Boeckmans sprints with ease to victory in Nokere Curonian.

Kris Boeckmans has after the GP Samyn now Nokere Curonian put on his list. The sprinter for Lotto Soudal beat his competitors with an easy win.

News shorts: Mollema susprised by Tirreno TT.

Bauke Mollema rode an impressive final time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico, finishing 36 seconds behind the stage winner, and teammate, Fabian Cancellara.

While it wasn’t enough to strip Nairo Quintana of his leader’s jersey, the Dutchman closed the gap to just 18 seconds and cemented his second place overall.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Nokere Koerse - Mar 18 (Start List),

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),

Tirreno-Adriatico - Mar 11-17 (Results),

Paris Nice - Mar 8-15 (Results),

Le Tour de Langkawi - Mar 8-15 (Results),

Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen - Mar 6-8 (Results),

Strade Bianche - Mar 7 (Results),

Strade Bianche Women - Mar 7 (Results),

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

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

More ...

Tinkoff-Saxo builds Sanremo team around Sagan.

Peter Sagan got the monkey off his back in Tirreno-Adriatico, winning a wet and cold stage 6 on Monday. Now, his Tinkoff-Saxo team looks to the Slovak national champion to deliver again, this time at Milano-Sanremo, the season’s first monument race, Sunday in Italy.

“I’m heading to Milano-Sanremo to deliver a top result just like at any other race. When the team or I start a race, the ultimate goal is to win.

But in cycling you never know, and you have to be realistic,” said Sagan in a team statement. “My competitors have the same goals, and sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t. But Milano-Sanremo is special, and I’ll naturally be at the start with big ambitions.”

..

Return to Via Roma.

Cycling races sometimes struggle with their identities and with how to adapt their courses to fit an ever changing reality.

Riders get stronger, cities change and calls for "modernization" are always there. Milano-Sanremo seem to be in eternal doubts about what they want to do with the finale of their race.

This year's solution? Back to the future. Back to the Via Roma.

Matthews, Lobato lead ‘outsiders’ list at Milano-Sanremo.

The “favorites” list for Milano-Sanremo, the season’s first classic, is as long as the Via Roma. Nearly every team brings someone who aspires to win the longest and fastest of classics, and those dreams have been encouraged by the organizers’ decision to revert to the “classic” Sanremo course, which eliminates the La Maniè climb and moves the finish line back to the Via Roma and closer to the descent off the decisive Poggio climb.

Most of the major favorites have notched early season results that bolster their confidence. Fabian Cancellara, Peter Sagan, defending champ Alexander Kristoff, and Mark Cavendish will all appear on the “five-star” favorites list.

2015 Milan-San Remo LIVE.

2015 Milan-San Remo LIVE Sunday, March 22, Italy.

Race starts at 10:10am CET (5:10am U.S. Eastern)

Finish at around 5:09pm CET (12:09pm U.S. Eastern)

Live video from *1:40pm CET (*8:40am U.S. Eastern).

Volta a Catalunya 2015 Live Dashboard.

Live Video Streaming and TV Coverage starting Monday, March 23rd.

This race is broadcast live. Check back for 2015 live coverage options.

“I’ve won what?!” The weirdest cycle race podium prizes.

If a selection of British cheeses doesn’t suit you, then why not head to the Tour of Austria and grab yourself a big sausage supplied by Wiesbauer. 2014 winner Pete Kennaugh looks delighted.

Lezyne launches GPS cycling computers.

Three new models are coming this year, ranging from a small-and-simple unit with just the bare essentials, to a fully featured model with all the bells and whistles.

Lezyne says its entry-level Mini GPS is the smallest GPS-enabled cycling computer in the world. Its 33.4 x 50.8 x 22.5mm dimensions make it barely larger than a Tic Tac box and, with a claimed weight of just 30g, it isn’t much heavier, either.

The semi-customisable, monochrome LCD display is small but remarkably crisp with up to three data fields and a backlight for night-time visibility. If you’re not one to fiddle with buttons, there’s an auto-scrolling function that will automatically cycle through various screens for you.

The Moment The Race Was Won: Tirreno-Adriatico.

Nairo Quintana rides solo, the “fantastic four” reduced to one. This was the moment the race was won.

The race opened with a prologue instead of the promised team time trial because of the ravages of a storm.

IOC planning to retest Olympic samples from Beijing and London.

Seven years after the Beijing Olympics were held, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that it intends to retest samples from the Games in order to try to catch users of banned substances.

IOC medical director Richard Budgett stated on Wednesday that some retests have already been done from Beijing, the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver plus the 2012 London Olympics.

In total hundreds of samples will be re-examined, using the latest testing methods and techniques.

In the News: Nys says all TUEs should be banned.

Sporza reports that Belgian cyclocross star Sven Nys has taken a stand against the prevalence of Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE) in cycling.

Speaking in a panel discussion about the recent Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) report on the Belgian Sporza program “Extra Time Koers,” the former world champion said that although better controls have improved the climate in cycling, the rules still effectively enabled doping in some circumstances.

“There are still things in this report I have to furrow my brow at,” he said. “I read that cortisone still remains the biggest problem, while there has already been a test for that for years. Why do they let that continue?

Kwiatkowski: Rainbow jersey an asset, not a curse.

Standing on the final podium of 73rd edition of Paris-Nice, world champion Michal Kwiatkowski had his rainbow stripes covered with the maillot blanc for best young competitor. After leading the race for five stages only to be knocked back to second place overall in the final two days, the Polish rider remains unmoved by what some often call "the curse of the rainbow jersey".

"I'm satisfied with the final result. Victory at the prologue, leader's jersey for a couple of stages, it's a really good start of the season," Kwiatkowski said to the Polish website rowery.org. "Skipping Strade Bianche and choosing Paris-Nice instead of Tirreno-Adriatico was a good move, however, I missed the white roads watching Zdenek's beautiful ride in Italy."

Quintana is king at Tirreno-Adriatico.

It’s not the fact that he won, but the way he did it. Nairo Quintana blew the doors off the best of the peloton to win Tirreno-Adriatico to remind everyone the Colombian climber will be a very real candidate for victory in July’s Tour de France.

After a rough and tumble six months that included shoulder surgery and a crash at the Colombian national championships, Quintana returned to Europe last week somewhat as an enigma. Despite finishing third at the Tour de San Luís in his season debut in January, no one knew what to expect, but it didn’t take long for the defending Giro d’Italia champ to show his true colors.

Attacking through a pelting blizzard, Quintana gapped rivals such as Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali with such ferocity that all they could do was try to limit the damage. Quintana had just delivered his first knockout punch of the season.

Nibali and his Tirreno-Adriatico showing.

Vincenzo Nibali has declared himself satisfied with his showing at Tirreno-Adriatico despite struggling on the summit finish at Monte Terminillo and finishing the race in 16th place overall, exactly two minutes down on winner Nairo Quintana.

“I wasn’t super in this Tirreno-Adriatico but I’m happy all the same because I got in an excellent block of work during the race that I’m sure will turn out to be useful to me,” Nibali told Gazzetta dello Sport, adding that he had expected not to be competitive given his current weight.

Wiggins and Kittel confirmed for inaugural Tour de Yorkshire.

Bradley Wiggins and Marcel Kittel will headline the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire after the teams set for this year’s race were unveiled by ASO and Welcome to Yorkshire.

Wiggins will ride for his new Continental team, WIGGINS, after being granted special dispensation from the UCI to complete his switch from Team Sky in time for the race, which takes place on Friday May 1 to Sunday May 3.

Kittel, who won stage one of the Tour de France in Yorkshire last year, will return to the county with his Giant-Alpecin squad, one of five WorldTour teams set for the race.

Steve Cummings enjoying new lease of life at MTN-Qhubeka.

Steve Cummings quickly played down any idea of a rebirth of his career, but one thinks it could be after the Englishman signed for MTN-Qhubeka, won in the Challenge Mallorca and yesterday placed sixth overall in Tirreno-Adriatico behind Nairo Quintana.

He bounced around several top teams, from Discovery Channel to Barloworld, from Sky to BMC. With BMC, he won a stage in the Vuelta a España and in the early season last year, claimed victory in the Tour Méditerranéen.

A weekend in the Victorian Alps with Bikebug-Nextgen.

Bikebug-Nextgen is a Melbourne based women’s NRS cycling team fielded by an eclectic bunch of courageous women. I say courageous as to ride at the level they do while persuing careers in their chosen fields takes a lot of courage and determination.

This is not unique to the Bikebug-Nextgen team, as many of the women in the NRS field are in the same situation. But what makes this team unique when compared to the majority of NRS racing teams is that the entire team, bar one member, all live in the same city, giving the team opportunities to train with one another on a regular basis.

Cannondale Slice UItegra Di2 – Review.

"The challenge with reviewing a product that seeks to buck a trend is that all of our standard comparisons fall flat.

Of course it’s not that we can’t make a comparison. The issue is that the comparison itself may be unfair. For example, how can we compare a product against previous benchmarks if the product was actually designed to go against them?

This was the challenge when we took our first look at the 2015 Cannondale Slice."

Giant Defy Advanced 2.

"As astonishing as the orginal Defy was, the 2015 redesign manages to go further. According to Giant, the engineers there started with a clean slate but retained the same goals as with the original Defy: light, stiff, and smooth.

New tube shapes and revised carbon layups boosted pedaling stiffness and ride compliance at the same time. The seatpost is a noticeable change from the previous teardrop aero shape, and results in better fore/aft flex. Ultrathin seatstays—the thinnest Giant says it could make while still keeping them hollow—also help soften blows and keep vibration at bay."

Servais Knaven’s Murky Past.

Kwiatkowski recons Milan San Remo with Via Roma in mind.

Daily Distractions.

Video: Phil Cavell on the evolution of biomechanics.

David Millar: UCI has ‘no true idea’ about doping in today’s peloton.

David Millar has called on the UCI to follow up the Cycling Independent Reform Commission’s (CIRC) report with a full audit of today’s peloton to understand where current cyclists stand on doping.

Millar is one of the most outspoken cycling personalities on the subject of doping, having been banned for using EPO in his youth and returning to campaign for a cleaner sport.

CIRC was set up to examine issues of doping and corruption in the sport, and published its report last week.

The former Garmin-Sharp rider, who retired at the end of last season, didn’t speak to CIRC, saying that the two parties could not find a convenient time to meet, but says he has spoken to the UCI about what should happen now.

In the News: Armstrong meets with Tygart.

The New York Times reports that Lance Armstrong met with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart for the first time in more than two years near Denver International Airport last week. Their conversation was the first step in a potential rapprochement that could lead to the reduction of Armstrong’s lifetime ban for doping.

This comes after the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) report did nothing to further Armstrong’s efforts to return to competition, namely triathlon.

Tygart, in an interview with The New York Times, would not confirm the meeting had taken place, and Armstrong’s lawyer, Elliot Peters, did not respond to a telephone message The New York Times left at his San Francisco office. But Armstrong, 43, has confided to close friends that the meeting went well and that he was hopeful of further talks.

Injury causes further delays to Gesink’s season plans.

LottoNL-Jumbo general classification rider Robert Gesink has had a frustrating few months, and now faces further delays in relation to the 2015 season.

The Dutchman had been due to ride this weekend’s Tour of Zeeland Seaports and then go on to the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, starting next Monday, as well.

However his team has announced that he has picked up a minor knee injury and has decided to cancel both those races.

He will instead continue training in Girona and is hoping to be in the right shape to be able to ride the Vuelta al País Vasco.

Coppi, Coffee, The Past and The Present.

As races go Milan-Sanremo has created many legends and myths. Eugène Christophe’s win in 1910 came after 185 riders abandoned before the race had even started, so grim were the conditions.

There’s the emergence of Eddy Merckx who won the race for the first time aged 20. Sean Kelly’s descent off the Poggio rates as a classic. There are far too many moments to list. So let’s take 1946 and the story of Fausto Coppi and his coffee break.

The 1946 edition of Milan-Sanremo is much like the others, a ride from Milan to Sanremo. Back then the organizers didn’t need to deviate the route to include extra climbs like the Poggio and Cipressa because the 290km route was hard enough.

Martin looks ahead to Volta a Catalunya, Ardennes Classics.

Dan Martin is getting into his groove ahead of the Volta a Catalunya and the Ardennes Classics. Over the last week in Italy, he rode to 25th overall in the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race.

Martin told VeloNews he wanted to use the race as a way of getting used to the stress and the bump-and-grind of the WorldTour peloton ahead of the Volta a Catalunya later this March and the Ardennes Classics at the end of April, starting with the Amstel Gold Race on April 19.

“I’d love to have something from the race, I’m a racer after all, but obviously I have less racing than the other boys who’ve done Ruta del Sol or the Tour of Oman, and that’s a big advantage,” Martin said.

Build your cycling strength with big gear efforts.

Power on the bike is determined by two things: how big a gear you can turn and how quickly you can turn it. This session is weightlifting for your legs. It helps your leg muscles create a big force to turn over a hard gear and get it up to speed.

If you are always spinning a gentle gear then you are missing out on the type of workouts that will help to build muscle and increase your power. It’s easy to understand if you think about weight training.

SRAM brings 1x tech to the road - SRAM R1?

SRAM’s three 1x11 mountain bike groups and the CX1 cyclocross group have earned praise for their simplicity and durability – but how will a 1x11 drivetrain designed for the road be received? With prototypes already spotted, a SRAM 1x road group seems to be near production.

When SRAM introduced the CX1 group in early 2014 the company said it would pursue further applications for its 1x drivetrains. SRAM road product manager JP McCarthy said the company was keen to see how many types of bikes can be built with 1x drivetrains.

Trek updates its Crockett and Boone 'cross bikes.

Trek has updated its top-of-the-line Boone and Crockett cyclocross race bikes, adding new colors and graphics, new drivetrain and hydraulic brake options and a 15mm front thru-axle on disc brake models.

The Crockett 5 Disc and Boone 5 Disc ech come spec'd with a carbon thru-axle fork with an aluminum steerer, while the Crockett 9 Disc, Boone 9 Disc, Crockett Disc frameset, and Boone Disc frameset feature a full carbon thru-axle fork with carbon steerer tubes.

The full-carbon disc fork saves 120 grams over the thru-axle fork with aluminum steerer. The thru-axle carbon forks will also be available in a neutral black color for owners of previous Boones and Crocketts wishing to upgrade.

Legally Speaking with Bob Mionske: Riding with video cameras.