The Moment The Race Was Won: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Ian Stannard took on three riders from a rival team, cracking them one by one on the road to Gent before it was Niki Terpstra’s time to get done over in the sprint.

The locals call triumphing in a race overwinning, a term that ought to be used in English to describe Stannard’s success.

Stannard repeats in Omloop.

Ian Stannard retained his title in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with an incredible ride against the might of Etixx-QuickStep.

The British rider beat Niki Terptra in a two-up sprint in a gripping race after taking apart a three-pronged attack from the Belgian team that also included Tom Boonen and Stijn Vandenbergh.

Anna van der Breggen bests Ellen van Dijk in European opener.

In the tenth edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Anna van der Breggen beat out Ellen van Dijk in a two-up sprint to win the first European race of the season. Lizzie Armitstead led home the chasers in Ghent to round out the podium.

The race winning move escaped from an elite front group of approximately 30 riders on the Molenberg, the eighth and final climb of the day. The duo extended their advantage over the cobbled sections that followed, holding off the dwindling chase group to the line.

Sepulveda takes breakthrough win in Sud-Ardeche.

Eduardo Sepulveda confirmed his huge potential when he took his first professional victory at the Classic Sud-Ardeche.

The Argentinean made it into a strong group, bridged across to lone attacker Julien Loubet and finally beat the Frenchman in a sprint to open his account in one of the hardest French one-day races.

Winning all five Monuments remains a goal for Gilbert.

Regardless of what he achieves on the 200-kilometer loop from Ghent and back on Saturday afternoon, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is likely to mark Philippe Gilbert’s sole appearance in a cobbled classic this year.

For the third successive season, the Belgian focuses his attention on the Ardennes Classics, while Greg Van Avermaet will lead the line for BMC at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

It hasn’t always been thus, of course. Gilbert finished on the podium of the Tour of Flanders in successive years before breaking his Ardennes duck at Amstel Gold Race in 2010, and by the time he landed the hat-trick of Ardennes Classics victories during his annus mirabilis of 2011, many wondered whether Gilbert might become the next man – after Messrs. Merckx, De Vlaeminck and Van Looy – to win all five of the Monument Classics.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite - Feb 28 (Start List),

Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne - Mar 1 (Start List),

Paris Nice - Mar 8-15 (Stages),

Giro d'Italia 2015 - May 9-31 (Stages),

Tour de France 2015 - July 4-26 (Stages),

Vuelta a España 2015 - Aug 22-Sept 13 (Stages),

UCI Road World Championship 2015 - Sept 20-27 (Stages),

Volta ao Algarve - Feb 19-23 (Results),

UCI Track World Championships - Feb 18-22 (Results),

Tour of Oman 2015 - Feb 17-22 (Results),

Vuelta a Andalucia - Feb 18-22 (Results),

Women's Tour of New Zealand - Feb 18-22 (Results),

UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships - Jan 31-Feb 1 (Results).

More ...

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Preview.

The cobbled classics start this weekend with Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, a 200km introduction to Flanders with all the classic ingredients from bad weather to great fans.

Some races are held to promote tourism but this is so grim the images must put people off visiting Belgium but the rough conditions make the race all the better.

Omloop-what?

Omloop is Dutch for a loop, a circuit race.

Greg Van Avermaet under scrutiny in Mertens inquiry.

Greg Van Avermaet will face the doping committee of the Belgian cycling federation next month as part of the investigation of Dr. Chris Mertens, according to press reports.

Van Avermaet’s team said it was conducting an internal inquiry and that it had yet to unearth any rule violations.

In a press release, management wrote: “The team is aware that Van Avermaet was treated by Dr. Mertens, but is unaware of any treatments that would be in violation of any rules.

Based on the information available to the team at the present time, no decision has been made to remove Van Avermaet from active status.”

Speaking before the start of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Van Avermaet — who finished second here last year and is hoping for big things on the cobbles this year — denied wrongdoing.

News Shorts: Vuelta Mexico cancelled.

Organizers of the 2015 Vuelta Mexico, which was scheduled to start on Tuesday, announced late Friday night that the UCI 2.2 race has been cancelled this year.

"I regret to inform you that despite invested much time and effort, 'Vuelta Mexico 2015,' to be held on 3 to 8 March 2015, has been canceled," organizers said in a statement sent to teams that had planned to attend.

"The present financial situation of the country is very serious and administrative problems we face are not proportional to the effort and energy that the Mexican Cycling Federation AC and CONADE have invested so that it could carry out in a timely manner.

Jack Bobridge explains the agony of an Hour Record attempt.

As Sarah Storey makes her attempt on the Hour Record today, Australian cyclist Jack Bobridge has given an insight into the extraordinary physical challenge, describing it as ‘the closest you can come to death without dying'.

Bobridge missed out on breaking the men’s Hour record in January, falling three laps short of the record which was at that point held by Austria’s Matthias Brändle, but which has since been broken by Bobridge’s countryman, Rohan Dennis.

2015 Kuurne Brussels Kuurne LIVE.

Sunday's Race starts at 12:00pm CET (6:00am U.S. Eastern)

Finish at around 4:40pm CET (10:40am U.S. Eastern)

Live video from 2:30pm CET (8:30am U.S. Eastern, 5:30am Pacific).

Wide tires rule at the Spring Classics.

There's growing momentum for wider tires being regarded as faster than conventional narrow tires. TOUR magazine conducted an interesting comparison test, where they took a selection of 23, 25 and 28mm tires, and they concluded that the 28mm tire was fastest with the lowest level of rolling resistance.

The difference between the fastest and slowest tires was as much a 9 watts. Now, that might not sound like much, but after 250km of racing, it could be the pivotal difference.

Astana talking with lawyers after UCI request license withdrawal.

UCI requests withdrawal of Astana Pro Team license.

Daily Distractions.

Steve Tilford: Longevity and your Heart.

Storey clocks up 45.502 kilometres in hour record bid, finishes 563 metres adrift of Van Moorsel’s record.

British rider Sarah Storey came up short in her bid to beat Leontien Van Moorsel’s twelve year world hour record, covering a distance of 45.502 kilometres in Lee Valley VeloPark in London on Saturday and missing out by fractionally over half a kilometer.

Riding courageously, the multiple British Paralympic gold medallist dug in as deep as possible but taking on the pace set by one of the most successful female riders of all time proved to be too much.

What Makes Ian Stannard A Great Rider.

Here’s a look at Ian Stannard, who on Saturday won his second consecutive Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and why the first British winner of that race is a remarkable rider.

News shorts: Jalabert linked with Dr Ferrari once more.

Former Tour de France points and mountains classification winner, Laurent Jalabert has been linked to the banned doctor Michele Ferrari in an interview with Jacques Mombet.

During an interview with the journalist Pierre Ballester, the former French rugby doctor once went to Dr. Ferrari in search of advice and in discussing his reasons he named Jalabert as one of his clients, according to a transcript published in Le Monde.

European Roundup: Nys Crash, Spectator “Treated Like a Murderer” and Meeusen injection Allegations.

In the last cyclocross race of the year, a time trial that Mathieu van der Poel eventually won, Sven Nys was caught up in a crash after colliding head on with a crossing spectator, breaking his Trek in half. Nys and the spectator, Jean-Pierre Decoene of 64 years of age, both came away with injuries, with Nys retiring to his camper with a headache and Decoene being taken to the Red Cross.

In other news, the pending investigation against Laurens Sweeck and Tom Meeusen, which almost saw both competitors left out of the 2015 Cyclocross World Championships, resumed with the potential penalty of a two-year suspension from the sport.

Vital Information for the Cycling Community Regarding Bike Thieves.

"We received the following letter from LAPD Officer John (Rusty) Redican regarding a a ring of high end bicycle thieves that were  arrested a few years back, who may or may not be at it again.

There is some good information in his letter that is worth reading and sharing with your fellow cyclists."

Updated Shimano STePS – Fully Automated Di2 Shifting with E-bike Power Assist.

Last year Shimano introduced an E-bike system on the European markets called STePS, as direct competition to the similar Bosch crank-based motor.

Now a year later Shimano is taking it a step further and integrating the STePS drive motor with its Di2 internally geared hubs to offer a system with full automatic shifting.

Shimano has rated the updated E-bike systems for “Light Off Road” use, which generally means trekking on gravel and forest roads but not actual mounting biking.

Armstrong and CIRC: Questions were limited, reduction in lifetime ban thought unlikely.

Although Lance Armstrong recently gave the impression that he was fully cooperative with the Cycling Independent Reform Commission, telling the BBC that he gave full details in two meetings with the independent body, it appears that version of events may be misleading.

“I have met them twice, they have asked me not to go into details, but everybody knows I have met with them, so that is not a secret,” he told the BBC in a long interview broadcast at the end of January.

“I think it’s safe for me to say that whatever questions they asked, I told. A lot of it is out there. So I don’t know if there’s a whole lot out there left, but I was totally honest, and I was totally transparent.”

However CyclingTips understands that the impression given is a misleading one.