The last of the Ardennes classics gets decided by a cobbled climb. Michael Albasini has powered up the Rue Naniot with 2.5km to go and Rui Costa, Samuel Sanchez and Wout Poels are going to get across while Romain Bardet and Arnold Jeannesson will not. Albasini’s move and Poel’s efforts to get across were the moment the race was won.
The last of the spring classics, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a race of transition. Part Belgian classic, part-mountain stage and a rare chance to see the grand tour specialists go all-in for one day over a tough course. There are ten marked climbs, countless more rises and a new cobbled climb right before the finish.
Alejandro Valverde is the obvious pick as he hopes to double-up his Flèche Wallonne win but this is a harder race to control and bad weather could make the race wilder still. Here’s the usual preview with the route, contenders, ratings, TV times and more.
Cycling rarely offers certain picks for races. A sprint finish usually has several contenders, a summit finish could go to one of several riders. Today Alejandro Valverde seems above all the rest, perfectly suited to the race, experienced thanks to past wins and in good form having just won the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon. Who or what can stop him?
As product tests go this was not the case-study people had planned. When it was announced that disc brakes could be allowed on a trial basis it looked like an open door for the product to become established: a courtesy before a formality. Then Francisco Ventoso crashed in Paris-Roubaix, slammed into a disc and sliced his leg. He typed an open letter, used words like “machete” and within hours the trial was ended and disc brakes are banned.
Enrico Gasparotto wins the Amstel Gold Race after a late attack on the Cauberg with 2km to go. After over six hours of racing the late attack was enough to hold off the sprinters. This was the brief moment the race was won.
The classics come to the Netherlands and huge crowds enjoy a day in the sun and beer from the race sponsor. The hilly course has been for the climbers but several sprinters want to muscle in. Here’s a race preview with the usual look at the course, contenders, TV times and more.
Raymond Poulidor is 80 today. The perpetual underdog, he was a rider who finished second so often that he won fame and fortune for losing, earning him two nicknames: the “Eternal Second” and the affectionate “Poupou”.
But the more I read about him, the more he seems to be a misunderstood rider whose myths and simple labels mask the truth of an efficient and calculating rider with a vain streak too.
The Giro is three weeks away and it’s time to take a quick look at the various contenders and see where they are. Vincenzo Nibali is probably the top pick now but on reputation alone because he’s not shown convincing form. The upcoming Ardennes races and the Giro del Trentino will give us more clues but until then here’s a quick scan of where the riders are.
Why was Paris-Roubaix live on TV from start to finish? Pose the question and the answer isn’t immediately obvious.
It’s to do with advertising, the media landscape in France and technology. More and more people are watching normal programs with a delay, either recording the show or using catch-up streaming services, says Daniel Bilalian, the head of sports at France Télévisions in an interview with L’Equipe’s print edition last Saturday.
Mathew Hayman wins the sprint in the Roubaix velodrome, relegating Tom Boonen and Ian Stannard to the lower steps of the podium and Sep Vanmarcke and Edvald Boasson Hagen trailing further behind. In a wild race, shown on TV from start to finish, this was the greatest surprise of the day, to imagine any scenario in which Hayman beat all of these riders in sprint would sound fanciful but this was the moment the race was won.