Another flat stage across unremarkable countryside that’ll end in a bunch sprint? We said this in 2013 when the Tour de France took a similar route to Saint-Amand-Montrond only for teams to shred the race in crosswinds and provide one of the most thrilling flat stages of the Tour in recent memory. Sadly for those hoping a repeat episode the forecast says it won’t be so windy.
The UCI’s Cycling Independent Reform Commission (“CIRC”) has published its report. It’s not a gripping read, this is a report on the corporate policy of institution a decade ago. But buried in the 228 pages are revelations, there is strong criticism of those running the UCI in the past and it puts the spotlight back on contemporary doping practices.
To reduce it to one sentence the report says the UCI was lax for many years but believes doping continues today, albeit on a reduced scale and the UCI needs to implement anti-doping and governance reforms. Let’s take a closer look.
Despite the promised CIRC-us on Monday there’s some sport to be had on the roads and we’re due a stressful sprint finish. Alexander Kristoff and John Degenkolb are the big names but there’s a nervous duo of Arnaud Démare and Nacer Bouhanni each looking for their first win.
A 6.7km prologue that’s not for prologue specialists. It’ll establish an early pecking order and prise apart the riders in a race that’s expected to be close all week
Tirreno-Adriatico’s got the star factor with the “fantastic four” of Alberto Contador, Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana leading the charge in Italy. The focus on four is obvious but the field is deeper with Joaquim Rodriguez, Rigoberto Uran and Thibaut Pinot who have all have stood on the podium of a grand tour.
All this makes Paris-Nice look secondary, two races equal in UCI label alone. Yet everyone wins as we get to see a rare clash in Italy before riders reconvene for the Tour de France while Paris-Nice offers a sweep of riders the chance to finally win the major stage race they need. If Froome or Contador rode to Nice the result could be just another line on an already long palmarès but for the likes of Tejay van Garderen, Andrew Talansky and Wilco Kelderman the yellow jersey in Nice is an important conquest.
March is a busy month for pro cycling. Even if you had the free time and inclination trying to watch as many races as possible it would not be easy, you’d need determination and several screens. Races are spread over several channels and for many fans there’s sometimes no legal way to watch a race because it’s not on TV.
The internet’s changed expectations leaving fans wanting to watch every race going and thanks to the web it’s often possible, at least if you resort to so-called pirate feeds. But there’s a better way: use a VPN.
This time last year the UCI had brought in new rule requiring riders to stick to the road. This time last year the peloton ignored it. The result is that the UCI changed the rule and riders can use paths as long as it’s safe to do so.
Also Ian Stannard appears 10 times harder than the rest in the image above. But he ended up on the cobbles by accident, briefly missing a move adopted by everyone else.
Ian Stannard took on three riders from a rival team, cracking them one by one on the road to Gent before it was Niki Terpstra’s time to get done over in the sprint.
The locals call triumphing in a race overwinning, a term that ought to be used in English to describe Stannard’s success.
Often called the “revenge race”, today’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne offers teams a chance to correct mistakes made in yesterday’s Omloop. However if you enjoyed the Omloop then today’s contest is probably not going to match it, it’s more of a sprinter’s classic even if the wind threatens to chop up the race. Here’s a quick preview.
The cobbled classics start this weekend with Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, a 200km introduction to Flanders with all the classic ingredients from bad weather to great fans. Some races are held to promote tourism but this is so grim the images must put people off visiting Belgium but the rough conditions make the race all the better.