The Tour of Flanders

Before the race began there was a lot of hype surrounding the rivalry between Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan. Cancellara is the down-to-earth strong man of cycling; Sagan is young, up-and-coming, and a tad overexuberant when he crosses the finish line first. Although Tom Boonen has won the Tour of Flanders three times before, this doesn't appear to be his year. Whereas he was a dominant force in the spring classics campaign of 2012, he has not been as lucky in 2013. His season didn't get off to a great start after developing an infection which hampered his training. He's then been held up by crashes or crashed himself in a number of races, as was the case in this year's Tour of Flanders.

So, since Boonen was out of contention, who was left? The favourites were obviously Fabian Cancellara, who is always a strong classics rider, and Sagan, who has proved himself to be an excellent all-rounder. There were riders such as Greg Van Avermaet, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Geraint Thomas, Daniel Oss, Matti Breschel, John Degenkolb, and Sylvain Chavanel, amongst others, who were all expected to feature. In the end, though, it came down to a tussle between Cancellara and Sagan. If it came to a sprint finish, then it was obviously going to be Sagan's day, which is why Cancellara had to ride him off his wheel.

Sagan was trying to get out of doing his turn at the front, but Cancellara managed to keep his patience and eventually it was Sagan who cracked on the final climb, allowing Cancellara to time trial his way to victory. Sagan was hoping to get Jurgen Roelandts to work with him to bring back Cancellara, but got a taste of his own medicine, because Roelandts wasn't going to work for the faster, stronger Sagan. In the end, Sagan had to concede defeat, claiming second behind Cancellara, with Roelandts in third.

The Three Days of De Panne: Stage Three

Stage three of the Three Days of De Panne was divided into two parts, with a road race in the morning and a time trial in the afternoon. In the first part of the stage, despite the best efforts of a group of breakaway riders that included Russell Downing, Mike Terpstra, Tim De Troyer, Niko Eeckhout and Thomas Vanhaecke, there was never any doubt that the riders would be brought back and that the stage would end in a sprint. Although there were a number of other riders who tried to get away, in the end the winner was the fastest man on the day, as the sprinters had an opportunity to go for it. It was Alexander Kristoff who took the honours, ahead of Sacha Modolo and Elia Viviani. This put Kristoff into the leader's jersey ahead of Arnaud Demare.

The second part of the stage was a 14.75 km time trial which would ultimately decide the winner of the Three Days of De Panne. All eyes were on last year's winner, Sylvain Chavanel, who is a strong time trialist and is, in fact, the French time trial champion. At the start of the time trial, he was only 10 seconds down on Kristoff and so needed an 11 second gap to take victory. Chavanel went on to take the stage victory, finishing 19 seconds ahead of Anton Vorobyev and 32 seconds ahead of former race leader, Kristoff. It was therefore Chavanel who took overall victory, ahead of Kristoff at 22 seconds down and his teammate, Niki Terpstra, who was 31 seconds down.

The Three Days of De Panne: Stage Two

Mark Cavendish once again he proved he is the man to beat in a sprint during the second stage of the Three Days of De Panne, as the indefatigable Peter Sagan was distanced in the final six kilometres. The former world champion, Cavendish, was well-protected by his teammates, including Tom Boonen, whose own form has been undermined by illness and injury.

There was a breakaway earlier in the day that included Mattia Pozzo, Niko Eeckhout, Matt Brammeier, Tim Mertens and Kevin Claeys. They were brought back, but then the peloton split, with 28 riders going off the front, including 2012 winner, Sylvain Chavanel. Again, they were brought back. Three riders once more decided to go up the road - this time it was Koen Barbé, Alessandro Bazzana, and Dmitriy Gruzdev.

It was left to the extremely strong team of Omega Pharma-Quick Step to lead the charge and bring them back, which they did with eight kilometres left to go. It was up to Cavendish to finish the job, though, which he did to perfection, finishing ahead of Elia Viviani and Francesco Chicchi. Arnaud Démare moves into the leader's jersey having finished behind Peter Sagan in the sprint the day before.

The Three Days of De Panne: Stage One

In the build-up to the Tour of Flanders, the Three Days of De Panne gives riders an opportunity to test their legs and there was certainly plenty of attacking going on throughout the first stage. Peter Sagan, in particular, was keen to show his strength and in the last 20 kilometres put in a number of digs. Sylvain Chavanel contemplated going with him the first time around, but realised that to do so would simply secure him second place. Sagan came back to the group, but once again went off the front and this time a number of riders went with him, including Niki Terpstra, Alexander Kristoff, Arnaud Demare, Oscar Gatto, Maxime Vantomme, Jerome Cousin, Davide Cimolai and Johan Le Bon.

Fresh from his victory in the Gent–Wevelgem, Sagan was obviously keen to prove his dominance once again. However, it wasn't as easy as he had perhaps expected it to be and for once their were no histrionics as he crossed the line. Instead of holding his line, he had moved across towards the barriers, thus forcing Demare to sit down, which almost certainly cost him the win. However, there was no protest from FDJ and Sagan was awarded the victory. It was Andre Greipel who led the rest of the peloton in, finishing nine seconds behind the winner.

Tour of Catalunya: Stage Seven

Prior to the start of the Tour of Catalunya, who would have predicted that, in the end, it would be Dan Martin who would claim overall victory? It may not have been expected, but Dan Martin has frequently proved he has the climbing legs and he once again demonstrated this during the decisive queen stage (stage four) when he managed to get away and stay away, putting time into his GC rivals. It was evident that Martin really wanted the overall victory, as he sprinted for bonus seconds available for intermediate sprints on a number of occasions, which meant that he finished the race with a 17 second advantage over Rodriguez.

As for stage seven, it was Thomas De Gendt who went on to take the victory, after bridging the gap between the peloton and a ten man breakaway alongside David Lopez. Scarponi also made his way across, as did Kiserlovski, which forced Movistar to work alongside Garmin to bring the breakaway back in hopes of defending their man, Quintana's, podium spot. It was too little, too late, though, as De Gendt, Lopez, Kiserlovski, Scarponi and Dumoulin finished 21 seconds ahead of the peloton, with Scarponi making up enough time to finish third in the GC, and Quintana being pushed back into fourth position. It was certainly an exciting end to a closely fought race!

Tour of Catalunya: Stage Six

In a very fast-paced stage it turned out that Simon Gerrans was the man with the legs on the day, as he claimed victory over the rest of the riders who made it into the bunch sprint. The riders were strung out, because the pace was so high and a number of GC riders were caught out again, with Wiggins and Scarponi losing a further five seconds.

A break of eight riders managed to get away early on in the race, but BMC were in no mood to hang around and pushed the pace on, bringing them back with four kilometres to go. Towards the end there was a sharp left turn and it looked as though Meersman might get to the line first, until Gerrans shot forward and crossed the line ahead of Meersman, Dumoulin, Ratto and Wyss.

Whilst Gerrans took victory, Dan Martin further consolidated his position as leader, taking a three second bonus during an intermediate sprint, so that he now leads Rodriguez by 17 seconds. With less than a minute separating the top GC contenders, stage seven looks set to bring fireworks.

Tour of Catalunya: Stage Five

Coming the day after the queen stage, stage five probably came as somewhat of a relief for riders, as they had a somewhat easier day in what turned out, rather predictably, to be a sprinter's stage. That is not to say the day wasn't without some drama, as a number of GC contenders lost a few seconds coming into the finish, as the bunch split due to the presence of a number of roundabouts which riders had to manoeuvre around. Dan Martin managed to keep out of trouble at the front, though, and even picked up a one second time bonus during an intermediate sprint. However, Rodriguez lost three seconds, whilst Quintana and Wiggins both lost nine seconds. Thus, Martin now leads Rodriguez by 14 seconds, Qunitana by 42 seconds and Wiggins by 46 seconds.

In terms of the stage itself, Olivier Kaisen and Tristan Valentin got into a breakaway early on in the race, but the sprinters' teams were not going to miss the opportunity for a stage win and so Omega Pharma-Quick Step worked hard at the front, setting the pace to bring the two riders back, which they did with 15 km left to go. There were a couple of attempts by lone riders to attempt victory or at least get some TV coverage, including Andrey Kashechkin and then Marcus Burghardt. However, neither the Argos-Shimano or Cannondale teams were going to let that happen and so it was left for the sprinters to contest the finish. In the end, it was François Parisien in his first season for Argos-Shimano who took victory ahead of Samuel Dumoulin and Stéphane Poulhie.

Tour of Catalunya: Stage Four

The queen stage of the Tour of Catalunya proved to be a dramatic affair, as the leader of the tour, Alejandro Valverde, crashed out 119 km into the race, alongside his teammate, Eros Capecchi. Ultimately, it was going to end up being Dan Martin's day. Having struggled the day before, losing time on the GC contenders, Martin was determined to get into a break and successfully did so. A group of 23 riders got away, including Martin's teammate, Ryder Hesjedal, who was able to offer support and set a pace until he dropped back.

Dan Martin's form has sometimes been a bit up and down, and he is obviously relishing the chance to demonstrate just how strong he is on the climbs. Eventually, the group thinned out, with Nicolas Roche going off the front, before later being caught by Betancur, Santaromita, Martin, Losada, Herrada and Kiserlovski. The peloton was being driven by Team Sky, with Katusha initially contributing nothing to the pace-setting to bring back the breakaway group.

Martin was really pushing the pace and he was left with Herrada as his sole companion, though he wasn't prepared to contribute to the effort, knowing that this stage would be ideal for his teammate, Quintana, and could put him in the leader's jersey. The pace was too high for Herrada, though, and he dropped back. Meanwhile, Gesink and Van den Broeck attacked, as Katusha took up the pace-setting at the front, as Wiggins' sole surviving domestique, Uran, dropped back. Quintana attacked, followed by Rodriquez, and though they overtook Gesink and Van den Broeck, they were unable to catch Martin.

Dan Martin crossed the line first, followed by Rodriguez, Quintana, Van den Broeck and Gesink. Wiggins came in over a minute behind the winner alongside Stetina, Scarponi and Danielson. Martin is now leading the GC by 10 seconds. In second is Rodriguez, followed by Quintana at 32 seconds behind the leader and Wiggins at 36 seconds behind. The question now is will Martin be able to hold on to the leader's jersey?

Tour of Catalunya: Stage Three

What has happened to Wiggo? He seems to have become somewhat of an attack dog all of a sudden!! Wiggo is possibly the last man you'd expect to attack on the steep final climb of stage three, but with a kilometre to go, he went off the front and in the process thinned out the group of riders quite substantially. Perhaps he was testing his rivals' legs or showing that he is prepared to attack. Since he's not a natural climber, we've become used to Team Sky setting such a fast pace at the front that no other rider is able to attack and make it stick, with Wiggo protected at the back of the Sky train and able to use his strong time trialling skills to his advantage in stage races.

It would appear that by attacking in the way he did, Wiggo has made clear that his intention is to win this tour and has demonstrated that he definitely has some good form. This obviously bodes well for the Giro d'Italia. Unfortunately, it didn't quite come off, as Nairo Quintana, the climber extraordinaire, ended up winning the stage, with his teammate, Alejandro Valverde, finishing in second place and Joaquim Rodriguez in third. Bradley Wiggins was fourth and credited with the same time as his main GC rivals, though due to time bonuses gained in the first stage Valverde is now in the leader's jersey, with Wiggins in second and Rodriguez third, both only four seconds down on the GC.

Prior to the final climb, it had been Nicolas Edet, Martin Kohler, Karol Domagalski and Lucas Sebastian Haedao who were in the front group, but they were brought back by Sky, only for Jurgen van den Broeck - who was looking to make up time after losing 28 seconds on the first stage - to attack. He was quickly brought back before Tom Danielson tried his luck. It wasn't too be, though, as Movistar demonstrated their dominance with a one-two finish at the line, taking a stage win and the leader's jersey.

Tour of Catalunya: Stage Two

After the excitement of stage one, stage two of the Tour of Catalunya turned out to be a more predictable affair, ending in a bunch sprint. Although three riders got into a break, including Christian Meier, Olivier Kaisen and Christophe Laborie, there was never any doubt that the peloton were going to reel them back in. Driving the pace at the front was Omega Pharma-Quickstep, obviously trying to keep Gianni Meersman, the current leader of the GC, out of trouble and in the leader's jersey.

Other teams contributed to the pace and so the breakaway riders were brought back with 20 km to go. Although a number of riders, including Marcus Burghardt and Michal Golas, tried to get away with just over 3 km to go, AG2R La Mondiale and Blanco pushed on, bringing the escapees back with under 2 km to go. As the sprint wound up, there was a crash, which claimed a number of riders, but in the end Gianni Meersman was well-placed to win his second consecutive stage, which he did.

With the additional time bonus given for crossing the line first, Meersman is now leading the GC by 14 seconds, followed by Valerio Agnoli and Alejandro Valverde. However, it is during the next couple of stages where the road heads upwards and when the GC contenders are likely to make their move. For teams with GC aspirations, this stage was just about getting their team leaders home safely.

Tour of Catalunya - Stage One

Stage one of the Tour of Catalunya was predicted to end up as a sprint finish, but Sir Bradley Wiggins decided to set the race alight by attacking on the descent into Calella. Having seemingly been hidden away since the start of the racing season, whilst other big-name riders have been making their mark in some major races, most notably Vincenzo Nibali in the Tirreno-Adriatico, it was good to see that Wiggo has the determination to lead from the front.

Everyone has become familiar with Team Sky's way of working, with all the Sky riders strung out in a row, keeping their team leader protected at the back. They set the pace and it is for other teams to follow. However, it seems that there are occasions when Team Sky will take advantage of a situation and not necessarily follow their usual predictable pattern.

Perhaps it is the case that after having not raced for awhile, Wiggo has a point to prove. He looked comfortable on the descent and he had two more-than-capable teammates with him, Dario Cataldo and David López. By pushing the pace on, Wiggo managed to split the group and, although he didn't win the sprint or gain any time bonuses, he definitely proved to the other GC contenders that he has got some form.

Wiggo has actually managed to sprint to victory in the past, but of the 13 riders who were ahead, it was almost inevitable that Gianni Meersman was going to take the stage victory. Most of the other GC contenders had managed to make it into the Wiggo group, including Alejandro Valverde, Joaquim Rodriguez, Robert Gesink, Dan Martin and Michele Scarponi and they finished with a 28 second advantage over the peloton. After his aggression on the descent, Wiggo went on to claim sixth place, although ultimately it looks as though his main objective is overall victory.

Milan-San Remo: Review

So, Peter Sagan didn't win then! It was probably for the best, as we don't want him getting too big for his boots, now, do we?! There is always a danger of that happening when a rider is labelled the next 'superstar of cycling' and he certainly has a great deal of talent. However, in the end, it was the under-the-radar Gerald Ciolek, riding for the relatively small team of MTN-Qhubeka, who managed to cross the line first.

It was certainly an eventful edition of the Milan-San Remo. Bad weather led organisers to remove a couple of climbs from the race, including the Passo del Turchino and La Manie. Snow meant that it was just too dangerous to pass. Unfortunately, this meant that some riders got back on their team bus and never bothered to get off again when racing re-started, including Tom Boonen, Matt Goss, and Niki Terpstra. Another favourite, Vincenzo Nibali, was later to abandon due to the cold.

By the time the race reached the Cipressa, Team Sky were trying to dominate proceedings, as is their wont. Unfortunately, Geraint Thomas, one of the team leaders came down heavily, whilst their other designated team leader, Edvald Boasson Hagen, looked as though he was struggling up the climb. Philippe Gilbert tried to make a break for it, but Sylvain Chavanel was having none of it and he, alongside five other riders, brought him back.

It was when Sylvain Chavanel, Ian Stannard and Eduard Vorganov attacked that the race got really interesting, making it less and less likely that the race would end in a bunch sprint. Having grown used to seeing Sky colours at the front, rider after rider all in a row, it was somewhat exciting to see Ian Stannard going for it. He is so often the workhorse, sitting for long periods of time at the front, working for others, that he obviously decided to make the most of this opportunity, given that he no longer had to work for Geraint Thomas or Boasson Hagen.

Eventually, Voganov tired and dropped back, whilst the group containing Fabian Cancellara, Peter Sagan, Gerald Ciolek and Luca Paolini bridged the gap. Although Sagan can sprint, Ciolek was the only pure sprinter in the group, so it was looking good for him. However, Stannard decided to give it one last dig and attempted to time trial his way to the line with a few kilometres to go. He didn't get very far, though, and after over five-and-a-half hours in the saddle, it turned out that Ciolek had the strongest legs on the day.

Milan-San Remo: Preview

So, who is going to win Milan-San Remo this year, then? That's a tough question to answer in this highly unpredictable race which is most famous for covering the longest distance of all the one-day races in the racing calendar. Although it has been won by sprinters in the past and is known for being the sprinters' classic, there have been occasions when riders better known for their all-round abilities, such as Fabian Cancellara and Simon Gerrans, have managed to get away and stay away from the peloton to win in, as in 2008 and 2012 respectively. It takes an astute rider to foil the sprinters who are usually able to stay with the peloton to get over the climbs, including the Cipressa and Poggio.

However, being such a long race means that this is a real test of endurance very early on in the season and there will certainly be plenty of tired legs by the time the riders reach these climbs. It is therefore up to anyone who is not a sprinter to push on when a situation presents itself if they are to have any hope of scuppering the chances of the sprinters' teams. Clearly, of all the sprinters in the field, the ones to watch are Mark Cavendish, former world road race champion and winner of Milan-San Remo in 2009, as well as Matthew Goss who won the race in 2011. Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thor Hushovd could also make their presence known, though they are not out-and-out sprinters.

Indeed, although not a pure sprinter, cycling's new superstar, Peter Sagan, is also worth keeping an eye on, as he has shown that he can win in a sprint and also get over the climbs with relative ease. If you were going to put money on anyone, he's probably your man, although his teammate, Moreno Moser, has also shown some good form this season and they do seem to make a dynamic duo! If it comes down to a bunch sprint and all the major pure sprinters are there, it is hard to imagine anyone getting past Cavendish, but anything could happen. Of course, anyone who isn't a pure sprinter is going to want to put a spanner in the works and so you can expect the likes of Nibali to try putting in some attacks on the climbs. Ultimately, it remains to be seen who will cross the line first!