Daily Cycling Facts 16.05.2014

The 25th edition of La Flèche Wallonne took place on this day in 1961, running from Liège to Charleroi for a second consecutive year. However, the parcours had been altered and as such was 15km shorter at 193km - the shortest in the 76-year history of the event. The winner was Willy Vannitsen who won more than 110 races during his 13 professional years, including Stage 1 at the 1958 Giro d'Italia and Stages 10 and 15 at the 1962 Tour de France, yet is virtually forgotten outside his native Belgium.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the oldest and - according to some - greatest Classic of them all took place on this day in 1909. Eugène Charlier was the first over the line, but when officials discovered he hadn't finished the race on the same bike he started with his victory was disallowed - rather than being disqualified, as some sources claim, his time was recorded as being the same as that of Victor Fastre (and the next seven men, this being the first time that the race had ended with a bunch sprint) and he was relegated to second place. In third place was Paul Deman, winner four years later of the Ronde van Vlaanderen and then Paris-Roubaix in 1920 and Paris-Tours in 1923.

Alfredo Binda

The Giro d'Italia began on this day seven times - 1925, 1936, 1959, 1969, 1974, 1985 and 1998. The 1925 edition started and ended in Milan, with twelve stages covering a total of 3,520km. It is remembered - by those few people fortunate to have seen it and still be with us - as one of the most exciting ever due to an epic battle between Costante Girardengo, who fought long and hard through the mountains and won five stages, and Alfredo Binda who matched every attack he made to take the race lead from him and keep it for the final eight stages to win by 4'58".

1936 covered 3,745km in 19 stages, though Stages 15 and 17 were split - 15a was a short road stage, 15b an individual time trial, 17a and 17b were short road stages. Gino Bartali, who had won the Mountains classification the previous year, returned and performed even better to win the Mountains and his first General Classification, leading the race through the final twelve stages and winning two of them. Olimpio Bizzi won Stage 6 at the age of 18 years and 299 days, making him the youngest Giro stage winner ever.

Charly Gaul

1959 was made up if 22 stages and 3,657km - another epic year in which Luxembourg's Charly Gaul once again proved himself unbeatable in the mountains (or, as many will point out, proved himself capable of consuming larger quantities of la bomba), driving hard over the snowy peaks and continuing to push himself when others had exhausted themselves. Gaul was almost as good in a time trial as he was in the climbs, but he wasn't quite as good as Jacques Anquetil who took a 1'30" lead after Stage 2, then proceeded to slowly grind down his opponent's advantage until the race leadership passed to him in Stage 15. Going into Stage 20, the Frenchman still had the lead and many believed the race was as good as his. Then, in Stage 21, Gaul crushed him. Pushing so hard over three challenging mountain that nobody could get near him, he won by 9'48" and took back the leadership. Rolf Graf won the final stage, but Ancquetil may as well have not bothered - bettering what Gaul had done was far beyond even his capabilities.

1969 covered 3,851.3km in 22 stages and would be one of the most controversial editions ever due to a sample provided during Stage 16 by Eddy Merckx, found to be positive for N-ethyl-3-phenyl-norbornan-2-amine, a stimulant prescribed under the name Reactivan and still used, though rarely, in medicine today. For reasons that remain unknown, news of the sample and the rider's expulsion from the race was supplied to the press before he and his team management were notified and when he revealed that he had been offered money to throw the race by an un-named Italian rider the day before, suspicions that something nefarious was going on began to pick up speed. Prince Albert of Belgium sent his own aeroplane to bring him home and the government got involved, demanding an investigation from the Italian Foreign Minister. The Italian Federation continued to insist it had acted correctly and, while Merckx was subsequently given the go ahead to ride in that year's Tour de France, which he won, the official reason for his Giro expulsion has never been retracted. Many believe that the Belgian rider would have won but, with him out of the way, Felice Gimondi dominated the remainder of the race and took the overall General Classification. 43 years later, Merckx still says that the stage was such an easy one that he had no reason to resort to cheating, as does appear to be the case when we take his abilities into account, and to this day he insists he is innocent. So does the official who was in charge of the positive sample.

From left to right: Hinault, Maertens, Merckx and de Vlaeminck
(unknown copyright)

In 1974, Merckx won for the fifth time after 22 stages and 4,001km. While he led from Stage 14 to the end, it was noticeable at several points during the race, especially when Jose-Manuel Fuente and Gianbattista Baronchelli got into a duel in Stage 20 and raised the pace so high that Merckx nearly exhausted himself in his attempts to keep the leadership (in fact, Baronchelli was "leader on the road" for a while during the stage), that his reign was beginning to crumble. He would win the Tour as well that year, becoming for the fourth time one of the few riders to have won two Grand Tours in a season.

1985 came during the reign of the man commonly considered the second greatest cyclist after Merckx, Bernard Hinault who won for a third time. Taking third place after the 22 stages and 3,998km was Greg Lemond, who would slay the Badger the following year when he became the first American to win the Tour de France. When Hinault won the Tour later in the year, he won two Grand Tours in a season for the third time. Strangely, when the Giro next started on this date in 1998, winner Marco Pantani took the first step in adding his name to the list too because he also won the Tour that year. 1998 covered 3,868km in 22 stages.

Simon Gerrans
Simon Gerrans, born in Melbourne on this day in 1980, took up cycling after injuring his knee during childhood; the sport having been recommended to him by his neighbour, who was a reasonably successful rider himself - Phil Anderson, the first non-European to wear the maillot jaune at the Tour de France. It soon turned out that he wasn't bad at it either and he was awarded a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport, where he began to develop into a world-class road racer.

Simon Gerrans
(image credit: GreenEDGE)

Gerrans' first major success was the Under-23 title at the National Championships of 2002, where he also took 5th in the Elite race. The big European teams were not slow in taking note and in 2003 he was invited to join Carvalhelhos-Boavista as a trainee after spending a short while with the Norwegian team Ringerike, then a year later AG2R Prévoyance with whom he turned professional in 2005 and entered the Tour de France for the first time, surprising many by coming third in Stage 17 and leaving no doubt that he was a new talent - one that could very easily have been ended in February the next year with a crash at the GP d'Ouverture la Marseillaise which left him with pins in his collarbone and shoulder as well as several stitches to repair flesh wounds to his head. He recovered quickly and rode his second Tour that year, improving his General Classification result from 126th to 79th, then dropped to 94th in 2007.

In 2008, having moved on to Crédit Agricole, he won Stage 15 after sprinting to the finish without challenge from the other surviving two riders of a four-man break that had escaped early in the stage and managed to stay out in front. The next year he joined the legendary Cervelo Test Team, but managers mystified fans by failing to pick him for the Tour squad. However, he did go to the Giro d'Italia, where he won Stage 14 (Cervelo's first Grand Tour stage win), and the Vuelta a Espana where he won Stage 10; thus becoming the first Australian rider to have won a stage at all three Grand Tours. 2010 saw him depart for the new British team Sky, with whom he went back to the Tour. Another crash ended his chances in Stage 8 and left him with a broken arm. He stayed with Sky through 2011 and began to show promise as a Classics rider, taking third at the Amstel Gold, second at the Waalse Pijl and 12th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, then third for Stage 2 at the Tour.

In 2011, it was announced that a new team, GreenEDGE, was being put together and stood a very good chance of being the first Australian team to receive a ProTour licence from the UCI. Gerrans was invited join and did so - which, in 2012, looked to have been a very wise decision. With them, he became National Champion for the first time, won a second Tour Down Under and then added the highlight of his career so far - victory at the legendary Milan-San Remo Monument when he beat Fabian Cancellara. The following year, Gerrans won stages at the Tour Down Under, Volta a Catalunya and Tour of the Basque Country before going to the Tour de France, where he achieved another career highlight by winning Stage 3 and then the Stage 4 team time trial. In 2014, he became National Road Race Champion and won Stage 1 and the overall General Classification and Points competition at the Tour Down Under, then enjoyed more Classic s success with a victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Matthias Kessler

The German rider Matthias Kessler, born in Nuremburg on this day in 1979, was little known outside his own nation until 2000 when he turned professional with Deutsche Telekom. In 2001 he finished in the top 5 for two stages at the Giro d'Italia but remained little known - until he was widely proclaimed an outside favourite for the Classics in 2003 on the strength of 6th place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2002 and soon caught the public's attention for his habit of unzipping his jersey and deliberately ripping his undershirt to keep cool. He finished the Amstel Gold Race in 5th place in 2003, then La Flèche Wallonne in 3rd a year later.

Unfortunately, what could have been a great career was marred by bad luck and doping. In the 2004 Tour de France he was left in agony after a bad crash and, while he finished the stage, didn't start the next day. In 2007, he provided a sample that was shown to contain unusually high levels of testosterone; leading to his dismissal from Astana a short while later. Things began to fall apart from that point on and he experienced difficulty in finding a new contract once his two-year ban came to an end. In 2010, while on a training ride in Algaida, Mallorca, he accidentally collided with a cat. The resulting crash left him with serious head injuries., ending his career.

Other cyclists born on this day: Roger de Beukelaer (Belgium, 1951); Roberts Plūme (Latvia, 1897, died 1956); Im Sang-Jo (South Korea, 1930); Pål Henning Hansen (Norway, 1953); Juan Reyes (Cuba, 1944); Wilhelm Rabe (Germany, 1876); Antonio Hernández (Mexico, 1951); Lennie Kristensen (Denmark, 1968); Gustavo Guglielmone (Argentina, 1971).

Daily Cycling Facts 16.05.2013

The 25th edition of La Flèche Wallonne took place on this day in 1961, running from Liège to Charleroi for a second consecutive year. However, the parcours had been altered and as such was 15km shorter at 193km - the shortest in the 76-year history of the event. The winner was Willy Vannitsen who won more than 110 races during his 13 professional years, including Stage 1 at the 1958 Giro d'Italia and Stages 10 and 15 at the 1962 Tour de France, yet is virtually forgotten outside his native Belgium.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the oldest and - according to some - greatest Classic of them all took place on this day in 1909. Eugène Charlier was the first over the line, but when officials discovered he hadn't finished the race on the same bike he started with his victory was disallowed - rather than being disqualified, as some sources claim, his time was recorded as being the same as that of Victor Fastre (and the next seven men, this being the first time that the race had ended with a bunch sprint) and he was relegated to second place. In third place was Paul Deman, winner four years later of the Ronde van Vlaanderen and then Paris-Roubaix in 1920 and Paris-Tours in 1923.

Alfredo Binda

The Giro d'Italia began on this day seven times - 1925, 1936, 1959, 1969, 1974, 1985 and 1998. The 1925 edition started and ended in Milan, with twelve stages covering a total of 3,520km. It is remembered - by those few people fortunate to have seen it and still be with us - as one of the most exciting ever due to an epic battle between Costante Girardengo, who fought long and hard through the mountains and won five stages, and Alfredo Binda who matched every attack he made to take the race lead from him and keep it for the final eight stages to win by 4'58".

1936 covered 3,745km in 19 stages, though Stages 15 and 17 were split - 15a was a short road stage, 15b an individual time trial, 17a and 17b were short road stages. Gino Bartali, who had won the Mountains classification the previous year, returned and performed even better to win the Mountains and his first General Classification, leading the race through the final twelve stages and winning two of them. Olimpio Bizzi won Stage 6 at the age of 18 years and 299 days, making him the youngest Giro stage winner ever.

Charly Gaul

1959 was made up if 22 stages and 3,657km - another epic year in which Luxembourg's Charly Gaul once again proved himself unbeatable in the mountains (or, as many will point out, proved himself capable of consuming larger quantities of la bomba), driving hard over the snowy peaks and continuing to push himself when others had exhausted themselves. Gaul was almost as good in a time trial as he was in the climbs, but he wasn't quite as good as Jacques Anquetil who took a 1'30" lead after Stage 2, then proceeded to slowly grind down his opponent's advantage until the race leadership passed to him in Stage 15. Going into Stage 20, the Frenchman still had the lead and many believed the race was as good as his. Then, in Stage 21, Gaul crushed him. Pushing so hard over three challenging mountain that nobody could get near him, he won by 9'48" and took back the leadership. Rolf Graf won the final stage, but Ancquetil may as well have not bothered - bettering what Gaul had done was far beyond even his capabilities.

1969 covered 3,851.3km in 22 stages and would be one of the most controversial editions ever due to a sample provided during Stage 16 by Eddy Merckx, found to be positive for N-ethyl-3-phenyl-norbornan-2-amine, a stimulant prescribed under the name Reactivan and still used, though rarely, in medicine today. For reasons that remain unknown, news of the sample and the rider's expulsion from the race was supplied to the press before he and his team management were notified and when he revealed that he had been offered money to throw the race by an un-named Italian rider the day before, suspicions that something nefarious was going on began to pick up speed. Prince Albert of Belgium sent his own aeroplane to bring him home and the government got involved, demanding an investigation from the Italian Foreign Minister. The Italian Federation continued to insist it had acted correctly and, while Merckx was subsequently given the go ahead to ride in that year's Tour de France, which he won, the official reason for his Giro expulsion has never been retracted. Many believe that the Belgian rider would have won but, with him out of the way, Felice Gimondi dominated the remainder of the race and took the overall General Classification. 43 years later, Merckx still says that the stage was such an easy one that he had no reason to resort to cheating, as does appear to be the case when we take his abilities into account, and to this day he insists he is innocent. So does the official who was in charge of the positive sample.

From left to right: Hinault, Maertens, Merckx and de Vlaeminck
(unknown copyright)

In 1974, Merckx won for the fifth time after 22 stages and 4,001km. While he led from Stage 14 to the end, it was noticeable at several points during the race, especially when Jose-Manuel Fuente and Gianbattista Baronchelli got into a duel in Stage 20 and raised the pace so high that Merckx nearly exhausted himself in his attempts to keep the leadership (in fact, Baronchelli was "leader on the road" for a while during the stage), that his reign was beginning to crumble. He would win the Tour as well that year, becoming for the fourth time one of the few riders to have won two Grand Tours in a season.

1985 came during the reign of the man commonly considered the second greatest cyclist after Merckx, Bernard Hinault who won for a third time. Taking third place after the 22 stages and 3,998km was Greg Lemond, who would slay the Badger the following year when he became the first American to win the Tour de France. When Hinault won the Tour later in the year, he won two Grand Tours in a season for the third time. Strangely, when the Giro next started on this date in 1998, winner Marco Pantani took the first step in adding his name to the list too because he also won the Tour that year. 1998 covered 3,868km in 22 stages.

Simon Gerrans
Simon Gerrans, born in Melbourne on this day in 1980, took up cycling after injuring his knee during childhood; the sport having been recommended to him by his neighbour, who was a reasonably successful rider himself - Phil Anderson, the first non-European to wear the maillot jaune at the Tour de France. It soon turned out that he wasn't bad at it either and he was awarded a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport, where he began to develop into a world-class road racer.

Simon Gerrans
(image credit: GreenEDGE)

Gerrans' first major success was the Under-23 title at the National Championships of 2002, where he also took 5th in the Elite race. The big European teams were not slow in taking note and in 2003 he was invited to join Carvalhelhos-Boavista as a trainee after spending a short while with the Norwegian team Ringerike, then a year later AG2R Prévoyance with whom he turned professional in 2005 and entered the Tour de France for the first time, surprising many by coming third in Stage 17 and leaving no doubt that he was a new talent - one that could very easily have been ended in February the next year with a crash at the GP d'Ouverture la Marseillaise which left him with pins in his collarbone and shoulder as well as several stitches to repair flesh wounds to his head. He recovered quickly and rode his second Tour that year, improving his General Classification result from 126th to 79th, then dropped to 94th in 2007.

In 2008, having moved on to Crédit Agricole, he won Stage 15 after sprinting to the finish without challenge from the other surviving two riders of a four-man break that had escaped early in the stage and managed to stay out in front. The next year he joined the legendary Cervelo Test Team, but managers mystified fans by failing to pick him for the Tour squad. However, he did go to the Giro d'Italia, where he won Stage 14 (Cervelo's first Grand Tour stage win), and the Vuelta a Espana where he won Stage 10; thus becoming the first Australian rider to have won a stage at all three Grand Tours. 2010 saw him depart for the new British team Sky, with whom he went back to the Tour. Another crash ended his chances in Stage 8 and left him with a broken arm. He stayed with Sky through 2011 and began to show promise as a Classics rider, taking third at the Amstel Gold, second at the Waalse Pijl and 12th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, then third for Stage 2 at the Tour.

In 2011, it was announced that a new team, GreenEDGE, was being put together and stood a very good chance of being the first Australian team to receive a ProTour licence from the UCI. Gerrans was invited join and did so - which, in 2012, looked to have been a very wise decision. With them, he became National Champion for the first time, won a second Tour Down Under and then added the highlight of his career so far - victory at the legendary Milan-San Remo Monument when he beat Fabian Cancellara.

Matthias Kessler

The German rider Matthias Kessler, born in Nuremburg on this day in 1979, was little known outside his own nation until 2000 when he turned professional with Deutsche Telekom. In 2001 he finished in the top 5 for two stages at the Giro d'Italia but remained little known - until he was widely proclaimed an outside favourite for the Classics in 2003 on the strength of 6th place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2002 and soon caught the public's attention for his habit of unzipping his jersey and deliberately ripping his undershirt to keep cool. He finished the Amstel Gold Race in 5th place in 2003, then La Flèche Wallonne in 3rd a year later.

Unfortunately, what could have been a great career was marred by bad luck and doping. In the 2004 Tour de France he was left in agony after a bad crash and, while he finished the stage, didn't start the next day. In 2007, he provided a sample that was shown to contain unusually high levels of testosterone; leading to his dismissal from Astana a short while later. Things began to fall apart from that point on and he experienced difficulty in finding a new contract once his two-year ban came to an end. In 2010, while on a training ride in Algaida, Mallorca, he accidentally collided with a cat. The resulting crash left him with serious head injuries.

Other cyclists born on this day: Roger de Beukelaer (Belgium, 1951); Roberts Plūme (Latvia, 1897, died 1956); Im Sang-Jo (South Korea, 1930); Pål Henning Hansen (Norway, 1953); Juan Reyes (Cuba, 1944); Wilhelm Rabe (Germany, 1876); Antonio Hernández (Mexico, 1951); Lennie Kristensen (Denmark, 1968); Gustavo Guglielmone (Argentina, 1971).

Daily Cycling Facts 16.05.12

The 25th edition of La Flèche Wallonne took place on this day in 1961, running from Liège to Charleroi for a second consecutive year. However, the parcours had been altered and as such was 15km shorter at 193km - the shortest in the 76-year history of the event. The winner was Willy Vannitsen who won more than 110 races during his 13 professional years, including Stage 1 at the 1958 Giro d'Italia and Stages 10 and 15 at the 1962 Tour de France, yet is virtually forgotten outside his native Belgium.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the oldest and - according to some - greatest Classic of them all took place on this day in 1909. Eugène Charlier was the first over the line, but when officials discovered he hadn't finished the race on the same bike he started with his victory was disallowed - rather than being disqualified, as some sources claim, his time was recorded as being the same as that of Victor Fastre (and the next seven men, this being the first time that the race had ended with a bunch sprint) and he was relegated to second place. In third place was Paul Deman, winner four years later of the Ronde van Vlaanderen and then Paris-Roubaix in 1920 and Paris-Tours in 1923.

Alfredo Binda

The Giro d'Italia began on this day seven times - 1925, 1936, 1959, 1969, 1974, 1985 and 1998. The 1925 edition started and ended in Milan, with twelve stages covering a total of 3,520km. It is remembered - by those few people fortunate to have seen it and still be with us - as one of the most exciting ever due to an epic battle between Costante Girardengo, who fought long and hard through the mountains and won five stages, and Alfredo Binda who matched every attack he made to take the race lead from him and keep it for the final eight stages to win by 4'58".

1936 covered 3,745km in 19 stages, though Stages 15 and 17 were split - 15a was a short road stage, 15b an individual time trial, 17a and 17b were short road stages. Gino Bartali, who had won the Mountains classification the previous year, returned and performed even better to win the Mountains and his first General Classification, leading the race through the final twelve stages and winning two of them. Olimpio Bizzi won Stage 6 at the age of 18 years and 299 days, making him the youngest Giro stage winner ever.

Charly Gaul

1959 was made up if 22 stages and 3,657km - another epic year in which Luxembourg's Charly Gaul once again proved himself unbeatable in the mountains (or, as many will point out, proved himself capable of consuming larger quantities of la bomba), driving hard over the snowy peaks and continuing to push himself when others had exhausted themselves. Gaul was almost as good in a time trial as he was in the climbs, but he wasn't quite as good as Jacques Anquetil who took a 1'30" lead after Stage 2, then proceeded to slowly grind down his opponent's advantage until the race leadership passed to him in Stage 15. Going into Stage 20, the Frenchman still had the lead and many believed the race was as good as his. Then, in Stage 21, Gaul crushed him. Pushing so hard over three challenging mountain that nobody could get near him, he won by 9'48" and took back the leadership. Rolf Graf won the final stage, but Ancquetil may as well have not bothered - bettering what Gaul had done was far beyond even his capabilities.

1969 covered 3,851.3km in 22 stages and would be one of the most controversial editions ever due to a sample provided during Stage 16 by Eddy Merckx, found to be positive for N-ethyl-3-phenyl-norbornan-2-amine, a stimulant prescribed under the name Reactivan and still used, though rarely, in medicine today. For reasons that remain unknown, news of the sample and the rider's expulsion from the race was supplied to the press before he and his team management were notified and when he revealed that he had been offered money to throw the race by an un-named Italian rider the day before, suspicions that something nefarious was going on began to pick up speed. Prince Albert of Belgium sent his own aeroplane to bring him home and the government got involved, demanding an investigation from the Italian Foreign Minister. The Italian Federation continued to insist it had acted correctly and, while Merckx was subsequently given the go ahead to ride in that year's Tour de France, which he won, the official reason for his Giro expulsion has never been retracted. Many believe that the Belgian rider would have won but, with him out of the way, Felice Gimondi dominated the remainder of the race and took the overall General Classification. 43 years later, Merckx still says that the stage was such an easy one that he had no reason to resort to cheating, as does appear to be the case when we take his abilities into account, and to this day he insists he is innocent. So does the official who was in charge of the positive sample.

From left to right: Hinault, Maertens, Merckx and de Vlaeminck
(unknown copyright)

In 1974, Merckx won for the fifth time after 22 stages and 4,001km. While he led from Stage 14 to the end, it was noticeable at several points during the race, especially when Jose-Manuel Fuente and Gianbattista Baronchelli got into a duel in Stage 20 and raised the pace so high that Merckx nearly exhausted himself in his attempts to keep the leadership (in fact, Baronchelli was "leader on the road" for a while during the stage), that his reign was beginning to crumble. He would win the Tour as well that year, becoming for the fourth time one of the few riders to have won two Grand Tours in a season.

1985 came during the reign of the man commonly considered the second greatest cyclist after Merckx, Bernard Hinault who won for a third time. Taking third place after the 22 stages and 3,998km was Greg Lemond, who would slay the Badger the following year when he became the first American to win the Tour de France. When Hinault won the Tour later in the year, he won two Grand Tours in a season for the third time. Strangely, when the Giro next started on this date in 1998, winner Marco Pantani took the first step in adding his name to the list too because he also won the Tour that year. 1998 covered 3,868km in 22 stages.

Simon Gerrans
Simon Gerrans, born in Melbourne on this day in 1980, took up cycling after injuring his knee during childhood; the sport having been recommended to him by his neighbour, who was a reasonably successful rider himself - Phil Anderson, the first non-European to wear the maillot jaune at the Tour de France. It soon turned out that he wasn't bad at it either and he was awarded a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport, where he began to develop into a world-class road racer.

Simon Gerrans
(image credit: GreenEDGE)

Gerrans' first major success was the Under-23 title at the National Championships of 2002, where he also took 5th in the Elite race. The big European teams were not slow in taking note and in 2003 he was invited to join Carvalhelhos-Boavista as a trainee after spending a short while with the Norwegian team Ringerike, then a year later AG2R Prévoyance with whom he turned professional in 2005 and entered the Tour de France for the first time, surprising many by coming third in Stage 17 and leaving no doubt that he was a new talent - one that could very easily have been ended in February the next year with a crash at the GP d'Ouverture la Marseillaise which left him with pins in his collarbone and shoulder as well as several stitches to repair flesh wounds to his head. He recovered quickly and rode his second Tour that year, improving his General Classification result from 126th to 79th, then dropped to 94th in 2007.

In 2008, having moved on to Crédit Agricole, he won Stage 15 after sprinting to the finish without challenge from the other surviving two riders of a four-man break that had escaped early in the stage and managed to stay out in front. The next year he joined the legendary Cervelo Test Team, but managers mystified fans by failing to pick him for the Tour squad. However, he did go to the Giro d'Italia, where he won Stage 14 (Cervelo's first Grand Tour stage win), and the Vuelta a Espana where he won Stage 10; thus becoming the first Australian rider to have won a stage at all three Grand Tours. 2010 saw him depart for the new British team Sky, with whom he went back to the Tour. Another crash ended his chances in Stage 8 and left him with a broken arm. He stayed with Sky through 2011 and began to show promise as a Classics rider, taking third at the Amstel Gold, second at the Waalse Pijl and 12th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, then third for Stage 2 at the Tour.

In 2011, it was announced that a new team, GreenEDGE, was being put together and stood a very good chance of being the first Australian team to receive a ProTour licence from the UCI. Gerrans was invited join and did so - which, in 2012, looked to have been a very wise decision. With them, he became National Champion for the first time, won a second Tour Down Under and then added the highlight of his career so far - victory at the legendary Milan-San Remo Monument when he beat Fabian Cancellara.

Matthias Kessler

The German rider Matthias Kessler, born in Nuremburg on this day in 1979, was little known outside his own nation until 2000 when he turned professional with Deutsche Telekom. In 2001 he finished in the top 5 for two stages at the Giro d'Italia but remained little known - until he was widely proclaimed an outside favourite for the Classics in 2003 on the strength of 6th place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2002 and soon caught the public's attention for his habit of unzipping his jersey and deliberately ripping his undershirt to keep cool. He finished the Amstel Gold Race in 5th place in 2003, then La Flèche Wallonne in 3rd a year later.

Unfortunately, what could have been a great career was marred by bad luck and doping. In the 2004 Tour de France he was left in agony after a bad crash and, while he finished the stage, didn't start the next day. In 2007, he provided a sample that was shown to contain unusually high levels of testosterone; leading to his dismissal from Astana a short while later. Things began to fall apart from that point on and he experienced difficulty in finding a new contract once his two-year ban came to an end. In 2010, while on a training ride in Algaida, Mallorca, he accidentally collided with a cat. The resulting crash left him with serious head injuries.

Other births: Roger de Beukelaer (Belgium, 1951); Roberts Plūme (Latvia, 1897, died 1956); Im Sang-Jo (South Korea, 1930); Pål Henning Hansen (Norway, 1953); Juan Reyes (Cuba, 1944); Wilhelm Rabe (Germany, 1876); Antonio Hernández (Mexico, 1951); Lennie Kristensen (Denmark, 1968); Gustavo Guglielmone (Argentina, 1971).

Cav crushed at Milan-San Remo

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

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

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

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

Simon Gerrans
(image credit: GreenEDGE)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results

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