch most of them, but a few - including Sellier - stayed out in front and beat them to the finish line (the next year, Sellier was back as fully-sponsored professional. That time, he won Stage 14 and 3rd place in the General Classification entirely in his own merit, this proving that he didn't need a head start in order to win).

For a while in 1936, nobody was quite sure who had won. The Belgian rider Romain Maes was very clearly seen to be first over the finish line (which was located for the second and final time at the Flandres horse racing track), but the judges then declared Georges Speicher - who, completely coincidentally, happened to be French - the winner. The crowd were not impressed, with many of the French fans seemingly every bit as angry as the Belgians. Things began to look ugly but, suddenly and for no obvious  reason, they settled down and accepted the result. The Belgians may have been cheated out of a win, but they were apparently content in the knowledge that their men had taken 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th place.

Germain Derycke turned professional in 1950 and, just a year later, took 2nd place at Liège–Bastogne–Liège - a sure sign of a Classics specialist if ever there was one. He won Paris-Roubaix in 1953 and would have taken 1st place at the World Championships that year too had it not been for Fausto Coppi, then at the height of his powers and near unbeatable. One year later he won La Flèche Wallonne and the Dwars door Vlaanderen, then added Milan-San Remo in 1955, 1st place at Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1957 and the Ronde van Vlaandered in 1958. The Giro di Lombardia was the only Monument that remained out of his grasp.

Noël Foré won Paris-Roubaix in 1959, a year his victory in the Tour of Belgium and two years after he won the Dwars door Vlaanderen. Four years later, he added Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and the Ronde van Vlaanderen to  palmares that totalled 53 professional wins. 1970 brought the second of Eddy Merckx's three Paris-Roubaix victories and his winning margin over Roger De Vlaeminck - 5'21" - remains the largest in the history of the race. De Vlaeminck got his revenge, however: seven years later he topped Eddy's three wins when he became the first and to date the only man to have won the race four times.

Even The Badger suffered at Paris-Roubaix
(public domain image)

1981 was the year that Bernard Hinault - perhaps the second greatest cyclist of all time after Merckx - won his one and only Paris-Roubaix after an epic battle with De Vlaeminck's team mate Hennie Kuiper, who had defeated Hinault's attempted attack 8km from the finish. Kuiper was first into the velodrome, but when Hinault attacked one last time on the track he simply couldn't keep up and the Breton became the first French winner for a quarter of a century. After the race, Hinault told reporters: "Paris-Roubaix est une connerie!" - "Paris-Roubaix is bullshit!" He had crashed seven times, including once when a little black dog named Gruson ran out from the crowd and got between the Breton's wheels. Hinault, despite winning, was in a characteristically foul mood and, after returning the next year as defending champion when he came ninth, refused to have anything to do with the race from that point onwards. Gruson, by all accounts, was fine. That year also saw the first use of two cobbled sections, the 0.7km Mérignies to Pont à Marcq and the initial 1.1km of Cysoing to Bourghelles, an extra 0.3km being added to the latter section in 2006.

Eric Vanderaerden won in 1987, but sadly his victory did him few favours as, when taken into consideration alongside his earlier success in the other Classics and the Grand Tours, it served to confirm the belief among Belgian fans that he was destined to be the successor to their hero Eddy Merckx. Unfortunately, though an enormously talented cyclist, Vanderaerden was only a man; Merckx had seemed something greater. Knowing that he could never live up to their expectations, his career went into a decline in the following years and although his subsequent results were impressive (three editions of the Three Days of De Panne, a Tour of Ireland, the Dwars van Vlaanderen and Stage 17 at the 1992 Vuelta a Espana are pretty good by anyone's standards) it' generally agreed that he could have achieved much more. That year saw the first appearance of the 2.2km cobbled section from Troisvilles to Inchy, often one of the hardest sections as the road is frequently covered in mud that runs off the surrounding fields, despite the planting of a hedge in an attempt to keep it back. After the race, 1984 and 1986 winner Sean Kelly told the press: "A Paris–Roubaix without rain is not a true Paris–Roubaix. Throw in a little snow as well, it's not serious."

1992 brought the first of Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle's two wins - almost ten years after he'd formed a part of a breakaway that included Hennie Kuiper and Francesco Moser and which led to Kuiper's 1983 victory. Templeuve - Le Moulin de Vertain Pt 1 "Templeuve L", a 0.2km cobbled section was used for the first time and a 1.1km section from Bourghelles to Wannehain was added to the Cysoing to Bourghelles section that had first been used when Hinault won eleven years earlier, thus creating the Cysoing to Bourghelles to Wannehain stretch that, since the addition of an extra 0.km of cobbled leading to Bourghelles in 2006, is now cobbled for the full 2.5km length. Bourghelles to Wannehain had been discovered previously, but was not used in the race due to poor condition - however, it had been repaired using serviceable pavé taken from the old Péronne-en-Mélantois section that had featured in the race during the 1950s before falling into a state of irretrievable disrepair.

Franco Ballerini
(image credit: Eric Houdas CC BY-SA 3.0)

Franco Ballerini won for the second time in 1998. The race was marked by a horrific crash on the Trouée d'Arenberg in which Johan Museeuw shattered his knee. The injury later became gangrenous and he very nearly had to have his leg amputated, yet in time he made a full recovery and won the race two years later. Before retiring in 2004, Museeuw acted as mentor to Tom Boonen, who would go on to win Paris-Roubaix three times - his third win being on this date in 2009. That year, the 1.2km Auchy-lez-Orchies to Bersee cobbles were returned to use for the first time since 2006 following repair work. Chris Boardman, commentating for the Eurosport television channel, was asked live on air why he'd always refused to take part in Paris-Roubaix. "It's a circus," he replied, "and I don't want to be one of the clowns."

La Flèche Wallonne fell on this day in 1984, 1989, 1995 and 2000. 1984 was the 48th edition and it began at Charleroi and ended at Huy, as all editions have done 1998, covering 246km in between. The winner, Kim Andersen, was the first Dane to achieve victory in this event. 1989 was the 53rd edition, covering a 253km between Spa and Huy - the longest since 1947. It was won for a second time by Claude Criquielion, who had also won four years earlier. 1995 brought the 59th edition, which covered 205.5km between Spa and Huy - there has not been a longer parcours since. Laurent Jalabert won the first of his two victories, in the same year that he would win Paris-Nice and Milan-San Remo. The 64th edition, which took place in 2000, started in Charleroi and ended in Huy and covered 198km. The winner was the Italian Francesco Casagrande.

2000 also brought the third edition of La Flèche Wallonne Féminine, won that year by the Canadian rider Genevieve Jeanson. Jeanson's victory is probably undeserved - on the 25th of July 2005, she failed a test for EPO. Initially, she denied having ever doped and retired early in 2006 before being served a back-dated two-year suspension from the date of her failed test. In 2007, she admitted to a journalist that she had used the notorious blood-boosting drug "more or less continuously" since she was 16. As she was 19 when he won La Flèche, it seems likely that she did so with illegal chemical assistance.

Arsène Alancourt

English mountain biker Liam Killeen was born in Malvern on this day in 1982. His first major success was the Under-23 National Championship of 2002, which he repeated in 2004 before adding the Elite Championship in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. He won the Cross Country race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and continues to win races at home, in Europe and in North America. In 2004, Killeen was Under-23 National Cyclo Cross Champion.

Arsène Alancourt, born in Clichy on this day in 1904, was a French professional cyclist who rode in the Tour de France in 1922, 1923 and 1924. He won Stage 13 in 1924, with help from a dog that ran under the wheels of Ottavia Bottechia who led the General Classification throughout the entirety of the race and caused him to crash, and finished in 7th place overall. He'd done better the previous year when he was 5th.

Christophe Moreau
Christophe Moreau, who was born in Vervins on this day in 1971, was a rider who spent much of his career with a very great weight upon his shoulders - he was France's greatest hope for a Tour de France win, which they had not had since Bernard Hinault's final victory in 1985.

Christophe Moreau
(image credit: Eric Houdas CC BY-SA 3.0) 

Beginning his career as a time trial specialist with Festina, Moreau was 2nd at the 1995 Tour de l'Avenir and won the prologue the following year before beginning to add stage wins in races such as the Route du Sud and 1st place overall at the 1999 Tour Poitou-Charentes. He rode his first Tour de France in 1995 and didn't finish, then managed a couple of finishes just outside the top ten in 1996 but was 75th overall. In 1997, he was 6th in Stage 20 and 66th overall, then 5th in the 1998 prologue but again didn't finish. In 1999 he was 4th in the prologue and 10th in Stage 2, this time finishing in 27th place overall,

In 2000, he managed 4th place overall and fans began to wonder if he was the man who would bring them the glory they hadn't felt for fifteen years. He won the prologue a year later and was in the top ten for Stages 10 and 11 but abandoned soon afterwards, then abandoned again in 2002 after disappointing results. 2003 saw a return to form and he was 8th overall, then 12th in 2004 and 11th in 2005. In 2006, he finished the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2nd place and won the Mountains Classification - a sure sign that a rider has the potential to win the Tour, as was confirmed that same year with 7th place.

Unfortunately, he was now 35 - beyond the age at which most cycling careers begin to trail off. He rode again in 2007 and was 37th, then again in 2008 and once more abandoned, again in 2009 and was 29th (in fact, a respectable result all things considered) and for a final time in 2010. That last year, when he was 39 years old, he was 22nd overall and 2nd in the King of the Mountains; leaving no doubt that, a decade before, he could  have won a Tour had it not have been for one unfortunate factor: his date of birth. He'd simply had the misfortune to have been born at a time that meant his best years coincided with those of Lance Armstrong. If they had come five years earlier or five years later, when Armstrong wasn't around and the other riders were not driving themselves beyond the limits in order to keep up, the French would in all likelihood have had the winner they've wanted for so long.

Moreau tested positive for anabolic steroids at the Critérium International. However, team manager Bruno Roussel supported him, telling the team's lawyers that the rider had been tricked into taking the drugs by a member of the support staff (a not-unknown occurrence, support staff having sometimes been paid by rival teams to "nobble" riders over the years). The court found in favor, and Moreau was not suspended - which would almost certainly have been the end of that story had in not have been 1998, the year that Festina soigneur was caught as he tried to cross the French-Belgian border in a car filled with enough drugs to open a small pharmacy. Investigators discovered a massive, organised doping regime in the team and began looking again at the history of Festina riders during the Tour; which led Moreau, Armin Meier and Laurent Brouchard to confess they had used EPO and, in response, they were disqualified from continuing the race. He received a six-month suspension.

Other births: Mauricio Mata (Mexico, 1939); Eric Vermeulen (France, 1954); Peter Jonsson (Sweden, 1958); Pavel Soukup (Czechoslovakia, 1965); Henning L. Larsen (Denmark, 1955); András Mészáros (Hungary, 1941); Jim Rossi (USA, 1936, died 2005); Michael Lynch (Australia, 1963).