Daily Cycling Facts 30.04.2014

La Flèche Wallonne was held on this day in 1955, the nineteenth edition of the race. It covered 220km between Charleroi and Liège for the fifth consecutive year and was won for a second time by Stan Ockers, who had also won in 1953 - the following day, he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and as such became the second man to win the Ardennes Double, Ferdy Kübler having done so in 1951 and 1952.

David Stone, who has cerebral palsy, was born in Birmingham on this day in 1981. He has won a total of seven gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the World Paracycling Championships and two gold medals at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.

Bastianelli (right)
(image credit: Cycling Beauties)

2007 Road Race World Champion Marta Bastianelli was born in Velletri, Italy on this day in 1987. In 2008, she failed an anti-doping control that discovered traces of flenfluramine, a stimulant sometimes found in dieting aids before it was connected to heart problems, and she was banned for a year. She appealed the ban and hoped to get it was overturned, but the Court for Arbitration in Sport found in favour of the UCI's counter-appeal and increased her ban to two years after discovering that she had taken pills containing the drug without good medical reason and against the advice of her team's doctor. She has now returned to competition and races with MCipollini-Giambenini. Bastianelli finished in seventh place for Stage 2 at the 2012 Tour of Qatar, the second at the Euregio Tour, third at the National Road Race Championship and in 2013 was sixth overall at the Tour of Chongming Island before winning Stage 2 at the Tour Languedoc-Roussillon.

Léon Flameng in the white jersey. In black:
Paul Masson,who narrowly beat Flameng in
the 10km at the 1896 Olympics

Léon Flameng was born in France on this day in 1877 and competed in the 333m, 2km, 10km and 100km cycle races at the Olympics in 1896, the first modern Games - and he won the 100km.

Jamie Staff, who was born in Ashford, Great Britain on this day in 1973, started to race BMX when he was nine and then became World Champion in 1996. In 2001, he decided that his next ambition was to win an Olympic gold medal and, as BMX was not then an Olympic sport, chose to chase his dream in track cycling - which he turned out to also be rather good at, winning three UCI World Championships before getting his Olympic gold in 2008. Since retiring in 2010, he has lived in the USA where he managers the national sprint team and plans to set up a British Cycling Academy based in Kent, near his hometown.

Other cyclists born on this day: Michael Mørkøv (Denmark, 1985); Hennie Binneman (South Africa, 1914, died 1968); Iván Alemany (Spain, 1967); José Rodríguez (Spain, 1966); Sebti Benzine (Algeria, 1964); Robert de Wilde (Netherlands, 1977); Sebti Benzine (Algeria, 1964); Kevin Bradshaw (Australia, 1957).

Daily Cycling Facts 14.05.2013

Giovanni Gerbi

The eighth edition of La Flèche Wallonne took place on this day in 1944. The parcours was identical to the previous year, covering 208km between Mons and Charleroi. Marcel Kint won, the second of his three consecutive victories.

The Giro d'Italia has started on this day twice, in 1932 and 1955. 1932 consisted of thirteen stages and covered 3,235km, completed in Antonio Pesenti in a winning time of 105h42'41". It was the last time that Costante Girardengo, two months past his 39th birthday as the race began, took part; he abandoned during Stage 5. Older still was Giovanni Gerbi who, aged 47, became National Veteran Champion that same year. Incredibly, Gerbi rode in the third in the Giro of 1911 and come third. He was also the winner of the 1905 Giro di Lombardia. Sadly, he also would not finish this race.

In 1955, the 21 stages covered 3,861.km and saw an epic battle between Fiorenzo Magni, Gastone Nencini and Fausto Coppi. Coppi's Stage 20 victory would be his last in the Giro, while Magni won overall - then aged 35, he is the oldest rider to have won the race.

Nicki Sørensen
Nicki Sørensen, born in Hillerød on this day in 1975, is a Danish professional cyclist who currently rides for SaxoBank - with whom he has remained, through their various incarnations, since 2001 when he turned down the Linda McCartney team. Prior to that he had ridden with Chicky World and then Fakta, having begun cycling at the age of 19 after a successful amateur career as a runner.

Nicki Sørensen
(image credit: YellowMonkey/Blnguyan CC BY-SA 3.0) 

A all-rounder who performs well on hilly stages, Sørensen has always been capable of gaining good results, such as 4th place in Stage 16 when he rode his first Tour de France in his first year with SaxoBank. Yet, despite having almost certainly had the potential to lead a team when he was younger, he was happy to spend his career as a superdomestique and has been highly valued by a series of General Classification contenders in that role, notably Tyler Hamilton in the 2003 Tour: Sørensen, in a break that looked as though it had a real shot at making it all the way to the finish, was riding well and stood a good chance of winning Stage 16. Instead, he threw away his own prospects for glory and assisted his leader, seeing to it that Hamilton won the stage.

Nevertheless, his palmares is impressive. In addition to a Tour stage win and Combativity award (Stage 12, 2009), several stages in other events and a smattering of victories at one-day races, he was National Road Race Champion in 2003, 2008, 2010 and 2011. Few riders have deserved their titles so much.

SaxoBank team mate Matteo Tosatto, born in Castelfranco Veneto in 1974, shares Sørensen's birthday. Tosatto won a stage at Paris-Nice in 2000, Stage 12 at the Giro d'Italia in 2001 and Stage 18 at the Tour in 2006; as well as a number of successes at smaller events.

Angharad Mason 
Angharad Mason, born in Bridgend, Wales on this day in 1979, is a cyclist who represented her nation at the 2008 Commonwealth Games in India, then won the silver medal at the Welsh Championships a year later and the bronze in 2011; in both cases being beaten by Hannah Rich in first place.

Mason came relatively late to cycling after spending time competing in other sports - she is a karate black belt and at one time ran as many as nine marathons a year. Following the tradition of female cyclists tending to be far better-qualified than the men, she is a qualified physiotherapist and holds an honours degree from the University of Salford.


Born in Eckmannshausen, Germany, on this day in 1949, Klaus-Peter Thaler was race leader for two stages at the 1978 Tour de France after Ti-Raleigh won the team time trial and came 35th overall, his best result from the five times he rode. He was, meanwhile, massively successful in cyclo cross, winning the National title every year between 1976 and 1979, then 1982 and 1986-1988 as well as the World Championships of 1985 and 1987. Today, he organises the Tour of Hope which raises money for childhood cancer charities.

Lars-Petter Nordhaug had already been Nordic Cross CountryMountain Biking Champion at Elite level when he won the Norwegian Under-23 Road Race Championship in 2005 - but the two titles in two disciplines were not enough for Tønsberg-born cyclist, who was born on this day in 1984: so the next year he won the Elite Road Race too. Then, having surrendered the title for four years, he became XC MTB Champion for a second time in 2009 and won two stages, the Points competition and the overall General Classification at the Festningsrittet, one of Scandinavia's most prestigious races. In 2009, having come second overall at the Tour of Ireland, he joined Team Sky and remains with them to this day.

Daily Cycling Facts 30.04.2013

La Flèche Wallonne was held on this day in 1955, the nineteenth edition of the race. It covered 220km between Charleroi and Liège for the fifth consecutive year and was won for a second time by Stan Ockers, who had also won in 1953 - the following day, he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and as such became the second man to win the Ardennes Double, Ferdy Kübler having done so in 1951 and 1952.

David Stone, who has cerebral palsy, was born in Birmingham on this day in 1981. He has won a total of seven gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the World Paracycling Championships and two gold medals at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.

Bastianelli (right)
(image credit: Cycling Beauties)

2007 Road Race World Champion Marta Bastianelli was born in Velletri, Italy on this day in 1987. In 2008, she failed an anti-doping control that discovered traces of flenfluramine, a stimulant sometimes found in dieting aids before it was connected to heart problems and was banned for a year. She appealed the ban and hoped to get it was overturned, but the Court for Arbitration in Sport found in favour of the UCI's counter-appeal and increased her ban to two years after discovering that she had taken pills containing the drug without good medical reason and against the advice of her team's doctor. She has now returned to competition and races with MCipollini-Giambenini. Bastianelli finished in seventh place for Stage 2 at the 2012 Tour of Qatar.

Léon Flameng in the white jersey. In black:
Paul Masson,who narrowly beat Flameng in
the 10km at the 1896 Olympics

Léon Flameng was born in France on this day in 1877 and competed in the 333m, 2km, 10km and 100km cycle races at the Olympics in 1896, the first modern Games - and he won the 100km.

Jamie Staff, who was born in Ashford, Great Britain on this day in 1973, started to race BMX when he was nine and then became World Champion in 1996. In 2001, he decided that his next ambition was to win an Olympic gold medal and, as BMX was not then an Olympic sport, chose to chase his dream in track cycling - which he turned out to also be rather good at, winning three UCI World Championships before getting his Olympic gold in 2008. Since retiring in 2010, he has lived in the USA where he managers the national sprint team and plans to set up a British Cycling Academy based in Kent, near his hometown.

Other cyclists born on this day: Michael Mørkøv (Denmark, 1985); Hennie Binneman (South Africa, 1914, died 1968); Iván Alemany (Spain, 1967); José Rodríguez (Spain, 1966); Sebti Benzine (Algeria, 1964); Robert de Wilde (Netherlands, 1977); Sebti Benzine (Algeria, 1964); Kevin Bradshaw (Australia, 1957).

Daily Cycling Facts 14.05.12

Giovanni Gerbi

The eighth edition of La Flèche Wallonne took place on this day in 1944. The parcours was identical to the previous year, covering 208km between Mons and Charleroi. Marcel Kint won, the second of his three consecutive victories.

The Giro d'Italia has started on this day twice, in 1932 and 1955. 1932 consisted of thirteen stages and covered 3,235km, completed in Antonio Pesenti in a winning time of 105h42'41". It was the last time that Costante Girardengo, two months past his 39th birthday as the race began, took part; he abandoned during Stage 5. Older still was Giovanni Gerbi who, aged 47, became National Veteran Champion that same year. Incredibly, Gerbi rode in the third in the Giro of 1911 and come third. He was also the winner of the 1905 Giro di Lombardia. Sadly, he also would not finish this race.

In 1955, the 21 stages covered 3,861.km and saw an epic battle between Fiorenzo Magni, Gastone Nencini and Fausto Coppi. Coppi's Stage 20 victory would be his last in the Giro, while Magni won overall - then aged 35, he is the oldest rider to have won the race.

Nicki Sørensen
Nicki Sørensen, born in Hillerød on this day in 1975, is a Danish professional cyclist who currently rides for SaxoBank - with whom he has remained, through their various incarnations, since 2001 when he turned down the Linda McCartney team. Prior to that he had ridden with Chicky World and then Fakta, having begun cycling at the age of 19 after a successful amateur career as a runner.

Nicki Sørensen
(image credit: YellowMonkey/Blnguyan CC BY-SA 3.0) 

A all-rounder who performs well on hilly stages, Sørensen has always been capable of gaining good results, such as 4th place in Stage 16 when he rode his first Tour de France in his first year with SaxoBank. Yet, despite having almost certainly had the potential to lead a team when he was younger, he was happy to spend his career as a superdomestique and has been highly valued by a series of General Classification contenders in that role, notably Tyler Hamilton in the 2003 Tour: Sørensen, in a break that looked as though it had a real shot at making it all the way to the finish, was riding well and stood a good chance of winning Stage 16. Instead, he threw away his own prospects for glory and assisted his leader, seeing to it that Hamilton won the stage.

Nevertheless, his palmares is impressive. In addition to a Tour stage win and Combativity award (Stage 12, 2009), several stages in other events and a smattering of victories at one-day races, he was National Road Race Champion in 2003, 2008, 2010 and 2011. Few riders have deserved their titles so much.

SaxoBank team mate Matteo Tosatto, born in Castelfranco Veneto in 1974, shares Sørensen's birthday. Tosatto won a stage at Paris-Nice in 2000, Stage 12 at the Giro d'Italia in 2001 and Stage 18 at the Tour in 2006; as well as a number of successes at smaller events.

Angharad Mason 
Angharad Mason, born in Bridgend, Wales on this day in 1979, is a cyclist who represented her nation at the 2008 Commonwealth Games in India, then won the silver medal at the Welsh Championships a year later and the bronze in 2011; in both cases being beaten by Hannah Rich in first place.

Mason came relatively late to cycling after spending time competing in other sports - she is a karate black belt and at one time ran as many as nine marathons a year. Following the tradition of female cyclists tending to be far better-qualified than the men, she is a qualified physiotherapist and holds an honours degree from the University of Salford.


Born in Eckmannshausen, Germany, on this day in 1949, Klaus-Peter Thaler was race leader for two stages at the 1978 Tour de France after Ti-Raleigh won the team time trial and came 35th overall, his best result from the five times he rode. He was, meanwhile, massively successful in cyclo cross, winning the National title every year between 1976 and 1979, then 1982 and 1986-1988 as well as the World Championships of 1985 and 1987. Today, he organises the Tour of Hope which raises money for childhood cancer charities.

Lars-Petter Nordhaug had already been Nordic Cross CountryMountain Biking Champion at Elite level when he won the Norwegian Under-23 Road Race Championship in 2005 - but the two titles in two disciplines were not enough for Tønsberg-born cyclist, who was born on this day in 1984: so the next year he won the Elite Road Race too. Then, having surrendered the title for four years, he became XC MTB Champion for a second time in 2009 and won two stages, the Points competition and the overall General Classification at the Festningsrittet, one of Scandinavia's most prestigious races. In 2009, having come second overall at the Tour of Ireland, he joined Team Sky and remains with them to this day.

Daily Cycling Facts 30.04.12

La Flèche Wallonne was held on this day in 1955, the nineteenth edition of the race. It covered 220km between Charleroi and Liège for the fifth consecutive year and was won for a second time by Stan Ockers, who had also won in 1953 - the following day, he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and as such became the second man to win the Ardennes Double, Ferdy Kübler having done so in 1951 and 1952.

David Stone, who has cerebral palsy, was born in Birmingham on this day in 1981. He has won a total of seven gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the World Paracycling Championships and two gold medals at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.

Bastianelli (right)
(image credit: Cycling Beauties)

2007 Road Race World Champion Marta Bastianelli was born in Velletri, Italy on this day in 1987. In 2008, she failed an anti-doping control that discovered traces of flenfluramine, a stimulant sometimes found in dieting aids before it was connected to heart problems and was banned for a year. She appealed the ban and hoped to get it was overturned, but the Court for Arbitration in Sport found in favour of the UCI's counter-appeal and increased her ban to two years after discovering that she had taken pills containing the drug without good medical reason and against the advice of her team's doctor. She has now returned to competition and races with MCipollini-Giambenini. Bastianelli finished in seventh place for Stage 2 at the 2012 Tour of Qatar.

Léon Flameng in the white jersey. In black:
Paul Masson,who narrowly beat Flameng in
the 10km at the 1896 Olympics

Léon Flameng was born in France on this day in 1877 and competed in the 333m, 2km, 10km and 100km cycle races at the Olympics in 1896, the first modern Games - and he won the 100km.

Jamie Staff, who was born in Ashford, Great Britain on this day in 1973, started to race BMX when he was nine and then became World Champion in 1996. In 2001, he decided that his next ambition was to win an Olympic gold medal and, as BMX was not then an Olympic sport, chose to chase his dream in track cycling - which he turned out to also be rather good at, winning three UCI World Championships before getting his Olympic gold in 2008. Since retiring in 2010, he has lived in the USA where he managers the national sprint team and plans to set up a British Cycling Academy based in Kent, near his hometown.

Other births: Michael Mørkøv (Denmark, 1985); Hennie Binneman (South Africa, 1914, died 1968); Iván Alemany (Spain, 1967); José Rodríguez (Spain, 1966); Sebti Benzine (Algeria, 1964); Robert de Wilde (Netherlands, 1977); Sebti Benzine (Algeria, 1964); Kevin Bradshaw (Australia, 1957).

La Flèche Wallonne 2012

History - Charleroi and Huy - the parcours - men's starters and favourites - Flèche Wallonne Féminine - women's starters and favourites - weather - coverage

The parcours - click to enlarge
(for a full-size zoomable .pdf, click here)

Like so many cycling races to have begun in the first half of the last century, La Flèche Wallonne was originally organised in an attempt to drive newspaper sales - in this case, the newspaper was Les Sports, and the first race ran between Tournai and Liège. The parcours has been altered greatly over the years, sometimes running in the opposite direction; but for many years it's covered around 200km stretching between Charleroi and Huy where the riders complete three circuits of an extremely challenging circuit featuring the legendary, infamous Muur - also known as le Chemin des Chapelles for the seven chapels that are passed on the way up, the inspiration for many a headline based around riders saying a prayer as they see their chances of victory slipping away on the gradient which is as reaching a maximum of 19% - but take the wrong line around one corner and a short ramp hits 26%.

This year, the route covers 194km, starting once again at Charleroi which lies in the Hainaut province some 45km south of Brussels. The region has been occupied by humans since long before recorded history, traces of primitive metal working providing evidence that the industry which would bring wealth to the city has a long tradition here. However, the city itself dates back only as far as 1666, a time when the Netherlands was ruled by the Spanish Crown - land here was expropriated by Francisco Castel Rodrigo, Governor of the Netherlands, for the construction of a fortress he named in honour of his king Charles-Roy; hence the city's name today. In the 165 years afterwards, it would pass repeatedly from Spanish, French, Dutch and Austrian ownership until Belgium became an independent nation in 1830. That, conveniently, coincided with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution; the natural resources that had brought people here thousands of years before ensuring that the city became rich and contributed greatly to the wealth of the nation.

The fortress at Huy

Huy's history begins in Roman times when a fortress was built on the River Meuse, but it seems to have remained a village until the Middle Ages when the metallurgy industry took off, rapidly transforming it into the richest town along the Meuse and in 1066 it received city status - the first town north of the Alps in mainland Europe to do so. The rise of the cloth industry ensured even greater prosperity during the 16th and 17th Centuries, as did paper production during the period of Dutch ownership. As such, the castle in the centre of the city remained strategically important and has been improved and extended many times over the years including extensive remodelling between 1818 and 1823.

Profile - click to enlarge

The Climbs
1. Muur de Huy, Huy, 70.5km, max. 19%
2. Côte de Peu d'Eau, Andenne, 110km, max. 15%
3. Côte de Haut-Bois, Haltinne, 115.5km, max. 17.5%
4. Côte de Groynne, Andenne, 141km, max. 20%
5. Côte de Bohisseau, Andenne, 147km, max. 18.5%
6. Côte de Bousalle, Andenne, 150km, max. 13.1%
7. Muur, 163km
8. Côte d'Amay, 179.5km, max. 20%
9. Côte de Villers-le-Bouillet, 185.5km, max. 17.5%
10. Muur, 194km

Favourites
Start list
Philippe Gilbert (BMC), last year's winner, has had a rough start to the season but seems to be finding the form he had in 2011; making him most people's top choice in the absence of Cadel Evans. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) will be many people's second choice after taking second place in 2010 and 2011 - there are those who will point to his 24th place at the Amstel Gold Race, but everyone is entitled to an off-day and he rode extremely well in the Tour of the Basque Country. The Schlecks (RadioShack-Nissan) don't seem to quite know what to do with themselves this year and have put on some dismal performances, but both are formidable climbers and, should they remember how to ride their bikes, could well be contenders. You Never Know choices: Thomas Lövkvist (Sky), Oscar Freire (Katusha).

La Flèche Wallonne Féminine

The parcours - click to enlarge
(for a full-size zoomable .pdf, click here)

Once of the first Classics to realise that running a women's race alongside the men's event would cost little extra, draw in more fans, double the excitement and generally bring huge benefits all round, the organisers of La Fleche Wallonne first introduced a women's race in 1998 when it it was won by Fabiana Luperini. To date, the men's race has never been won by a British rider but British women have been highly successful with  four victories (thus taking joint first place alongside the Netherlands, whose four were all won by Marianne Vos).

The parcours is shorter at 123km and both begins and ends at Huy. The final circuit omits the initial ascent of the Muur but is otherwise identical.

Favourites
Start list
As far as a lot of people are concerned, this race is all about Marianne Vos (Rabobank, winner in 2007, 2008, 2008 and 2011) and Emma Pooley (AA Drink-Leontien.nl, winner in 2010), one of the few riders capable of surpassing Vos on a climb and backed by one of the strongest teams ever seen in women's cycling. Other likely names are Vos' team mate Annemiek van Vleuten, Loes Gunnwijk (GreenEDGE), Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-Mistral Home, second place in 2009 and 2011) and, of course, Nicole Cooke (Faren-Honda) - Cooke has shown signs of a return to form after a few bad years recently and as winner in 2003, 2005 and 2006 she cannot be ruled out. You Never Know choices: Lise Nöstvold (Hitec Products-Mistral Home), Judith Arndt (GreenEDGE), the entire Specialized-Lululemon team.

Weather
Things aren't looking too awful for Charleroi, but they're not great either with a 40% chance of light rain. A southerly wind of max. 26km won't make temperatures feel any colder than 11C. Huy looks set to be much the same. Strong winds in the region on Tuesday may have blown twigs and thorns into the roads, increasing the risk of punctures.

Coverage
British Eurosport have two hours of live coverage from 13:30BST and highlights on Eurosport 2 at 19:30BST, repeated at 22.20BST on Eurosport.
Live streams online from various sources (including here) starting at 13:15BST (14:15 local time/CEST).
The women's race, unfortunately and as usual, is unlikely to be televised but videos should be available soon after the race.