Tour de Langkawi: Penultimate stage victory for Mareczko

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After six different winners in six stages, Jakub Mareczko broke the Tour de Langkawi trend of 2017 and claimed his second win of the race. The Wilier Triestina rider repeated his Rambau victory of 2016, holding off Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) and Andrea Palini (Androni Giocattoli).

A second wet stage in as many days tested race leader Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) who sprinted to fifth. He will start the final day with a 24-second lead over Cam Bayly (IsoWhey Sports Swisswellness).

The victory also saw Mareczko take over the lead in the sprints classification that he is aiming to defend on the final day circuit."I don't know what will happen tomorrow because all the sprinters will be different," he said of the stage 8 sprint. "The points jersey was my objective for this tour so today I take it and try tomorrow to keep it."

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For Gibbons, it's one day closer to sealing the overall victory and, again, one he was happy to finish without losing time or hitting the deck.

"I was feeling very good today, my team was really good today and it was just more caution today in the wet. It is really easy to go down so stay upright and out of trouble was the priority for today and we did that,” said Gibbons.

Finishing in the top six all in five sprint stages thus far, McCabe explained to Cyclingnews that the Italian was simply too good today, tipping his hat to the 22-year-old. "It was the perfect finish for him. He just beat me. I am content with second," said McCabe. "He is fast, you can't really complain when you lose straight up in sprint like that."

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Jess Varnish: British cyclist wants to resume career after Shane Sutton controversy

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Cyclist Jess Varnish has not given up hope of resuming her career after being dropped from British Cycling's elite programme, says her lawyer.

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Ex-Team Sky doctor will miss inquiry into 'mystery package'

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The doctor at the centre of an inquiry into Team Sky's 'mystery package' pulls out of a parliamentary hearing into the matter.

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Vendee to host 2018 Tour de France Grand Depart

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The 2018 Tour de France Grand Depart will take place in Vendee in France, with the first stage starting in Noirmoutier-en-l'lle.

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Bike industry body disputes disc brake involvement in Doull crash

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A body representing the bicycle industry has issued a statement rejecting claims that disc brakes are dangerous and should not, in their current form, be permitted for use in professional cycling.

The WFSGI – World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry – has waded into the debate following Owain Doull’s claim that Marcel Kittel’s disc brake sliced into his shoe during a crash at last week’s Abu Dhabi Tour. "My shoe was cut to pieces. That's definitely a disc brake that has done that," Doull told Cyclingnews after the incident.

Doull's account has been disputed by the WFSGI, which issued its statement in its capacity as a representative of bicycle and component manufacturers.

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"The investigation into the accident of Owain Doull is still ongoing and the available material is being studied carefully," the statement read. "After the first material and image investigations, we can say that a disk brake accident can, most likely, be excluded."

The statement does not specify which materials were studied to reach this preliminary conclusion on the Doull incident.

The body also said that it had commissioned Swiss forensic analyst Ulrich Zollinger to study the injury sustained by Francisco Ventoso during last year’s Paris-Roubaix, and linked to his report in its statement. Zollinger stated that the Ventoso’s injury "could not be reasonably explained" and concluded that "every sharp part of a bicycle poses a certain risk of injury."

The WFSGI statement voiced support for the UCI's working group on disc brakes, which includes representatives from bike manufacturers, riders' association the CPA and teams' association the AIGCP.

Trial of disc brakes set to continue despite CPA threat of legal action

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Ferrand-Prevot set for Canyon-SRAM debut at Strade Bianche

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Pauline Ferrand-Prevot will make her long-awaited Canyon-SRAM debut at this weekend’s Strade Bianche. Ferrand-Prevot hasn’t raced since the Olympic Games last August after injury meant she only competed on the road for nine days during the whole of last season.

Following the disappointment of only managing 26th at the Olympics, Ferrand-Prevot called cycling her “biggest nightmare.” The change in team over the winter has given her a new sense of purpose as she looks to put the past 12 months or so behind her, and she is excited to get her season finally underway.

“I think I’m in good shape, but you don’t really know until you’re in the race. I’m looking forward to joining my teammates again since our December training camp in Mallorca. I want to be good enough that I can help my team on Saturday. Already I am excited and a little nervous,” she said.

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“I like the gravel roads there, and the profiles of climbs are short and steep, which suit me when I’m in good shape. The downhill sections are technical, and I really like these.”

Ferrand-Prevot rode Strade Bianche for the first time last season with the Rabo-Liv team, finishing 11th, 1:23 behind the winner Lizzie Deignan.

The rest of the Canyon-SRAM line-up were all in action at last weekend’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Alena Amialiusik, Tiffany Cromwell, Alexis Ryan, Trixi Worrack and Italian champion Elena Cecchini will all head to Italy this weekend, with Lisa Brennauer the only member of the Omloop squad to skip the race. It will be Cecchini’s first time at Strade Bianche since finishing 10th on the debut edition in 2015.

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Bradley Wiggins doctor pulls out of anti-doping select hearing due to illness

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The latest and potentially conclusive meeting of the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) anti-doping select committee takes place on Wednesday afternoon at the Palace of Westminster when the details of the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) investigation into Team Sky are expected to be revealed.

Appearing at the meeting will be Nicole Sapstead, Chief Executive of UKAD, and former British Cycling women's road manager Simon Cope, who delivered the now infamous Jiffy bag to Dr Richard Freeman and Bradley Wiggins at the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné. The hearing, which is not under oath, was moved to March 1 to accommodate Cope who has been at a Team Wiggins training camp.

Freeman had been scheduled to appear in front of the committee but the Press Association have reported that the doctor emailed the committee's chairman Damian Collins MP on Tuesday stating that he was too ill to attend. Freeman was set to face questions over the delivery and need for the package during the 2011 Dauphine, as well as the administration of Fluimucil given to Bradley Wiggins at the end of the race. According to the Guardian a spokesperson for the committee said that Freeman may have the options of supplying written testimony or face the committee at a later date. Freeman no longer works for Team Sky but has remained in his position at British Cycling. 

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Julian Knight MP, part of the committee took to Twitter once news of Freeman's decision not to attend was made public. "News to me. I trust if true Dr Freeman recovers very soon and is then able to appear before us to answer important questions."

The Jiffy-gate affair, as some have dubbed it, has now been running since last autumn, and, allied to questions over Team Sky's use of TUEs during Wiggins' Grand Tour schedules, prompted a UKAD investigation into both Sky and British Cycling.

During the last DCMS hearing in December, Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford informed the committee that team doctor Freeman had told him that the Jiffy bag delivered to Wiggins contained a decongestant. "It was Fluimucil," Brailsford said. Following that hearing, the committee, chaired by MP Damian Collins, requested that evidence was provided of this medication being administered to Wiggins.

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Tour de France 2018 to start on Passage du Gois

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The 2018 Tour de France Grand Depart will include two road stages in the Vendée region, an official start at the often submerged Passage du Gois road from the island of Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, followed by a 35km team time trial around Cholet on stage 3.

It is the sixth time the Vendee region has hosted the Grand Départ and comes seven years after the 2011 Grand Départ in the area.

The first edition of the Tour de France back in 1903 passed through the area during the key stage between Bordeaux and Nantes. The Puy du Fou theme park hosted the Grand Départ in 1993, when Miguel Indurain won the 6.8km prologue time trial and went on to win the race in Paris.

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In 1999 the Tour de France covered the Passage du Gois during stage two, with crashes and echelons splitting the peloton. Alex Zulle (Banesto), Ivan Gotti (Polti) and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) lost more than six minutes.

The race last set out from the Vendée six years ago, when Thomas Voeckler from local outfit Europcar went on to have an inspired Tour de France, wearing the race leader's yellow jersey for ten days and finishing fourth overall in Paris. The 37-year-old Frenchman plans to retire after this year's Tour de France.

Stage 1 covers 195km between Noirmoutier-En-L'Ïle and Fontenay-Le-Comte, with much of the stage following the twisting Vendée coastline after the riders cross the Passage du Gois. Crosswinds and echelons could be an immediate problem for the overall contenders. The finish is close to the home to Jean-René Bernaudeau and the headquarters of his Direct Energie team.

— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) February 28, 2017

— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) February 28, 2017

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Sagan, Van Avermaet and Vanmarcke could face fine for sidewalk riding at Omloop

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Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet and Sep Vanmarcke could all face a fine for riding on the pavement during Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, according to Sporza. The riders escaped any punishment immediately following the race, despite several riders stating that they’d been informed they would be disqualified if they used bike paths or pavements during cobbled sectors.

"The regulations say that riders can be fined if they ride on a separate bike path. A report has certainly been prepared, which has been sent to the UCI, who now decides whether it will or will not go to the disciplinary committee. That could still get a fine. The names of the riders are not important, it's the principle," UCI commissaire Guy Dobbelaere told Sporza.

The use of pavements and bike paths during races, particularly the cobbled variety, has been a thorn in the side of race officials for many years. They have repeatedly tried to stop riders taking shortcuts and seeking smoother surfaces but have struggled the UCI rules.

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Ahead of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, commissaires told riders that they risked being thrown from the race if they either pavements or bike paths. However, TV images clearly showed that the leading group rode on the pavement during the Karel Martelstraat section of cobbled.

As the chasing group went through, a commissaire was stationed on the pavement, forcing the riders to complete the entire sector on the cobbles. While some such as Luke Rowe were a bit more pragmatic about the incident, saying that there would have been no chance to catch the group whether they had used the cobbles or the pavement, many were angered by it. Trek-Segafredo, whose Fabio Felline finished fourth, went to the commissaires immediately after the race to file a complaint.

Despite the protestations, Dobbelaere said that to disqualify the group of riders would have been too harsh. He added that the rule was open to interpretation but he sympathises with those that feel they have been hard done by.

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Boonen not hitting the panic button after disappointing Classics opening weekend

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Tom Boonen had a disastrous opening weekend in Belgium, but his Quick-Step Floors team has moved quickly to allay concerns about his form before his final tilt at the spring Classics, stating that he has no plans to change his racing programme.

Boonen crashed twice at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad before eventually climbing off, and then missed Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne due to stomach problems. He was still carrying wounds from his two crashes at the Tour of Oman and so faces a difficult week of training before heading to Italy for next week’s Tirreno-Adriatico – his final stage race before the Classics. He will retire from professional peloton after Paris-Roubaix on April 9.

The Quick-Step Floors team confirmed that Boonen would not ride Wednesday’s Le Samyn race in the Wallonia part of Belgium or head to Italy early to ride Strade Bianche on Saturday, in an attempt to make up for missing Kuurne.

"Tom is still not past it. There’s no sense to suddenly now adjust his program for the coming weeks. First, he must completely recover. Only later can we take a decision." Team manager Patrick Lefevere told Het Nieuwsblad.

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“He definitely won’t ride Le Samyn. Dwars door West-Vlaanderen (on Sunday) is an option but we’ll see later in the week."

The Flemish media is worried that Boonen lacks racing miles in his legs after missing the weekend double header in Belgium. He made his season debut at the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina and then raced the Tour of Oman, giving him a total of 14 days of racing.

Directeur sportif Wilfried Peeters dismissed concerns about Boonen’s form. "Tom is getting better, but is not back to his best yet,” he told HLN.be. “We hope he recovers in the next few days. There is absolutely no reason to change his programme. After the Tour of Oman, he had a very good week of training.”

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CPA threatens legal action over current disc brake test period

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The Professional Cyclists Association (CPA) on Monday threatened legal action against the UCI if the sport's governing body doesn't reconsider the ongoing disc brake test period that started at the beginning of this season.

This is the second test period for the new technology after the first one last year ended abruptly in April when Fran Ventoso blamed a disc for a deep gash he suffered to his leg in a crash. The CPA claims the trial periods have been opposed by the vast majority of riders in the pro peloton, and restarting the test period this year led to a war of words between the UCI and riders' union. 

That dispute rose to a full boil recently when Owain Doull claimed a disc rotor on Marcel Kittel's bike cut his shoe and foot in a crash at the Abu Dhabi Tour.

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Monday's letter from the CPA to the UCI claims the governing body met only one of three demands riders asked for before the trial restarted. Although the UCI required that the edges of disc rotors are now rounded as riders requested, the CPA also called for protective casings for the discs to further reduce the risk of cuts or burns.

The third consideration concerned homogeneity between braking systems in the peloton, with many riders voicing fears over a possible discrepancy in braking times between those on discs and those on traditional caliper brakes.  

"The fact that the UCI did not take into account these suggestions, according to the legal department of the CPA, make the UCI inevitably responsible, for the permission they gave to use the disc brakes without applying the necessary preventive measures, for any damage or accident that should happen to the riders," the CPA says in its letter to the UCI.

• Disc brakes: UCI calls on CPA to 'respect the democratic process'
• Kittel disc brake success sparks debate in the Dubai Tour peloton
• Dubai Tour: Kittel savours his first win on disc brakes
• Marcel Kittel's custom Specialized S-Works Venge ViAS disc – Gallery
• Riders demand UCI ban disc brakes until complete peloton trial is held
• Doull claims Kittel's 'lethal' disc brake bike almost caused serious injury
• Wholesale use of disc brakes in pro peloton is inevitable, says Pozzato
• UCI gathering evidence on Abu Dhabi Tour crash

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Porte continues to lead WorldTour rankings

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With four 2017 WorldTour races in the books, Richie Porte (BMC Racing) continues to lead the 2017 rankings after last week's events at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Abu Dhabi Tour, carrying a 250-point lead over Estaban Chaves (Orica-Scott) and 297 points over Nathan Haas (Dimension Data). Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgohe) continues in fourth place, another 10 points down.

Porte hasn't raced since the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in January, but points he earned with his stage wins and overall victory at the Santos Tour Down Under last month still carry the day in the series standings.

The major changes to the rankings after the weekend's racing came for Rui Costa (UAE Emirates), who jumped into the rankings for the first time with his participation in the Abu Dhabi Tour, where he won stage 3 and took the overall win, landing in the rankings'  fifth spot behind McCarthy.

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Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), who was ranked 17th after riding the Tour Down Under, moved up to the sixth spot after his runner-up result in Omloop behind BMC Racing's Greg Van Avermaet, who is currently eighth in the WorldTour rankings after Saturday's win, his only WorldTour race so far this season.

Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) earned points with stage wins at the Tour Down Under and Abu Dhabi Tour and is currently seventh. Sunweb's Nikias Ardnet won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and is currently ninth, followed by Abu Dhabi overall runner-up Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) rounding out the top 10.

More WorldTour points will be up for grabs on Saturday at Strade Bianche and starting Sunday at the eight-day Paris-Nice. The 2017 Women's WorldTour starts Saturday at Strade Bianche.

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Nibali to lead Bahrain-Merida at Strade Bianche

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Vincezo Nibali will travel from the Middle Eastern desert terrain of the Abu Dhabi Tour to the rolling dirt roads of Tuscany for Strade Bianche on Saturday as he leads the Bahrain-Merida team in the first WorldTour edition of the Italian one-day race.

The 2016 Giro d'Italia winner will be joined in the race by Manuele Boaro, Giovanni Visconti, Ondrej Cink, Ivan Garcia Cortina, Domen Novak, David Per and Kanstantsin Siutsou.

"It's a race that I really like," Nibali said. "Seems a Northern Europe classic with many opportunities to attack. It's a very tough race, but at the same time very charming."

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The 175km route starts in Siena and finishes there after "a twisty and undulating course, with no long climbs but with punchy hills, most significantly on the unpaved parts," according to the race website. "There are roughly 62km of gravel roads, appearing in 11 sectors."

Siutsou compared the race to riding a long, bumpy time trial.

"[It is] a Paris-Roubaix in Tuscany," said the rider from Belarus. "You're always on the limit; It is a race to see who resists more. I like it, the only problem if it rains the gravel roads become dangerous."

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Henao celebrates Colombian national road race title

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Sergio Henao celebrated winning his first Colombian national road race title with his family on Monday before heading back to Europe to be part of Team Sky's squad for Paris-Nice, which begins on Sunday.

The 29-year-old overcame a crash and mechanical problems to win the Colombian title on a circuit in Bogota National Park. Henao, which a noticeable hole in his jersey, finished the race alone and in pain 49 seconds ahead of Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo), who won the time trial title on Friday, and 22-year-old Oscar Quiroz (GW Shimano). Expected favourite and Bogota resident Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) was unable to race due to a knee injury.

"It’s a dream come true," Henao said after collecting his medal and Colombian national champion’s jersey on the podium.

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"Everything went very well. It was a nice victory. When I was close to getting the victory I thought about my family, my mother and my father and all the people who have supported me in the team, and in God, who has given me the life and fortune of being able to ride a bike."

Last summer Henao missed out on a chance for a medal in the Olympic road race after crashing out with Vincenzo Nibali on the final descent of the race. He suffered a fracture to his iliac crest and trauma to his thorax, ending his 2016 season.

He was part of Team Sky squad for the Tour Down Under in January and used the race to find his form before the Colombian national championships.

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Danny Nelissen: The flying Dutchman who conquered the Andes

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The following feature forms part of our 'I love the 1990s series' with Alasdair Fotheringham going back to the final amateur World Championships in 1995 to speak to race winner Danny Nelissen. The Dutchman, plagued by a heart condition during his career, was one of the first riders to seek technological advantages and used those methods to pull off one of the finest wins witnessed at a major championships.  

For many, the 1995 World Championships men’s professional road-race in Duitama, Colombia is remembered as one of the most spectacularly brutal in cycling’s modern-day history. The wet weather, racing at altitude 2,500 metres above sea level and the staggering amount of climbing demanded by the road circuit allhelped lift the 1995 Worlds to a level of difficulty similar to the legendary Worlds in Sallanches in 1980.

Then there was the high drama of the closing laps, as Abraham Olano attacked from a group of less than a dozen riders, only to puncture and race home seconds ahead of his chasers on a deflated back wheel. It was nailbiting stuff of the most unpredictable variety, the race’s hardness highlighted by the fact only 20 riders - mudspattered and exhausted - finished. Last but not least, the controversy about why Olano, not Spanish team leader Miguel Indurain, had managed to win when Indurain was clearly the race’s strongest rider, rumbled on and on afterwards for months - except in Spain that is, where asking Olano if he "really should have won the 1995 Worlds” was a question that plagued the Basque for the rest of his career.

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On paper, the outcome of the amateur World Championships race, held on the same high-altitude circuit in Duitama the day before, had been set to be equally uncertain. And certainly on television, the racing looked to be just as unpredictable - something that's part of the great appeal of the U-23 World’s events, even now.

The elite men's podium at the Worlds in 1995: Miguel Indurain, Abraham Olano and Marco Pantani 

However, in the mind of the eventual amateur World Championships winner, Danny Nelissen, victory was the only possible outcome. In fact, his conviction that he was going to cross the line in first place was so great that 24 hours previously he had told his uncle Jean - a cycling commentator for Dutch state television in the Colombia Worlds - to get the champagne ready for celebrating, “because I will be solo at the finish and World Champion.”

Pacing makes perfect

Scattered all over the Andes

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2017 Paris-Nice provisional start list

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LA World Cup Day 2: Dygert breaks Hammer's individual pursuit track record

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US women take team pursuit title at LA World Cup

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Tour de Langkawi: Enrico Barbin wins stage 6 sprint

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For the sixth straight stage, the 2017 Tour de Langkawi welcomed a different winner at the finish line. On a wet and blustery day in Muar, it was Enrico Barbin (Bardiani-CSF) celebrating his first professional victory ahead of Anthony Giacoppo (IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness) and Filippo Pozzato (Wilier Trestina).

Race leader Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) rode a defensive finale to finish in 13th place and ensure he starts the penultimate stage of the race with the yellow jersey firmly on his shoulders.

"I was feeling good, not just myself but also my team. We had one rider in the breakaway today. I am not as fast as the fastest sprinters here but at the end of the race I took a good advantage of the circumstances and started my sprint at the right moment," said Barbin who increased his team's all-time stage win count for the race to 35.

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The finale of the stage was made aggressive by both riders and parcours alike, as positioning was crucial for the right hand turn off the bridge two kilometres before the riverside finish line straight. Despite the best efforts the sprint trains, it was Barbin who took advantage of the chaos, taking the win by several lengths.

"Through the radio we had perfect explanations of the last kilometre and also the direction of the wind. We went to the right position on the bridge, and we knew that after the bridge we had to be on the front with 300 metres to go because it would be difficult for anyone to pass us," he added.

For Gibbons, after a day that posed early problems, it was one he was happy to finish without loss of time or skin.

"It was the first time in this tour where I haven't been 100 per cent. I normally excel in the rain but today, I am not sure. My body just wasn't used to it. The third climb, I lost about 10 seconds going over, which I shouldn't have, but I found my legs in the third hour and was feeling much stronger towards the end," he said, before describing the final sprint.

How it unfolded

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Jolien D'hoore puts Wiggle on the map with win - Women's Shorts

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It is not even March (yet) but that hasn’t stopped the pressure forming on teams that haven’t secured a win this season. Wiggle High5 can breathe a sigh of relief, however, after Belgian sprinter Jolien D’hoore secured their first victory of the seaon at the Omloop van het Hageland on Sunday.

D’hoore beat former Wiggle teammate Chloe Hosking to the line, with Sarah Roy (Orica-Scott Women) rounding out the podium.

“I felt really good today, and the team was really strong,” D’hoore said after the race.

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Wiggle had come up short in the previous day’s edition of the Women’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, with D’hoore finishing seventh and her teammate, Elisa Longo Borghini, claiming fifth. The Italian was in the thick of the action on Sunday and attacked several times. Her final assault came in the final kilometres and despite holding an advantage over the peloton she was caught inside the final 500 meters. Wiggle were not to be denied, however, and D’hoore edged out the competition to take a deserved victory.

“I was a little bit surprised by it, because of the race yesterday, but we went into the race with a plan. Elisa was on the attack, and I was in a breakaway once, and the other girls helped us amazingly, and in the end it all worked out.

“Elisa was going for the win,” D’hoore added. “The plan was that she attacked on the last climb of the last lap. She would go for the win, definitely, and I had to be there just in case we caught her back before the finish.”

Brand makes winning debut at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Blaak survives crash to take second in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Lepisto finds form in Belgium

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Greipel shrugs off Abu Dhabi Tour defeat ahead of Paris-Nice

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Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) shrugged off any disappointment at the Abu Dhabi Tour despite missing out on a stage win.

The German sprinter came into the race in hot form after winning at the Challenge Mallorca, backing that up with a stage and the Green jersey at the Volta ao Algarve. However in the hotly contested sprints in Abu Dhabi the 34-year-old came up short with a second, third and ninth place finishes.

Greipel was not the only sprinter to miss out on a stage but Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and the ever-improving Caleb Ewan all tasted success. Heavy rain affected Sunday’s final night-time stage on the Yas Marina F1 circuit, and despite a late charge, Greipel could not overhaul Ewan or Cavendish.

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“I think it was a nice week. Normally we are there for the sprints and the guys really went all in to support me. Today we even got some seconds with Rafa [Rafael Valls] in the front and we just can be happy that we didn’t crash today and the week was quite successful. Okay, we didn’t win a stage but we made the best out of it I think,” Greipel said.

The main priority for the riders competing on the Yas Marina Formula One circuit was to remain upright and the peloton rode tempo for much of the race. The sprint teams chased down an early break before increasing the pace in the final few laps.

“First of all I think it looked maybe worse than it was,” Greipel explained.

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Adam Yates: Fourth in the Tour means little at the Giro d'Italia

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He claims that there is only pressure from himself when it comes to racing the Giro d’Italia but Adam Yates is determined to produce back-to-back performances at Grand Tours when he competes in the first three-week race of the season in May.

Yates, who finished fourth in the Tour de France last year and won the best young classification, heads to the Corsa Rosa alongside his twin brother Simon, and together they will spearhead Orica-Scott’s GC bid. Success at such a prestigious and difficult race is a formidable challenge, especially with a string of more experienced rivals set to line up at the 100th edition of the event.

“As long as I’m in the top ten that’s fine,” Adam told Cyclingnews when asked about his ambitions.

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“I’ve only ridden GC once in a Grand Tour. It’s not like I’ve come fourth in the Tour and now I’m going to challenge for the win at the Giro. I’d love to be up there and challenging for the win but it’s way too early to be making these big calls and say ‘I want to do this, and I want to do that’. If I’m top ten, that’s an achievement.”

Back-to-back performances would certainly strengthen Yates' position in the team and show progression for a rider who is still within the age parameters for the best young rider classifications. In the Tour de France last year he took a measured approach in the mountains but was consistent throughout the race. That mindset will serve him well in May but he is well aware that the Giro d'Italia is a far different beast to tame than the Tour de France.

“On television the Giro looks more demanding. I wouldn’t say that the Tour is less predictable but everyone there works for one goal, whereas at the Giro you have more second tier guys who aren’t afraid to have a go and create carnage. I’ve not raced there before, or in Italy that much, apart from Tirreno-Adriatico, but we’ll go there and see what happens.”

The goal is long-term development

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Tony Martin has eight stitches in facial wound after Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne crash

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Tony Martin needed eight stitches in a cut above his right eye after crashing hard at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne but the German is hoping to ride Paris-Nice which begins next Sunday and includes a 14.5km time trial on stage 4.

Martin crashed and hit his head after an apparent touch of wheels while fighting for position in an important echelon with 55km left to race on Sunday. The riders rippled across the road and Martin, who was in the gutter, felt the brunt of it, going down hard close to a parked car.

He bravely got up and raced on for a few kilometres with blood pouring down his face. However he pulled out after advice from race doctors. A check up at hospital confirmed he had not suffered concussion or any fractures.

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The German then headed back to the Katusha bus and posted a photo of his injuries on social media, confirming he still hopes to ride Paris-Nice.

Martin joined Katusha-Alpecin this year after five seasons with Patrick Lefevere’s Quick-Step team. As world time trial champion he will again target time trials and especially the opening stage of the Tour de France in Germany. However he also wants to test his ability in the spring Classics and is expected to ride the Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem and other races.

.@TonyMartin85 cuts face in nasty crash in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Ouch. http://pic.twitter.com/sjyPY32xKl

— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) February 26, 2017

Bad crash in #kuurnebrusselkuurne. 8 stitches in the face. Hope to be ok again for #parisnice #teamkatushaalpecin #alpecincycling http://pic.twitter.com/2FvNhhO0sn

— Tony Martin (@tonymartin85) February 26, 2017

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Quintana: Disc brakes are heavier, less aero, and dangerous

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Nairo Quintana has weighed into the great disc brake debate, stating his opposition to the technology, which he sees as dangerous, noisy, unnecessary and counterproductive.

The Colombian, a winner of the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, sat down with a small group of journalists, including Cyclingnews, ahead of the final stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour, and was inevitably asked for his take on disc brakes after controversy flared on the opening day when Owain Doull claimed a rotor sliced through his shoe and cut his foot.

"Our bike brand [Canyon –ed] has disc bikes available but in my opinion we shouldn't be using disc brakes," said Quintana.

"Firstly because they don't actually brake all that well. You hear other riders' bikes in the peloton when the brake rubs up against the rotor. That's one thing. Secondly, it makes the bike less aerodynamic. Thirdly, they're much heavier."

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"Lastly, there's the danger they pose in a peloton of more than 100 riders. They are good for a touring cyclist, or a person who goes out riding with two or three others and is more careful, but racing is another matter."

As others have argued in the past, Quintana doesn't feel that current caliper braking systems are in any way deficient, and doesn't see the sense in trying to improve something that doesn't need improving.

"There is no problem with the brakes that we currently have – they work very well. No one has ever had any sort of complaint," he argued. "They're lighter, and you have a much better feel."

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Cecchin a surprise packet for Wilier Triestina at Tour de Langkawi

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Forthright in its ambitions for the 2017 Tour de Langkawi, Wilier Triestina has met its objective of a stage win for fast man Jakub Mareczko. However, new signing Alberto Cecchin has emerged as a genuine man for the overall podium as he currently sits third overall, forcing a rethink in how the Italian team approaches the final third of the race.

Starting his Wilier-Triestina career in Argentina at the Vuelta a San Juan, Cecchin lined out at the Tour of Oman before heading to Malaysia for the 2.HC stage race. The 27-year-old Italian is in position for a career-best result but needs to navigate three stages and the illness that is plaguing both him and the peloton.

"Asia is a difficult place, we knew it, it is tough for food and climate, so a lot of colleagues had problems, but it is part of cycling," Cecchin told TuttoBici and Cyclingnews.

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Cecchin's last race in Asia came back in July where he placed fourth overall at the Tour of Qinghai Lake in the colours of Team Roth. That result then helped him secure the move across to Wilier-Triestina as Roth dropped from Pro Continental to Continental.

Primarily a man for the sprints, Cecchin showed his current form on the queen stage of the race to Cameron Highlands where he was fifth. The result elevated him onto the podium and into the battle for the general classification with teammate Filippo Pozzato singled out by Cecchin for his expertise.

"It was good for me and the team, it was not easy, on the last two climbs I followed Pozzato, because in the race he always leads me and the other young riders. On the last climb, I was in the first part of the peloton with Pippo and Mosca, we tried to keep the position even after the accelerations of Androni, we knew they wanted to make the race. I kept going until the end and I finished in fifth place. That gives me the right motivations for the GC."

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Quick-Step left with little to show for efforts on Belgium's opening weekend

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Quick-Step Floors directeur sportif Wilfried Peeters was left visibly frustrated after the team came away with not even a podium finish to show for their efforts at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Matteo Trentin decided to make a long-range sprint from lead group, against what his team had planned, leading it out not long after the flamme rouge.

In the end, he was overtaken by all of his breakaway companions, finishing fifth out of the five riders in the move. "It was a little bit of a joke what we did for the final sprint. When you start your sprint at 750 metres to go then you take a little bit of a risk that someone comes from behind and wins and that's what happened today," Peeters told the media.

"He knows how he was feeling better than me. We told him to stay calm and wait for the sprint and in that moment he made the decision. When you do it, then you just have to go for it, and when you lose then you realise that you got it wrong.

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The team was down a rider after Tom Boonen – who abandoned Saturday's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad after crashing – pulled out overnight citing stomach problems. Had Boonen been there on Sunday, Peeters says they might have played a bit more of a waiting game but his absence opened the door for the rest of the Quick-Step Floors team.

"Ok, now the other riders have a chance and I told them this morning that they have to take the chance with their two hands. Not every week that you can get chances like this," said Peeters. "I'm happy that the team is there, we had four guys out of 15 up there. We closed the gap to the lead group and we had one guy in the final, but only one guy can win ... The only mistake is going for the sprint with 750 metres."

Trentin looked at the result with a bit more of a positive sheen on it than his directeur sportif. The Italian knew that there was little chance that he could beat Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) in a straightforward tilt at the line – he estimated the likelihood of that happening at around 20 per cent – so he decided to think outside of the box, as it were.

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Rui Costa continues flying start to 2017 with Abu Dhabi Tour title

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Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) is back. The former world champion never really went away, but it’s fair to say that he lost his winning touch since pulling on the rainbow stripes. He won four races in the three seasons that followed Florence in 2013 – with none last year – but he has now almost matched that tally in the space of two months with a blistering start to the 2017 campaign.

The Portuguese rider sealed the overall title at the Abu Dhabi Tour on Sunday, a day after taking the race lead with a fine stage win on the Jebel Hafeet summit finish. It comes after he won the summit finish stage at his first race, the Vuelta a San Juan, and then finished second overall at the Tour of Oman having placed third on Green Mountain.

“In the winter I didn’t change a lot. The only changes was that I was feel better, had fewer problems with the weather, and this helped me to train properly,” said Costa, explaining his form.

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“From the start of the season immediately I felt good and was able to pick up a result, which was very important. I’m really pleased with how things have gone so far.”

Costa can now look ahead with considerable confidence to his next objectives, namely Tirreno-Adriatico in a couple of weeks, followed by a debut at the Giro d’Italia.

“My advantage now is that I’m in great form,” he said of his chances at Tirreno.

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BMC Racing left licking wounds after mistakes cost them at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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After the highs of victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, BMC Racing were dealt a reality check at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, when despite numbers heavily in their favour, they missed the race winning move. That they were able to post four riders – half their team – in the top 20 was a sign that they had a squad that was riding strongly.

Omloop winner Greg Van Avermaet was their first rider to cross the line, finishing seventh after claiming second from the chasing pack, six seconds back from the winning group, with Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) taking the victory. Stefan Küng, Jempy Drucker and Daniel Oss also made it into the first 20 riders at 11 and 13 seconds down.

Van Avermaet tried twice to bridge across to the leading group but could never quite manage it. Speaking after the race, team directeur sportif Valerio Piva said that as soon as they had given Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) – who was in the lead group – more than a few metres, they were already on the back foot.

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“I told my riders, he made the move last year,” Valerio Piva told Cyclingnews and Het Lastse Nieuws. “He took five metres, then 10 and then when the guys realised they tried to close, and they closed a little bit but then Sagan went with nobody in his wheel, and then we tried to close, and Benoot went. Everything went. I tell my riders all the time, that when you are chasing you are losing, you need to anticipate and that was the mistake today. We had to work to close the gap and the rest reaped the benefit.

“We made a mistake in this moment and, of course, against Sagan and those four riders in front it was difficult. They went so fast and they showed that they were the strongest.”

When the race began to split up over the ascents of the Oude Kwaremont and the Kluisburg with around 80 kilometres remaining, BMC, along with Quick-Step, dominated the group. Küng even went for the intermediate sprint, which offered up 2,500 euros to the first rider to cross the finish line when they began the opening local lap. The attacks served to diminish the group, but Piva believes that they paid for their early efforts.

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Abu Dhabi Tour stage 4 highlights - Video

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Caleb Ewan closed out the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour with a sprint victory Sunday, earning a bit of redemption after an early celebration cost him the win on Friday's stage 2.

The 22-year-old Orica-Scott rider proved the fastest man on the Yas Marina Formula One circuit, besting Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and André Greipel to nab the fourth and final stage of the race after a surprisingly rainy day in Abu Dubai.

Race leader Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) stayed safe in the peloton and rolled across the line on the same time as the sprinters to wrap up the overall title, with Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) rounding out the podium.

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Dylan Teuns (BMC), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Kirill Sveshnikov (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Rafael Valls (Lotto Soudal) and Movistar's Alex Dowsett and Jorge Arcas formed the day's main breakaway, but not even a rare spell of driving rain could deny the fast finishers on such a sprinter-friendly parcours. The escapees were caught with a little under 30 kilometres left to race, and from there it was a gradual winding up of speed as the quick men prepared for the finale.

With a well-executed lead out guiding him into the finishing straight, Ewan was in a strong position to start his sprint and quickly pulled out in front as the bunch kick began. Cavendish tried to close down Ewan's early advantage, but he couldn't quite catch the youngster, who sailed across the line for his fifth WorldTour win of the season.

Watch highlights of the stage above and to subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel, click here.  

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Ewan: I'd hope I'm in that bracket of top sprinters now

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Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. Having committed what he described as a ‘rookie error’ on the second stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour in celebrating too early, the young Australian made amends on the final day with a powerful sprint that lasted all the way to the line – beyond it even.

“I think I sprinted past the line a bit, just to make sure,” Ewan joked in his post-race press conference, revealing he received some stick back in the Orica-Scott camp on Friday.

“I was worried my teammates would be angry, but they all laughed it off. They’re a great bunch and they knew I was probably bashing myself up about it more than them. They were joking about it but it was all good. It was a really silly mistake and it’s going to annoy me for a bit, but I’d have been more annoyed if I didn’t win today."

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Ewan’s clumsy error was all the more disappointing given that he practically threw away a first victory against one of the top brass of the sprinting world.

The 22-year-old had come up against Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, and Andre Greipel individually in the past, but had never managed to get the better of one of them in a head-to-head. Here he atoned and ticked off all three in one fell swoop.

“These guys are the ones setting the benchmark in sprinting, so to be able to beat them is massive for me,” he said. “It shows I’m progressing.”

Italian spring

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Sagan fires first warning shot of Classics campaign

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Peter Sagan's performances over the opening weekend of the Classics were a warning shot to those who thought they might be able to topple the World Champion off his perch this spring. Sagan was the only rider to feature in the race winning move at both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.

Greg Van Avermaet got the better of him on Saturday in Ghent but Sagan had no equal in the group that he came to the line with Sunday in Kuurne. His rivals have all said over the weekend that he is the man to beat and what will worry them is that he believes that there is more to come as he builds up to the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in April.

"Improve my performance? I hope so," the Bora-Hansgrohe rider said with a wry smile in his post-race press conference. "We will see. It always depends not on the condition but on the results. If I feel better and I can win, then that is good. I hope with the next period of hard races that I can still improve. I hope I can grow my condition."

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The Sagan that turned up in the primary school that plays host to the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne press room was a different character to the one that playfully lowered his seat in the Sporza studio and pointedly asked Sep Vanmarcke why he hadn't attacked Saturday. It certainly wasn't serious, it rarely is with Sagan, but he was much happier Sunday to give a run down on the race from his perspective.

He admitted that he had burned too many of his matches too early at Omloop, something that he says he also did at Kuurne last season. A year down the line, and with plenty more experience, Sagan had the confidence to play the game to his advantage. Knowing that he had the match of most of the riders in the front, he knew that it was about following the moves rather than making them.

"Yesterday I wasted a lot of energy to get into the front and to be second," he explained. "Today, I had experience from last year and last year I was attacking too early and then in the final the whole group came back. Last year, one guy won and then the group made the sprint and that's what I didn't want to do this year.

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Galloping Gibbons opens professional account at Tour de Langkawi

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Prior to the Tour de Langkawi, Ryan Gibbons was a relatively unknown name in the wider world of cycling. While his Dimension Data teammates were well aware of his capabilities, the 22-year-old South African is showcasing his wares to the general public as the current star attraction in Malaysia due his consistent results and status as race leader.

A day after his climb up Cameron Highlands to save the yellow jersey, Gibbons sprinted to his first professional win in Kuala Kubu Bhara, while wearing the leader's yellow jersey no less.

"Really, really great to get off the mark and so grateful," Gibbons told Cyclingnews of his victory. "I had belief in myself, the team had belief in me, Oli my DS had belief in me, and I think they said it was always a matter of time."

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The stage win was Dimension Data's second in as many day's after Mekseb Debesay won the queen stage and continues the African team's love affair with success at the race.

While in previous years at the Tour de Langkawi, Andrea Guardini has asserted his dominance and got on a winning run, the sprinters in this year's race are taking turns to raise their arms in triumph. Second on stage 1, third on stages 2 and 4, Gibbons had been the most consistent rider at the halfway mark of the race but was desperate for a win. On stage 5, his stars aligned and he crossed the line in first place

"From the start, getting second on stage 1 was an achievement but today was a sense of relief more than anything and just so happy to get the win for the team and also for myself. The first of my career so a very good day today," he said.

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Jonathan Vaughters: The Infamous 1990s

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The following feature forms part of our 'I love the 1990s series' and sees Jonathan Vaughters open up about his first year in the European peloton and the doping culture ingrained in the sport at that time.

“Viva la quimica!” Long live the chemicals.

The 1990s have garnered infamy in professional cycling… and having raced in that decade, I can firmly testify that such infamy is well deserved. Professional cycling was the Wild West back then; financially, organizationally, medically… It was a time of honor among thieves at best and downright insanity at worst.

The mid-1990s were probably the worst time to be a professional rider with none of the charm and gentlemanly behaviour of earlier eras and all of the commercial pressure of later eras. Combs in the back pockets? Sharing cigarettes in races? Forget about it. This was the dawn of the age of big-money sponsor and big-money contracts.

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If you wanted to race professionally in the 1990s, you had to be a sporting survivor. A gritty and nasty bastard willing to hop a few fences to make it happen. Idealists were thrown out the passenger doors of team cars and left for dead in ditches. I would never choose it for anyone nor for myself. Unfortunately, we don’t get to choose when we are born, and I had a foolish dream to become a real bike racer.

My time in the 1990s and in professional cycling began via the road less traveled. As opposed to the route that most of my contemporaries in American cycling would take (US national team to Motorola and onward from there). I was destined for a much more uncomfortable trip. It started with me finishing second place overall in the 1993 Vuelta a Venezuela. This little result captured the attention of a startup Spanish team I’d never heard of.

A few awkward phone calls and faxes later, I signed a contract, of some sort, to go and race for an amateur team in Spain. I bought a one-way ticket to Spain with the last dollars I had to my name and watched my parents roll their eyes over this very poorly thought out idea.

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Contador: Racing with style is more important than winning

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‘The result is an imposter’. So said the footballer Xavi Hernandez in an iconic 2011 interview with the Guardian newspaper. The diminutive playmaker, describing himself as a ‘romantic’, was talking about Barcelona’s commitment to their aesthetically pleasing brand of possession-based football, in the season after they’d been knocked out of the Champions League by Jose Mourinho’s rugged and pragmatic Inter Milan side. “Other teams win and they're happy, but it's not the same,” he said. "The identity is lacking.”

Alberto Contador may hail from Madrid rather than Xavi’s Catalonia, but he is cut from very much the same cloth. The way he rides – the constant need to attack, to make things happen, to dare – matters more, he says, than the result or trophy it may or may not yield.

“It’s true there are times people think there’s only one option but it’s possible to look for other possibilities. I’m not giving myself any credit but that’s how it is. There are times when you have to roll the dice,” the Spaniard says in a sit-down interview with Cyclingnews and a couple of Spanish journalists at the Abu Dhabi Tour.

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He looks back on three memorable days when he did just that. There was the stage to Alpe d’Huez in 2011 when he blew the race open from inside 20km, then the long-range tactical coup to Fuente De that won him the 2012 Vuelta a Espana, and the famous stage to Formigal stage at last year’s Vuelta, where he ripped the race up in the opening kilometres and Chris Froome’s hopes of winning the race took a terminal blow.

“At Fuente De, I rolled the dice, because they could have caught me five kilometres from the top, passed me, and I’d have lost second place,” says Contador. “The day of Alpe d’Huez, maybe on a normal day I could have won that stage but the effort I made at the start, I paid for that attack and at the end, well, [Pierre] Rolland passed me and he took the stage from me.”

“But it’s true, of those three days, only one of them had a reward in the form of a victory, but the other two, although there was no victory, there was certainly a reward in terms of recognition. A reward that, genuinely, I prefer, and that people remember better, and value more – more than having a trophy in the cabinet.

A new dawn at Trek-Segafredo

‘The Tour is just another race’

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Two Gold Medals for Team USA at Track World Cup in LA

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Kelly Catlin, Chloe Dygert, Kimberly Geist, and Jennifer Valente earned gold in the team pursuit on Saturday, and on Sunday Dygert followed it up with another gold in the individual pursuit.

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Ewan wins stage 4 of the Abu Dhabi Tour ahead of Cavendish and Greipel

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Orica-Scott's Caleb Ewan won Sunday's fourth and final stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour on the Yas Marina Formula One circuit. The Australian triumphed over Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) in a bunch sprint after 143 kilometres of racing.

The sprinter-friendly finale gave Ewan a chance to redeem himself after he fumbled away the victory on stage 2 when he celebrated too soon and allowed Marcel Kittel (Quick Step Floors) to pip him at the line. He made the most of the opportunity Sunday, taking the win ahead of the impressive field of speedsters on the start list. Cavendish tried to come from a long way back, but had no chance to catch the speedy youngster.

"I guess I started this race on a real low with that crash and then I finished on an absolute high," Ewan said. "After stage 2 I'm really happy to repay my team with a win. They did a great job, we started working early and we knew on this course which were the important corners. They controlled the race from 15 kilometres out and no one really came past us from that moment on. If you really want to be on top you need to beat Kittel, Cavendish and Greipel and for me beating them all here ... I'm over the moon with that."

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Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), winner of Saturday's queen stage up the Jebel Hafeet climb, finished safely to wrap up the overall general classification win, with Katusha-Alpecin's Ilnur Zakarin claiming overall runner-up honors and Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin rounding out the GC podium in third.

The peloton faced an unexpected and unpleasant surprise on stage 4, as Abu Dhabi experienced one of its rare rainy days. It poured down most of the afternoon, but riders fortunately managed to avoid any serious incidents on the rain-slicked roads.

The stage consisted of multiple laps of the (empty) Yas Marina Formula One racetrack. Shortly after the start, Dylan Teuns (BMC), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Kirill Sveshnikov (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Rafael Valls (Lotto Soudal) and Movistar's Alex Dowsett and Jorge Arcas jumped clear to form the day's main breakaway..

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D'Hoore wins Omloop van het Hageland

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Peter Sagan wins Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) delivered an emphatic sprint to win Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne from a five-man group Sunday. Last year's winner Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) had to settle for second place, while Luke Rowe (Sky) claimed the third step of the podium. Already part of an elite selection that formed after the Oude Kwaremont, the quintet forged clear on the finishing circuit in Kuurne to fight out the victory. 

The beauty of Belgium's Opening Weekend is that it gives an instant shot at redemption. Sagan, beaten into second place by Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 24 hours prior, made amends with a powerful sprint in Kuurne. In truth, Sagan hardly seemed too distraught at missing out in Ghent on Saturday, but the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne victory – his first for Bora-Hansgrohe – bodes well for the remainder of his spring.

"We will see. The big goal is to stay good," Sagan said gnomically as he waited to mount the podium. "After that, whatever comes, everything is good."

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The winning move took shape when Stuyven attacked from the front group with a little under 30 kilometres remaining, shortly after the race came through the finish line in Kuurne for the first time. Sagan wasted little time in jumping across to the Belgian, dragging Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors) with him.

Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) show-cased his prodigious talent by bridging across alone shortly afterwards, while Rowe was the final man to hitch onto the winning train. BMC, with four riders in the front group including Van Avermaet, were inexplicably left standing on the platform, tickets flapping in the wind. Despite the efforts of Stefan Küng, they never got back on terms.

By the time Sagan and company took the bell for the final lap, their advantage over the chasers had nudged out beyond 30 seconds, but with the main peloton – which had earlier seemed irretrievably distanced – now closing to within a minute, they couldn't afford to start eyeing one another ahead of the finale. Instead, the quintet put their shoulders to the wheel to such good effect that they entered the final three kilometres with a lead of 45 seconds.

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Tour de Langkawi: Stage 5 sprint victory for Ryan Gibbons

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A day after proving his climbing legs on the queen stage up Cameron Highlands, Ryan Gibbons was in his element on the flat fifth stage of le Tour de Langkawi where the race leader claimed victory in the bunch sprint.

Three times a top three finisher so far at the race, the Dimension Data rider was too fast for Jacob Mareczko (Wilier-Trestina) while Marco Benfatto (Androni) was third. Benfatto, however, would be relegated for "irregular sprinting,” with Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) instead rounding out the podium on the official results.

"From the start, getting second on stage 1 was an achievement but today was a sense of relief more than anything and I’m just so happy to get the win for the team but also for myself. The first of my career so a very good day today," Gibbons said after the stage.

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"I still think that if I am having a good day, I can sprint on a flat road but today with a little bit of a drag and the road surface being brick, I think it suited me a little more. My team was incredible, they supported me and put me in perfect position, and it would have been hard not to win with the job they did."

Stage 3 winner Mareczko was the closest challenger to Gibbons but explained to Cyclingnews that he had too much to do in the finale. "Four kilometres to go, some guy fell down and I with my team lost position because of this. In the final metres I was in third position behind the winner and I couldn't get in front of him," said Mareczko.

Victory tightens Gibbons' grip on the yellow jersey with the overall victory now all but assured. The 22-year-old neo-pro also now leads the sprint classification but his goals remain more wins and the yellow jersey. "Obviously the focus is the yellow jersey and stage wins. If the teal jersey comes with it, then it will be great but it is not a focus and we won't be targeting it," he said of the other classification he leads.

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Mauro Finetto wins Classic de l'Ardèche

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Van Garderen: Lack of motivation is never the issue

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Following a quiet start to the season at the Abu Dhabi Tour – and a winter of public speculation over his apparent Grand Tour rut – Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) won't put a number on what will constitute a successful Giro d'Italia campaign. 

The Abu Dhabi Tour, with its newly-minted WorldTour status, attracted some of the world's best climbers despite there being only a single 15-km hilltop finish at Jebel Hafeet for them to test their legs in an otherwise flat race.

It was on that ascent that Van Garderen was left disappointed with his season debut, as he went out too quickly and then lost contact with the main group, which comprised Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and other likely Giro contenders in May.

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"I was confident, I was ready to race, I had the team put me in a good position," said Van Garderen, who revealed he was suffering from a cold. "They did a perfect job, they really ramped it up at the start of the climb and kind of put me in the red. Normally I can go into the red and then, once it settles down, recover and regain the rhythm. But this time I went into the red and just kind of blew up.

"You can chalk that down to either the bug, or maybe just it being my first race. I don't want to make excuses. I'm not happy with my performance but at the same time I'm also not panicking because I know I put in a good winter. I'm confident in the work that I did up until this point."

Van Garderen was heralded as a successor to Tour de France champion Cadel Evans when he joined BMC but has been unable to reprise the form he produced to take two fifth overall places finishes, in 2012 and 2014. This year he has left the Tour to teammate Richie Porte.

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Zakarin can make the podium at the Giro d'Italia, says Konyshev

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Ilnur Zakarin is confident he can finish on the podium of the Giro d'Italia this year, with his Katusha-Alpecin sports director Dimitri Konyshev convinced the Russian will win a Grand Tour before his career is out.

And after an inconspicuous start at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, considerable weight was added to those hopes on the queen stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour on Saturday, where Zakarin rode away from what was pretty much the entire cast of this year's Giro favourites, though he was just pipped for the stage win by Rui Costa.

"I felt very good today and I'm happy with this results as I have recently trained hard at Mount Teide," said Zakarin, who distanced Nairo Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali, Fabio Aru, Bauke Mollema, Tom Dumoulin, and Steven Kruijswijk – who will all feature in Italy in May. "This is the fruit of that hard work and I'm happy."

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The Russian, who was banned for two years in 2009 for using anabolic steroids, was in a strong position at last year's Giro until two crashes on the Chianti time trial dented his push for the podium. Still lying fifth overall, his race ended when he crashed dramatically on the descent of the Colle dell'Agnello two days from Milan.

"At the Giro he had a very bad experience last year," Konyshev told Cyclingnews in Al Ain on the morning of the Abu Dhabi queen stage. "Talking about the podium is always difficult and in the last five days everything can change, but I think [without the crash] top five we could have done easily.

"The only thing he missed last year was experience. Now we have some. I cannot say he has a lot of experience but he has some. So this year we are thinking about the first three places, I think he's able to do that. He's much more experienced than last year. It was really the first three-week race as a leader. So he gained a lot of experience. Also with how to program the race. We made a couple of mistakes last year in terms of preparation for the Giro. He was too good at the beginning, and worse towards the end. We've changed his calendar and training a bit to try to organize it better."

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Boonen ruled out of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne by stomach problems

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Tom Boonen will not start Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne due to illness. His Quick-Step Floors team announced the news via Twitter shortly before the start of Sunday’s race. The Belgian is due to return to action at Tirreno-Adriatico, which gets underway on March 8.

“Unfortunately, @tomboonen1 won't start #KBK due to stomach problems. Have a fast recovery, Tom, and see you in #Tirreno!” read the Quick-Step Floors team’s tweet.

Boonen abandoned Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad after crashing twice, with the second incident occurring just before the race ignited on the Taaienberg. Although Boonen remounted and gave chase, he abandoned shortly afterwards with an eye to Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, only for stomach problems to rule him out of the second instalment of Belgium’s Opening Weekend.

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Boonen is in the final weeks in the professional peloton, and he will retire after Paris-Roubaix on April 9. His abandon on Saturday means that he will retire without inscribing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to his palmarès, while his withdrawal from Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne means that he forgoes the chance of adding to his record tally of three victories.

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Kristoff takes aim at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne after Omloop crash

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Alexander Kristoff was a forlorn sight at the bottom of a pile-up in the lead-in to the Taaienberg during Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Despite the incident, his Katusha-Alpecin team is confident that he can still lead them at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, where he has finished second in each of the past two seasons. 

The Norwegian had to be picked off the ground by his directeur sportif Torsten Schmidt following the huge crash. Kristoff would get back on his bike but he abandoned around 10 kilometres later and headed straight for the team hotel. The decision was made with an eye to Sunday’s Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, as Kristoff was well and truly out of contention in Omloop by that point. Tom Boonen (Quick-Step Floors) was caught up in the same crash and also abandoned soon afterwards.

“He quit the race because he was so far away there was no sense to continue,” said Schmidt. “We had to completely change his bike. He lost some skin but he’s ok and he will start the race tomorrow.”

Kristoff suffered some minor abrasions to his neck and Schmidt expects him to be a bit sore at the start of the day, but he said Katusha-Alpecin will set out with optimism on Sunday.

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“For sure, he will have some pain in the muscles in the neck but the team has good people to look after him,” Schmidt explained. “We have some tough guys in the team. Already in the race we were talking about tomorrow and they will start with a good attitude and they’ll be in the mood to win.

“In the sprint, it would be difficult to win with another guy. We have to see how it is it’s 200k and many things can happen before the finish line.”

Asked by a Norwegian journalist to estimate how long it had been since Kristoff had endured his last serious crash in a race, Schmidt mimed knocking on wood and estimated two years. The journalist responded that it had in fact been some 962 days since Kristoff had taken a similar tumble.

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Injury forces Chaves out of Colombian nationals

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Esteban Chaves has been forced out of the Colombian national championships Sunday due to knee soreness and will miss the road in his hometown of Bogota.

The 27-year-old, confirmed as Orica-Scott's leader for the Tour de France in July, will take a week off riding so as not to jeopardise his Grand Tour aspirations for 2017.

Chaves was also set to make his debut at the championships and was considered one of the favourites for the victory.

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"I am really disappointed to miss the national championships tomorrow, I was looking forward to making my elite debut in my home town," Chaves said. "But it is a long season and we needed to take the decision to fix any little problems now so we can continue with the plan this year without trouble."

Having finished second overall at the Tour Down Under and ninth at the Herald Sun Tour in Australia to kick start his season, Chaves was building his early season around a tilt at the national title. While disappointed not be racing, Chaves explained he will still be in attendance at the race.

"I'm looking forward to going to the race tomorrow and showing my support for the great Colombian talent we have. For sure it will be a great race for the city and for the fans, especially the young kids that can look up to these stars and continue to dream."

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Dimension Data rise to the occasion on Langkawi queen stage

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As the sole WorldTour team at the 2017 Tour de Langkawi and two-time defending champions, the pressure was on Dimension Data ahead of the queen stage to Cameron Highlands.

Pre-stage, leader Ryan Gibbons fully expected to lose the jersey with his sprint characteristics hardly suited to the 25-km climb. Dimension Data started the day with the dual ambitions of winning the stage via Mekseb Debesay or Ben O'Connor while trying to limit Gibbons' losses and keep him in contention for the overall.

Dimension Data rose to the occasion – stage victory went to Debesay and third place to Gibbons, who increased his overall lead – leaving the team's two young African neo-pros and directeur sportif Oli Cookson in a state of disbelief with how well the day played out.

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"We knew that Mekseb and Ben were strong, but we also had a responsibility with Ryan," Cookson told Cyclingnews. "We had it in the back of our minds that Ryan could climb like this. His coach informed us and we know his weight and his power so it just depended on the way the race went and it played into our hands."

Third place for Gibbons has the team within striking distance of a historic third straight victory in Malaysia but Cookson isn't counting his chickens before they hatch as he explained.

"There some very good teams here, there's a lot of pressure on us, there already was, but even more now after winning the queen stage and keeping the yellow," he added. "Ryan is a young rider, and we are already ahead of expectation, and we need to bide our time. We respect our rivals and also it's an eight-day race in hot humid conditions so you need to keep strong and not get sick so we take it day by day."

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Tour de Langkawi: Bayly comes close on Cameron Highlands

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While the list of riders to enjoy a stage win in their hometown or region is rather long, not many have raised their arms in triumph in a location that shares their name. Cameron Bayly came close on the queen stage of the 2017 Tour de Langkawi to Cameron Highlands but in the end he was beaten by Dimension Data's Mekseb Debesay.

While Cameron missed out on winning in Cameron, the IsoWhey Sports Swisswellness rider now occupies second place on the general classification. Just 11 seconds behind Dimension Data's Ryan Gibbons.

"It is always good to get the win but second place is pretty good in a HC race. It is probably one of my bigger results so far," Bayly told Cyclingnews.

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While a long climb, the road up Cameron Highlands is undulating and for the majority of the peloton it proved to be deceptive with steep pitches quickly followed by small descents and flats. In the aggressive finale, Bayly explained that he and teammate Chris Harper where dropped by the front group and only just managed to rejoin the leaders.

"When we got back on, it eased off and it was attack, slow down, attack. Maybe a kay and a half to go, I decided to hit it and got a gap before Debesay came with me and then it was a sprint between the two of us at the finish," he said of the final.

Three years on from his debut at the Malaysian stage race, the 26-year-old was the best of the three riders from the Australian Continental team inside the top 10. With Harper and Tim Roe also impressing on the climb, the squad sit equal top of the team classification with Dimension Data. No mean feat on its debut at the race.

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Felline impresses with fourth at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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As Greg Van Avermaet, Peter Sagan and Sep Vanmarcke took the plaudits, Fabio Felline quietly rode himself into an impressive fourth place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The Trek-Segafredo rider, who had been working for teammate Jasper Stuyven, was in the chasing group behind the leading trio and struck out on the final stretch to the line to finish just off the podium.

His fourth place was all the more impressive given that he had not raced on the cobbles since his debut season with Footon-Servetto back in 2010, and it was enough to earn a few pats on the back from his rivals. It was a tough introduction to the pavé all those years ago but along with a few DNFs, he managed 10th at that year's E3 Harelbeke, albeit three minutes behind the winner Fabian Cancellara.

With so much time between his first and second Classics campaigns, it was like starting afresh for the Italian as he had to get to grips with the Flemish style of racing in real time. There were moments when it felt like things were going wrong but once through the brutal run of climbs and cobbles he was in prime position to utilise his sprint.

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So green was Felline to the cobbled Classics he needed a bit of help from Cyclingnews to navigate his way back to the team bus.

"It was a crazy race I think like always in Belgium. I'm not really an expert, and in the first part I was in real difficulty because I don't really understand this style of racing," he told Cyclingnews once back at the safety of the bus just outside the Kuipke velodrome, home of the Gent Six Day. "It was really nervous but I think it helped me because in the final, when they made the selection I was in the front. Maybe I could have followed more behind because in a lot of parts on the cobblestones I wasn't too sure and I was dropped.

"A lot of the time, I felt good, but in this style of race it was impossible to expect anything. Fourth place is for sure a really good result."

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Rowe lacks punch in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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Speaking to Cyclingnews ahead of the race, Team Sky directeur sportif Servais Knaven said that there were high expectations of Luke Rowe, from both the team and the rider himself. After the race Rowe admitted that his sixth place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was not quite what he wanted, saying that he lacked the punch to follow the attacks from the leaders when the race split up with 54 kilometres remaining.

Despite that, the 26-year-old was relatively pleased with his condition during the race and wasn't going to dismiss a top-10 finish in a race with such a high level of competition.

“It’s not what you come into the race dreaming of doing, but at the same time, it’s sixth place in a WorldTour one-day classic so you can’t shrug your shoulders at it,” he said after warming down outside the Team Sky bus. “Maybe I lacked a bit of punch on the Eikenberg. When the three leaders attacked, I was right there, but I simply couldn’t react. Those three were the strongest guys and they rode away, and there was nothing that I could do.

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“I felt I could have had another 40km or an hour more racing, and I could have kept going at a similar pace. I felt ok, but I was just missing a bit of top end. When those three guys went, they were just too strong.”

At times it seemed like the group of 13 chasing riders would close the gap to the three leaders - Peter Sagan, Sep Vanmarcke and winner Greg Van Avermaet. Rowe said that the effort was a concerted one, but after dropping to just below 30 seconds it didn’t drop any further and the chasers were almost a minute back when they crossed the line.

“Everyone committed well to the chase. We rode straight away and when the group thinned out after the Molenberg everyone rode as hard as they could,” said Rowe. “When you’re trying to chase those guys, you’re talking about the three best current Classics riders so it’s never easy to catch them. There was good cohesion in the group, everyone was riding quite well, and I was quite happy to roll through and take my turn. Like I said, with a tailwind like that, everyone knew that it was going to be hard to bring them back.”

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Dumoulin follows beat of his own drum on Abu Dhabi summit finish

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Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) has taken confidence from his first hit-out of the season on stage 3 of the Abu Dhabi Tour, where he left mind games to those behind him as he followed his own pace up Jebel Hafeet. Dumoulin finished third behind winner Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha). He came close but was unable to catch the pair with a lone chase in the final three kilometres of the hilltop finale.

“On a climb with quite a lot of wind, it was difficult to catch them and it wasn’t possible but I’m really happy about this, it means I had a good winter,” Dumoulin said. “Of course, I would like to win and I think I might not have been worse than the two in front, because all the time on the same distance, I was alone against a headwind. It means that I have good legs, but for the win you need a little bit of luck and good timing. The two in front did it perfect.”

Dumoulin was focused on the race rather than the tactical and psychological manoeuvres that played out in the main group between favourites Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), who seemed more intent on antagonising each other than vying for victory.

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“It’s the first test of the season so they all want to show off, and that gives other guys possibilities,” Dumoulin said.

The Dutchman accelerated away from the main group inside the final six kilometres, riding alongside fellow countryman Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL – Jumbo) before taking after the race leaders on his own.

“I was doing a time trial as soon as I attacked. I knew they were holding back a little bit on the downhill sections and that gave them a little bit of an edge on the uphill sections. I was doing one pace,” he said.

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