Meersman wins Handzame Classic.

Gianni Meersman came out on top in the Handzame Classic, capping off an excellent lead out from his team to win ahead of Antoine Demoitie and Tiesj Benoot.

Meersman came through the melee of leadouts after late work from Iljo Keisse and Matteo Trentin but the groundwork for the win had been laid by the rest of the team who wrestled control from the opposition inside the closing 15 kilometers of racing, neutralizing several late moves before catapulting Meersman, 29, to his third win of the season.

Milano-Sanremo turns back the clock.

Milano-Sanremo’s 293-kilometer fuse, lit in Milan, burns slowly south from the Italian city before making a right turn along the coast, where it winds off the Mediterranean and sparks into a flame. A string of short, punchy climbs set off a final round of desperate fireworks.

Milano-Sanremo is said to be the sprinter’s classic, but the climbs, beginning with Capo Mele at 51km remaining and ending with the peak of the Poggio at 5.5km to go, set up a tension between fast finishers, climbers, and classics strongmen found nowhere else on the pro calendar.

Mark Cavendish’s guide to Milan San Remo.

Mark Cavendish explained that Milan San Remo may be ‘easy’ to finish, but that every one of the 300 kilometers in Sunday’s race are complicated.

Cycling Weekly spoke to 2009 Milan San Remo winner Cavendish to get his opinion on the race’s different phases, from Lombardia to Liguria, and to give you a unique insight into Italy’s classic.

“It’s the easiest race to finish, but the hardest to win,” Etixx-QuickStep’s Cavendish said.

Haga replaces Geschke for Milan San Remo.

American Chad Haga will start Milan-San Remo for Giant-Alpecin on Sunday in place of Simon Geschke, who broke his collarbone last week in a crash at Tirreno-Adriatico. Haga got the news last week while competing at the Italian race.

"It was either the day of the final time trial, or the night before. I knew I was a reserve rider anyways, but I had kind of forgotten about it until Simon broke his collarbone and I realized that I might be going there.

They asked me what I thought about it and decided whether they wanted to pick me or another reserve rider. But they ended up going with me.

2014-15 Races & Results.

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),

Nokere Koerse - Mar 18 (Results),

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 ...

2015 Milan-San Remo LIVE.

2015 Milan-San Remo LIVE Sunday, March 22nd, 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 2:15pm CET (9:15am U.S. Eastern, 6:15am Pacific).

Volta a Catalunya 2015 Live Dashboard.

March 23-29, Spain. Stage 1 starts Monday at 12:20pm CET (7:20am U.S. Eastern).

Finish at around 4:57pm CET (11:57am U.S. Eastern).

Live video from 3:30pm CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern, 7:30am Pacific).

Deignan: Froome still has the hunger.

Team Sky rider Philip Deignan has said that Chris Froome is determined to get back to the top of the sport, with the Irishman confirming that the 2013 Tour de France winner has used the disappointments of 2014 to fuel his drive for this year’s campaign.

The Briton crashed out of last year’s Tour, losing the chance to defend his title, and then went on to be beaten by arch-rival Alberto Contador in the Vuelta a España.

Although he was second overall there, Froome was disappointed not to finish up in the red jersey of race leader and is intent on getting back to the GC summit in this July’s Tour.

Cancellara ready to turn back the clock at Milan-San Remo.

The sprinters traditionally dominate Milan-San Remo but Fabian Cancellara is again determined to have his say, despite turning 34 on Wednesday.

Cancellara has been targeting the spring Classics since 2004 but it would be wrong to think he is past his best. Indeed he had his best winter in many years and is confident he will have yet another strong spring Classics campaign, starting on Sunday.

Van Garderen, BMC disappointed after Paris-Nice blunder.

Tejay van Garderen and the BMC Racing team ended Paris-Nice disappointed last Sunday in France. The American slipped from fourth to 16th overall because he failed to “prepare right” when the weather turned worse on the Côte d’Azur.

Van Garderen began Saturday’s stage 6 fourth overall behind world champion Michal Kwiatkowski, but the team said he failed to dress correctly when the forecast indicated bad weather on the horizon. During the stage, the team car was not able to reach him to give him warmer gear because the race had broken into pieces in the hills above Nice, where van Garderen has a European training base.

“Had a day you hope never to have. So cold!!! #disappointed #OnToTheNextTarget,” van Garderen wrote on Twitter. “Some lessons can only be learned the hard way.”

Francesco Moser inducted into the Giro d’Italia Hall of Fame.

Francesco Moser has been inducted into the Giro d’Italia Hall of Fame in a special event in Milan. Moser is the fourth rider to be inducted for his victory and follows on from Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi and Stephen Roche.

Now 63, Moser’s career spanned several generations. He turned professional in the early seventies and raced against Merckx, finishing seventh in the 1975 Tour de France and winning the best young rider’s white jersey.

He focused on the cobbled Classics and the Giro d’Italia for the rest of his career, winning Paris-Roubaix in 1978, 1979 and 1980. He also won the Tour of Lombardy in 1975 and 1978, Gent-Wevelgem in 1979 and Milan-San Remo in 1984.

He was world road race champion in 1977 in San Cristobal but also missed on a second title several times. He often clashed for Italian team leadership with eternal rival Beppe Saronni, while Bernhard Hinault was often his nemesis at the Giro d’Italia. Moser won a total of 23 stages at the Giro d’Italia, one more than Fausto Coppi.

Wildcard teams announced for Vuelta a España.

The five wildcard teams for this year’s Vuelta a España have been announced Friday by race organizers Unipublic, with American hopefuls UnitedHealthcare being again passed over for what would have been its first Grand Tour.

Instead, the organizers have selected Spanish team Caja Rural–Seguros RGA, French duo Cofidis and Europcar, Team Colombia and the South African MTN-Qhubeka for the three week event.

Giant’s upcoming aero road helmet looks promising.

"Giant isn’t launching its new high-performance helmet range for a few weeks but two of the new models were on display at the Taipei Cycle Show.

We got up close and personal with the aero road and trail helmets, and both look very promising. Given Giant’s knack for offering excellent value across the board, we anticipate the pricing to be good, too."

L’Eroica Comes to California.

Italy’s Strade Bianche professional race has, in relatively short order, become one of the most anticipated races in the early spring calendar.

Through the beautiful Tuscan countryside and over waves of famed white gravel roads, the race is cycling’s true instant classic. Race founder Giancarlo Brocci is also the creator and driving force behind the beloved l’Eroica amateur events.

This year, Eroica California marks the first incursion in the United States with events on April 11 and 12 in San Luis Obispo County. With Paso Robles marked as l’Eroica’s home base, participants may choose from 41, 65, and 123 mile routes.

Five-a-side: This week's new bike gear.

Ritchey has expanded its range of Breakaway travel bikes with a new carbon fibre road version. At just shy of 1,500g for a size small frame, it’s not especially light – nor does it save any weight over the Ti/Carbon version we reviewed a few years ago. However, we do anticipate that the carbon version might be substantially stiffer, with potentially a smoother ride quality.

Either way, that extra weight isn’t for nothing. Ritchey intentionally overbuilt the tubes to withstand the rigours of air travel, and some of that additional mass is devoted to the trick coupler system that lets you pack a complete bike into a case that masquerades as standard luggage.

The evolution of the chainset and the rise of the semi-compact.

Matching the chainset and cassette is second only to frameset choice in determining the ‘style’ of road bike that we ride.

But with the current trend leaning towards wider ratios, the classic stereotype of the racer on a ‘standard’ 53-39-tooth double chainring at the front with an 11-23t or 11-25t (or even tighter) cassette at the back, and the sportive rider packing a compact 50-34t chainset paired with a 11-28t cassette, might be fading.

It used to be clear cut, but times are changing and use of the word ‘standard’ in reference to a chainset isn’t as clear as it used to be.

Riders sense a cultural shift on doping.

"We will not give up," Samuel Dumoulinsaid said, surrounded by his team-mates.

The scene was a sharp contrast to the peloton's strike at stage 17 of the 1998 Tour de France in the wake of the Festina affair -- suggesting a cultural shift is finally happening in scandal-ridden cycling.

"The solution is not to keep silent," 34-year-old Dumoulin, who takes pride in "doing his job clean", he told Reuters.

After a UCI-ordered Independent Commission's (CIRC) report into the sport's doping practices suggested cheating was less prevalent but still endemic, several riders offered a different viewpoint.

Daily Distractions.

Nutrition: Why carbs?

Georges makes winning return after doping ban.

After serving an 18-month ban following a positive test for the stimulant heptaminol, former Ag2r La Mondiale rider Sylvain Georges had been hoping to put that episode behind him and get his racing career back on track when he returned to competition last December.

The Frenchman signed with the Team Pro Immo Nicolas Roux amateur team and took two wins in early March.

Dekker retires from cycling.

Thomas Dekker has announced his retirement from cycling effective immediately. With no contract renewal forthcoming by Garmin-Sharp at the end of 2014, Dekker set his sights on the hour record to land himself a contract for this season.

The Dutchman fell short of Rohan Dennis' benchmark of 52.491km by just over a lap of the Aguascalientes velodrome. While there were suggestions Lampre-Merida were interested in adding a Dutch rider to its squad, Dekker's situation remained unchanged.

Secret Training Weapons – CVAC.

"I am writing this blog as I sit in the CVAC pod at the Sporting Club – Aventine in La Jolla, Ca. For those of you that have never heard of CVAC, let me share about what this Mork & Mindy (test of age to see who understands this reference) looking pod is all about. Above is a picture of me in the pod with the pod open.

Here is a great explanation of what CVAC is from their website (www.cvacsystems.com):

“CVAC, which stands for Cyclic Variations in Adaptive Conditioning. The pod-shaped CVAC looks a little like a personal-sized spacecraft. But instead of flying, it only simulates the air pressure, density and temperature that the person inside would experience if he or she climbed to a high altitude."

Ten times that bad weather made bike races even more epic.

"Whether or not you agree with the likes of Fabian Cancellara that more protocols should be put in place by the UCI to prevent riders having to race in extreme weather conditions, there’s no doubt that past battles in the mud, rain and snow have made for some memorable spectacles.

Here we take a look at some of the outstanding bad weather racing moments that stood out in our minds."

Trina Jacobson: She’s Back!! Race Report. Tour de Murrieta.

The team meets before and after each race. This meeting was quick: it was a different scenario than our last team race at the San Diego Omnium, where we had the numbers and it was our race to lose. Our plan was to be patient today. Be active, but patient for the right opportunity to go with a break…or lead Trina out for the field sprint.

….wait, what? Trina? Me?

I knew I had been riding enough and had gotten enough intensity to hang in, but sprint at the end of the one of the more technical and fast crits in SoCal with that looooong straight finish?

SpeedRelease: a new twist on fast wheel security.

Industry veterans Steve Metz and Rafe Schlager are at Taipei Cycle not only to promote a new aftermarket product, but to sell what they see as a valuable technology for both OEs and cyclists.

Partnered with Mike Wang of Taichung-based trading company Dragon Worldwide Logistics, they are here with the SpeedRelease hub, featuring a patented axle system designed for rapid one-handed wheel changes with the security of a through-axle.

PEZ: EuroTrash Nairo Thursday!