2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 2

May 6, Stage 2: Herning 206km

Cavendish sprints to stage 2 Giro d'Italia victory

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-2/results)

Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) won the second stage of the 2012 Giro d'Italia, taking a small group sprint. A crash on the final corner split the peloton, with only the top sprinters coming through to the end. Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) was second, and Geoffrey Soupe (FDJ-Big Mat) was a surprise third.

Taylor Phinney (BMC) successfully defended his leader's jersey, but had to work hard at the end. He dropped his chain after a crash with 8km to go, and had to make up a 30-second gap to get back to the field.

"I just found myself on the ground, having touched wheels and lost balance," he said. "Then I couldn't get my chain back on. So I kind of made a second prologue effort. I was quite scared there for a second that I was going to lose the jersey."

Teammates Alessandro Ballan and Danilo Wyss brought him back to the field with 4.6km to go.  “I had a lot of adrenaline going," he said.

Cavendish praised his team, as always, starting with Ian Stannard, who “did 150 kilometres alone reeling in the break – he did incredible.”

Going into the finale, “Everybody handled it well and we stayed together as a team. I was really looked after at the finish and kept sheltered. Geraint took me perfect and went exactly when he was supposed to. I was able to come off him and win the stage so I'm very, very happy."

A trio in the break

As expected, a break got away early on this cool day. Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini), Olivier Kaisen (Lotto Belisol) and Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giacattoli-Venezuela) took off and quickly built up a huge lead. The gap topped out at 13:15 with 145km to go.

The field was relaxed on this first road stage of the Giro, and took its time with the chase. Sprinters' teams Rabobank, Orica-GreenEdge and Sky shared the work at the head of the peloton with BMC riding protectively around race leader Phinney.

The stage actually featured a climb, ranked category 4, small but still enough to establish the first king of the mountains. Balloni attacked out of the three-man group, followed by Rubiano, and took the points which would give him the mountains classification jersey at the end of the day.

The gap continued to drop and the peloton crossed over only some five minutes later. With 60km to go, it had dropped all the way to barely two minutes.

Sky was often to be seen at the front of the field, with Cavendish's world championship rainbow stripes in the first row. A crash near the the rear of the field took a handful of riders down, as the gap hovered around the 30-second mark.

Within seconds after crossing under the 40km banner, the field caught the three escapees - rather early, for a mass sprint stage. So, of course, the next attack came almost immediately, from Danish rider Lars Ytting Bak (Lotto Belisol).

Bak had built up a gap of 44 seconds with 30km to go, and that was about as high as it got. The peloton was perfectly willing to let him go it alone in the wind, but was careful not to let the gap grow too big and brought it down to around the 30 second mark.

Eventually Bak realized he wouldn't be soloing in to a stage win, and relaxed. Just before the 17km marker, he was absorbed back into the field. Sky stayed at the head of things, with Astana close behind them.

A messy ending

With only 8km to go, Phinney saw his dreams starting to go down the drain. He dropped his chain, and it seemed like it took forever until help came and got it fixed. He was over 30 seconds down and had to push it to the limit to get back to the peloton. Teammate Danilo Wyss dropped back quickly to help pull the maglia rosa back to the main group. Finally, three teammates escorted him into the field and then up to the front again.

Garmin-Barracuda had meanwhile taken charge of the lead work, and the sprinters' teams started lining up with 3.5km to go.

Garmin-Barracuda opened the sprint, with GreenEdge taking over. A crash took out most of the field with about 150m to go and split the field, leaving the sprint to a handful of riders. Cavendish didn't really need the advantage, as he waited for the right timing and pulled through a hole to claim the victory.

The crash happened just after the final curve leading into the finish, when Theo Bos' wheel slipped away. He flew into Katusha's Alexander Kristoff, who was launched into the barrier, but eventually crossed the finish line with blood dripping down his face.

Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky Procycling	4:53:12
2	Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
3	Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
4	Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Barracuda
5	Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
6	Mark Renshaw (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team
7	Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team
8	Daniele Bennati (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
9	William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
10	Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling

2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 1

May 5, Stage 1: Herning (ITT) 8.7km

Phinney wins 2012 Giro d'Italia opening stage

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-1/results)

Taylor Phinney (BMC) powered his way to the first maglia rosa of the 2012 Giro d'Italia, blowing away the rest of the field in the opening time trial. He covered the 8.7km course in only 10:26. Second place went to Geraint Thomas (Sky) at 10:35, with Danish rider Alex Rasmussen of Garmin-Barracuda third at 10:39.

It was a sunny but cool day, and the wind didn't have the expected effect. Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) set an early best time of 10:48. He stayed atop the board for a long time, but finally the times started tumbling.

Within only few minutes, Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank) and Geraint Thomas (Sky) topped his times, only to have Phinney, a former U23 time trial world champion, cruise in with his phenomenal time.

The race of truth

If the time trial is cycling's race of truth, then an 8.7km Grand Tour prologue is more of a brief physiology lab test carried out in the open air, in full view of the public and the media. Worse, on the flat, cold and windy roads around suburban Herning, all the Giro's general classification contenders could hope to do was limit their losses to each other and pray that they didn't crash.

The pre-race chatter was all about how there were no obvious favourites for the 2012 Giro, and it's safe to say that the Danish prologue hasn't provided much in the way of enlightenment.

What can you deduce from a prologue? A little but not a lot, especially in a race as hard to predict as the Giro. But, to be fair, we did learn that - barring physiological miracle or acts of God - neither Frank Schleck (RadioShack), Damiano Cunego (Lampre) or Michele Scarponi (Lampre) are going to win, which is something.

In as much as the BMC team had come to the Giro having endured a less than ground-shaking Classics season, Phinney's convincing winning ride - nine seconds clear of Thomas - was probably the best thing to have happened to the team in 2012.

In fact, scratch the "probably", it was the best thing to happen to the team this season by miles. It was, after all, BMC's first big win of 2012 (no disrespect to the Giro di Toscana win of an eager looking Alessandro Ballan, 34th at 39 seconds here).

It was a great day for Phinney. The last time an American took the leader's jersey in the Giro was back in 2008 when Christian Vande Velde claimed it for Slipstream Chipotle after the team time trial. Prior to that, of course, Andy Hampsten wore it all the way to the finish back in 1988, although Phinney isn't going to manage that, but there's no reason why he shouldn't hold on to it for a few days if the team has the desire.

So who was the "winner" among the GC riders? Who "won" the prologue among the riders looking to get on the box in Milan? Well, hands up who predicted Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin? Is it still worth saying he's an ex-mountain biker? Or Canadian? What is worth pointing out is that he rode a rear disc and a medium depth front wheel in the gusty conditions and he rode the flat course utterly committed. For a rider not noted for his Grand Tour prologue skills, it was a great effort and suggests that his form is headed the right way at the right time. If Hesjedal doesn't finish in the top 10 by the time the race reaches Milan, we'll be surprised, eh?

Another (small) surprise was provided by Roman Kreuziger (Astana). The young Czech rode perfect lines through some of the faster corners, his body language suggesting that he was on a mission. High corner speeds, using all of the road on the corner exits, he looked smooth and determined. Although he was ‘only' 28th at 36 seconds, he was a scant seven seconds behind Hesjedal. There was a strong team showing from Astana too, a bunch of stern-faced hard men who know that they are there to help young Roman.

Ivan Basso (Liquigas) didn't look comfortable or fast and was clearly giving it his all. In light of his poor early season campaign, his 35th at 39 seconds was better than many would have predicted on such a course. Maybe Basso has timed his season build-up perfectly after all?

But what was more revealing were the gaps that Hesjedal, Basso and Kreuziger put into Frank Schleck, Damiano Cunego and Michele Scarponi. Although those time gaps are small, the times reveal more about form than the slim few seconds might suggest. How do you look at a loss of 30 seconds in eight kilometers and convince everyone it doesn't mean anything?

Lampre's Scarponi, wearing the maglia rosa from 2011 that he collected late, so to speak, following Alberto Contador's disqualification, was about as impressive as fellow Lampre man Damiano Cunego, one as unconvincing as the other, which should be great for morale and team talks around the Lampre dinner table. Cunego looked as though he was riding through treacle, clogging along in low revs and low speed to finish 124th at 1-03. It was still better than the defending maglia rosa, with Scarponi 135th, a further three seconds slower than Cunego.

Perhaps Schleck, Cunego and Scarponi really will need time to ride themselves into the race. You suspect however, by the time that happens, the GC battle will be even further up the road and they'll be hunting for stage wins rather than Milanese podiums.

Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team	0:10:26
2	Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:09
3	Alex Rasmussen (Den) Garmin - Barracuda	0:00:13
4	Manuele Boaro (Ita) Team Saxo Bank	0:00:15
5	Gustav Larsson (Swe) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team	0:00:22
6	Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin - Barracuda
7	Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team	0:00:23
8	Marco Pinotti (Ita) BMC Racing Team	0:00:24
9	Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack-Nissan	0:00:26
10	Nelson Oliveira (Por) RadioShack-Nissan	0:00:27

Paris-Roubaix 2012

I know I've been gone awhile, missed a few races. Between work and my personal life, I haven't had much time. So much has gone on these past few weeks, but hopefully I'll be around more.

Anyway, here is the results for the 2012 Paris-Roubaix:

Boonen triumphs at Paris-Roubaix

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/paris-roubaix/results)

Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) rode into the record books with a dominant solo victory at Paris-Roubaix. The 31-year-old Belgian rode the final 52km alone to win by 1:39 over a five-man chase group led across the finish line in the Roubaix velodrome by Sébastien Turgot (Europcar). Alessandro Ballan (BMC) rounded out the podium for third place in a photo-finish with the Frenchman.

With the victory Boonen equals Roger De Vlaeminck's all-time win record of four victories in the Hell of the North, and for the second time in Boonen's career he's claimed the Tour of Flanders/Paris-Roubaix double in the same season.

"I was not really thinking about the winning race or doing a record," Boonen said. "I was just fighting myself. I was taking it step by step, cobblestone by cobblestone, kilometer by kilometer. I think if you start thinking about the 60 or 57 km, which is when I left, it's nearly impossible. It is all in your mind. I was really thinking about my lead. With the gap at 30 seconds I was trying to take it second by second. I was trying not to push it right away to one minute, tried not to force myself. It was the best way to save my strength and put all my strength into the 50km in front of me. I think it was the best option.

"The velodrome finish line, it's the only one where you can do two laps where all the people are," continued Boonen. "It's the only finish line where you have one kilometre where you can bond with the people that are there. It's just just such a special race. Paris-Roubaix, only one race like it in the world. A race like this needs a special finish. I think changing this finish line would be very stupid. It's almost more Paris-Roubaix — finishing here — than the cobblestones. I was really enjoying my two laps."

Runner-up Turgot was delighted with the result as he realised that Boonen was out of reach on Easter Sunday. "I don't realise yet how huge the performance is that I achieved," Turgot said. "I did some track and that certainly helped me in the sprint. Boonen was too strong. It was almost a miracle what he did, it was super nice," Turgot said.

A sunny, dry day for Paris-Roubaix

Right after rolling out of sunny Compiègne the attacks came thick and fast as riders sought to make the early escape. A huge group of 25 rider wasn’t allowed much distance as the peloton kept riding at high speed. Finally, after 70km of fast-paced, aggressive racing, a group of 12 riders rolled off the front and the peloton let them go. The group consisted of Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack-Nissan), Kenny De Haes (Lotto-Belisol), Frederik Veuchelen and Bert Jan Lindeman (Vacansoleil-DCM). David Boucher (FDJ-Big Mat). Michael Morkov (Team Saxo Bank), David Veilleux (Team Europcar), Dominic Klemme (Argos-Shimano), Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun), Aleksejs Saramotins (Cofidis) and Grischa Janorschke (Team NetApp).

The pace in the peloton dropped off after covering the first two hours at a rapid 48km/h clip and as a result the 12 escapees gained a lead of four minutes in no time. Sky and BMC worked in the peloton to keep the gap under five minutes as they didn’t have a man in the lead group.

The break's advantage over the peloton remained the same until the riders hit pavé section 21, Aulny-lez-Valenciennes – Famars. In front Saramotins flatted but near the front of the peloton there was a crash. Many riders were held up by those who hit the deck and blocked the road. The biggest casualties were Dutchmen Tom Stamsnijder and Tom Leezer. French veteran Fréderic Guesdon (FDJ-Big Mat) and young prospect Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) were also hindered by the crash and they failed to come back to the peloton.

Arenberg forest looms large

The Sky team led the peloton at high speed towards the Arenberg forest with its notorious, grueling pavé sector. The passage started dramatically as in front Janorschke crashed hard, taking Popovych and Van Keirsbulck down with him. In the peloton top favorite Tom Boonen set the pace, soon to be helped by teammate and French champion Sylvain Chavanel.

At the back of the peloton outsiders like Grégory Rast (RadioShack-Nissan) and George Hincapie (BMC) suffered flats. Once out of the forest eight riders remained in the lead with less than two minutes on the peloton. The eight surviving riders from the early break included Boucher, Veuchelen, Lindemann, Morkov, Veilleux, Klemme, Mangel and Saramotins.

After the Arenberg forest several attacks were launched from the peloton and suddenly Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) was up the road together with Alessandro Ballan (BMC), Jimmy Casper (AG2R-La Mondiale), Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ-Big Mat), Sébastien Turgot (Europcar) and Maarten Wynants (Rabobank). The six collected half a minute on the peloton but on pavé section 14 Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) took a strong pull to lead the peloton back to the six in the chase group. With such aggressive racing from the peloton the breakaway group didn’t stand a chance and at the feed zone, with 68km to go, there was a complete regrouping in front.

Omega Pharma-QuickStep goes long

During this tactical moment in the race Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) profited to sneak away with fellow French riders Mangel, Ladagnous, Turgot plus Switzerland's Michael Schär (BMC) ahead of pavé section 12 in Orchies. Turgot blasted away on the cobbles from the lead group when Chavanel flatted. Meanwhile, in the peloton Boonen accelerated and only Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) was able to keep up. The duo caught up with Turgot at the end of pavé section 12. Soon afterwards Terpstra and Ballan bridged up as well, creating a five-man leader’s group.

Once back on asphalted roads there was no cooperation in this group and then the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team staged a coup as Boonen went up the road together with his lieutenant Terpstra. The situation initially looked awkward, though, as Terpstra was unable to keep up with his team leader on the 5-star pavé section 11 of Auchy-les-Orchies – Bersée. With approximately 52km to go Boonen was up the road on his own.

Behind him in the chase group co-favorite Pozzato misjudged a corner on the cobbles. The Italian star crashed into Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil-DCM) and both riders lost valuable time while Boonen collected half a minute on the first chase group.

Can Boonen do it?

The gap remained at nearly half a minute when reaching pavé section 10. Boonen made it through the unforgiving 3km-long stretch at Mons-en-Pévèle while the peloton split apart behind him. The Sky team had the numbers in this seven-man group, featuring Flecha, Boasson Hagen andHayman. The other riders in the group were Ballan, Ladagnous, Boom and Terpstra. They were caught by seven more riders with 40km to go while Boonen's lead had grown slightly to 40 seconds. The seven riders who bridged up were Ian Stannard (Sky), Johan Vansummeren (Garmin-Barracuda), Luca Paolini (Katusha), Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana), Matteo Tosatto (Saxo Bank), Wynants and Turgot. Stannard did all he could to bring the gap down but instead Boonen hit pavé section 7 with a gap of 50 seconds on the chase group of 14 riders.

The Belgian struggled to get the gap over one minute but he eventually got it on the cobbles of Cysoing à Bourghelles (pavé section 6), with 27 km to go. At the same section there were a couple of accelerations in the chase group featuring Flecha, Boom, Ballan and Vansummeren but these were all neutralized by Terpstra.

Boom switched bikes on the asphalted roads towards the last important pavé sections of Camphin-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre where Boonen's lead had grown to 1:20 on the chase group. Boom bounced back from his mechanical and steamed passed the group to launch a solo counter-attack. Flecha, Ballan and Ladagnous followed the Dutchman a little further back. For the first time the gap dropped but once Boonen finished the cobbles of the Carrefour de l’Arbre he still had 1:10 on Boom.

The Flecha, Ballan and Ladagnous group regained contact with Boom to form a four-rider chase, but they now seemed resigned to racing for second. The group lost horsepower at 13km remaining as Ladagnous flatted, while in front Boonen looked as smooth as ever across the pave as the distance to the Roubaix velodrome grew ever shorter.

Boonen kept his three chasers at bay and with 4km to go his lead stood at 1:32. The Belgian powerhouse soon cracked a smile for the cameras inside of 3km to go and he soon had the velodrome in Roubaix all to himself as he soaked up the adulation from the crowd and savoured every second of his triumphant 1.5 laps of the track for his fourth Paris-Roubaix victory.

Full Results

1	Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep	5:55:22
2	Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Team Europcar	0:01:39
3	Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team
4	Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Procycling
5	Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
6	Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:01:43
7	Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Team Saxo Bank	0:03:31
8	Mathew Hayman (Aus) Sky Procycling
9	Johan Vansummeren (Bel) Garmin - Barracuda
10	Maarten Wynants (Bel) Rabobank Cycling Team

To Sum Up Milan-San Remo

10 conclusions from Milan-San Remo

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/10-conclusions-from-milan-san-remo)

1. Fabian Cancellara's (RadioShack-Nissan) racing style has skirted the thin line between bravery and folly in the big classics over the past two seasons, and Milan-San Remo was no exception. Once again, he won hearts and minds with his wholehearted attacking, and once again, he found himself thwarted by a cannier rider at the death.

There was something Sisyphean about Cancellara's plunge into San Remo, with Simon Gerrans and Vincenzo Nibali scrambling for his back wheel. Even though he surely knew that his weakness in the sprint would be exposed, he persisted in his labours nonetheless. But was simply attempting to blast riders of the caliber of Gerrans and Nibali off his wheel a glorious failure or an act of arrogance?

Cancellara triumphed at San Remo in 2008 by patiently biding his time before making one decisive attack inside the final 2km. In contrast to that clinical display, on Saturday he seemed to try and bludgeon his way to victory with repeated blows, and the result was rather less tidy.

That said, one can never step in the same river twice, and the circumstances of this year's race were different to four years ago. Once Cancellara made the decision to bridge to Gerrans and Nibali, and once it was apparent that they would not collaborate, he perhaps had little option but to attempt to burn them off his wheel. Besides, had Cancellara held his fire on the Poggio, he may well have been forced to take up the reins of the pursuit behind in any case, such is his lofty reputation.

At the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the Swiss rider will have tougher terrain at his disposal to make the difference in the finale, although it remains to be seen if he will show his hand as early and as often as he did in 2011.

2. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) didn't bat an eyelid when it was put to him in the winner's press conference that his had been a stolen victory, and with good reason. He had a cast-iron alibi in the chase group in the shape of last year's winner Matt Goss, and instead the Australian cleverly maintained the lead group's momentum with a fleeting turn on the front approaching the final kilometre.

Laudable though Cancellara's strength was, cycling would be an altogether poorer spectacle if victories were decided simply by watts produced. Tactical cunning and sheer sangfroid are just as important a part of a classic winner's make up as raw power, as Gerrans demonstrated on Saturday.

3. With Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Sagan in its ranks, Liquigas-Cannondale had two potential race-winners with contrasting styles at its disposal on Saturday, and the team set out its stall in three phases. Their first aim was to shed the peloton of the pure sprinters, and then Nibali was to go on the attack on the Poggio, while Sagan kept his powder dry for the sprint from a reduced group behind.

In the event, Liquigas succeeded in following the playbook but failed to come away with the win. Cavendish was duly shed on Le Manie, and Nibali forced the winning move on the Poggio, while Sagan took the sprint behind for fourth.
Given the ease with which Sagan held off John Degenkolb, it's tempting to suggest that Nibali should not have attacked and Liquigas should simply have ridden to set up Sagan for the sprint. However, after Valerio Agnoli swung off midway up the Poggio, Daniel Oss was the only other Liquigas rider in the front group. Would that have been enough to pull back a rampant Cancallara?

4. Marcel Kittel may be the marquee young German sprint talent at Project 1t4i, but he has some high quality company in the shape of John Degenkolb. The former HTC-Highroad rider enjoyed a fine Milan-San Remo debut. Just 23 years of age and in only his second season at the top level, Degenkolb dealt admirably with the 300km of racing and finished second in the group sprint just behind the winning break. His victor, of course, was the even more precocious Peter Sagan. Expect to see both men back at the business end of La Primavera in the years to come.

5. While the likes of Liquigas-Cannondale were always going to try and make life difficult for Mark Cavendish (Sky), it was a surprise to see the world champion eliminated from contention on Le Manie with over 90km still to race. As ever, there will be much conjecture over the true state of Cavendish's early-season fitness, but given his solid start to life in the rainbow jersey, it may simply be that he endured an off day at the most inopportune time. Certainly, it would be no surprise if he were to make a forceful response at Gent-Wevelgem next weekend – Cavendish is rarely more dangerous than when stung by perceived slights.

6. Bubbling under in the lead-up to Milan-San Remo after early season wins in Australia and Spain, Oscar Freire was quietly fancied by a number of observers to take his fourth win at La Classicissima, and when Katusha led the charge behind Cancellara, it looked as though he would conjure up a big win from nothing all over again. Instead, the chasers fell just shy of making the juncture, while Freire himself had to give best to Sagan, Degenkolb and Pippo Pozzato in the sprint for fourth. In what may be his final season as a professional, one wonders if Freire will manage to work the oracle one more time before his exits the stage.

7. Filippo Pozzato brooked his share of criticism during his final season at Katusha, but the man from Vicenza has carried himself with a renewed verve since he signed with Farnese Vini-Selle Italia ahead of the 2012 season. Training under the watchful gaze of Luca Scinto all winter, Pozzato set himself the target of slugging it out with the big hitters at San Remo, Flanders and Roubaix.

A broken collarbone at the Tour of Qatar threatened to derail his campaign, but remarkably he was back racing within a week of his operation, so desperate was he not to miss out on racing miles ahead of the classics. The gamble looked to have paid dividends on Saturday as he rode to a solid 6th place in San Remo. While it's worth noting that he finished 5th last year before the wheels came off his Katusha career in Belgium, Pozzato seems altogether more assured under Scinto's guidance, and it will be fascinating to see if he can recover his form of 2009 on the cobbles this April.

8. BMC's travails continued at Milan-San Remo, and remarkably the expensively-assembled outfit has yet to pick up a single win in 2012. Their Classicissima challenge was dented early in the week when Thor Hushovd was forced out of the race with illness, and the Norwegian was perhaps always likely to be their best chance of success. Philippe Gilbert, too, was stricken by fever and dental problems in the week before the race, and a crash over the top of the Cipressa ended his challenge before it was possible to draw any real conclusions as to his actual state of form.

Greg Van Avermaet was also a faller and it was left to Alessandro Ballan to keep their end up with an 8th place finish. While there were mitigating circumstances aplenty for their low-key showing on the road to San Remo, the galacticos will be expected to start making a telling impact on races at the very least as the focus switches to the cobbles.

9. Given his twin talents of endurance and speed, it seems almost an aberration that Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) has never triumphed at Milan-San Remo. In fine form at Paris-Nice last week, no less a figure than Michele Bartoli had tipped Boonen for the win on Saturday and the Belgian appeared comfortable throughout. Caught behind a crash on the descent of the Poggio, however, Boonen lost sight of the leaders and his challenge ended. Still, his season is as ever defined by the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, where the signs are he will renew his rivalry with Fabian Cancellara.

10. A 300km classic from Milan to San Remo is perhaps something of an anachronism, a throwback to the early years of organised racing. Certainly, one does not envisage that any new additions to the WorldTour calendar would ever feature such a lengthy point-to-point race. That said, throughout its history, the organisers have often updated the race by tweaking its format slightly, adding the Poggio (1960), Cipressa (1982) and Le Manie (2009).

Change may be afoot again as soon as next year, with rumours of a steeper route to the top of the Cipressa and a finish line closer to the Poggio. The idea to give attackers more of a chance to finish alone, but as has been the case since 1907, it's the riders rather than the route that will be the making of the race.

Hushovd out of Milan-San Remo

Hushovd out of Milan-San Remo with fever

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hushovd-out-of-milan-san-remo-with-fever)

Thor Hushovd will not participate in this weekend's Milan-San Remo after falling victim to a fever, his team announced today.

The Norwegian, twice a podium finisher in the race (2005, 2009), was looking to be the team's protected sprinter on the BMC team for La Classicissima, but was sidelined by the same bug which brought Philippe Gilbert's Tirreno-Adriatico to a premature end.

"Monday night I woke up with fever and was cold and sweating," Hushovd said. "I have felt bad for two days now so there's no chance to race on Saturday. I am really disappointed because it was obviously one of my first goals of the year."

BMC expects Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet, who has been struggling with a foot injury, to be back to nearly full strength for the weekend's Monument. "They are still not 100 percent, but we have two days to go. We are still pretty confident that we have a good team with good experience."

Gilbert has been training and is beginning to feel better but he is hoping to ease into the 300km long race. "I have been riding easy in training and I hope to have a race that's easier at first, maybe with a headwind or something," Gilbert said. "I'll try to be smart and ride in a good position.

"Milan-San Remo can be a very strange race where anything can happen. If it's not for me in the final, maybe it will be Alessandro Ballan or Greg Van Avermaet or someone else on our team. I think we have a good team and we aren't feeling pressure because we know we can be competitive."

Ballan is one rider on the team who hasn't been ill, and has shown that his form is strong. "I can do something good there," Ballan said of the race. "I worked hard in Tirreno-Adriatico, even if I didn't make a result there and I am in optimal condition right now. I think we can be one of the teams that takes charge of the race."

BMC for Milan-San Remo: Alessandro Ballan (Ita), Marcus Burghardt (Ger), Philippe Gilbert (Bel), George Hincapie (USA), Taylor Phinney (USA), Manuel Quinziato (Ita), Michael Schär (Swi), Greg Van Avermaet (Bel).

Where were Thor and Gilbert?

With two great sprinters added to their team this year, you'd think BMC would have been able to pull off a win, or at least a podium spot...wrong!! Even with Philipe Gilbert and Thor Hushovd riding in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, BMC's best placed position was Greg Van Avermaet in 5th. What happened???

BMC falls short at Omloop Het Nieuwblad

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bmc-falls-short-at-omloop-het-nieuwblad)

They may have one of the biggest budgets and the some of the sport's most decorated and accomplished Classics riders but BMC proved that racing doesn't always go to plan after their performance in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad fizzled out following a promising start.

The team lined up with arguably their strongest Classics line-up - only George Hincapie was missing - as Philippe Gilbert, Thor Hushovd, Greg Van Avermaet and Alessandro Ballan took to the start in Ghent.

The opening half of the race went to plan. The team's leaders were kept out of trouble by able domestiques, while rival squad, Omega-Pharma, did the majority of the work on the front of the bunch.

However, the team's race began to unravel on the Taaienberg. Gilbert lacked form and positioning, finding himself isolated before a puncture effectively ended his chances of wining a third title in the race.

At the front of the race, Thor Hushovd made the split and looked set to contest the win but the 2010 world champion cracked along with Matti Breschel (Rabobank) on the Paddestraat with 30 kilometres to go.

"I was happy that I was there with the best riders when we went fast. I just had a bad moment on the Paddestraat but I don't know what happened. Suddenly I was dropped but I felt strong and that's important," Hushovd told Cyclingnews.

"I had confidence that I was strong enough to be there in the final. Like I said I had that bad moment and suddenly I lost the power. When things like that happen it's just over for such a hard race."

BMC did eventually rally, leading the chase from behind and Van Avermaet secured 5th place in the bunch sprint for 4th.

For the likes of Hushovd and Gilbert, bigger tests are on the horizon and the team will surely chalk up today's race as a learning experience. For second year professional Taylor Phinney it was exactly that. The American rode on the front for the first 70 kilometres and finished his first semi-classic in 44th place.

"It didn't work out 100 per cent," added Hushovd. It's the first race together and I think today the Taaienberg was the main place to be in the front and we missed a couple of guys to really be in the final with two or three but we'll work on that for future races."

Hushovd will skip Sunday's Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and venture home before starting next month's Paris-Nice.

Gilbert: I didn't have the legs

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gilbert-i-didnt-have-the-legs)

Philippe Gilbert’s first appearance on Belgian roads as a BMC rider ended in disappointment as he was unable to make an impact at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday.

While he admitted that he didn’t have the legs to compete for the win, Gilbert believed that a lack of information about the gap to the winning break frustrated BMC’s efforts to bring the race back together in the finale.

Twice a winner of the Omloop, Gilbert’s hopes of adding a third triumph disappeared at the foot of the Taaienberg. When winner Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Barracuda) and Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) hit the front, Gilbert was poorly placed in the heart of the peloton, and a subsequent puncture on the Eikenberg definitively ended his challenge. He went on to finish 41 seconds down in 31st.

“I wasn’t in the race,” Gilbert told dhnet.be. “I was there without being there. I didn’t have good legs. I was always fifteen or twenty places too far back and in these conditions, you can get caught up in a crash or puncture…”

While his teammate Thor Hushovd had initially succeeded in following the winning move sparked by Vanmarcke and Boonen, Gilbert complained that information was hard to come by in the absence of radio earpieces.

The BMC riders in the peloton were unaware that Hushovd had been dropped from the lead group, and they only began to organise their pursuit inside the final 15 kilometres.

“Racing without earpieces doesn’t bother me, but it’s not normal not to have any information,” he said. “I only saw the chalkboard once and it was only with 15km to go that John Lelangue was able to fill us in and tell us that Thor had been dropped.

“At that moment we started to ride, but it was too late, we knew that it was only for 4th place. In the end, Greg [Van Avermaet] was 5th, which isn’t bad, like the fact that there were five of us in that group.”