Fabian Cancellara

Gregory Rast

Wout Poels

Greg Van Avermaet

Marcus Burghardt

Jakob Fuglsang

Ivan Gutierrez

Grega Bole

Rui Costa

Tyler Farrar

Tom Boonen

Frank Schleck

Damiano Cunego

Fans

Luckily for us, Danielle is going to be in Liege for the opening weekend of the Tour de France, so keep an eye out for her visual impressions of the weekend!

Tristan Valentin (image courtesy of Cofidis)

Age:  30

Nationality: French

Team: Cofidis

Role: Classics rider and rouleur

Career highlights:

• 2005 (Auber 93):  1st, Prix de la Ville de Nogent-sur-Oise and Tro-Bro Leon.
• 2006 (Cofidis): 3rd in Trophee des Grimpeurs.
• 2011 (Cofidis): 6th French national road race championships.

I’m sitting on the VeloVoices terrace, enjoying the sunshine with another fellow Cote d’Azur resident, Cofidis’s Tristan Valentin. Although his name may not be familiar to some of you, for close observers of the sport, I’m sure it’ll ring a few bells. On the one hand, Tristan is typical of the professional peloton’s rank and file and, on the other hand, he isn’t – when Victor Hugo said “Adversity makes men” he could have been talking about Tristan.

A young Tristan on the right(image courtesy of Cycling Archives)

Sheree: So Tristan why cycling? There are easier ways of earning a living!

Tristan: My father was a keen amateur cyclist but he didn’t try to influence me and for many years my main sport was judo  [he's got a black belt - Ed]. Finally, when I was 14, I started riding and took to it straight away. I continued with judo for a few more years but finally gave it up at 17 to concentrate on cycling.

Sheree: It’s amazing how many top athletes are also good at another sport. Judo would have given you fantastic core strength, lightening-quick reactions and a certain serenity, all of which I’m sure has stood you in good stead as a professional rider.

Tristan: That’s true. I turned professional in 2004 with Auber 93 and after some wins joined my dream team Cofidis in 2006. I had offers from other teams but always wanted to join Cofidis. I like the spirit in the team and while the grass often appears to be greener elsewhere all teams have their good and bad points. I’m happy here and the team is becoming more and more “professional” every year. They have also been very supportive of me through the difficult times, particularly team manager Eric Boyer, and it was thanks to them that I moved down here to enjoy optimal training conditions.

Sheree: Let’s talk about your terrible crash in Paris-Roubaix 2008 and your long road back. But go easy on the gory details, I have a weak stomach.

Tristan crashes in Paris-Roubaix 2008 (image courtesy of Cofidis)

Tristan: After the crash, I was diagnosed at a local hospital with six fractures of the elbow, a torn tendon, three breaks in the humerus and shoulder. The doctor’s initial assessment was that I would never ride again. But I was fortunately transferred to a specialist hospital in Paris where I underwent a series of operations and three months of rehabilitation just to recover the use of my arm. In November, while I had recovered my mobility, it still wasn’t right and I had to have a further operation. In the following April, the tendon broke again and became infected with bacteria, which had to be cut out. It was a tricky operation which had to be completed in 90 minutes, otherwise I would have lost the use of my arm. Finally, after a really long period off the bike I was able to ride again in Paris-Correze [finishing 17th - Ed]. Although this period in my life was some time ago, it never leaves me, it remains close, in the back of my head. It’s a weird feeling.

Sheree: Having fought so hard to get back in the peloton, wearing the spotted jersey for a couple of days in the Tour of Picardie 2010, you finally had a pretty successful run in 2011, riding largely in support of team mate Rein Taaramae, another Cote d’Azur resident.

Tristan: Yes, we had a good 2011 together. I enjoy working for the team leaders, protecting them for as long as possible and, even though initially I was more of a Classics rider, I have come to enjoy stage races.

Sheree: You rode the Giro in 2007 but missed taking part the following year due to a bronchial infection. You finally rode your first Tour de France last year. What was that like?

Icy baths to aid post-Tour recovery (image courtesy of Cofidis)

Tristan: Finally, after eight years as a professional I ride the Tour! At first you think it’s like any other stage race, but it’s not. Firstly, the pressure from sponsors and team management is enormous to get into a break or to keep up the front. The pace is different too. You have to follow, you can’t go at your own speed. But, it’s still an amazing and beautiful experience.

Readers may remember Tristan animating stages five and eleven in last year’s Tour de France by getting in the day’s early break  – earning valuable airtime for the team’s sponsor – before being pulled back by the sprinters’ teams.

Sheree: How would you characterise your role on the team?

Tristan: I enjoy working with and guiding the younger riders – last year Tony Gallopin, this year Adrien Petit – because I wish someone had done that for me when I started out. I might have progressed more quickly. Of course, I would advise anyone to move down here to train – it’s perfect.

While 2011 was spent largely riding in support of others, the team have encouraged me, particularly in French Cup races, to ride more for myself. I need to do this to earn points for the team. All the teams want riders with points and they value less and less those of us who make sacrifices for others and finish the season with nul points.

This is a tricky point and one which we discussed at some length with Geoffroy Lequatre. More and more riders find themselves between a rock and a hard place: dammed if they don’t ride for the team and dammed if they do. It’s certainly not conducive to good team work.

Sheree: I saw that you were on the team’s short-list for this year’s Tour, but you’re still having issues with your form.

Tristan: It’s frustrating to find myself this season teetering all the time between finding form and being sick. I was sick during Paris-Nice, took a break, trained well and was in form for the Tour of Picardie but crashed and injured my knee. I couldn’t train for 10 days and then found the going tough at both Plumelec and the Tour of Luxembourg. But that’s the life of a professional cyclist – when you’re in top form, you’re just on the edge of being unwell. It’s 90% certain I won’t be at the Tour this year. Sure I’m disappointed but you shouldn’t go unless you’re in top form. But this might give me an opportunity to ride the Vuelta later in the year, then I’ll have ridden all the Grand Tours and been enriched by the experience.

Sheree: Tristan I know you have something much bigger than the Tour to look forward too. You’re about to become a Dad.

Tristan: It’s true, I’m looking forward to being able to spend the first few important weeks with my baby.

At this point, I have to mention that no camera would be able to adequately capture the size of Tristan’s smile as he ponders impending fatherhood.

Sheree: Now, here’s a question I ask everyone. How do you maintain your shape, do you have any diet tips for me?

Tristan: This is something I really struggle with, I love food. I’m naturally pretty heavy and weighed as much as 75-78kg when I was doing judo. We have a nutritionist at Cofidis to help us make good choices and, when my form’s good, it’s not an issue but when morale’s low, it’s more difficult. I try and eat sensibly and maybe have the odd “cheat” day though I could easily eat two pizzas in one sitting!

Sheree: I can empathise with that, Tristan! Don’t Cofidis have their own chef? [I think I can hear Sheree's cv and job application winging its way to Cofidis HQ - Ed].

Tristan: No, some teams have chefs with them for the stage races, others, like Europcar, have them just for the Tour. The team’s doctor normally advises the hotels what we should eat but, I have to say this, most of the French hotel chains don’t know how to cook pasta properly.

Sheree: Ah, the glamorous life of a professional cyclist. Nights spent in bedrooms marginally larger than the bed and overcooked pasta!

Looking good in spots (image courtesy of Cofidis)

Tristan: Exactly!

Sheree: On a more positive note, it’s good news that Cofidis have renewed their sponsorship until 2016.

Tristan: Although I would like to still be riding then, I have recently started to think more about what I might do when my career finishes. I’m not getting any younger and I’ve already spent a lot of time away from home. I’m thinking that I might like to be a physiotherapist. But I need to look into it more. Although I love living down here, my family, including my twin brother and older sisters, are in Paris so I’ll probably move back there.

Sheree: Tristan, thank you for sharing with us some of the highs, lows, and frustrations of your exacting career and can I just compliment you on your English, you speak it really well. How come?

Tristan: When I first moved down here, there weren’t as many cyclists living here as there are now, so I spent a lot of time with the Australians [Matt Goss, Simon Gerrans, Stuart O'Grady, Brad McGee based in Monaco] and Tyler Farrar. They helped me a lot. Also, my partner Maya is Danish and it was initially our common language.

Sheree: Keep us posted on the baby front and maybe we can have a catch-up during the Vuelta.

Tristan: Okay!

My tendinitis is still bugging, so I have yet to put in a quality work out.

Right now, there’s a Grand Tour (21 day stage race, like the Tour de France), going on in Italy. Taylor Phinney held the lead for 3 days, but lost it after crashing 3 times and suffered a puncture wound from a broken wheel spoke.

Matthew Goss has the sprint jersey, with Tyler Farrar and Mark Cavendish trailing behind.

Garmin-Barracuda has dominated the overall classification with 6 riders in the top 10.

© Roberto Bettini

From guardian:
Link to this video

Mark Cavendish has called on the Androni-Venezuela rider Roberto Ferrari to be ejected from the Giro d’Italia after the Italian caused him to crash heavily in the final 100m on Monday’s stage three.

The world champion, who a day earlier had criticised what he perceives as erratic and dangerous riding from a portion of the peloton on Italy’s grand tour, was nearing full speed and in contention for a second stage win in as many days when Ferrari veered dramatically across his path and clipped Cavendish’s front wheel.

A series of riders fell as they swerved to miss the prone Manxman, including the race leader, Taylor Phinney.

After carrying his bike across the finish line, Cavendish tweeted: “Ouch! Crashing at 75kph isn’t nice! Nor is seeing Roberto Ferrari’s manoeuvre. [He] should be ashamed to take out Pink, Red & World Champ jerseys.”

He added: “Is the team of Roberto Ferrari or the UCI going to do the right thing? Other riders, including myself, have been sent home for much less.”

Cavendish’s team-mate Geraint Thomas, currently second on general classification, echoed the sentiment, tweeting: “You can get suspended in football for a 2 footed challenge, or a spear tackle in rugby. Kick Ferrari out Giro for crashing 10guys at 60kph!!!”

Team Sky‘s doctor Richard Freeman said that Cavendish was “very uncomfortable” after the fall, and British team’s directeur sportif Steven de Jongh voiced his frustration after watching his riders once again control the peloton but this time to no avail.

He said: “The team did another good job today. Juan Antonio Flecha was really strong and helped control the breakaway. In the final the guys got separated a little bit but Cav was still well positioned to contest the sprint until Roberto Ferrari took away his front wheel. He lost a lot of skin but was able to pick himself up and complete the stage.”

Australia’s Matt Goss, riding for Orica-Greenedge, rode on while chaos spread behind him to win the stage, sprinting clear of Juan José Haedo (Saxo Bank) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda) to take over the sprinter’s maglia rosso from Cavendish. Ferrari raced on to finish ninth, comfortably the best result of his professional career.

Phinney fell the hardest and was driven across the line in an ambulance, but recovered to attend the post-race presentation and remains optimistic of defending the maglia rosa when the race resumes on Wednesday for the team time-trial and the first Italian stage of the year, in Verona.

“Nothing appears to be broken. I’m better now,” said the American. “When I was on the ground I was a bit confused and in a state of shock, but I started to feel better when I was in the ambulance. I must have hit something when I fell. It’s a pity that it happened and hopefully it’s nothing. It’s lucky tomorrow is a rest day.”

The 190km stage, which started and finished in Horsens, was dedicated to the memory of Wouter Weylandt, who died on stage three of the the 2011 Giro d’Italia, and the mayor of Horsens Jan Trojborg who died on Sunday. Before the start, riders from Weylandt’s Radioshack Nissan Trek team lined up at the front of the peloton, along with his close friend Farrar. The race’s general director, Michele Acquarone, read a message of condolence in the presence of Weylandt’s family and the assistant mayor of Horsens remembered Trojborg. The ceremony concluded with a minute’s silence.

Cavendish tweeted before the stage: “Remembering Wouter Weylandt, who sadly left us a year ago today.”

Stage profile: Another flat stage, ending in a few circuits around Horsens set up perfectly for another bunch sprint.

Top three: 1. Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) 2. J J Haedo (Saxo Bank) 3. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda).

Who was in the breakaway?: Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Mads Christensen (Saxo Bank), Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM), Reto Hollenstein (NetApp), Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda). They were never allowed more than 3:25, and despite a late attack – again! – by Lotto-Belisol’s Danish rider Lars Bak, the race was gruppo compatto with 11km remaining.

How the stage was won: A bunch sprint was inevitable, but none of the teams was willing (or able) to commit to a full-chat lead-out. Sky’s train ran out of steam, neither Saxo Bank nor Raobobank could exert control, and it was left to a well-timed move by Orica-GreenEDGE at 800 metres to force the issue. The red points jersey of Mark Cavendish found himself down in about 11th and was forced to open up his sprint 275 metres out, but Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela’s Roberto Ferrari suddenly veered to the right in front of him at 150 metres, clipping his front wheel and treating him to a healthy dose of road rash while Matt Goss outpowered J J Haedo and Tyler Farrar to claim his first individual victory of 2012. Overall leader Taylor Phinney was also unseated in the crash. Even without Ferrari’s intervention, it looked like Goss had position over Cav on this occasion.

Quotes of the day: Understandably, there was a lot of opinion voiced about Ferrari’s car crash of a move after the stage. Here’s the measured reaction of Eurosport’s David Harmon:

Absolutely appalling sprinting by Roberto Ferrari, you can’t pull a move like that in a sprint, it’s going to cause a pile up. Full stop

— david harmon (@spokesmen) May 7, 2012

And here’s what a rather more forthright Geraint Thomas had to say:

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) May 7, 2012

Odd occurrences: The maglia rosa was awarded to a 10-year old boy, while Taylor Phinney was being attended to in an ambulance. About half an hour later, Phinney was spraying champagne on the podium when he was awarded the big boy’s jersey. (The little boy gets to keep the cuddly toy, I suspect.) There was a question over Phinney being able to keep the pink jersey if he didn’t actually cross the finish line with his bike unaided, but UCI rules state that if crash occurred in last 3km and a cyclist has to cross the finish line in an ambulance, he is last in the stage but awarded time of the group he was in when he crashed.

VeloVoices villain of the day: Having brought down two race jerseys, Roberto Ferrari was unrepentant in his comments to Italian media. (His team manager Gianni Savio has promised to apologise to Cavendish himself, which tells you everything about Ferrari’s attitude.) The commissaires relegated him to last place on the stage but, surprisingly, took no further action. [Hmm, Italian race, Italian team, Italian sprinter? - Ed.] Replays showed he had abruptly deviated by at least two metres – his actions were not deliberately dangerous but undoubtedly reckless. It was an unsavoury way to end a day which had started with a tribute to Wouter Weylandt, who died in an accident on stage three last year.

VeloVoices unsung hero: Farnese Vini’s Elia Favilli, who had the presence of mind and bike-handling skills to bunny-hop over a laid-out Cavendish, at speed. Chapeau!

General classification:

1. Taylor Phinney (BMC) 9:23:41

2. Geraint Thomas (Sky) +0:09

3. Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Barracuda) +0:13

4. Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank) +0:15

5. Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) +0:18

Points leader: Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE)

King of the Mountains leader: Alfred Balloni (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia)

Tomorrow: Rest day and transfer back to Italy. Stage four is on Wednesday, a 33.2km team time trial around Verona.

And here is Cycling the Alps‘ fly-over of the route:

Link: Official website

Stage profile: An 8.7km individual time trial around the streets of Herning, the home-town of Saxo Bank team owner Bjarne Riis. The first part of the course is twisty and technical, while the second half is more flowing and favours more traditional powerful time trial specialists.

Top three: 1. Taylor Phinney (BMC), 2. Geraint Thomas (Sky), 3. Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Barracuda).

How the stage was won: The stage was always tipped to be a battle between Geraint Thomas and Taylor Phinney in this opening ITT and they did not disappoint. Phinney smashed Thomas’s time by nine seconds and Alex Rasmussen came in just four seconds off Thomas’ time.

Most touching occurrence: The crowd gave some of their biggest cheers to Tyler Farrar, knowing that riding the Giro is particularly poignant for the Garmin rider as his best friend, Wouter Weylandt, died on stage three of last year’s race.

VeloVoices rider of the stage: It would have to be Taylor Phinney with a mega-ride that gave BMC its first big win of the season. He starts stage two in the maglia rosa.

General classification:

1. Taylor Phinney (BMC) 0:10:26

2. Geraint Thomas (Sky) +0:09

3. Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Barracuda) +0:13

4. Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank) +0:15

5. Gustav Larsson (Vacansoleil-DCM) +0:22

Points leader: Taylor Phinney (BMC).

Team classification: Garmin-Barracuda.

Tomorrow: Stage 2 – Herning to Herning, 206km. Flat – a sprinter’s finish. Tailor-made for the likes of Mark Cavendish and Matt Goss, with the GC contenders enjoying a gentle opportunity to stretch their legs in the anonymity of the peloton.

And here is Cycling the Alps‘ fantastic fly-over of the route:

Live action and highlights will be shown daily on Eurosport. For other channels check cyclingfans.com. VeloVoices is covering the Giro with daily recaps on the blog, on our Facebook page, and we will also be on Twitter throughout the race, where we will be live-tweeting updates from as many of the stages as we can.

Link: Official website

I assume every one of us had the capacity in our youth to be a phenom at something.  Maybe if I was exposed to a musical instrument by my parents, I would have been the next Yo Yo Ma.  Alas, that isn’t true, because my parents did get me a guitar and lessons at a young age, and I just wouldn’t practice.  I was, after all, a fairly lazy child.  Next up was piano/organ.  My uncle Jim, who has long since passed away did his best to expose me to Jazz Organ.  I remember fighting with my parents and them finally giving in to buy me a Casio Keyboard.  It was nothing fancy, mind you, but it served the purpose.  I actually played those keys all the time until I found comic books, and that phase was over.  Maybe if we had youtube back then, I could have been something like this amazing girl…

I actually fancy myself a fairly good singer, but that eight year old girl puts me to shame.

Why am I bringing this up in a cycling blog?  Well, I will be happy to tell you…

I love cycling.  I try to ride everyday.  I try to ride 150 plus miles every week.  In the dog days of summer, it is many more miles.  I have been in bike races, charity rides, club rides, and challenged friends.  Although I am seldom the best cyclist on the road, I always hold my own.  Every time I feel the thrill of being appreciated by other cyclists, I wonder where I would be today if I had found the passion for road cycling at a young age.

I was in the Cub Scouts for a short time when I was a boy.  We would have our den meetings, and once they were completed, we would all go outside and play.  One time, and I believe I was about 10 or so, I recall all the kids having their bikes with them.  I did not.  I could not, after all, because I didn’t even own a bike.  I had no idea how to ride a bike.

Well that was going to change.  I pleaded with my parents (this seems to be a recurring theme in this post) for a bike, and they quickly gave in.  As a parent today, myself, I am convinced they also felt my shame that day.  My father took me across the street to the town’s highway department’s parking lot and participated in the time honored tradition of the father running behind the bike holding the seat.  If memory serves, that process took all of ten minutes before I was balancing myself.  I took to it like a fish to water.  Incidentally, both my boys have now done the same, but they both learned to ride before 5 years old.

After learning, I was riding my bike every day.  By age 15, I was riding my bike 10 miles into the city during summer break to frequent the public pool.  My parents would pick me up from there and the routine would repeat the next day.  That was the age where the seed was in place.  In hindsight, right there is where I SHOULD have become a cyclist.  Instead, by the time I was 17 and owned a car, I was done with bikes.  I actually wouldn’t get on a bike again until I was in my late twenties.  And even then, it was only a couple of times.  I didn’t “become” a cyclist until the age of 34.  I have chronicled how I chose to begin this lifestyle in a previous post, which can be read here.

So why didn’t I become someone the likes of Lance Armstrong back then?  I was obviously adept (and still am, by the way) at getting what I wanted from my parents.  So why did I not take it to the next level?

Let me answer that question by asking you another one.  I know the answer to this, and I am sure a majority of my cycling friends will too.  But to my uninitiated friends, can you tell me who the top US Cyclist is?  No, it isn’t Lance Armstrong.  Can you tell me who the best sprinter is in the world, right now?  How about the best American sprinter?  No?  OK.  Who won Le Tour de France last year?  No?

Do you see where I am going with this?

Now if I had gone after baseball at 12 years old as my passion, I would have had at my disposal, no limit of role models, heroes, and information about the sport.  As a matter of fact, I played baseball.  Every school in the states has a baseball program.  But did your school have a cycling program?  Mine did not either.

We DID, as Americans, have a cycling role-model when I was in those formative years.  His name was Greg Lamond.  He was the first American star of the sport, and he is actually the one that opened the awareness of our stars today.  We actually have a lot of them in America today.  Such people are Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Tyal Farrar, Ben King,  etc.  Of course, the best cyclists are all over the world.

So the issue I had, in those years where I could have taken off with cycling as my passion is that I had no role-models.  There was no cycling on TV.  For crying out loud, when I was 12, they couldn’t even broadcast cycling if they wanted to.  They didn’t have the technology to follow the bikes like they do today.  They had to position stationary cameras along the route and just get the boys flying by.  There were no faces to the names, thus for marketing purposes, there were no faces of the sport.  As a matter of fact, one could make the case that the sport didn’t even exist in the states.

There was a brief period of time during Greg Lamond’s reign, that they tried to popularize cycling here.  There were some major bike races, financed by the Coors family in the Denver area.  Hollywood produced a few movies, most of which were surprisingly good.

Here are two of my favorites.

The current top pros (the ones that are my age, or slightly younger), had another advantage over my situation.  Nearly all were from warmer, or at the very least, more cycling-friendly parts of the country.  In Colorado, they get brutal winters, but the culture is very welcoming to cyclists.  In Texas, the home of Lance and others, the weather is perfect for it.  Don’t even get me started on all the advantages living in California has.

Sadly, when all is said and done, it is still my fault.  I should have found my way into cycling earlier.  I should have stayed on my bike a lot more, even after getting a car.  When I was in the Marine Corps, in the best shape of my life, I should gotten on a bike.

But I didn’t…

At least I am on the bike now, and I am loving every minute of it.

Ride Hard, Ride Long

Zero Octane

Nice one Tommy!!

Last year’s Roubaix was more than historical for Garmin-Barracuda, as their own Johan Vansummeren not only conquered “The Hell of the North,” but surprisingly won the race when he wasn’t even mentioned to be a favorite to contend. Not only was he not favored to win the race, but his role on the team was to help one of his teammates, Thor Hushovd, get in position to win. Vansummeren’s victory was sweetened by it being the first classic win for the team — one that can hopefully be re-captured this Sunday.

Video credit: Cervelo www.cervelo.com, watch on Youtube

If the Tour of Flanders last weekend was any indication of how difficult a victory will be at Roubaix on Sunday, then Garmin-Barracuda will have some work to do. However, they now know what it takes to win this race regardless of who’s in the field trying to attack. Unfortunately one of the greatest challengers and past Paris-Roubaix winner, Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) broke his collarbone in a crash during Flanders last weekend, so he’ll miss Roubaix this season. That leaves Flanders’ winner Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) who is also a three-time Paris Roubaix champion the obvious favorite. Of course Garmin-Barracuda knows they’ll have to keep an eye on their former teammate Thor Hushovd, who now rides for team BMC.

Here’s the Garmin-Barracuda Start list for Paris-Roubaix:

1. Johan Vansummeren
2. Jack Bauer
3. Tyler Farrar
4. Heinrich Haussler
5. Andreas Klier
6. Martijn Maaskant
7. Jacob Rathe
8. Sep Vanmarcke
9. Alex Rasmussen
10. Sebastien Rosseler

Vansummeren won’t go unnoticed like he did last season so winning again will be even more of a challenge this year, but he knows what it takes, which is a huge advantage for the team. And those of us who paid attention to Scheldeprijs this week in Belgium saw Tyler Farrar barely get edged out for a win, which is a good indication that his legs are feeling great for Roubaix. Farrar is a great classics racer who has the rare ability to out sprint any rider in the field if he’s with the break at the end. Gamin-Barraucda will have eyes on them from every team in the peloton as a result of winning the race last year. Hopefully you’ll be watching them too, in one of the most epic races this season.

Watch Paris Roubaix on NBC Sports: April 8 at 9 a.m EST; 3-hour race analysis at 7 p.m. EST

Often overlooked due to its midweek slot between the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, the Scheldeprijs is a rare opportunity for the pure sprinters to hold sway over the hard-men of the peloton during Classics season. As such, the start-list is something of a who’s-who of sprinting, boasting former winners Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda), as well as top names such as Kittel, Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), Mark Renshaw and Theo Bos (Rabobank), Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Serre Italia), winner of six stages of this year’s Tour de Langkawi.

Defending champion and three-time winner Mark Cavendish (Sky) was not present to pursue a record fourth victory, opting to stay in the UK for the birth of his first child, who duly arrived last night:

Delilah Grace Cavendish was born a couple of hours ago. She & @petatodd are doing very well. So proud of my girls! Happiest day of my life.

— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) April 3, 2012

[Congratulations to Mark, Peta and Delilah Grace from the entire VeloVoices team - Ed.]

Starting in the marketplace in Antwerp and finishing in nearby Schoten after completing a clockwise loop of 202km, the race is run over a pan-flat course – albeit one with seven cobbled sections and a twisty, technical finish – which traditionally results in a chaotic bunch sprint.

Scheldeprijs race profile

Five riders – three of them Kevins! – initiated the day’s main breakaway: Kevin Van Melsen (Accent.jobs-Willems Veranda’s), Kevin Hulsmans (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Kevin Claeys (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), David Boucher (FDJ-Big Mat) and Simon Lambert-Lemay (Spidertech-C10). They were joined by Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Kin San Wu (Champion System) to form a seven-man group which led by 8:15 after just 38km.

With long, flat roads ahead of them, the peloton were in no hurry to reel them in, and with Garmin-Barracuda and Lotto-Belisol happy to sit on the front and control the deficit, the gap hovered between 4½ and six minutes for a long stretch. Indeed, not until around 53km to go did Tom Boonen - who had stated beforehand that he would only be using the race as a tune-up for Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix – suddenly come forward over one of the cobbled sections. He stretched both his legs and those of the pack, whose shape changed from a compact bunch to a long line as the Ronde van Vlaanderen champion put in a decent workout to animate an otherwise featureless middle portion of the race.

Kittel judged his finish to perfection on treacherous roads (image courtesy of Argos-Shimano)

By the time the peloton started the second of two finishing circuits around Schoten with 33km to go, they trailed the breakaway by just 1:40 – effectively sounding the death knell for the escapees. Straight after the finish line, a crash brought down several riders and initiated a split, with a front group of about 60 driven on by Boonen. Their increased pace rapidly hauled in the leaders, with Hulsman the last to succumb just past the 10km banner.

Race result

1. Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) 4:30:53

2. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) same time

3. Theo Bos (Rabobank) s/t

4. Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) s/t

5. Manuel Belletti (AG2R La Mondiale) s/t

6. Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) s/t

7. Alexander Porsev (Katusha) s/t

8. Sebastien Turgot (Europcar) s/t

9. Giacomo Nizzolo (Radioshack-Nissan) s/t

10. Guillaume Boivin (Spidertech-C10) s/t

Link: Official website

It is a month which will focus prominently on the Classics hard men but will also give us an indication of who is building their form nicely for the Grand Tours. Last April Philippe Gilbert completed the hat-trick of Ardennes Classics – Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege – and added Brabantse Pilj for good measure.

Tour of Flanders/Ronde van Vlaanderen (1st)

After March’s Milan-San Remo, the Ronde van Vlaanderen is the second of European cycling’s five ‘monuments’, and one of the most difficult strong-man challenges on the calendar. This year sees a slightly altered route – controversially, the iconic Muur-Kappelmuur has been dropped – which takes in eight sections of flat cobbles and a total of 16 climbs during its 255km, including the Koppenberg (which features ramps of 22%) and three ascents each of the Oude-Kwaremont and Paterberg hills. The former will soften up the riders with a 4.2% gradient over its 1,500m length ahead of the latter’s short, sharp 350 metres at a lactic acid-inducing 12.5%. The Paterberg provides the perfect platform for a killer attack, with just 13km of descent and flat between its third passage and the finish.

Saxo Bank’s Nick Nuyens is the defending champion, but the race is widely expected to revolve around a battle for supremacy between Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan). The pair have won on three previous occasions between them – you can read Jack and Kitty’s take on this head-to-head battle here. Watch out also for other fast men with the power to negotiate the climbs, such as Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini-Serre Italia).

Link: Official website

Tour of the Basque Country/Vuelta a Pais Vasco (2nd-7th)

The 52nd Tour of the Basque Country promises once again to be the playground of some of the peloton’s best climbers on a parcours packed with medium-altitude mountains but extremely steep gradients. After two initial medium mountain days, stages three and four will sort out those who already in form from those who are still riding into it, with a pair of cat. 1 summit finishes. Another medium climbing stage precedes a concluding 18.9km individual time trial which features a nasty uncategorised climb inside the final 3km.

The last two editions of the race have been won by the RadioShack-Nissan pair of Chris Horner (2010) and Andreas Kloden (2011), with Alberto Contador victorious in the two preceding years. Other notable champions include a pair of Vuelta a Espana winners: Juan Jose Cobo (Movistar) and Denis Menchov (Katusha), both of whom were teammates last year on the now defunct Geox-TMC squad.

Link: Official website

Scheldeprijs (4th)

Wednesday sees the 100th running of this Flanders semi-classic, which starts in the marketplace in Antwerp and finishes in nearby Schoten after completing a clockwise loop of 202km. Unlike the other Flandrian Classics, this is a straightforward sprinters’ race – no steep hills or long, cobbled sections here – which generally concludes in a bunch finish.

Tom Boonen (twice), Alessandro Petacchi and Tyler Farrar have all won the Scheldeprijs, but Mark Cavendish has been the dominant force here in recent years, completing a hat-trick of victories last year. However, the Manx Missile will not be present to defend his crown, skipping the race to prepare for the impending birth of his first child.

Link: Official website

Paris-Roubaix (8th)

It is not called the ‘Hell of the North’ without good reason. Paris-Roubaix covers 257.5km of hard racing north towards the Belgian border. The first 95km or so is a relatively straightforward loosener, but then there are 27 cobbled sections totalling 51.5km of the final 160km. Counting down from 27, the most difficult sectors – and therefore the ones most likely to influence the outcome of the race – are numbers 16 (Trouée d’Arenberg), ten (Mons-en-Pévèle) and four (Le Carrefour de l’Arbre). But in truth any of the 27 can spell disaster for any rider as they jostle for position on the approach to each and the peloton ramps up to full speed. Crashes, punctures and other mechanical problems are commonplace, and decisive splits can easily occur. Only the strongest riders will survive this attritional six-hour race.

Last year Garmin-Cervelo’s Johan Vansummeren took advantage of the fact that most of the favourites were focussed on negating 2010 winner Fabian Cancellara. As with the Ronde van Vlaanderen, most eyes will again be focussed on two-time winner Cancellara and three-time champion Tom Boonen. But others will also fancy their chances, not least Sky’s Juan Antonio Flecha, who has previously finished second, third (twice) and fourth, and has finished in the top ten in six of the past seven years.

Link: Official website

Brabantse Pijl (11th)

The least prominent of the Flanders Classics, the Brabantse Pijl includes a number of big-name winners among a varied winners’ list. Oscar Freire took three victories in a row between 2005 and 2007, while more recently Sylvain Chavanel (2008) and Philippe Gilbert (last year) have added the race to their palmares.

Brabantse Pijl is notable for being constantly undulating throughout its 194.9km length. The parcours features 28 small hills in total, with 20 coming in the final 61km. This provides the perfect battleground for adventurous puncheurs to launch constant attacks and counter-attacks on the never-ending gradients.

Link: Official website

Amstel Gold (15th)

Amstel Gold is a relatively young race – this year marks only its 47th running – but as the first leg of Ardennes Classics week it never fails to provide a thrilling finale. This year’s route starts as usual in the market-place in Maastricht and finishes at the summit of the Cauberg in Valkenburg 255.1km and 31 climbs later. However, the closing section has been tweaked slightly, reducing the distance between the penultimate Keutenberg climb and the Cauberg by nearly 3km to encourage attackers.

Notwithstanding the adjustment to the route, the parcours continues to favour punchy climbers. Philippe Gilbert, who has had a quiet start to 2012, will be seeking his third consecutive win, and previous winners include Damiano Cunego and Alexandre Vinokourov. Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez, second last year, is also likely to feature in the final selection.

Link: Official website

La Fleche Wallonne (18th)

The second of the three Ardennes Classics, Fleche Wallonne (the ‘Walloon arrow’) is relatively short for a Classic (around 200km) but is a typically hilly race which starts in Charleroi and finishes in Huy after three closing circuits, each of which concludes on top of the fabled Mur de Huy, a 1.3km, 9.3% beast which includes a number of sections of over 15%.

This was the second leg of Philippe Gilbert‘s Ardennes hat-trick last year, but no rider has successfully defended his crown here since Moreno Argentin in 1991. Recent winners include Cadel Evans (2010), Alejandro Valverde (2006) and, a little further back, a young pre-cancer Lance Armstrong (1996).

Link: Official website

Liege-Bastogne-Liege (22nd)

First run in 1892, Liege-Bastogne-Liege is the oldest one-day Classic and the fourth of the five European monuments. The race is a 250km-plus out-and-back blast from Liege to Bastogne and back, finishing in Ans. The outward leg is largely flat, with the second half featuring nine taxing climbs, all averaging at least 5% gradient and taking a cumulative toll on the legs, from the eye-watering 12.2% average of the punchy 1km Cote de Stockeu to the 1.2km, 8.3% Cote de Saint-Nicolas 5km from the finish. And if that isn’t enough, the final 1.5km is on a gradual incline.

A pair of Alexes, Alejandro Valverde and Alexandre Vinokourov, have each won twice in the last decade. Last year, of course, the race heralded the coronation of Philippe Gilbert, who won his third Ardennes Classic in the space of eight days. Fittingly, Gilbert comes from the small village of Remouchamps near the bottom of the Cote de la Redoute, the antepenultimate climb, so this is very much his ‘local’ race.

Link: Official website

Tour de Romandie (24th-29th)

As the name suggests, this six-day stage race is run in the Romandie region of Switzerland. Won last year by Cadel Evans en route to his victory at July’s Tour de France, the race is traditionally book-ended by a pair of time trials.

An opening 3.3km prologue in Lausanne is followed by a mix of medium mountains and flatter stages. However, the general classification will only really take shape on the final two days, with stage four featuring three first-category climbs before a concluding 16.2m time trial at Crans-Montana.

Link: Official website

Look out for full previews in advance of each race here on VeloVoices.

This month’s birthdays

A selection of the more notable birthdays in the peloton this month:

Frank Schleck celebrates his birthday on the same day as Amstel Gold, a race he won in 2006

15th: Frank Schleck, RadioShack-Nissan (32 years old). He may be overshadowed by younger brother Andy, but Frank remains a fine rider in his own right. His palmares includes four top-five finishes at Grand Tours, including third at the Tour de France just behind his brother last year. He can also claim overall wins at the Criterium International last year, the Tour de Suisse (2010) and Tour de Luxembourg (2009), as well as several top-three finishes in one-day Classics, including his breakthrough win at Amstel Gold in 2006.

22nd: John Gadret, AG2R La Mondiale (33). A former French cyclo-cross champion, Gadret has quietly built a solid road palmares as a climbing specialist. 2011 was his best year yet, winning a stage en route to a fourth-place finish at the Giro, which became third following Alberto Contador’s suspension.

23rd: Tony Martin, Omega Pharma-Quick Step (27). The reigning world time trial champion has had a quiet start with his new team, finishing second at the Volta ao Algarve (which he won in 2011). However, he should come to life over the second half of the season as we build towards the Grand Tours, the Olympics and then the World Championships.

24th: Rein Taaramae, Cofidis (25). The young Estonian all-rounder had a breakthrough season in 2011, finishing fourth at Paris-Nice and third at the Criterium International. He also enjoyed success at the Grand Tours, riding consistently to 11th at the Tour and winning the mountain stage at Lagos de Samiedo at the Vuelta.

28th: Bradley Wiggins, Sky (32). The triple Olympic gold-medallist crashed out of last year’s Tour after winning the previous month’s Criterium du Dauphine, denying him a potential podium finish. However, he has since added an impressive overall victory at last month’s Paris-Nice as he builds towards another tilt at one of the top three spots in Paris this year on a parcours which offers him greater opportunity to build an advantage in his time trial specialism than in recent years.

Also on the blog

We’ll be focussing primarily on the racing this month, with full race previews and reviews from April’s seven WorldTour events and other selected races.

Of course, we’ll still be doing our regular weekly features. Tweets of the Week will hit the blog each and every Tuesday. And we will still have our usual Friday Features, where you can be sure we’ll be reflecting back on the Classics in greater detail along with other topical thoughts.

Whether serious or light-hearted, VeloVoices is the place to come for all the latest cycling news and views!

What kind of race is it?

This 235km one-day classic, traditionally ridden on the Sunday before Ronde, is the most sprinter-friendly of the Belgian classics due to its flat finish – and certainly last year’s top five and a glance at the list of winners bears this out, although the 11 climbs doesn’t necessarily make a bunch sprint inevitable.

The most recent winners of the race are:

2007: Marcus Burghardt (T-Mobile)

2008: Oscar Freire (Rabobank)

2009: Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-Highroad)

2010: Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Columbia)

2011: Tom Boonen (Quick Step)

What happened last year?

Thomas Voeckler animated the race last year (image courtesy of team website)

Thomas Voeckler animated the race by leading a breakaway for most of the day, shedding riders out of his group one by one until he came to the second climb of the Kemmelberg alone. With the peloton only 40 seconds back, Peter Sagan of Liquigas made his move, which split the group and ensured that Voeckler was reeled back in by the peloton. Sagan continued to attack until he was able to get away in a little breakaway of his own, with teammate Maciej Bodnar, Ian Stannard from Sky and Sylvain Chavanel from Quick Step. Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Philippe Gilbert tried to bridge across but by this time HTC-Highroad was starting to stoke up their sprint train in order to get the peloton back together for a bunch sprint that would launch Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish, however, crashed, giving the breakaway group extra energy for the fight. However, once the peloton saw the four riders up the road in front of them, it was, as Paul Sherwen would say, “like a strawberry to a donkey” and the fantastic four were reeled in. It looked like Stannard, not Cavendish, would be across the finish line first, after taking another flyer off the front and passing under the flamme rouge alone, but his legs gave out before his hope, and the peloton swallowed him up and spat him out the back. With 150 metres to go, Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Cervelo opened up the sprint, only to see Tom Boonen and Daniele Bennati sweep past him to snatch first and second.

1. Tom Boonen (QuickStep)

2. Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek)

3. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo)

4. Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto)

5. Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale)

This year’s race

This year’s parcours has been increased by 30km from last year and runs along the coast into France before heading east to the finish in Wevelgem. It features 11 climbs, including the Casselberg twice, about halfway through the race, and the Kemmelberg twice nearer the end of the race. The final climb of the day is the Monteberg, a final chance for the non-sprinters to attack and get away, with just a little under 33km to race on the flat before the finish. With many of the E3 riders participating this year, it will be interesting to see the energy levels for attacks by the big men of the race who would not want the finish to end in a sprint.

Who to watch

Tom Boonen, hot from Friday’s victory, pins the number 1 onto his back and is supported by a strong Omega Pharma-Quick Step team, including Gert Steegmans and Stijn Vandenbergh. Boonen’s Classics rival Fabian Cancellara is back after his disastrous Friday, riding with his team’s sprint leader Daniele Bennati. Neither Boonen nor Cancellara will want a sprint finish so they might try something to distance themselves from the sprint trains. BMC’s Philippe Gilbert (still in the lineup as of posting although there’s speculation he’ll skip the race due to dental problems) and Thor Hushovd will be watching these two and making sure they’re with them if they do go.

Kitty's money is on Sagan for the win. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

As for the sprinters, Mark Cavendish is targeting this race so Sky will try to keep control, with Bernie Eisel and Edvald Boassen Hagen riding for the Manx Missile. Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), Oscar Freire (Katusha), Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda), Marcel Kittel (1t4i) and Lampre’s Alessandro Petacchi will be trying to derail the Sky train.

However, my wild prediction of the week is Liquigas’ Peter Sagan. He showed last year that he could get over the climbs quite handily and he was active in E3 on Friday so, for me, I think first over the line tomorrow will be SuperSagan.

E3 Harelbeke takes place on Sunday 25th March. For TV coverage check cyclingfans.com.

Link: Official website

It reminded me of the famous expression commonly attributed to former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli:

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.

He was a smart fellow, old Ben.

Frustrating? Yes. But it was also an exercise worth going through. Let me share the fruits of my labour with you, although readers who suffer from arithmophobia – the fear of numbers – might want to look away now.

The ‘win’ method

The most obvious starting point is to look simply at the number of wins earned by individual sprinters. Off the top of my head, here was my selection and their win record in 2011 (this total includes only individual stages and excludes jerseys or team time trials):

Sprinters' league table, ranked by 2011 wins (selected riders only)

On this basis, first-year pro Marcel Kittel should be regarded as the best sprinter in cycling, ahead of even Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel. Clearly this isn’t quite right.

Based solely on quantity of wins, Marcel Kittel would have been top of the sprinters' rankings in 2011 (image courtesy of 1t4i)

Although blessed with fantastic acceleration, the young German won just one stage at the very highest level, at the Vuelta. (Admittedly it didn’t help that his Skil-Shimano team weren’t invited to either the Giro or the Tour.) His four wins at the Tour de Pologne came against a relatively weak field, and most of his other victories came in minor races.

On the other hand Cavendish won seven times combined at the Giro and the Tour, claiming the points classification at the latter. There was also the small matter of his World Championship road race victory. There is truth in the numbers – Kittel is blisteringly quick – but better than Cav? No, not yet.

Similarly, I doubt any but the most blinkered of tifosi would suggest that Farnese Vini’s Andrea Guardini is on the same level as Greipel, despite sharing the same number of wins (11). Greipel beat Cavendish in a straight fight to win his first Tour stage last year, and has defeated all the top sprinters. By comparison Guardini achieved five of his wins at the Tour de Langkawi (which is not renowned for attracting big-name sprinters), with his only other notable win coming in the early-season Tour of Qatar.

Arguably the one rider who could claim to be closest to Cavendish was Peter Sagan, who recorded 13 wins. More of a power sprinter than a pure speedster, in the mould of a Thor Hushovd or an Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sagan won more stages (three) at the Vuelta than anyone else, and picked up most of his other wins in good quality races such as the Tour de Suisse. There’s certainly a strong argument for ranking him above Kittel, at the very least.

The WorldTour points method

Clearly the ‘win’ method is flawed because the true ranking of a sprinter should not be judged solely on the quantity of wins as the quality of the race and the opposition. This is where the WorldTour system – which awards points relative to how big the race is – should provide a fairer reflection. It does, but even then it is still flawed.

A quick examination of the 2011 WorldTour points table reveals that the rankings are rightly slanted towards those who are able to dominate the biggest multi-stage and one-day races: Classics master Philippe Gilbert topped the rankings, followed by Tour de France winner Cadel Evans and the ever-consistent climber Joaquim Rodriguez.

Not until we reach 11th position do we come across the first rider who could be even remotely considered a sprinter. But the leading fast-man isn’t Kittel, Cavendish, Sagan or Greipel – it’s Sky’s all-rounder Edvald Boasson Hagen. That’s the same Boasson Hagen who appears at the bottom of my previous table when ranked in terms of individual wins with seven – less than half the total of either Kittel or Cavendish.

WorldTour sprinter rankings (selected riders only)

Boasson Hagen's overall ability catapulted him to 11th in the rankings (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Why is this? It’s all to do with the way WorldTour points are allocated. Firstly, not every race on the 2011 calendar counted towards the rankings – indeed, only 27 did, split between stage races (14) and one-day Classics (13). This explains why both Kittel and Guardini feature so low down, as the majority of their wins occurred in non-ranking events – indeed, the latter did not register a single WorldTour point among his 11 wins.

Secondly, as mentioned above, points are weighted heavily in favour of overall race winners rather than those whose stock-in-trade is stage victories. So, for instance, Mark Cavendish’s five wins at the Tour de France netted him the same 100 points gained by Boasson Hagen for winning the relatively modest Eneco Tour.

Indeed, Boasson Hagen only gained points at three events all year, but he made them count: 112 at the Eneco Tour (including a first, second and third), 68 at the Tour de France (where he won two stages and had four other top-five placings), and a win at the Vattenfall Classics to net a further 80.

Farrar didn't have many big results, but they all counted (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Similarly Tyler Farrar was another who made his performances count. The perennial nearly man in the sprints – wherever you see the likes of Cavendish or Greipel raising their arms aloft in victory, Farrar is often to be seen coming in further back in the top five – he earned two of his five wins and all but four of his 108 points at three WorldTour events. A win and two seconds at Tirreno-Adriatico netted 14 points, while the bottom step of the podium at Gent-Wevelgem delivered a further 50. And at the Tour de France he finished in each of the top four places once: another 40 points. He will never be as prolific a winner as even Kittel or Guardini, but he wins (or at least places well) in the races that matter.

In many cases it’s possible for one big victory (or the lack thereof) to have a disproportionate effect on a rider’s ranking, which is why Andre Greipel languishes behind Matt Goss, Peter Sagan and even Tom Boonen. Goss earned nearly half his total by winning Milan-San Remo (100 points), Sagan gained more points by winning the Tour de Pologne (100) than he did from his three Vuelta stage wins (48), while one of Boonen’s paltry total of two 2011 wins came at Gent-Wevelgem (80 points).

Rojas earned a few points here, a few points there (image courtesy of Movistar)

Equally it’s possible to climb up the rankings by stealth without winning many races at all. Movistar’s Jose Joaquin Rojas had only three victories in 2011, and only one in a race of note: a stage at the Volta a Catalunya. However he also added two seconds, two thirds and a fourth in Catalunya to yield 19 points. By my count he also added 26 points at the Tour de France despite never finishing higher than third on any stage. Indeed, he picked up points consistently throughout the year without ever landing any big totals – enough to put him a more than respectable 54th in the overall rankings, 45 places above Kittel.

By comparison Cavendish, whose focus is on stage wins rather than overall victories, is disadvantaged by the fact that he can only accumulate his points in piecemeal fashion (and had a modest Classics season). So although his record of seven Grand Tour stages in 2011 was unparalleled, they ‘only’ earned him 132 points (5 x 20 at the Tour, 2 x 16 at the Giro). As for his World Championship win in Copenhagen, that netted him the grand total of zero points. [Go figure - Ed.]

Meanwhile Fabian Cancellara gained 230 points with two second and one third-place finish in the spring Classics. That’s not to downplay Cancellara’s remarkable consistency in any way, but it does highlight that a sprinter’s lot is not a happy one – at least in terms of being a rain-maker for WorldTour points.

Basically, when it comes to ranking sprinters, you can trust the WorldTour points system about as far as you can throw it.

So, what’s the score?

The WorldTour system works well for assessing the best riders overall. But although it’s far better than counting race wins alone, I do think it is weighted heavily against the sprinters and still doesn’t work when it comes to ranking them.

However you look at the stats, there's really no dispute who the number 1 sprinter in 2011 was (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

The heavily graded sliding scale used for allocating points for sprint stages rewards wins over consistency – a good thing. For instance, a Tour de France stage win is worth 20 points, followed by ten, six, four and two points down to fifth, which seems about right. But I can’t help but feel their importance is understated relative to minor stage races or even the one-day Classics. Is it really right that a Tour stage win is worth the same as eighth place at Milan-San Remo? Or that five wins in France is equivalent to fifth place overall, or winning the Tour of Beijing? I’m not sure the balance is quite right there.

And then there are the races that are missing. Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne is not as important as the Tour of Flanders, but is it right that victory in the former is worthless in terms of WorldTour points? And why are the Eneco Tour or the Tour of Beijing included, but the Tours of California or Langkawi not?

Having said that, I am probably safe in saying that Mark Cavendish cares not one jot about the fact he was only 30th in last year’s WorldTour league table. I doubt many would dispute Cav’s claim as the outstanding sprinter of 2011 – all he has to do is point to his rainbow and green jerseys and his bulging palmares. When you see him beating all his major rivals time and again at the Tour de France, you can throw point counts of the window.

However, there is another more serious point here. WorldTour points are an important form of currency further down the food chain. In a sport where the stipulated minimum annual salary for veteran riders is a Scrooge-like €30,ooo (£25,000) – and a significant proportion earn less than €100,000 – a few points here and there could make a massive difference to a rider’s earning potential. It’s tough at the bottom, and doubly so if you’re a sprinter, it would seem.

Like the man Disraeli said: lies, damned lies and statistics.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Today (Saturday) sees the 67th running of the Omloop Het Nieuewsblad – Omloop is the Dutch for ‘circuit’, while Het Nieuewsblad is a local newspaper – a hilly, cobbled Classic typical of the region.

The punishing 200.3km parcours follows a circuitous route through East Flanders, starting and finishing in Gent and taking in ten climbs and nine sections of flat cobbled kasseien or pavé. Much of it is run in either a northerly or southerly direction, which brings the added potential complication of crosswinds blowing in off the North Sea.

The two toughest hills – Leberg and Molenberg – are just 41km and 36km from the finish respectively. It is not so much the severity of the climbs as their relentless nature which will sap the legs of the riders: the last six ascents come in quick succession with just 33km separating hill five (Kruisberg) from the final Molenberg climb. The gradient here averages close to 10% and provides the perfect springboard for a speculative attack.

As for the pavé, the first few sections are interspersed between the final climbs, but the final four come after Molenberg in the final 31km of racing, with the last (Steenakker) barely 3km from the finish. It will make for a tense and bone-jarring conclusion to the race, with the order subject to sudden changes due to attacks and the ever-present threat of mechanical mishaps. It’s fairly typical for the attritional nature of the race to whittle the field down slowly, particularly if the weather is wet and wintry, and there is plenty of scope for either a decisive break or a regrouping to occur in the final 25km. Overall, Omloop is one of the least predictable – and therefore most exciting – of the one-day races, with several different scenarios possible.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race profile

Last year saw Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) and 2010 winner Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) go mano a mano in a successful two-man break, with the Dutchman edging out the Spaniard as the pair finished a minute ahead of the chasers.

Overall, although four of the five previous champions have been non-Belgians, the winners’ list reads like a who’s who of Belgian cycling, including such legendary names as Eddy Merckx, Freddy Maertens, Tom Steels and more recently 2006 and 2008 winner Philippe Gilbert. Indeed Belgian riders have won Omloop on 53 out of 66 occasions. The most recent winners are:

2007: Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas)

2008: Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux)

2009: Thor Hushovd (Cervelo)

2010: Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky)

2011: Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank)

Can Flecha repeat his 2010 success? (image courtesy of Sky)

This year’s winner could come from any of a large number of Classics specialists. Flecha has finished first and second in the past two editions, while Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) already has three wins to his name this season and will form a formidable one-two punch with teammate Sylvain Chavanel. Similarly Garmin-Barracuda can boast the duo of Johan Vansummeren, who knows his way over the cobbles having won last year’s Paris-Roubaix, and Heinrich Haussler, who was second to Flecha in 2010 and has also finished as runner-up at the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo.

It is probably a bit too early for Europcar’s Thomas Voeckler to feature, and the same is probably true for BMC’s King of the Classics Philippe Gilbert, who appeared to still be finding his form at the Tour du Haut Var last weekend. Should the race come back together in the closing kilometres, however, his teammate Greg Van Avermaet (winner of last year’s Paris-Tours) might fancy his chances in a sprint, as might Alessandro Ballan or Thor Hushovd. Langeveld is back to defend his title, with Rabobank teammate Matti Breschel also likely to feature.

Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Most of today’s participants will move on tomorrow (Sunday) to the 65th edition of Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, a race which – despite its title – never actually reaches the Belgian capital.

Although the 195km route features eight climbs, with most occurring in the second half of the race as the route sweeps back through the Ardennes, the last (Nokereberg) comes 53km from the finish, making a bunch finish likely. As a result, the winner is most likely to be a sprinter with the best combination of outright speed and ability to get over the hills.

The K-B-K route heads east before completing a figure-of-eight loop west to return to Kuurne

Like the Omloop, Belgians have traditionally dominated this race, although the last home winner was Tom Boonen, who captured his second title in 2009. The most recent winners are:

2007: Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic)

2008: Steven de Jongh (Quick Step)

2009: Tom Boonen (Quick Step)

2010: Bobbie Traksel (Vacansoleil)

2011: Chris Sutton (Sky)

Greipel is the obvious favourite for K-B-K (image courtesy of Lotto-Belisol)

Last year’s race saw Sky’s Chris Sutton triumph in a mass sprint ahead of FDJ’s Yauheni Hutarovich and Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Andre Greipel. All three return this year, with the 29-year old Greipel the hot favourite. The German has had a stellar start to the season, recording six wins already and showing off good climbing legs at the Tour of Oman last week.

Many of the sport’s other top quick men will be present here, including world champion Mark Cavendish and Tour of Qatar champion and two-time K-B-K winner Boonen, not to mention Rabobank’s Mark Renshaw and Matti Breschel and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda). Among others, watch out also for a pair of young guns in 1t4i’s John Degenkolb, a former understudy of Cavendish’s at HTC-Highroad, and BMC’s English sprinter Adam Blythe.

For live coverage of both races, check out cyclingfans.com.

Links: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad official website, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne official website

Peter Velits

In only its third edition, the Tour of Oman provided viewers with some nail-biting racing, plenty of tempting, scenic shots of coast and countryside, bike-friendly natives who turned out to support the racing and lots of cute kids riding bikes seemingly unable to control their trajectories. It’s an altogether more visual feast than the arid desert wastes of Qatar, and probably well worth a visit.

The field differed slightly from that of last week’s race in Qatar but nonetheless it was of a high quality – chock-full of top-class sprinting talent, Classics riders and stage racers all looking to hone their form ahead of more prestigious races in Europe.

Stage 1: Al Alam Palace to Wadi Al Huwqayn, 159km

Another win for Greipel (image courtesy of Tour of Oman)

Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) notched up his fifth win of the season, triumphing on stage one. He went into overdrive crossing the line ahead of Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha), Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda), Marcel Kittel (1t4i) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas).

Former teammate Mark Cavendish (Sky) finished further down the field having almost come to grief towards the end of the race into Wadi Al Huwqayn. He tweeted:

Not the best of days today. Ran off the road by Alexander Kristoff with 1200m to go. Shit happens.

A breakaway formed early in today’s largely flat stage. Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team), Pengda Jiao (Champion System), Alexandre Lemair (Bridgestone Anchor) and Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) quickly opened up a gap of around five minutes while Garmin-Barracuda led the chase, slowly reeling the last of them (Ignatiev) back in with 7km remaining.

Once they hit the finishing straight Greipel, fully recovered from the illness which saw him miss the Tour of Qatar, powered to the finish. Job done.

Stage 2: Sur to Wadi Dayqah Dam, 140.5km

Peter Sagan confirmed everyone’s expectations when he won this stage. A revitalised Baden Cooke (GreenEDGE) was second and Tom-Jelte Slagter (Rabobank) third. But both were defenceless in the face of Sagan’s dominance on a run-in which was too steep for the pure sprinters.

Peter Sagan opened his 2012 account on stage two (image courtesy of Tour of Oman)

After their two-hour boat trip to the start in the coastal town of Sur, a break was established early on comprising David Boucher (FDJ-Big Mat), Diego Caccia (Farnese-Vini), Martin Kohler and Klaas Lodewijk (both BMC), but they were never let far off the leash and Andre Greipel’s Lotto-Belisol team worked in earnest to bring them back into the fold.

Team Sky did a significant amount of work on the front in the final stretch but their efforts were dissipated in the general confusion as riders battled for position on the four bends between the red kite and the finish line. Peter Velits  tried to get the jump on Sagan but his travails came to naught before the final bend where Cooke slipped past overall leader Andre Greipel only to see a blur of lime green whizz past him on the left. At the finish Cooke said:

I jumped to the front with 300 to go. I was a bit over-geared but there was no way I was going to beat Sagan. He just came straight past me at about 280 to go. He’s freakishly talented, so it’s no disgrace to be beaten by that guy. He’s capable of anything.

Those with their sights on the bigger prize, such as Jakob Fuglsang (RadioShack-Nissan), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Vincenzo Nibali remained in contention.

Stage 3: Al Awabi (Al Alya) to Bank Muscat HQ, 144.5km

Marcel Kittel took the sprint in stage three (image courtesy of Tour of Oman)

Last year’s neo-pro sprint sensation Marcel Kittel claimed a confident win on stage three – his second of the season, well ahead of Andre Greipel, who was consoled with reclaiming the red leader’s jersey. Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ-Big Mat) landed another punch in third place, beating off the likes of Peter Sagan, Tom Boonen and Mark Cavendish.

It was Kittel’s team mates – showing their confidence in his abilities – who worked tirelessly, along with Sky, to pull back the day’s breakaway: Alexandre Lemair (Bridgestone-Anchor), Kevin Hulsmans (Farnese Vini), Vladimir Isaichev (Katusha) and Tour Down Under stage winner William Clarke (Champion System). Even so, Kittel had to fend for himself in the frantic final kilometre as the sprint trains disintegrated, and he launched his sprint from some way out into a light headwind.

At the finish Kittel said:

It was a big goal for me this year to ride in the big races against the top sprinters, and of course I’m very, very happy that it worked out already at the Tour of Oman. If you look at the start list, all of the big sprinters are here. Maybe not all in best shape, but it’s the beginning of the season for everyone.

Stage 4: Bidbid (Nafa’a) to Al Wadi al Kabir, 142.5km

Another sprint stage and another win for the in-form Andre Greipel who, despite being dropped on the last lap of the finishing circuit thanks to the efforts of Sagan and Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), fought his way back into contention and outmuscled Sagan. He also increased his general classification lead to six seconds.

Nacer Bouhanni before stage four (image courtesy of Tour of Oman)

A two-man breakaway went clear after a frantic first 10 km. On a hot and humid day, Stijn Vandenbergh (OPQS) and Klaas Lodewijk (BMC) were allowed to gain a lead of eight minutes before being chased down by RadioShack-Nissan on the steep climb up to Al Hamriya. That said, they were still two minutes ahead when they reached the closing circuit. With 26 km remaining RadioShack, assisted by Liquigas, continued to hunt them down.

Sagan, not realising that Greipel had regained the leading group, launched his bid for further glory 200 metres from the line but was unable to respond when passed by the German, who retained the leader’s jersey. French youngsters Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) and Nacer Bouhanni were respectively third and fourth.

Stage 5: Royal Opera House to Jabal Al Akhdhar/Green Mountain, 158km

Vincenzo Nibali, the ‘Shark of Messina’, said he was going to win this stage and he did – prescient or what? It was his first win for almost seventeen months and came after he attacked twice at the foot of Green Mountain, rather than on its steep slopes. In so doing, he managed to thwart the attempts of Peter Velits to take the stage but was unable to prevent the Slovak gaining control of the leader’s jersey by just one precious second.

Vincenzo Nibali proved strongest on Green Mountain (image courtesy of Tour of Oman)

Initially, the peloton had been happy to stay together in the face of a strong headwind on the road out of Muscat. A six-man break had a minor flurry in front while Katusha controlled the peloton to protect Joaquim Rodriguez’s ambitions. But Rodriguez was unable to match Nibali and Velits as they danced away on the lower slopes of the final 5.7km climb with Nibali putting in the decisive dig 4km from the finish.

Nibali’s move proved to be the moment of truth for some of the other GC contenders. Velits, Sandy Casar, Arnold Jeannesson (both FDJ-Big Mat) and Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) remained in contention while we said goodbye to the pretensions of Rodriguez and Jakob Fuglsang (RadioShack).

Afterwards Nibali, clearly a fan of the beautiful game, [What Italian isn't? - Ed] said:

A win is always beautiful and crossing the line first is something you can’t explain. “It’s like in football for a striker who hasn’t scored for a long time; when he does, it’s a bit of liberation.

Stage 6: Al Khawd to Matrah Corniche, 130.5km

Marcel Kittel notched up another gutsy win on the final stage’s sprint finish. But it wasn’t the main story of the day – that belonged to OPQS and Liquigas-Cannondale.

Peter Velits took overall victory (image courtesy of Tour of Oman)

Liquigas spent the first part of the course on the offensive trying, unsuccessfully, to wrest the advantage for Vincenzo Nibali, lying in second place overall by just one second. The team hunted down the day’s early break and tried in vain to use the wind to split the field. But OPQS deployed its troops to successfully defend Peter Velits’ slender advantage and was happy to allow a subsequent three-man break enough rope to collect the outstanding points on offer. However, with so many sprinters breathing down their necks, Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) and the Garmin-Barracuda duo of Johan Vansummeren and Christian Vande Velde were reabsorbed in the closing kilometres.

This was when Kittel’s Project 1t4i team came to the front of the peloton and paved the way for his second victory in Oman. Again he launched his sprint some way out on the slight downhill finish and carried Peter Sagan – who was riding his wheel – to second place.

Closing thoughts

Early season races are no longer used for training purposes. Teams want to hit the ground running at the start of the season, picking up points from day one. None more so than teams with points to prove – to the press and themselves. In its previous incarnation, Quick Step had a disappointing 2011, bested for once by the other Belgian squad, Omega Pharma-Lotto, who had the world number one rider Philippe Gilbert on its payroll. The teams have come together and lost Fast Phil but they’ve come racing out of the starting blocks: picking up wins and repairing reputations.

Likewise FDJ-BigMat, recently promoted back into cycling’s premier league, have already recorded wins with Nacer Bouhanni and Arnaud Demarre. Here Sandy Casar and Arnold Jeannesson were respectively fourth and fifth overall. The Germans may have bossed the sprints but there were no fewer than four Frenchmen in the top ten finishers, including Tony Gallopin, one of my ones to watch in 2012.

Interestingly, the riders from the Continental teams of Japan (Bridgestone-Anchor) and China (Champion System) more than held their own, including the rider followed by VeloVoices Gang Xu (Champion System), more steady as she blows  – finishing 40th overall – than Gung Ho. [You couldn't resist that, could you? - Ed.] 

Ramunas Navardauskas [a bit of a tongue twister for commentators! - Ed] was Mister Consistency: eighth in Oman, as he was in Qatar. Peter Sagan took the points jersey, Gallopin was the best young rider, Klaas Lodewijk won the combativity prize and the best team was RadioShack-Nissan.

After both Tours, I’d say that a number of riders were looking promising for forthcoming stage races such as Paris-Nice, others are simmering nicely with a view to La Primavera and the subsequent Classics, while some – only to be expected –  still have a way to go.

General classification

1. Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 21:32:02

2. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) +0:01

3. Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) +0:17

4. Sandy Casar (FDJ-BigMat) +0:21

5. Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ-BigMat) +0:30

6. Tom-Jelte Slagter (Rabobank) +0:30

7. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) +0:47

8. Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) +0:47

9. Thomas Lebas (Bridgestone Anchor) +0:50

10. Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) +0:52

Links: Tour of Oman preview, Tour of Oman official website

I can still function in regards to doing schoolwork but the best part is how well I will sleep after a hard ride.

The season is 2.5 weeks away and I’m waffling through the mentalities: “I’ll do great” or “I really hope I will do okay.” But I’m really not fretting as much as I thought I would. I guess since I have a bunch of other stuff going on right now, that keeps my mind of it.

I’ve been casually following the pro peloton so far this season, and I’ve got to say, the Tour of Oman Stage 1 race recap has got to be the best stage recap I’ve ever seen:

Greipel won it; I’m glad he’s doing well this season, he’s really tearing it up so far. He ended up out-kicking Tyler Farrar.

Now, Tyler Farrar is the only top-class American sprinter right now. I’d love to root for him, but, as I mentioned on twitter, he made some pretty nasty statements during the Tour of Qatar. I’m not really into riders that blast their management, so he’s off my (very extensive) “rooting for” list.

Qatar is a long way from being the most scenic race on the calendar. The parcours consists exclusively of pan-flat stages on long, straight highways scything through a featureless desert landscape. This uniformity is only occasionally interrupted by pristine conurbations or massive construction projects. But the field is always of a high quality, with sprinters and Classics riders well represented, as the flat courses and frequent crosswinds provide the perfect environment for honing techniques ahead of the bigger races to come. The race profile may be dull, but the racing is always intriguing and occasionally dramatic.

Stage 1: Barzan Towers to College of the North Atlantic, 141.5km

Boonen took his 19th victory in Qatar (image courtesy of Omega Pharma-Quick Step)

Lotto-Belisol’s Adam Hansen embarked on a long solo breakaway, but with all the sprinters’ squads eager to register a win he was easily chased down as several teams hustled to the front in the final kilometres.

The distinctive green-and-gold colours of Brazilian national champion Murilo Fischer (Garmin) led the way initially but Omega Pharma-Quick Step assumed control in the final kilometre, as first Francesco Chicchi and then Gert Steegmans provided the perfect lead-out for Tom Boonen to claim a two-length victory ahead of BMC’s Adam Blythe and Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan.

It was a confidence-boosting win for Boonen – his 19th victory in Qatar and second of 2012, matching his win total from an injury-hit 2011, as he explained:

Last year at this time I was struggling with pains in my left leg, which stemmed from the knee operation I had. That dragged on for months and then I broke bones in my hand in the [Vuelta]. Today all that is behind me and at last I am free from injuries.

Still recovering from a fever, world champion Mark Cavendish did not contest the sprint and finished quietly in the peloton, as did VeloVoices’ nominated rider, BMC’s Martin Kohler.

Stage 2: Lusail, 11.3km team time trial

Farrar missed out on the overall lead by a fraction of a second (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

The city of Lusail, which will host both the opening game and the final of the 2022 football World Cup, played host to the 11.3km team time trial.

Garmin-Barracuda set the early benchmark of 12:38 to put Tyler Farrar in contention for the race lead. They then had to wait as the other top teams tried – and failed – to match their effort.

Despite the presence of four-time time trial world champion Fabian Cancellara, RadioShack-Nissan were 14 seconds slower. Sky were faster, nine seconds down on Garmin but good enough for third-fastest overall. BMC, the team of Philippe Gilbert, Thor Hushovd and Martin Kohler, were eighth-fastest at 16 seconds.

But all eyes were on Omega Pharma-Quick Step, the last team to set off. They needed to finish within seven seconds of Garmin’s time to keep Boonen in gold and stopped the clock with just 0.03s to spare. However, with neither Tony Martin nor Levi Leipheimer present here, OPQS will be a force to reckon with in TTTs at the Grand Tours.

Stage 3: Dukhan to Al Gharafa Stadium, 146.5km

Cavendish opened his 2012 account in the rainbow jersey (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

This west-east stage across the middle of Qatar saw a four-man group establish a lead of nearly 5½ minutes. They were gradually reeled in over the second half of the stage, however, as Garmin drove the chase.

30km from the finish the peloton was split by strong crosswinds, with a group of about 35 riders jumping clear and swallowing up the breakaway. With GreenEDGE and Rabobank setting a brisk tempo at the front, the lead peloton stayed clear to the finish.

Having recovered from his pre-race illness, the rainbow jersey of Mark Cavendish lurked towards the back of the lead group, seemingly uninterested in contesting what was always going to be a disorganised sprint, with no one having a full lead-out available. Only in the final kilometre did Cavendish stealthily move up the line, shepherded by teammates Bernhard Eisel and Juan Antonio Flecha. Into a headwind on a slightly uphill finish, Boonen found himself at the front too soon, and despite being momentarily boxed in Cavendish took the long way round to win by 1¼ bike lengths. Boonen just managed to hold off GreenEDGE’s Lithuanian Aidis Kruopis to extend his overall lead.

As an unabashed Cav fan, it was a huge thrill to see the rainbow jersey at the head of the field to take his first win of 2012. The man himself seemed quite pleased too:

It’s incredible to win [in the rainbow jersey]. I said I wanted to make the jersey proud. You never really get the season going until you get that first win under your belt. So now it’s there I can hopefully get on a roll now and we can win some things.

Martin Kohler finished in the second peloton and ended the day 55th overall at 1:54.

Stage 4: Al Thakhira to Madinat Al Shamal, 144km

Cancellara's attack proved decisive in distancing Farrar (image courtesy of RadioShack-Nissan)

A great team effort by OPQS blew the peloton apart as they turned into a crosswind with 26km remaining, with about 20 riders successfully making the front group. However, it was a typically gutsy attack by Fabian Cancellara 5.5km out which allowed Tom Boonen to establish a decisive advantage in the overall classification.

Cancellara’s acceleration was initially matched only by Adam Blythe, with Boonen’s right-hand man Gert Steegmans gritting his teeth to pull his leader up to the front. With Tyler Farrar unable to reestablish contact, Nikolas Maes made it three OPQS riders as he too rode across the gap with 1t4i’s Tom Veelers. Blythe punctured to leave six to contest the finish.

With two teammates for company, the odds were always stacked in Boonen’s favour. Allthough Cancellara attempted to get the jump on him with a long burst for home, Boonen easily came over the top of him to win by several lengths, with Veelers edging out Cancellara for second.

Farrar finished 14 seconds back, but after time bonuses his deficit to Boonen widened from six to 31 seconds, effectively handing the Belgian overall victory barring a major problem. Martin Kohler finished with the bulk of the peloton 1:45 down.

Stage 5: Camel Race Track to Al Khor Corniche, 160km

Cavendish didn't need a lead-out to register his second win (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

After two wind-swept days this was a straightforward bunch sprint, albeit one marred by a crash in which Farnese Vini’s Filippo Pozzato broke his collarbone. The two survivors of the day’s five-man breakaway were swept up as they passed the 10km marker after a cat-and-mouse pursuit in which Tom Boonen’s OPQS team had deliberately slackened off to force other teams to commit men to the chase. It was a great example of the game-within-a-game that often goes unnoticed on flat stages.

In the closing kilometres, several sprinters’ teams jostled at the front. The veteran Robbie McEwen, however, missed out on the party as he punctured with 4km to go. Garmin-Barracuda took over around the final roundabout with 1.3km to go with, as usual, the Brazilian colours of Murilo Fischer to the fore.

However, we are accustomed to seeing the Garmin train disintegrate before the finish. Yet again they petered out and no one team was able to exert control on a rapid tailwind-aided run. In the hurly-burly the coolest head and hottest heels belonged to Mark Cavendish, who kicked 200 metres out and was able to sit up and cruise home ahead of the Liquigas pair of Daniel Oss and Peter Sagan.

The standings at the top of the GC remained unchanged, with Boonen retaining his 31-second lead over Tyler Farrar. Our man Martin Kohler finished safely in the peloton.

Stage 6: Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche, 120km

Kluge was confronted by a mad Manxman after inadvertently bringing Cavendish down (image courtesy of 1t4i)

20-year old Arnaud Demare (FDJ-Big Mat) claimed his first pro victory at the end of the 120km final stage on the Doha Corniche, but not before a dramatic crash felled Mark Cavendish 150 metres from the finish.

The peloton was in no mood to hang about on a day with an average speed of 51kph. The obligatory break – seven riders this time – was dispensed with 14km from home, and the sprinters’ teams took it in turns to drum out a fierce tempo on the front as they bore down on the finish. As the sprinters started their charge for the line, Cavendish appeared to touch wheels with 1t4i’s Roger Kluge before bumping into the back of Tyler Farrar and going down. Fortunately everyone else was able to avoid him, but the world champion collected a healthy dose of road rash for his troubles and later remonstrated angrily with Kluge. To be honest it looked like nothing more an innocent racing incident.

Meanwhile Demare was busy launching his sprint off the front of the bunch and won by a distance as Katusha’s Denis Galimzyanov nicked past a fading Mark Renshaw for second. Our man Martin Kohler finished 19th, just behind Tom Boonen, who ended an uneventful ride with his fourth overall Tour of Qatar victory. Congratulations, Tom. I’ll be kicking back this evening with a Belgian beer to mark your win. Mine’s a Kriek, by the way.

Closing thoughts

This was an absorbing race, even though Tom Boonen wore the gold jersey from start to finish and effectively cemented victory after stage four. The Belgian now has 20 stage wins and four overall victories in Qatar, and his early season form suggests he will be a serious contender in the Classics.

It was a great 2012 opening for Cavendish too. Sky haven’t got their lead-out train working yet – in reality they will never dominate as HTC-Highroad did – but Cav underlined that he can win in any situation, and his final-stage crash should not prevent him from contesting next week’s Tour of Oman. Juan Antonio Flecha‘s third place rounded off a good week for Sky, and he will now look to the Classics – in particular Paris-Roubaix.

Finally, most neutrals are always happy to see FDJ-BigMat doing well, and in Arnaud Demare they have a future star. Already the under-23 world road race champion – Cavendish junior, if you will – he has all the tools to develop into an accomplished multiple race-winner.

As for those who will leave Qatar licking their wounds, it is clear that – early-season timing notwithstanding – Rabobank’s Mark Renshaw is struggling to adjust to his new role. There is a world of difference between being the best in the world at starting your sprint at 600 metres and doing so at 200. His return of sixth, fourth, 11th and third places sums up his current difficulties. He will undoubtedly come good, but it will take time.

If the definition of madness is trying the same thing repeatedly and always getting the same result, then Garmin-Barracuda must be clinically insane. They didn’t have a bad week – they won the team time trial and Farrar was second overall – but they must be sick of spending so much time at the front in the final kilometres of flat stages, only to be swamped at the finish. At various times this week they effectively provided lead-outs for both Boonen and Cavendish, with Farrar floundering in their wake. So often the bridesmaid, never the bride.

Finally, VeloVoice’s adopted rider, BMC’s Martin Kohler, had a solid but largely uneventful week, finishing in 49th, 3:52 behind Boonen.

On to Oman next week …

General classification

1. Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 15:42:14

2. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda) +0:28

3. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) +0:33

4. Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) +0:34

5. Tom Veelers (Project 1t4i) +1:00

6. Mark Cavendish (Sky) +1:05

7. Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) +1:06

8. Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) +1:09

9. Aidis Kruopis (GreenEDGE) +1:10

10. Adam Blythe (BMC) +1:14

Links: Tour of Qatar preview, Tour of Qatar official website

What kind of race is it?

Like the host country itself, the six-day race is run over a pancake-flat parcours, with the vast majority of its stages geared towards sprint finishes. Indeed there is barely a speed-bump to be seen, let alone anything that would merit even the most generous definition of the word ‘hill’.

Boonen is a three-time winner in Qatar (image courtesy of Omega Pharma-Quick Step)

Having said that, the race is not without its difficulties. The desert heat provides good practice for the summer races ahead, while the flat, featureless expanses of land are frequently subject to crosswinds which will prepare the teams for the kind of conditions they may encounter in some of the spring Classics.

Nonetheless, the sandy highways of Qatar are tailor-made for a sprinter to win the overall. Tom Boonen has been victorious here three times, with the most recent winners being:

2007: Wilfred Crestkens (Quick Step-Innergetic)

2008: Tom Boonen (Quick Step)

2009: Tom Boonen (Quick Step)

2010: Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil)

2011: Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad)

What happened last year?

The 2011 edition opened with an ultra-short 2.5km prologue won by Rabobank’s Lars Boom on which several riders struggled on a sandy, slippery surface, most notably Mark Cavendish, who fell. However, time gaps here would ultimately prove irrelevant as the race was ultimately decided on the basis of end-of-stage sprint bonuses.

Tom Boonen won stage one to take over the race lead, but back-to-back sprint wins by Garmin-Cervelo’s Heinrich Haussler saw him assume pole position after stage three. However, Mark Renshaw won the following day to move into the overall lead, and he was comfortably able to defend his eight-second advantage as Farnese Vini’s Andrea Guardini took the laurels in the closing stage.

1. Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad) 15:31:04

2. Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) +0:08

3. Daniele Bennati (Leopard-Trek) +0:17

4. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) +0:26

5. Roger Hammond (Garmin-Cervelo) +0:38

You can find stage-by-stage summaries of last year’s race on my other blog, The Armchair Sports Fan, here.

This year’s race

As usual, the race comprises six largely short and punchy stages covering a relatively short distance of 724km, with only one day longer than 145km.

There is no prologue this year, but in its place we get a short (11.3km) team time trial in a circuit around Lusail, Qatar’s newest city, which will host both the opening game and the final of the 2022 football World Cup. Other than this, it should be bunch sprints all the way, unless a breakaway is successful in staying away (unlikely on Qatar’s long, straight roads) or the peloton is shattered by crosswinds.

The race will be contested by a strong field comprising 16 teams of eight riders each, including 11 of the 18 ProTeams.

Who to watch

Unsurprisingly, the provisional start list includes a glut of elite sprinters, but also several Classics riders who will be using the race to ease themselves into their 2012 campaigns.

World champion Cavendish will be a marked man (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

The sprint field is particularly mouth-watering, and arguably the strongest we will see outside of the Tour de France all year. Sky will be proudly displaying the rainbow jersey of world champion Mark Cavendish, who will be targeting at least one stage win. However, it is difficult to predict what shape he will be in so early in a season where he will want to peak in July for the Tour de France and Olympics. He has also been ill and reportedly had to miss training rides over the past day or two.

Massed against Cavendish, however, will be the combined might of Liquigas’ Peter Sagan (a triple stage winner at last year’s Vuelta), former HTC teammates Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and John Degenkolb (1t4i), Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Francesco Chicchi (fresh from two wins last week’s Tour de San Luis), former world champion Thor Hushovd (BMC), Garmin-Barracuda’s Tyler Farrar and Farnese Vini’s Andrea Guardini (winner of last year’s final stage). Sadly Lotto-Belisol’s Andre Greipel, who dominated the sprints at the recent Tour Down Under, will be absent due to illness.

Expect Cancellara to be prominent in the team time trial (image courtesy of RadioShack-Nissan)

As if that isn’t enough, three-time overall winner Tom Boonen (OPQS) also makes a welcome return to Qatar [Jack will be pleased - Ed], along with Classics demons Philippe Gilbert, Thor Hushovd (both BMC) and Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan) [is that the sound of Kathi being slapped with a restraining order again? - Ed], 2011 Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Vansummeren (Garmin) and the never-shy but soon-to-be-retiring Robbie McEwen (GreenEDGE).

In addition, VeloVoices readers randomly selected number 24, BMC’s Martin Kohler, as our rider to watch during this race. The reigning Swiss national time trial champion is in his fourth season with BMC and will be an important cog in the BMC machine during Monday’s team trial. More generally, he will be tasked with looking after senior teammates Hushovd and Philippe Gilbert.

The general classification will probably be influenced but not determined by the short team time trial. It is more likely that the most consistent sprinter in the other five stages will win the overall, but with as many as ten men able to stake a reasonable claim to winning a bunch sprint it should be a fiercely competitive race. Do not be surprised if some of the young bucks upstage the old hands, with different riders at different levels of form this early in the season.

Race details

February 5th: Stage 1 – Barzan Towers to Doha Golf Club, 142.5km

February 6th: Stage 2 – Lusail, 11.3km team time trial

February 7th: Stage 3 – Dukhan to Al Gharafa Stadium, 146.5km

February 8th: Stage 4 – Al Thakhira to Madinat Al Shamal, 144km

February 9th: Stage 5 – Camel Race Track to Al Khor Corniche, 160km

February 10th: Stage 6 – Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche, 120km

The Tour of Qatar starts on Sunday 5th February and ends on Friday 10th. Daily live coverage and highlights will be shown in the UK by British Eurosport.

Links: Tour of Qatar official website

Riders and teams to watch in 2012

Which riders do we expect to see dominating in the big races this year?

Jack: In the classics, I think that it’s going to be Philippe Gilbert once more dominating, as he did last year. As for the Grand Tours, it really is anyone’s guess if Alberto Contador isn’t permitted to race. I think that if he is allowed to participate, we can expect to see him not make the same mistake he made last year of riding the Giro, and I imagine that he’ll be back to winning ways in the Tour.

Could Basso win another Grand Tour? (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

If he isn’t allowed to race, then it really is wide open. Of course the Schlecks are the obvious choice, but other veterans such as Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali can’t be ruled out, as well as the young guns such as Rein Taaramae and Pierre Rolland. It really would be wide open.

Tim: For sure, so much depends on the fate of Contador. If he is cleared he will win wherever he rides, but no way will he attempt the Giro-Tour double again. If he is banned, I agree we will see the most open competition at the Grand Tours since the pre-Armstrong era.

Phil Gil is definitely the obvious tip for the spring classics, but I expect Cancellara to push hard too. I have a sneaky feeling Tyler Farrar may focus more on the less hilly classics this year. And let’s see if Tom Boonen can bounce back too.

I think the sprints will be much more open too. Sure, Cavendish and Greipel will be right up there as usual, but look out for Peter Sagan, Marcel Kittel and, of course, Cav’s former teammates Matt Goss and Mark Renshaw.

Sheree: In 2011, seven of the eight monuments and Grand Tours were won by first-timers, a trend I’d like to see continue in 2012. Obviously, those that shone last year will continue to do so this year but I hope the young guns are going to make it a bit trickier for them.

Kathi: Philippe Gilbert. He’s just going to try to gobble up the road in every race he’s in and be successful in the vast majority of them. I love him for that – he’s someone who rides with joy and guts and just that hint of madness. It’ll be fun to watch him this year.

Which up and coming riders should we be watching out for this year?

Tim: There is a clutch of up-and-coming sprint talent who will all feature this year, such as the German pairing of Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb, but I’m looking for breakthrough seasons by two young Rabobank riders: Bauke Mollema (25) and Steven Kruijswijk (24). Both are talented climbers who recorded top ten finishes at a Grand Tour last year (Kruijswijk was ninth at the Giro, Mollema fourth at the Vuelta).

Kathi: I’m starting to get a bit of a crush on Marcel Kittel so I’ll be keeping an eye on him.

Can the punchy Sicard break through in 2012? (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Sheree: I’m going to be keeping an eye on a number of different riders who have shown promise. I’ll be hoping that 2012 is going to be their breakthrough year. We’re talking Romain Sicard at Euskaltel, Rafael Valls at Vacansoleil and Tony Gallopin at Radioshack-Nissan.

Jack: I agree with Tim, Marcel Kittel really looks the part in the sprints. As for the Grand Tours, I think that the aforementioned Taaramae and Rolland are very exciting, as well as Saur-Sojasun’s French prospect Jerome Coppel.

Tim: Taaramae’s a good shout, Jack. He particularly caught my eye at the Criterium International where he put in a great all-round performance, and at 24 he is only going to get better.

Which riders will we each be following and writing about, and why?

Tim: I’ll be following a trio of sprinters throughout the 2012 season: world champion and Tour de France green jersey Mark Cavendish, Liquigas’ Peter Sagan (a triple stage-winner at the Vuelta) and 1t4i’s Marcel Kittel (who won 18 races last year, a record for a neo-pro). Kittel may not challenge consistently at the highest level, but I suspect Sagan will surprise a few people by taking some major scalps.

Sheree: I’ll be following a rider who polarises opinion. Love him or hate him, he’s an exciting rider to watch and he generates plenty of column inches. It’s Astana’s own Alexandre Vinokourov riding it what might, or might not, be his last season.

Kathi: Sheree, I’m on the love side for Vinokourov …

Sheree: Providing he’s exonerated, I’ll be following newly-wed Alberto Contador to more Grand Tour glory. If he isn’t, I’ll be keeping tabs on the returning Alejandro Valverde: he of the dimpled chin and no longer receding hairline.

My third rider is AG2R’s Nico Roche. After, rescuing a disappointing season with a stage win in the Tour of Beijing, will this be the year when he reaches the upper echelons of the sport and confounds his critics? I sincerely hope so.

Kathi: Do I have to say his name? Spartacus. [Fabian Cancellara – Ed] Why? Because he’s just a locomotive of a rider, so strong, so hungry for victory, so selfless in the Tour when he and Jens are tearing the peloton apart for the Schlecks. He wears his success lightly, he feels the defeats deeply but understands that, hey, that’s sport. Sometimes you lose. A gracious, classy rider with a killer instinct.

What does Robbie's final season hold? Image courtesy of cyclingnews.com

The other rider is Robbie McEwen. I’ve always loved him – he just comes out of nowhere to steal sprints and he has a swagger and humour that’s fun. Also, because he’s going to be retiring mid-way through the season, I’m interested in his transition from rider to management at GreenEdge.

Jack: The first rider which I will be following is Philippe Gilbert. He’s the best rider in the world at the moment, and being a massive classics fan he’s always there or thereabouts at the business end. Also, the fact that he’s moving to BMC and faces stiff competition from other classics riders such as Thor Hushovd and Greg Van Avermaet add to the intrigue.

The second rider who I will be following is Koldo Fernandez. Like Sheree, I’m a big Euskaltel-Euskadi fan, and not many of their Basque riders leave the outfit, and if they do, it’s usually to another Spanish team such as Movistar. That’s why I’ve found the switch of sprinter Fernandez to Garmin so interesting, and I look forward to seeing how he performs on a bigger stage.

The third rider is Yoann Offredo. Not only does he ride for my favourite team (FDJ), but he’s also a very talented young classics rider. He finished 4th at last year’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and 7th in Milan-San Remo. Tragically he had to withdraw from participating in the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix with a foot injury. Let’s hope he regains that form ahead of those races this time around! [This was written before the news of Offredo's possible suspension for three violations of the whereabouts rules. It remains to be seen whether he will be handed a suspension. Our suspicion is that he will have one of his three strikes written off and will be permitted to race - Ed.]

Which team(s) will we each be following, and why?

Tim: It’s GreenEDGE for me. Partly because Australia is my adopted second country ever since I married a half-Aussie. And partly because I will always have a soft spot for the pugnacious Robbie McEwen. For a brand new team, they have a strong Australian-dominated roster full of tremendous potential. And Matt Goss, who may just turn out to be the biggest threat to Cav’s pre-eminence.

Sheree: They’re a bit of an anachronism, they’ve got a small budget, everyone on the team weighs less than me, they’re the longest surviving ProTour team, Sammy Sanchez rides for them, orange is my favourite colour for accessories and, according to the Pantone Color Institute, Tangerine Tango is the colour of 2012. Yes, I’m following the Carrots [Euskaltel-Euskadi – Ed] and will be spending hours ploughing through articles written in Basque to bring you the latest news.

Kathi: BMC – Gilbert, Hushovd, Evans … I’ll be interested in the dynamics particularly between Gilbert and Hushovd and then how Evans works with all of them as well, as I reckon all three will be in the Tour. It’ll be fascinating …

Jack: The team I’ll be following in 2012 is FDJ. Aside from their lovely jersey, they’re back in the WorldTour after a year out. I love how the French underdogs are constantly attacking, and quite frequently manage the odd stage win here and there. With the likes of Jeremy Roy and Yoann Offredo racing, 2012 promises much for this team, and I look forward to seeing how they perform against the big boys.

Any other personal favourite teams or riders?

Sheree: This is a tricky one. I find it difficult to restrict myself to just one rider or team. Call me greedy but it’s like letting a kid loose in a candy shop. It’s all those bright colours. Let’s just say that my favourite riders are those that weigh more than me. It’s a select group, although growing in number. However, there’s some riders who are just never going to become members. We’re talking Joaquim Rodriguez, Jose Rujano, Amets Txurruka. Sorry guys!

Everyone loves little Tommy Voeckler, right? (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Jack: I’m like Sheree, I honestly like most riders in the peloton. Aside from Roy, Offredo and Gilbert, I like Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel and, of course, fan favourites Thomas Voeckler and Jens Voigt. As for the Grand Tours, I’m afraid I’m really boring and cheer on Alberto Contador. I love his attacking style, and how he never fails to animate a race. I still remember his incredible rise to prominence in winning the 2007 Tour, and I’ve been a fan since then. I sincerely hope that he’s not found guilty of doping, or I’ll have to find a new GC favourite – probably Frank Schleck or Vincenzo Nibali.

Tim: Aside from the usual suspects – Jens, Tommy, Thor Hushovd – I’m really keen to see how Sky’s young sprinter Ben Swift develops. I also have a soft spot for Matt Goss, who I first saw in the flesh winning a stage of the Tour of Britain in Newbury in 2008.

Kathi: I’ll be watching Geraint Thomas – I think he’s a brilliant rider and one who can develop into being one of the big men of the peloton. He just has that fierce joy for riding that Jens Voigt has – he looks like he loves every minute of it and wants to go berserk every chance he gets. It’s a shame he’s on Team Sky as I just can’t stand that team so I’m conflicted about my love for Thomas. I hope they let him loose to race for himself on a couple of stages in the Giro. In fact, I’m going to make him the third rider I’ll follow.

Tim: I think that’s covered everything. We’ll have to do a review at the end of the year to see how bad our predictions were! In the meantime, I’ll see you all on the blog and at the next round-table. Assuming I’m organised enough to arrange it, that is!

If you would like to add your voice to the discussion, please feel free to add a comment below. And look out for more round-table discussions over the course of the season.

Round-tables:

2011 in review

Movers and shakers for 2012

Races to watch in 2012

Now that you’ve read What’s Up with Race Day Scruff?, vote for your favorite pro-cyclist scruffy look. You may vote for up to three candidates, including a write-in for those not shown. The poll is open until and including December 7th and the top five will be posted after voting closes.

Scruff-A-List Candidates

George Hincapie (Zoe-Rochelle photo)

(Zoe-Rochelle, Flickr)

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Laurens ten Dam in Golden (Bob Pearce, City of Golden photo)

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Tom Boonen (cxfan photo)

Jack Bauer (Joolze Dymond photo)

(http://www.joolzedymond.com)                      (http://www.peerproductions.be)

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(http://www.joolzedymond.com)

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Jens Voigt (Melissa German photo)

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Thor Hushovd (Joozle Dymond photo)

Fabian Cancellara (Laurie Beylier photo)

(Laurie Beylier, Flickr)                              (http://www.joolzedymond.com)

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Lucas Euser (Mary Topping photo)

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Daniel Schneider (Daniel Schneider photo)

Tyler Farrar (Laurie Beylier photo)

(Laurie Beylier, Flickr)

(Dan Schneider is an elite cyclist with Team Type 1)

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Denis Menchov (via velolive.com)

(Velolive.com: “Menchov Ready for Giro d’Italia)

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Erik Slack (D'Andrea Worrall photo)

Vincenzo Nibali (Fan club photo)

Fan Club Nibali

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[Many thanks to everyone who provided permission for photos for this story, and those who allow photo-sharing via Flickr.]

Scenario #1: Despite it being a fairly flat course, a fairly large group of strong riders (think Philippe Gilbert, Sylvain Chavanel, Fabian Cancellara, etc.) ends up outlasting a tiring peloton and contests the final km of the race by attack after attack. This is how I’d like to see the race unfold: a classics-type finish. Probability: Not Very.

Scenario #2: The peloton stays mostly together, then the American, Australian and UK teams take up the baton for leading out the mass sprint for their sprinters Tyler Farrar, Matt Goss, and Mark Cavendish (respectively). A big name sprinter wins and gets to show off the jersey in a plethora of bunch sprints in the next season. Probability: Pretty Decent.

Scenario #3: The rollers and regular attacking results in a reduced peloton where the big sprinters find themselves isolated from a lot of their team. The uphill finish causes the pure sprinters to burn out early, while one of the better uphill sprinters (think Thor Hushovd, etc.) takes the glory. Probability: Moderate.

While I’d love to see a non-sprinter win from a successful attack, I would also like to see a relatively no-name rider take the win out of a chaotic bunch sprint. Without doubt I will tune in to the entire adventure next Sunday!