Degenkolb wins Milan-San Remo.

John Degenkolb blasted out of a powerful group of survivors to win a rain-soaked, crash-packed Milano-Sanremo on Sunday.

The 106th edition of “La Classicissima” began in rain and ended in sun, and after a late pileup on the winding descent off the Poggio dramatically thinned the herd of contenders, it was the German speedster taking a narrow sprint victory over defending champion Alexander Kristoff with Michael Matthews third.

“It’s really a fantastic moment,” a delighted Degenkolb told Rai Sport. “The race happened exactly as we hoped it would. I really love this place… four years in a row I’ve been here trying to win this race. I know the course, and the Via Roma, it’s special to win here. It’s amazing.”

Sprinters deny Cancellara second Milan-Sam Remo win.

Fabian Cancellara was in the mix at the end of Milan-San Remo but the 2008 winner couldn't match the top-end speed of some of the world's best sprinters and had to settle for a disappointing seventh.

Giant-Alpecin's John Degenkolb took the win ahead of 2014 winner Alexander Kristoff and Orica-GreenEdge fastman Michael Metthews.

“If you look ahead of me there are six world-class sprinters, and I am the first non-traditional sprinter, in a way,” Cancellra said after the stage. “I don’t have the absolute instinct to find the right spot and to know when you can feel when someone is coming, and I got a little bit locked in on the right side. I made a mistake there and it’s disappointing because I had good legs.”

2014-15 Races & Results.

Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Mar 23-29 (History),

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),

Milan San Remo - Mar 22 (Results),

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).

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Defending champion Rodriguez out of Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

Defending Volta Ciclista a Catalunya champion Joaquim Rodriguez will not start this year's race due to a stomach virus, his team confirmed on Sunday. Rodriguez will be replaced by Alberto Losada in the Katusha line-up.

On Sunday morning, just as teammate Alexandre Kristoff began the defense of his own Milano-Sanremo crown, Katusha confirmed Rodriguez’ own Tweet that “to my great regret, I’m out of the Volta because of a stomach virus. Hopefully I will be able to recover for [the Vuelta al] País Vasco. What bad luck I have had!”

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).

Iljo Keisse leads Etixx-Quick-Step sweep at Ronde van Zeeland Seaports.

Etixx-Quick-Step swept the podium and then some at the Ronde van Zeeland Seaports on Saturday.

Iljo Keisse, Niki Terpstra and Lukasz Wisniowski escaped a lead group of more than 30 riders and eventually took more than four minutes’ advantage with 25km to go in the 196.1km Dutch race.

Back in the bunch, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Nikolas Maes, Matteo Trentin, and Yves Lampaert kept an eye on things for their three teammates.

Going into the last two laps the pursuit had dwindled to 18 riders, then split again, leaving Lampaert in the first chase with Edward Theuns in the final 2km.

In the finale, Keisse took the victory ahead of Terpstra and Wisniowski.

Gilbert and Van Avermaet believe they can work together at Milan San Remo.

The pre-race expectation is that this weekend’s edition of Milan-San Remo will end with a bunch sprint. Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet are two men that plan to make sure that doesn’t happen on Sunday. The Belgian duo have both named La Primavera as their first major target of the season, and assume a joint leadership role with BMC heading into the race.

Gilbert and Van Avermaet last shared this responsibility at the World Championships in Ponferrada in 2014, and as their careers and goals increasingly get entangled in each other’s, they find themselves going up against one another. Unlike some major teams, who have two different cards to play, BMC finds themselves with two of a kind.

Impressive Gougeard makes it two in a row in Classique Loire Atlantique.

The Moment The Race Was Won: Milan-Sanremo.

John Degenkolb sprints on the Via Roma. He was the fastest in the sprint but in order to contend he rode an impressive final kilometer to get into position, going in the wind to overtake several riders after a clever ride in the final kilometers, with ideal positioning on the Poggio.

Just like last year a start in the rain. An 11 man group quickly established a lead of over 10 minutes, one way to keep warm. Just like last year Matteo Bono, Martin Tjallingi and Jan Barta were in the move too.

No sooner did the move reach a double-digit advantage than Trek, Tinkoff-Saxo and Katusha started setting the pace, signalling no freedom for the fugitives.

Formidable team to support Contador in Catalonia.

Volta a Catalunya is once again shaping up to become an attraction for the big stars of stage racing. With only one day in the high mountains but numerous GC contenders, stage 4 to La Molina should see sparks fly.

Tinkoff-Saxo sends a team of climbers spearheaded by team captain Alberto Contador, who continues his preparation ahead of the Giro.
 
Off the back from a week of racing at Tirreno-Adriatico, Contador hopes to have a successful race backed by a strong team.

Christoph Strasser sets new 24-hour cycling record of 556 miles (896km).

Austria’s Chrisoph Strasser has set a new record for the most distance ridden on a road bike in 24 hours, riding 556.856 miles (896.173 kilometers) at the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, completing his ride at 3pm local time this afternoon.

The 32-year-old, who is sponsored by Specialized, beat the previous Ultramarathon Cycling Association’s record of 521.975 miles (840.037 kilometers, set in 2004 by the late Jure Robič with plenty of time to spare, riding on to establish the new benchmark.

Among those to congratulate three-time Race Across America (RAAM) winner Strasser was fellow Austrian, Matthias Brändle, who broke the UCI Hour record in October but lost it to Rohan Dennis last month.

Interview: Peter Sagan on Milan San Remo.

Because of his immense talent, his prodigious results in the early years of his career and now his reported huge salary at Tinkoff-Saxo, Peter Sagan is one of the big-name favorites for Milan-San Remo.

Despite only being 25, he has already ridden Milan-San Remo four times, finishing fourth in 2012 and second in 2013, when he was beaten by Gerald Ciolek in the sprint after the race distance was reduced due to heavy snow before the Turchino.

Last year Sagan finished tenth in the hectic sprint, lacking a final kick and the speed to take on the pure sprinters likes like Mark Cavendish and winner Alexander Kristoff.

Sagan arrives at Milan San Remo with a fresh coat of paint.

Peter Sagan finally took a long awaited stage win at Tirreno-Adriatico to open his 2015 account and will line up at Milan-San Remo as one of the favorites for the victory, and he'll do it on a bike that is perhaps a metaphor for the rest of his season.

Sagan will arrive at the first monument of the season with his form finely honed at the seven-stage Tirreno-Adriatico, where he finally carved out a win on the rainy 6th stage while under mounting pressure to perform.

He had gone several months without standing on the top step of a post-race celebration despite always being in the mix with over a dozen runner-up spots on his palmares this season alone.

"I’m heading to Milan-San Remo 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. My competitors have the same goals and sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t. But Milan-San Remo is special and I’ll naturally be at the start with big ambitions."

Greipel: Now I know I can be there in the finale.

One day before the start André Greipel, Jürgen Roelandts and Tony Gallopin give their preview of Milan-Sanremo. They all agree, it’s unpredictable.

“Sunday I rode the last sixty kilometers of Milan Sanremo," Greipel said. "Of course I knew the final already, but it’s always good to see it again before the actual race. In any case it’s a good preparation.

"Every year there are attacks on the Cipressa and Poggio. That will be the same again this year. Last year I survived the Poggio, but because of cramps I didn’t get to participate in the sprint. I know now that I am able to get in the final. Mentally it was important, knowing that I am able to get over the Poggio with the best.

Trek Domane Disc 6.9.

"The Domane Disc 6.9 has its quirks. But I also think it may be the smartest, friendliest bike I've ridden.

This was the first modern bike I knew of that had legitimate pro racing lineage as well as fender mounts. When we got our first snow in Colorado, I unabashedly installed fenders.

I'll start with the quirks—namely, the signature IsoSpeed decoupler pivot, which allows the seatmast to flex farther and more easily than if it were rigidly attached to the top tube. Other reviewers, and my BICYCLING colleagues, seem to agree that IsoSpeed has amazing bump-swallowing capabilities.

For the most part, I find the Domane more compliant and smoother-riding than most road bikes. In the saddle, I notice striking overtones of stillness and efficiency—with two asterisks."

Daily Distractions.

UCI expects new weather protocols to be in place by Giro d’Italia start.

The UCI says that it expects an initial agreement on extreme weather protocols to be in place ahead of the 2015 Giro d’Italia after riders, teams and organizers agreed that an action plan was needed to protect riders in extreme weather conditions.

The decision was made in a preliminary meeting in Milan held on Friday, with cycling’s governing body saying they will meet again in the near future to thrash out the details of the new plan.

“The group considers the safety and the health of riders as an absolute priority,” the UCI said in a statement.

Mechanical scuppers Mark Cavendish’s Milan-San Remo chances.

Mark Cavendish’s says his chain slipped-off his bike towards the finale of the 2015 Milan-San Remo on Sunday, causing him to lose time and possibly a second victory in the monument, which was won by Giant-Alpecin sprinter John Degenkolb.

A kilometer-and-a-half before the top of the Cipressa climb, around 23 kilometers to race to San Remo on Italy’s northwest coast, the chain came off the outside of the Etixx-Quick Step rider’s Specialized bicycle. He was apparently using an unmarked SRAM chainring, instead of a team issue chainring from sponsor FSA.

Podcast: The Recon Ride. Volta a Catalunya 2015.

Astana UCI License Commission hearing set for April 2nd.

The UCI’s License Commission will meet in Geneva on Thursday 2 April to determine whether Astana, Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali’s team, should be allowed to keep its WorldTour license, reports French newspaper Le Monde.

Last month, world cycling’s governing body asked the License Commission, which operates independently of it, to withdraw Astana’s license after an audit into the Kazakh team’s management and anti-doping procedures had been completed by the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL).

Sanremo Reload: A Classic Beauty.

In 2015 the Milan-San Remo Classic will go back to its traditions to set up a spectacular finale on the classic Via Roma finish line, which has played a key role in the history of this monumental race.

"Berta, Cipressa, Poggio… three girls I dated in high school? I wish. Considering the form, the curves, and the mystique that each of these capi add to the season’s first and longest Classic – well, let’s just say I should have been so lucky as to ride… I mean date… these hills, I mean girls."

Fiona Meade set for pastures new with top US-based professional team.

Irish national road race champion and An Post Rás na mBan stage winner Fiona Meade has secured a promising offer to race in the United States for much of the coming year.

The Cork woman, who currently rides for Blarney Stone CC, will join up with the Fearless Femme cycling team.

She will depart Ireland around the Easter Holiday weekend to commence her program of racing.

Meade will mainly compete on the criterium circuit in the US but will also ride a number of other races, though they are yet to be confirmed.

Goss: I feel more and more confident.

It is now two years since Matt Goss last won a major individual race: stage two of the 2013 Tirreno-Adriatico when he rode for the Orica-GreenEdge team.

The Tasmanian did ride for Orica-GreenEdge in the 2013 Tour de France when the Australian team won the stage four team time trial in Nice. And yes, technically speaking, he did win race four of last year’s Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic series in Victoria, Australia. But even Goss, 28, recognizes that stage win in the 2013 Tirreno-Adriatico was the last time he beat a world-class field of sprinters.

Effetto Mariposa Carogna tape - the end of tubular glue?

Tubular tires have persisted in both road and cyclocross circles thanks to their enviable ride quality, generally fantastic cornering ability, and the fact that they can safely be ridden at extremely low pressures or even completely flat.

Nevertheless, many riders simply don’t want to deal with the hassles of installation and removal: the multiple layers of glue, the noxious fumes, the sticky mess, the raw thumbs… Effetto Mariposa’s new Carogna tubular tape, however, promises to make living with tubulars nearly as easy as clinchers.

Eddy Merckx Mourenx69.

The Eddy Merckx Mourenx69 commemorates a legendary stage win by the Cannibal at the 1969 Tour de France— his first appearance in the race he'd win five times.

By Stage 17, Merckx already had a lead of more than eight minutes. The conventional wisdom was that all he needed to do was ride safe and stick near his closest rivals to make sure none of them regained significant time.

But on this mountainous stage, Merckx made an audacious attack, going away on a 140km solo break through the Pyrenees—adding another eight minutes to his lead and ensuring such dominance that by the end of the Tour, he'd own the leader's jersey, the sprinter's jersey, and the king of the mountains jersey.