Category: Road Racing

Polar Express – VCSE’s view on the Spring Classics #2

Following a weekend away VCSE was looking forward to catching up with the first of the seasons key classic races; Milan San Remo. After the aborted attempt to view our recording of Kuurne Brussels Kuurne only to find that it had been cancelled due to snow the first few minutes of MSR felt like deja vu.

As Eurosport began their live feed on Sunday the race was currently stopped as the teams bussed the riders around the snow bound Turchino climb. In between episodes of some kind of sporting ‘You’ve been framed’ we were treated to the sight of the conditions on the climb through the sweeps of the wipers on the producers car.

Bypassing the snow if not persistant heavy rain and low temperatures the organisers prepared to re start the race with around 130km to go, allowing the six man breakaway to restore their 7 minute advantage before releasing the peloton. For the first hour or so the coverage was definitely for die hards as the feed from the motorbike cameras degraded into an acid trip or simply ‘froze’ whenever they were risked to be shown. Race radio was equally patchy in giving accurate information; suggesting at one point that Sylvain Chavanel had abandoned which was ironic when he appeared in the group contesting the win in the final stages.

There were some notable retirements (read did not want to get off the bus at the restart) including Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra from Omega Pharma. When Chavanel’s ‘retirement’ was announced Mark Cavendish’s prediction that he would not figure in the race seemed prescient, albeit not for the reasons he gave beforehand.

The reduction in race distance may have pointed the outcome towards the sprinters but the conditions made predicting the likely winner a lottery. As the Cipressa climb approached the breakaway was caught and the cameras seemed to have dried out enough for the ‘real’ race to start.

Gerald Ciolek

Surprise Surprise – Ciolek in OPQS days

The two big stories? Gerald Ciolek winning would be a good place to start. Ciolek riding for neo pro conti team MTN-Qhubeka would have been among the outside bets even after the restart. MTN’s presence in the early season races has been universally welcomed as the first pro team from Africa but the coverage on Sunday had initially focused on some poorly handled wheel changes. 

Ciolek timed his ride perfectly admitting that his tactics had been to ensure that he stayed in touch with the leaders over the final Poggio climb. Of the final bunch the descending the climb and heading towards the finish line Ciolek was arguably the only out and out sprinter present. However with the likes of Cancellara, Sagan in the group he still wouldn’t have been favourite.

You had to feel for Ian Stannard as the riders crossed the line in sixth place. Stannard was the man for all but the last few hundred metres. When the peloton had caught the break after another monster turn by Vasil Kiryenka Team Sky would have been looking to deliver Geraint Thomas or Edvald Boasson Hagen to the line. The Sky machines grand plan unravelled when Thomas appeared to slip on a white line taking out Tyler Farrar in the process. Boasson Hagen was dropped on the Cipressa but by now all eyes were on Stannard who had broken away with Chavanel on the Poggio.

Stannard will be a leader in some of the forthcoming Belgian classics and possibly Paris Roubaix also but he isn’t known for his sprinting prowess. He had the bit between his teeth on Sunday and deserves a Chapeau! for continually attacking, burning matches furiously and leading onto the finishing straight.

Peter Sagan may feel disappointed that he allowed Ciolek to get the drop on him at the line but he could be forgiven for having one eye on Fabian Cancellara. Cancellara himself said that he was happy with third in the conditions as ‘to arrive.. was victory in itself’.

For the Qhubeka team and Ciolek winning Milan San Remo was ‘incredible’ and announces them on the world stage in the best way possible. This was a fairytale result and it will be interesting to see whether the win spurs them on to bigger things. It’s hard to see that Ciolek would have won in ‘normal’ conditions and his victory came from his own tactical positioning rather than how the the team had worked for him.

There’s every chance that Stannard will kick on from this. His ride added up to so much more than his final placing. Sky have talked up how they intend to feature in the classics this season. Previously they have been criticised for not adapting to racing incidents, but Sunday indicated that they have learnt some new tricks.

As we head to Belgium this weekend things are shaping up nicely.

‘A girl who just likes riding her bike’

Joy (joi) noun – A feeling of great pleasure and happiness / a thing that causes joy

Recently reading some articles about Marianne Vos I was struck by two things that seem perhaps unconnected. The first; the fact that if she was a man she would be cast as the heir to Eddy Merckx, arguably the greatest ever cyclist. She is the consummate racer, a world and Olympic champion, winning across any two wheeled discipline she chooses. This in itself is noteworthy, one feels she should be celebrated more. Her profile should be higher than it undoubtedly is while she is still in her 20’s.

The greater impact is felt from the pictures in the two articles which were in the kind of magazines that probably see articles more as essays. In one photo, taken in winter sunshine so bright you can imagine the cold air, Vos is at a Cyclocross meeting. She beams from the page. Maybe from the satisfaction of a race won or someone who is naturally at ease having her picture taken. Perhaps her smile is because Marianne Vos enjoys riding her bike, any bike in any discipline, for ridings sake.

Happy - Marianne Vos
Happy – Marianne Vos

It’s natural here in the UK to seek to cast someone in the role of pantomime villain (only we actually know what a pantomime villain is after all) when one of our own is competing. After the best laid plans of the men’s road race at London 2012 were unpicked, the following day Lizzie Armitstead understood what every billboard was imploring; ‘Take the Stage’. As rain swept the Mall and the crowd yelled for a happy ending there was Marianne Vos to break the nations hearts and take the gold.

Armitstead, more understanding of her situation than the majority of those watching knew that the result was not some cruel twist in the GB Olympic fairytale. In the natural scheme of things finishing runner up to Vos was not as much of a disappointment as failing to jump Vos in the sprint, besides ‘..she is faster than most girls.. so I am chuffed with silver’.

In reality (read as among cycling fans) Vos was the clear favourite going into London and her palmares for 2012 as a whole is incredible, including road race and cyclo cross world championships and national cyclo cross and track titles. Added to the rainbow and national jerseys she also successfully defended her Giro Donne Maglia Rosa from 2011.

She was winning national championships within ten years of first riding a bike as a six year old and became a world champion while still a teenager, an achievement in itself until you realise this was across two disciplines. Endurance is an obvious need for any cyclist but the way Vos manages to sustain not just a level of competitiveness, but superiority from cross through road to the track is remarkable.

Motivation stems from becoming a ‘..more complete rider’ rather than the financial rewards despite being the most bankable rider in the female peloton. What comes across in her interviews is the joy that she takes from just riding her bike. Its ‘..a great feeling” to race, she describes road racing as ‘beautiful’.

It sums up the much lower profile of women’s racing in comparison to the men’s world tour however that it has taken victories in the few races that can be associated with the men for people to recognise Vos’ success, such as the Giro. She wants to see the sport grow, yet appears quite selfless about how she is instrumental in seeing the profile raised. What comes across is a strong desire to she women’s cycling expand and improve for all of her competitors. Certainly as passionate as Marianne Vos is about winning, she is capable of doing so without the expense of her relationships with the likes of Emma Pooley who she beat at 2011 Giro.

She describes cycling as a full time hobby, enjoying being out on her bike and in competition. One feels for her comparisons with Merckx are not important. For Marianne Vos perhaps being the worlds happiest cyclist is the greatest accolade that could be bestowed on her.

Postscript

Since writing this post over a year ago Marianne Vos has claimed further world championships in cyclocross (2014) and road racing. She won the women’s Tour of Flanders for the first time and in the last month the inaugral Women’s Tour in Britain. 

‘#sadomaso’ – The toughest climb in cycling?

Stage six of the Tirreno Adriatico featured two climbs of the Muro di Sant’Elpidio. Not the highest climb the peloton will face this year, but arguably the steepest with several riders resorting to pushing their bikes up the climb.

Race organisers admitted that the climb may have been too much citing ‘losing half of your peloton’ as realisation that ‘mistakes’ had been made. The riders were more pointed in their comments with Fabian Cancellara describing the stage as ‘sadomaso’ (sado-masochism) and Alberto Contador summing up his thoughts as ‘Ufff!’

The clip currently showing on VCSE’s YouTube channel has the best (or worst?) bits.

The super supporters – VCSE’s thoughts on Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico

Chris Froome
Settling for 2nd – Froomey (Photo credit: Petit Brun)

Tirreno Adriatico finished with Tuesday’s Time Trail. For Team Sky and Chris Froome there was perhaps disappointment that he was unable to emulate Richie Porte in Paris Nice and win the general classification. 

With talk of a breakaway world series ahead of the start of last weeks races it could be seen that some of the world tour teams were sending coded messages to the UCI by running their A squads in the Tirreno. Sky were led by Froome with most of his helpers from last years Vuelta supplemented by new signings Dario Cataldo and Joe Dombrowski. Froome faced a stellar cast of GC contenders in Alberto Contador (Saxo), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)and Cadel Evans (BMC).

There was plenty of room within the field for other stories to be played out a week ahead of Milan San Remo with the sprinting hierarchy represented by Mark Cavendish (OPQS), Andre Greipel (Lotto) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale).

There were metaphorical raised eyebrows in France that the world tour teams appeared to be placing Tirreno ahead of Paris Nice  with their selections but at the end of both races the teams looked justified as Tirreno led the way for incident and excitement.

Porte had seemed uncomfortable with the leaders mantle to begin with, sometimes looking like he needed to be reminded that he could call the shots. Certainly he had a strong pairing to work for him at the front with the ex Movistar riders David Lopez and Vasil Kiryenka impressing on the climbs also. Sky’s other new signings at Paris Nice Jonathan Tiernan-Locke and Ian Boswell had a tougher time. Brian Smith, JTL’s ex manager suggests that he would be better suited for the classics. but Sky have him earmarked as a GC rider. Other than flashes when the race entered the climbs he cast a rather forlorn figure before abandoning due to illness on stage 5. Boswell was conspicuously out the back on most days and will no doubt be expected to improve.

Porte’s moment of clarity about being team leader probably came at the end of stage came at the end of stage 4 when Andrew Talansky (Garmin) took the yellow jersey and stage win. Porte and Sky were super strong the following day with a summit finish that allowed Porte to demonstrate his superiority on the climbs.

The possibility of Talansky wresting back the yellow on the final day’s TT was demolished when Porte’s time split came on screen. It’s not surprising that speculation about Porte as a potential GC winner at the Giro next year has begun. VCSE wonders if Dave Brailsford can imagine a world where his two GC contenders are Froome and Porte rather than Froome and Wiggins.

As Paris Nice was reaching its climax Tirreno Adriatico was just beginning to warm up. Omega Pharma had Cavendish in the leaders jersey until Saturday after the opening team TT and his consistent sprint placings on stages 2 and 3. Beaten in both, Cav, his lead out, or a combination of the two didn’t appear to be firing on all cylinders. Peter Sagan’s strong start to the season continued with stage wins book ending the summit finish action at the weekend.

Froome had appeared beaten on the climb to Prati di Tivo on Saturday but produced a stunning victory that left his rivals shell-shocked riding up to their wheels, then around, before soloing up to the line.

Sunday’s stage to Chieti with its final kilometres formed of narrow streets and double digit ramps were Froome and indeed Sky’s undoing. As with the Vuelta last year he looks vulnerable to attack on short, steep climbs. As the finish approached Froome burnt all of his supporting ‘matches’ and was spent going too early for the final intermediate sprint. losing out to Contador. Purito Rodriguez rode away from everyone on the final climb which left VCSE wondering about Katusha and ‘ethical reasons’.

Chieti’s climbs were familiar ground. On Monday the penultimate stage visited the 300 odd metres of the Muro di Sant’Elpidio and its 27% ramps not once but twice. The height of the climb was the deceiver in what appeared to be a fairly innocuous stage. The sight of the worlds best riders resorting to walking in some cases and more than fifty abandonments is an indication of just how tough the climb was. RCS, the Tirreno organisers, admitted the following day that yes perhaps it had been too much. Spare a thought for BMC’s Taylor Phinney who at least completed the stage, but at 35 minutes down missed the time exemption.

A second day of this type of climb did for Froome as leader as he again lost his support and even lost out to the likes of Sagan on the Muro. Sagan re bonded with last years team mate Nibali to share the spoils of stage win and leaders jersey ahead of the final days TT.

The Tirreno also saw a renaissance of sorts for Damiano Cunego who starred in a solo breakaway on Sunday and was part of the group break on Monday. His efforts rewarded by the King of the Mountains jersey.

Froome’s challenge at the Tour will be to use his domestiques wisely. While the Tour is unlikely to feature the type of ramps seen in Italy or Spain a double ascent of Alpe d’Huez will not take prisoners. Sky look to have all of the cards with their domestiques this year. Kiryenka and Lopez in Paris Nice and Cataldo in the Tirreno all impressed, looking like the can ride at the front all day and with Porte returning to normal duties in the grand tours Sky’s first six names on the team sheet have probably already been written.

‘Beyond the Peloton’

It’s entirely possible that newer fans imagined that documentaries about pro cycling began with ‘Road to Glory’ the Team Sky / British Cycling series shown last year. When you watch ‘Beyond the Peloton’ you realise it has actually all been done before, long before Bradley Wiggins became famous for being (well) Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish was the new sensation at HTC Columbia.

‘Beyond..’ features the Cervelo Test Team born out of the manufacturer losing its position as supplier to CSC after the 2008 season and deciding to go it alone. The team was built around Carlos Sastre, winner of the 2008 Tour de France and Thor Hushovd, but following his scene stealing podium places in the spring classics Heinrich Haussler is the rider that the filmmakers gravitate towards.

The doc is introduced by robotic sounding Cervelo employee Joseph who is apparently entrusted with telling the story of the teams first season. Despite promising to bring the perspective of the mechanics and soigneurs Joseph pretty soon defaults to the view from the saddle or the team car. The footage is generally hand held shaky but this does help to convey the sometimes chaotic nature of racing none more so than during the Giro d’Italia when Serge Pauwels goes off message and leaves Sastre flailing on a climb.

Something missing from ‘Road to..’ was technical detail on the teams bikes. ‘Beyond..’ as much a marketing exercise as for the fans has some interesting segments featuring Gerard Vroomen and Phil White during wind tunnel development and later on modifications to the bike for Paris Roubaix. It’s hard to imagine ‘Road to..’ featuring the raw egg and dessert wine concoction whipped up for Sastre either!

Sadly missing from ‘Beyond..’ was much reference to the women’s Cervelo team that pre-dated the men’s team. Other than a few frames in episode 1 and a brief appearance by Kristen Armstrong in episode 2 (ironically where she is more aerodynamically efficient than Hushovd in the wind tunnel) the ladies do not feature at all.

As the season progresses its fair to say that although the supposed goals for the season are unrealised, the results that are achieved more than compensate. Spoiler alert! Haussler cements his classics results (at one point during 2009 he was the #1 ranked rider in the world) with a stage win at the Tour. Sastre goes well at the Giro winning two stages and (following a disqualification of a rival for doping) finishes 3rd overall. At the Tour Sastre struggles but Hushovd while unable to compete with Cavendish on out and out speed does enough to claim the green points jersey.

These days Hushovd is with BMC but has been off the radar following illness in 2012. Sastre failed to reach the heights of his 2008 results and retired at the end of 2011. Haussler joined the neo pro-continental IAM team this year.

‘Beyond the Peloton’ in 2009, ‘Road to Glory’ in 2012. Plus ca change!

Few problems embedding this. click on the link below for season 1 with seasons 2 and 3 on the VCSE YouTube channel.

http://tinyurl.com/cg28ucn

 

Spring has Sprung – VCSE’s view on the Spring Classics #1

An enforced absence and lack of wifi prevented us giving you our thoughts ahead of the first of the Spring Classics – Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne Brussel Kuurne. On Saturday attempts to watch the live feed from Sporza defeated the VCSE mobile and having set Sky+ to record KBK on Sunday the rest of the week was spent avoiding Flipboard and Twitter so the race could be enjoyed ‘as live’ on our return to Essex.

Initally crestfallen that the race hadn’t been recorded a quick search soon established that KBK had been cancelled due to snow! Reviewing the highlights of Het Nieuwsblad it certainly looked chilly although Heinrich Haussler managed without gloves when every other rider had the full winter ensemble on.

The race developed into a two rider battle with 26K’s to go with the little and large duo of Luca Paolini of Katusha and Stijn Vandenbergh of Omega Pharma getting away from the leading group. Vandenbergh, described by Cycling Weekly as a ‘bunch driving labourer’ had OPQS teammate Sylvain Chavanel in the group with him but when Vandenbergh broke Chavenel, perhaps tiring after an earlier breakaway, was unable to go in support.

Etiquette was followed between Vandenbergh and Paolini until they reached the last few metres and the crowd were denied a home victory as Paolini managed a passing imitation of a sprint clear to win.

Tuning up for the next races in the calendar (Ghent Wevelgem & Ronde an Vlaanderen) continues this week with Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico. Ahead of the two Belgian races is the first of the Monuments Milan San Remo on 17th March.

Mark Cavendish is taking part in Tirreno Adriatico although he is playing down his chances of a repeat of his 2009 (Milan San Remo) win. As far as the one day races go, with shorter (albeit) ‘punchier’ climbs and with a team that is more likely to work hard for him VCSE wouldn’t rule out another win for Cav in the first monument of 2013.

After a strong team performance from Cannondale in the Strade Bianche at the weekend the current favourite for Milan San Remo is Peter Sagan. Sagan was the ‘bogeyman’ in the Strade with the other teams so busy covering him that teammade Moreno Moser was able to get away for the victory.

VCSE’s outsiders for Milan San Remo are AG2R la Mondiale after Rafael Nocentini’s 3rd place in the Strade and victory for Blel Kadri in last Sundays Roma Maxima.

The shape of things to come?

Froome__bert

TDF Top 3? – Froome leads Contador and Rodriguez 

Picture from Cycling Weekly http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/

The 27 second margin that Chris Froome maintained over Alberto Contatdor to win the Tour of Oman seems somewhat insignificant in isolation. Froome’s performances as the race entered the final 3 days showed some real swagger in contrast to his typically understated post race interviews.

Peter Sagan had dominated the first half of the race claiming the leaders jersey after a stage 2 win and stage 3 was deja vu with some commentators wondering if Sagan could hold on as the peleton headed into the mountains on day 4.

The climb to the Green Mountain with its summit finish on Thursday felt like the first time this season when grand tour riders featured with Froome, Contador, Joaquim Rodriguez and Vincenzo Nibali in contention as the stage neared the finish.

At times it looked like Froome had blown. Froome’s preferred seated climbing style can often make it appear that he is struggling in comparison to the way Contador dances on the pedals. It was a true game of cat and mouse towards the end with the big guns zig zagging towards the summit almost at right angles to the climb.

It was significant that Froome had the legs to ride away from Contador at the end of the stage to finish 2nd to Rodriguez and claim the red leaders jersey from Sagan. Sagan looked more laboured on the ascent than expected and abandoned overnight.

Stage 5 was equally dramatic with Froome, Contador and Rodriguez fighting it out over the climbs followed by a chasing group led by Cadel Evans. As an appetiser for the season ahead the body language of Froome and Contador in particular was striking with a definite suggestion of some ‘afters’. As Carlton Kirby said on the Eurosport feed; it was a shame the effects mike couldn’t pick up what was said.

Froome went for the line 2k out. Too soon! Contador and Rodriguez caught him with 1k to go and it was as you were. At the line it was Froome by inches, centimetres even.

Saxo Bank have been gracious in defeat praising Froome’s victory. Sky looked like the better team over the race. It could be significant that Michael Rogers wasn’t racing for Saxo as Contador seemed to lack support over the entire length of a stage. Richie Porte was tireless supporting Froome up the climbs on stages 4 and 5.

It probably is too early to see the result as an indicator for how the Tour de France will go in July but it does look like there’s some real friction between Froome and Contador which should make for a more interesting race than last year.

Contador’s victory in the Vuelta owed as much to Froome’s fatigue and psychologically winning his first stage race is the perfect start to 2013.

As for Sagan he’s clearly a strong rider over classics style stages and possibly a contender for this seasons stage races. I predict some interesting head to heads with Mark Cavendish for the points jersey at the Tour this year.

A final observation on Oman. The landscape. It was just like seeing the roads on something like Gran Turismo. Years ago when processors were about a quarter as powerful as the one that currently sits in your phone driving games on a PC or console were typical in sharing roads that cut through between cliffs, city blocks and / or lines of trees. They could never render detail quick enough for anything else.

The strands of perfect blacktop that climb through and around the mountains in Oman had me back in front of my Playstation trying to beat my record for Ridge Racer. Anyone else remember that?

All smiles on planet Cav

Cav_1

Happy again – Mark Cavendish

picture from http://www.omegapharma-quickstep.com/en/

With four stage wins in last weeks Tour of Qatar Mark Cavendish looked like he was right at home with his new team Omega Pharma Quick Step. Cav a last minute team leader following the enforced through injury withdrawl of Tom Boonen didn’t let a tumble at the start of the final stage prevent him from claiming the overall victory either.

He certainly seems like a happier rider in a team that will be geared to riding for him and him alone in the races he enters this year. It would be unfair to suggest that Cavendish was anything less than a team player at Sky last year. The image of last years rainbow jersey stuffed with bidon’s for Wiggins and co demonstrated that he knew the role he had to play in Team Sky’s famous victory. With the exception of the final stage win on the Champs Elysee Cavendish underlined his superiority over the rest of sprinters by fashioning winning positions in the absence of any real train gang.

Taking to Twitter over the last week he was unstinting in his praise of the work his OPQS colleagues had done on his behalf and the teams dominance over two thirds of the race has placed an early but significant marker on the team being a major contender for the forthcoming classics and later grand tour sprint stages.

For Cavendish it seems fair to say that he is happiest, purely based on his social media content, when he had a team focused on delivering him at the right place and time to do what he does best. There was a noticable difference between his remarks after his unexpected stage 2 win and the later stage 18 victory where his Sky teammates had chased down a breakaway.

OPQS looked like the most obvious choice for Cav as soon as he began to drop heavy hints that he didn’t see a future for him in Sky’s GC focused team. It will be interesting to see if is able to replicate or even exceed the highs of his 2009 season at HTC where he dominated the sprints at the Tour de France winning six stages. There remains a slight question mark over how OPQS will be able to accomodate two proven winners and arguably joint team leaders in Boonen and Cavendish. Boonen will obviously favour the classics but in an event where both are selected team tactics should be interesting to study.

The unluckiest man in cycling?

Ben_swift

Unlucky? – Ben Swift

Picture from http://www.britishcycling.org.uk

Ben Swift tumbled out of the Trofeo Alcudia yesterday descending the Coll d’Honor. Swift had a decent showing with consecutive top 10 finishes in the Challenge Mallorca to date and to crash out on the last day seems typical of his luck in the last 12 months.

Swift was Sky’s go to sprinter at last years Vuelta a Espana and while the team were primarily focused on Chris Froome for the GC there was a lead out of sorts for Swift including Ian Stannard.

While Swift often appeared well placed in the run up to the red kite he often appeared to have go too early, particularly when teammates had ridden hard to get him into a decent position. This was probably as frustrating for him as there were other stages where he was simply outgunned by the other teams, notably Argos Shimano.

John Degenkolb who vies with Marcel Kittell as top sprinter for Argos was the sprint story of the Vuelta with five wins. Certainly Degenkolb made it look easy dominating the early flat stages and taking the final stage win around the streets of Madrid. Swift’s best result was 2nd on stage 18.

Arguably Sky’s front line sprinter now that Mark Cavendish has gone to Omerga Pharma it will be interesting to see what races Swift is entered into this year. It’s hard to imagine that Sky will have much interest in the sprints on any of the grand tours with the possible exception of the Vuelta. The teams emphasis is very much on the Giro and the Tour with a ramped up effort being made for the spring classics also.

Swift obtained the points jersey at last years Tour of Poland along with two stage wins. The result illustrated his strength against the world tour teams second string outfits but it remains to be seen if he has the firepower and Sky the motivation to win in the biggest events.

VCSE TV launches!

Velo Club Sud Eglise now has a YouTube channel!

First two video’s are at the link below.

No real surprises that the first two videos are Paris Roubaix related. ‘Paris Roubaix… Is Epic!’ seems to be going for the look and feel of a cinema trail but reminds me of a motivational presentation. Worth a watch a minute thirteen though.

The second ‘Museeuw – a throw of the dice’ is a joint Rapha / Ridley Scott production. When a section of the video has a Marty Feldman lookalike in Napoleonic era uniform clutching a cobblestone I remembered that the best bit of Ridley Scott’s first film ‘The Duellists’ was the way it looked rather than a great screenplay.

Johan Museeuw was one of the first riders I remember when the Tour de France was being shown on Channel 4 largely due to him being known as a sprinter in the early years of his career.

As far as the classics and Paris Roubaix in particular he won the race three times in 1996, 2000 and 2002.He also won the Tour of Flanders (Ronde van Vlaanderen) three times, Paris Tours and Amstel Gold once. His Palmares cover an eleven year period from the early 90’s to the 2002 in a sixteen year career.

Museeuw

Left a bit – Johan Museeuw 

Museeuw was on Greg Lemond’s coat tails if not his wheel as part of Lemond’s ADR team for his second TdF win in 1989. In 1998 having won the Tour of Flanders for third and final time Museeuw suffered a knee injury on Paris Roubaix so serious that there was talk of him losing a leg. He had of course already won the race once at this point.

After a dogged return to fitness, not helped by another accident involving a motorbike, Museeuw crossed the line first in the Roubaix Velodrome in 2000 pointing at his left knee.

There was a final twist in the tail for Museeuw at Paris Roubaix in 2004 when he punctured while part of the final break. He crossed the line in tears denied a 4th win in the classic which, at the time, would have tied him with Roger de Vlaeminck.