Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp), the nephew of former Tour de France winner Stephen Roche won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2013 edition, outsprinting Katusha Team’s Joaquim Rodríguez. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) won the sprint in the small chasing group and took third place.
La Flèche Wallonne 2013 (77th edition) will be held on Wednesday, April 17. The race is the first of two Belgian Ardennes classics (the other being the Liège-Bastogne-Liège).
Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) won the Flanders classic Brabantse Pijl 2013 (see notes 1) edition. Current UCI World Champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) finished in second, and Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM) completed the podium.
Peter Sagan, the young Slovak rider of Italian team Cannondale, has not been seen since his video apology to podium girl Maja Leye after his behavior on the Tour of Flanders podium. The two were expected to meet at the Brabantse Pijl race today because Maja works for race organizer Flanders Classics. Sagan gave flowers to Maya, so it seems his apology had been accepted.
The Trouée d’Arenberg, also know as Tranchée d’Arenberg, (Trench of Arenberg), Trouee de Wallers Arenberg, is a straight cobbled road passing through the Arenberg Forest in northern France, and highly considered as the most dangerous and toughest part of the Paris-Roubaix.
Paris-Roubaix organizer ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) has officially announced the ratings of 27 cobbled sectors in the 2013 edition of the race. This year the route is 254.5 km in total, and the peloton will have to ride on the cobbles a total of 52.6 km. Here are the Paris-Roubaix 2013 Route and Cobbled Sectors with ratings.
Paris-Roubaix, the “Queen of the Classics” will be held on this Sunday, on April 7. Here is the provisional Paris-Roubaix 2013 start list.
Peter Sagan apologizes to Maya, and in general, to women, and all of the cycling fans with a video, over his Tour of Flanders podium pinch.
Gerald Ciolek, German rider of South African MTN-Qhubeka won the first classic and monumental of the year, Milan-San Remo 2013, “la primavera”. It was the South African team’s first-ever WorldTour victory. Ciolek won the sprint against Peter Sagan of Cannondale, who finished second, and Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack-Leopard, who completed the podium.
Blel Kadri (Ag2r la Mondiale) won the 2013 Roma Maxima after being in the break of the race and spending a total of 127 km out front. Filippo Pozzato of Lampre Merida won the sprint in the chasing bunch and finished in second, but he believed he had won the race and threw his arms in the air as a victorious gesture. Grega Bole of Vacansoleil-DCM finished in third.