VeloNation: German champion wins two individual stages and the team time trial in second edition of Dutch stage race.

VeloNation: Belgian’s Omega Pharma Quick Step team also seeing benefits of Roubaix win.

PodiumCafe: A terrible argument is roiling the cycling community today. Nobody can agree on anything. Some people say Tom Boonen is the greatest cobbled classics rider of his generation. Others say he's the best all time. Others say he's the greatest classics rider. Still more look at his 2012 season and see that as an unprecedented accomplishment. Until we figure out exactly how to discuss the awesomeness of Tommeke, de Bom van Balen, we will never know peace.

VeloNation: Amstel Gold Race could offer one more chance to Italian.

Today's Quote

“Paris-Roubaix is a race that is one of the most important in terms of experience playing a big role. It is such a hard race…your body takes a pounding unlike any other race on the calendar. I hope the team will look for me in the later part of the race to help a super Thor or a super Ale.” - George Hincapie VeloNation

Paris - Roubaix - April 8 (Results),
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco - April 2-7 (Stages & results),
Scheldeprijs - April 4 (Start list),
Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - April 3-6 (Stages & results),
UCI Track World Championships - April 4-8 (Races & results),
Tour of Flanders - Women - April 1 (Results),
Tour of Flanders - Men - April 1 (Results),
Cape Epic - March 25-April 1 (Races & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

While cycling fans have always been known of Andy Hampsten's feats in the sport, many are also getting to know his brother Steve. The company he runs and co-owns with his brother, Hampsten Cycles, has been producing custom frames for thirteen years.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "The Aspide manages to be both light and comfortable."

VeloNews: Tom Boonen left no doubt that he was king of the cobbles in 2012, winning Paris-Roubaix on Sunday with a long, solo effort. Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) escaped with teammate Niki Terpstra 55 kilometers from the finish and was quickly alone en route to his record-tying fourth win at the “Hell of the North.”

SteepHill - Start time: Sunday April 8 10:10 CET (1:10 AM PDT);
Earliest live video: 13:00 CET (3:00 AM PST);
Approximate finish 16:46 CET (7:46 AM PDT).

road.cc: Silver Swift and Thomas in Madison and Houvenaghel in pursuit, bronze for Varnish in TT where Australia's Meares sets new world record.

CyclingNews: Trek World Racing's Willow Rockwell née Koerber announced that despite her best efforts to return to the sport of mountain biking after taking time out to have her daughter, the reality of the situation is nothing like she had imagined. In this past week, Rockwell decided definitively that it's time to stop racing for good and focus on her new family.

VeloNews: At his pre-race press conference Friday, Garmin-Barracuda’s Johan Vansummeren set forth his goals for Paris-Roubaix: make the key selections, stay amongst the leaders and play a role in the finish.

VeloNation: Mixed fortunes for Ballan and Hushovd.

"I am looking to just keep improving."

TwistedSpoke: In the aftermath, who-did-what-wrong in Paris-Roubaix, two tactical decisions received the most criticism: Filippo Pozzatto’s failure to follow Tom Boonen’s long range attack and Team Sky’s insistence on protecting two, not just one rider, as they attempted to chase the Belgian down.

CyclingNews: Even though he was never a cobbles specialist during his time as a bike rider, Lance Armstrong visited Paris-Roubaix on Sunday with his former RadioShack-Nissan team. The seven-time Tour de France winner is in France at the moment and reconnoitered the course of the Ironman France in Nice prior to arriving in the team hotel in Northern France, on Saturday evening.

CycleSport: After four classics, the score is now Tom Boonen four, the rest of the world, nil.

RBAction: Evergreen American George Hincapie has admitted that this year could be his last Paris-Roubaix as he prepares to compete in the famous spring classic for a record-equaling 17th time on Sunday. Now 38, the likeable Hincapie arrived in France fresh from taking part in his 17th Tour of Flanders last weekend, an outright record which he described as "an honor" afterwards.

Track World Championships: Yet another World record falls as pre-Olympic competition closes.

Boulder Report:  When Tom Boonen attacked with about 60km left to race in Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, you could read the move as either the apex of confidence or the ultimate in hubris.

CyclingWeekly: Ben Swift could have been forgiven for staying away from the Hisense arena last week. The Team Sky rider has forsaken a season on the road to try and make it in the British team pursuit squad.

InnerRing: A fast start, an early breakaway, crashes in the Arenberg forest. So far, so typical of Paris-Roubaix.

The culmination of my visit to Holy Week was the long anticipated, much feared, and never completed ride across the parcours of Paris-Roubaix. Last Friday and learned what it was like to battle the toughest roads in norther France and earn my own lap of honour at the Roubaix velodrome.

BikeRadar: This year's Paris-Roubaix saw little more than a few spritzes of rain on the course and yet at least two of the top ten ran full-on 'cross frames instead of road bikes: second-place finisher Sebastien Turgot (Europcar) and Rabobank rider Lars Boom in sixth.

VeloNews: Every year, pro teams lining up for the most brutal road race of the calendar, Paris-Roubaix, search for ways to decrease the likelihood of punctures without limiting performance.

BikeRadar: Mother Nature constantly threatened rain at this year's Paris-Roubaix but the windy – but mostly dry – conditions kept both the riders and bikes relatively clean and definitely mud-free at the end of the day. Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) won his fourth title aboard Specialized's new S-Works Roubaix, Europcar captain Sebastien Turgot sprinted for second on a Colnago Cross Prestige, and Alessandro Ballan (BMC) came in third after starting in Compiègne on his brand-new BMC GranFondo GF01.

CyclingNews: Taylor Phinney (BMC) achieved the two aims he set out on in his first Paris-Roubaix, helping his team secure a podium place for Alessandro Ballan and finishing the race in 15th place.

BikeHugger: We rolled out of Valeciennes for a 10 mile warmup before our tour guides introduced us to what I would consider the worst feeling cobbles of the entire route. You hear all sorts of advice about riding cobbles… ride the gutter, ride the crown, ride a big gear, ride fast… none of it really applies to the Arenberg.