Gent-Wevelgem was struck by tragedy on Sunday when Belgian 25-year old rider Antoine Demoitié (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) died after crashing during the race. Read our statement here.
Following the terrorist attacks in Brussels, a minute’s silence was held at the start in the Dwars Door Vlaanderen in Roeselare, Belgium on Wednesday, in honour of the victims.
Nairo Quintana has become the third Colombian ever to win the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. The Movistar team rider took the race lead on the Port Ainé summit finish on stage four and won overall by seven seconds from Alberto Contador (Tinkoff).
Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) finally took his first win of the season as World Champion, blasting to victory in a four-way sprint in Gent-Wevelgem against Sep Vanmarcke (Team LottoNL-Jumbo), Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Team Katusha) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo). Sagan had already had a near miss earlier in the week, after former UCI Road World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski outsprinted the Slovak for victory in the E3 Harelbeke on Friday.
As of March 27th, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) is the new leader of the UCI WorldTour individual ranking with 229 points, whilst Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) drops to second with 222 points and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff), second in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, moves up to third. Australia continue to lead the UCI WorldTour nations ranking, whilst Tinkoff are now the leader of the teams classification.
As of March 20th, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) leads the UCI World Rankings, with Sagan in second and former leader Richie Porte in third.
The 2016 UCI WorldTour has now completed 4,891 kilometres.
Ronde van Vlaanderen > Sunday April 3rd
2015 Ronde van Vlaanderen
1. Alexander Kristoff 2. Niki Terpstra 3. Greg Van Avermaet
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Ronde van Vlaanderen
The Ronde van Vlaanderen, Flanders biggest bike race, will celebrate its 100th edition next Sunday.
Its nickname is Vlaanderens Mooiste (Dutch for "Flanders' Finest”).
It was created in 1913 by Karel Van Wijnendaele, co-founder of the sports newspaper ‘Sportwereld’. Record holders are the Belgians Achiel Buysse, Eric Leman, Tom Boonen and Johan Museeuw, Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara and the Italian Fiorenzo Magni, each with three victories.
The longest Ronde van Vlaanderen was 324 kilometres in 1913, and the shortest 198 kilometres in 1941.
The fastest edition, won by Gianluca Bortolami, was in 2001, averaging 43.6 kmh.
Brieke Schotte holds the record for Ronde van Vlaanderen participations, 20 consecutively from 1940 to 1959. Schotte won the Ronde van Vlaanderen twice, in 1942 and 1948.
Belgium, with 68 wins out of a possible 99, holds the record for victories.
Tom Boonen
Born October 15th, 1980 in Mol, Tom Boonen is a Belgian professional cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTour team Etixx - Quick Step. Having turned pro in 2002, Boonen is a gifted cobbled Classics race specialist who has taken Paris-Roubaix four times and the Ronde van Vlaanderen three times, as well as the World Championships in 2005. Other notable one-day victories include the E3 Harelbeke Classic on five occasions, Gent-Wevelgem three times and the National Road Race title twice. He has also won six stages of the Tour de France, and the points classification once, and two stages of the Vuelta a España.
Major wins
Stage races:
2015: Eneco Tour - stage, Ronde van Belgie/Tour de Belgique - stage
2014: Ronde van Belgie/Tour de Belgique - two stages, Tour of Qatar - two stages 2013: Tour de Wallonie - stage
2012: Paris-Nice - stage, Tour of Qatar - overall and two stages
2010: Tirreno-Adriatico - stage
2009: Eneco Tour - stage
2008: Vuelta a España - two stages, Eneco Tour - two stages, Tour de Wallonie - stage, Österreich-Rundfahrt - stage, Tour of California - stage
2007: Tour de France - two stages and points classification
2006: Eneco Tour - three stages, Tour de Suisse - stage, Paris-Nice - three stages
2005: Paris-Nice - two stages, Tour de France - two stages
2004: Tour de France - two stages
One-day races
2015: Munsterland Giro
2012: Paris - Bruxelles, Belgian National Championships - road-race, Paris-Roubaix, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Gent-Wevelgem, E3 Harelbeke
2011: Gent-Wevelgem
2010: Paris-Tours
2009: Belgian National Championships - road-race, Paris-Roubaix
2008: Paris-Roubaix
2007: E3 Harelbeke
2006: Veenendaal - Veenendaal, Scheldeprijs, Ronde van Vlaanderen, E3 Harelbeke
2005: World Championships Road-Race, Paris-Roubaix, Ronde van Vlaanderen, E3 Harelbeke
2004: Scheldeprijs, E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem
Speciality: One day races
On the 28th of March we are 129 days from the Olympic Games in Rio.
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