Enjoy Milan-Sanremo? In France only 20,000 people watched the race according to audience measurement data, compared to over one million one year ago. This could be a problem for the sport as what happens in France today risks happening in other countries too.
The longest race and the shortest of write-ups. Jasper Stuyven won Milan-Sanremo thanks to a bold late attack, which was a surprise win but no shock.
Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Julian Alaphilippe take on each other and the rest of the peloton.
The news that former Team Sky and British Cycling chief doctor Richard Freeman was found guilty of ordering testosterone, a banned substance, is big and got splashed all over the British press last weekend. There’s mystery as to who the hormone patches were intended for, and there’s now a circular firing squad of quotes from those in and around Team Sky. Away from the noise is the very real issue of a live anti-doping case as possession is a breach of the WADA Code and a case should be opened.
In 1972 Eddy Merckx was so confident of winning Paris-Nice that before the start of the final stage he posed for photos with a speedboat, a prize that year. Only Raymond Poulidor rocketed up the Col d’Eze to win the stage, take the race overall and collect the prize. Primož Roglič can show a cannibal-like trait at times but must also know a thing or two about not counting chickens until they hatch, or as they say in Slovenian, “not praising the day until the evening”. But on the morning of the final stage it did look like Roglič had Paris-Nice sewn up and he even had a good chance of winning the final stage too…
The final stage of Paris-Nice and usually a great day’s racing. A forced course change means less of a wild route today but it’s the last chance for a stage win.
This was supposed to be the big mountain stage but it’s been shortened. It’s still the big mountain stage thanks to the long climb to the Col Saint-Martin and it’s another chance for Primož Roglič to win in another way.
A stage for the sprinters, the last chance for them before three days in the hills and mountains.
A mouthwatering stage if only for oenophiles, today’s route is also promising on the sporting side with two hard climbs in the finish that are climbed twice.
