Weening, Westra, Mollema in the top 4

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco)

1		Davide Rebellin	Movistar	181.42
2		David López	Euskaltel	154
3		Peter Sagan	Vacansoleil	147.42
4		Denis Menchov	Quickstep	144.12
5		Tony Gallopin	Quickstep	138.12
6		Mikel Nieve	Discovery	101.9
7		Björn Leukemans	Lotto	97.12
8		Fränk Schleck	Radioshack	91.62
9		Bauke Mollema	Vacansoleil	89.43
10		Marcel Kittel	Discovery	82.62
11		José Joaquin Rojas	HTC	74.37
12		Rob Ruijgh	Rabobank	72.96
13		Tom Boonen	Saxo Bank	69.25
14		Sacha Modolo	Euskaltel	65
15		Geraint Thomas	BMC	59.5

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco)

1		OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	388.5
2		VACANSOLEIL-DMC	253
3		MOVISTAR TEAM	230
4		RABOBANK	228
5		EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI	219
6		DISCOVERY CHANNEL	196.1
7		TEAM RADIOSHACK-NISSAN	189
8		SAXO BANK	167.75
9		LOTTO-BELISOL	165.6
10		BMC RACING TEAM	160.75

Omega Pharma are looking very strong indeed

The first of only two monuments that we will enjoy this year has arrived. The Paris - Roubaix is the temple of the cobblers and the place where all of them want to win. This year's route is the same that saw Lieuwe Westra take a very surprising win two years ago. The Dutch has developed into a very complete rider and it wouldn't be as surprising seeing him among the top 10. The amount of cobbles surpasses the 50 kilometers mark in the 270 kilometers race, so stamina and flat will also play a big role.

The race has been really tight in the previous editions, but as riders specialize the selection that happens in the cobbles should be bigger this year. A rather big group sprint should not happen anymore. The control of the race should either fall into Lotto or Saxo Bank, as they got the latest wins in the cobbles, but maybe BMC is the only team with real strength to make a big selection of the race for Ballan.

Favorites:

- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Belisol): Bjorn Leukemans comes as massive favorite for the Paris - Roubaix after narrowly missing the double in the Belgian cobbles races a couple of weeks ago. He is the best cobbler by far and the long distance of the race should also play in his favor. Leukemans is one of the few riders that could be able to power away from the bunch if he puts a high pace in a cobbled section.
- Johan van Summeren (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Van Summeren showed his class in the E3, where he was 2nd, only to disappear in the Gent - Wevelgem 2 days later. He is capable of the best, like winning the Ronde, and the worst so it will all be down to how he feels.
- Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing): Alessandro Ballan is the leader of the cobbles powerhouse that BMC has built. The Italian will be able to rely on Bernhard Eisel and Geraint Thomas to go after the early attacks and they could even play some smart tactics (Ok, ok, I know this is "difficult" for an AI team...). The Italian was the only alternative to the huge Belgian dominance in the earlier cobbles races.
- Gregory Rast (Sky Procycling): Gregory Rast is the Sky hope to regain a place in the spotlight of World Tour cycling. The British team has undergone a hard time the last couple of year but seem determined of burying that into the past. The Swiss has focused his season on the run to the Paris - Roubaix and is determined to fight for a podium place in Roubaix. However, this is going to be a task only for himself as the rest of his teammates are next to useless in the cobbles.

Other notable riders that will take part in the race include the recent winner of the Gent - Wevelgem, Tom Boonen (Saxo Bank), Sylvain Chavanel (Ag2r), Bernhard Eisel and Geraint Thomas (BMC) and Oscar Freire and the defending champion, Lieuwe Westra, for Rabobank.

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2009	Borut Bozic	Jakob Fuglsang	Simon Gerrans
2011	Lieuwe Westra	Jose Joaquin Rojas	Miguel Angel Rubiano

Startlist

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

Really looking forward to the clashes on the cobbles

Paris - Roubaix
Compiegne - Roubaix



This year's route of the Paris - Roubaix is the same that we had 2 years ago. The amount of cobbles is close to 60 kilometers in the 270 race. It has been reported that the weather will be miserable during the race, but at least not much wind is expected in the area. The key points of the race this year will be the Trouee d'Arenberg and the Carrefour de l'Arbre.



A group of 5 riders tried their luck through a break, but in reality they never had much hope of succeeding. The riders in it were Eros Capecchi (Liquigas), Chris Sutton (Garmin), Jos van Emden (Rabobank), Jose Rodolfo Serpa (Katusha) and Dani Moreno (Movistar). In the bunch, we had already seen punctures by Sylvain Chavanel and Fabian Cancellara. The gap of the break was only 4 minutes, as the pace in the cobbled sections increased in the bunch.



BMC and Lotto seemed to be the teams that wanted to make the race hard in the cobbled sections. Geraint Thomas, Bernhard Eisel and Jurgen Roelandts were the men responsible to do the main part of the pacing. However, the pace was somewhat inconsistent and the break still enjoyed a gap of 2' 20'' with 46 kilometers to go.



Chris Sutton attacked from the break and entered the last 20 kilometers on his own. He led Dani Moreno, Eros Capecchi and Jos van Emden by 25 seconds, while the main group of favorites was 1 minute behind. The favorites group has been reduced, but it is still quite big for the part of the race that we are in.



Sutton was caught by the favorites group with only 11 kilometers remaining in the race. Bernhard Eisel sets the pace in the bunch, but it is sad to see the Paris - Roubaix go without successful attacks in the cobbles. The main favorites seem content with a small group sprint.



Around 45 riders reach the final 4 kilometers at the head group. BMC is still doing the pace setting ahead of the final sprint. The chances of Tom Boonen have dramatically increased as he is probably the fastest cobbler along with Oscar Freire.



Johan van Summeren launches the sprint from far away to try to lure the purest sprinters out of it, but three riders follow him: Bjorn Leukemans, Oscar Freire and Tom Boonen. It looks like Alessandro Ballan didn't have the legs today, as he cannot follow them. All the hard work from BMC seems to be wasted.



Bjorn Leukemans wins in Roubaix! The Lotto rider had the best legs after 270 kilometers as neither Tom Boonen nor Oscar Freire could put pressure on him in the final sprint. Boonen claimed the second place ahead of Johan van Summeren in an all-Belgian podium. The first among the non Belgians was Oscar Freire, while Gregory Rast took the 5th place for Sky.

Leukemans made the predictions right, but we had expected to see a tougher battle in the cobbles. It looked like he was too strong and the rest of the riders were afraid to attack. In the end the gamble turned out well for the Lotto team but the feeling is that they could have settled the race earlier rather than waiting for a rather big sprint. The group had slightly more than 40 riders at the end of the race.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Björn Leukemans	LOTTO-BELISOL	7h55'39
2		Tom Boonen	SAXO BANK - TINKOFF	s.t.
3		Johan Van Summeren	OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	s.t.
4		Oscar Freire	RABOBANK	s.t.
5		Grégory Rast	SKY PROCYCLING	s.t.
6		Alessandro Ballan	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
7		Lloyd Mondory	OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	s.t.
8		Luca Paolini	OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	s.t.
9		Sylvain Chavanel	AG2R - LA MONDIALE	s.t.
10		Filippo Pozzato	ASTANA	s.t.

Bjööööööööörn Leukemans

The Rainbow jersey is certainly lucky for Leukemans

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Paris - Roubaix)

1		Davide Rebellin	Movistar	181.42
2		Björn Leukemans	Lotto	177.12
3		David López	Euskaltel	154
4		Peter Sagan	Vacansoleil	147.42
5		Denis Menchov	Quickstep	144.12
6		Tony Gallopin	Quickstep	138.12
7		Tom Boonen	Saxo Bank	129.25
8		Mikel Nieve	Discovery	101.9
9		Fränk Schleck	Radioshack	91.62
10		Bauke Mollema	Vacansoleil	89.43
11		Johan Van Summeren	Quickstep	83
12		Marcel Kittel	Discovery	82.62
13		Alessandro Ballan	BMC	76.25
14		José Joaquin Rojas	HTC	74.37
15		Rob Ruijgh	Rabobank	72.96

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Paris - Roubaix)

1		OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	463.5
2		RABOBANK	268
3		VACANSOLEIL-DMC	253
4		LOTTO-BELISOL	245.6
5		MOVISTAR TEAM	230
6		SAXO BANK	227.75
7		EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI	219
8		DISCOVERY CHANNEL	196.1
9		TEAM RADIOSHACK-NISSAN	189
10		BMC RACING TEAM	180.75

Looks like the other teams are going to have to battle it out for second place now

The Tour de Romandie is the perfect preparation for the upcaoming Giro di Italia. This year the race will take place in the same route that saw Cameron Meyer take the overall win last year. The race is fairly biased towards the time trialist, as the fifth stage is a rather long time trial that is not really compensated by the amount of mountain. Therefore, time trialists are the best placed to get the win in Switzerland.

Favorites:

- Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing): Tejay is one of the best time trialists in the field, but he is also a more than capable rider in the mountains. The American was second last year, but that was only the main of many good results, such as a top 10 in the Tour de France. He has the ability to take the win in Switzerland.
- Cameron Meyer (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Last year's winner will have massive support in the race this year, as he moved to the almighty Quickstep team. Meyer is probably the best time trialist in the World, but he lacks the class in the mountains and that could be a problem if BMC tries to make the race hard in the climbing.
- Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing): BMC has two solid bullets to target the GC at Romandie. Marco Pinotti is almost as good a time trialist as Van Garderen, so if the American runs into any trouble Marco will be there to show his talent.
- Chris Froome (HTC - Highroad): Chris Froome already won the Tour de Suisse last year by making an exhibition in the last time trial, so the route of the Tour de Romandie fits the British perfectly. He has already proven that he can take an overall win in a very demanding race, so it should be no surprise to see him in the podium.

Other notable riders in the race include Lieuwe Westra (Rabobank), Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC), David Millar (Sky Procycling), Rigoberto Uran (Lotto - Belisol), Samuel Sanchez (Katusha) and Levi Leipheimer (HTC - Highroad).

Even though there will be not many days for the sprints, some of the best sprinters are in Switzerland, such as Tyler Farrar (Saxo Bank), Ben Swift (Sky Procycling), Sacha Modolo (Euskaltel), Simone Ponzi (Katusha), Lloyd Mondory and Tony Gallopin (Omega Pharma - Quickstep).

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2010	Pieter Weening	Xavi Tondo	Mikel Nieve
2012	Cameron Meyer	Tejay van Garderen	Peter Stetina

Startlist

All your flags have decided to take a vacation

Yeah, I will progressively change them to my own server...

That was quick, the new flags look good

Stage 1: Martigny - Martigny (ITT)



The prologue in Martigny is tiny, at only 3 kilometers. Therefore, the time gaps that will open are not expected to be significant in the overall result of the race. The pure time trialists will be the favorites, as the route is very flat.



David Millar (Sky) was the first among the favorites to start today's stage. The British has got several time trials wins so far, as he won the two time trials in the Dauphine last year. He easily beat the best time so far, set by the local Fabian Cancellara, by 4 seconds.



Close behind Millar started Rigoberto Uran (Lotto). The Colombian arrived in Switzerland with high hopes of doing a good race and he started well today. Uran tied with David Millar's time to take the 2nd provisional best time.



The short distance means that everyone is very close and Samuel Sanchez (Katusha) showed it by tying with the two leaders. He got the 3rd place on the tenths of a second.



Marco Pinotti (BMC) would be the best reference for Tejay van Garderen, who would depart among the last in the stage. The Italian lived up to the expectations and was now the 4th rider to tie in the same time as David Millar. Such a short time trial makes it almost impossible to open up any gaps among the best.



Cameron Meyer (Quickstep) was the biggest favorite before the stage and he now had plenty of references from good time trialists. The Australian showed that he probably is the best time trialist in the world by taking the first place after setting a time 3 seconds faster than David Millar.



Once Millar's time was beaten the door seemed to have been opened, as Lieuwe Westra (Rabobank) got the second provisional time, 2 seconds behind Meyer. The Dutch is a very versatile rider that could do well in this Tour de Romandie.



Chris Froome (HTC) disappointed a little bit today, as he could only manage to be 5 seconds slower than Cameron Meyer. That puts the British in the 8th provisional time.



Tejay van Garderen (BMC) was one of the last men to start the time trial in Martigny. The American arrives in Switzerland willing to prove that he can win in a one-week race and things started well for him, as he matched Cameron Meyer's time and only lost in the tenths of a second.

Cameron Meyer therefore took the fifth win of the season for Quickstep and the leader's jersey. However, this is probably only anecdotic as tomorrow's hilltop finish in Leysin has the potential to mix the GC quite a bit. It is the stage that could turn things around for other riders, as otherwise the race will be settled in the long time trial.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Cameron Meyer	OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	6'08
2		Tejay Van Garderen	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
3		Lieuwe Westra	RABOBANK	+ 2
4		David Millar	SKY PROCYCLING	+ 3
5		Rigoberto Uran	LOTTO-BELISOL	s.t.
6		Samuel Sánchez	KATUSHA TEAM	s.t.
7		Marco Pinotti	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
8		Bauke Mollema	VACANSOLEIL-DMC	+ 4
9		Luis Leon Sanchez	MOVISTAR TEAM	+ 5
10		Chris Froome	HTC - HIGH ROAD	s.t.

Points

1		Cameron Meyer	OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	25
2		Tejay Van Garderen	BMC RACING TEAM	20
3		Lieuwe Westra	RABOBANK	16
4		David Millar	SKY PROCYCLING	14
5		Rigoberto Uran	LOTTO-BELISOL	12

Young

1		Lieuwe Westra	RABOBANK	6'10
2		Anthony Roux	ASTANA	+ 3
3		Geraint Thomas	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 5
4		Thomas De Gendt	SKY PROCYCLING	s.t.
5		Juan Antonio Flecha	MOVISTAR TEAM	+ 6

Teams

1		BMC RACING TEAM	18'34
2		HTC - HIGH ROAD	+ 8
3		SKY PROCYCLING	+ 9
4		OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	s.t.
5		TEAM RADIOSHACK-NISSAN	+ 11

Some good looking riders showing there face already

Stage 2: Martigny - Leysin



The first proper stage of the Tour de Romandie is probably the only chance that the climbers have to put time on the time trial specialists. However, hills riders also have a chance as the climbs are not that hard. The final climb to Leysin is barely more than 6 kilometers long and will probably only allow for seconds among the favorites.



A group of 6 riders tried to take the stage win through a break. After the first intermediate sprint of the day they had 5' 30'' over a Quickstep led bunch. Among those in the break were John Degenkolb (Quickstep), Philippe Gilbert (Discovery), Stefano Garzelli (Lampre) and Julien Simon (Ag2r).



Dries Devenyns led the bunch through the Col de Pillon ahead of Bart de Clerq and David Lopez. The break had only 1 minute with 21 kilometers remaining, so it looks like the stage win will be in the bunch. Quickstep has been very keen on keeping a good pace to preserve Cameron Meyer's lead.



Bart de Clerq and Bauke Mollema are the first riders to attack in the final climb to Leysin. They are soon followed by the second in the GC, Tejay van Garderen. The climb to Leysin last year was very quiet, but it looks as serious attacks are happening this year.



Cameron Meyer is not reacting as a group of 14 riders is in the lead including most of the favorites for the overall win. Worse than that for Quickstep, no rider from the team is in that leading group. A time gap between this group and the main bunch seems unavoidable at 2 kilometers from the finish. In the favorites group Rigoberto Uran, Frank Schleck and Bauke Mollema are the riders showing the best legs today.



Tejay van Garderen and Bauke Mollema leave everyone else behind as they start the final sprint. Only Rigoberto Uran and Frank Schleck tried to follow, but they failed and will have to fight for third. The front group decreased to only 8 riders as they closed into the final kilometer and Cameron Meyer didn't give any signs of reacting.



Bauke Mollema wins in Leysin! The Dutch overtook Tejay van Garderen once the American had run out of gas to take his second win of the season. Bart de Clerq climbed to the third place in the late stages of the sprint, while Frank Schleck was fourth. A total of 8 riders arrived in the leading group, while another small group crossed the line 33 seconds later. This leaves the GC led by Tejay van Garderen, who has been second in both stages. Bauke Mollema is now tied with Tejay thanks to the bonus seconds, while Bart de Clerq is third.

The Quickstep team disappeared in the battle of the last climb. Cameron Meyer clearly didn't have the legs to compete with the best and has probably lost any chance of a good GC result, as he arrived 1' 13'' behind the winner. Another of the riders that had a chance of doing well in the GC, Janez Brajkovic, also was missing in action. Fortunately, Discovery put Nieve in the first group and Evans in the second.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Bauke Mollema	VACANSOLEIL-DMC	4h31'05
2		Tejay Van Garderen	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
3		Bart De Clerq	LAMPRE - ISD	s.t.
4		Fränk Schleck	TEAM RADIOSHACK-NISSAN	s.t.
5		Mikel Nieve	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	s.t.
6		David López	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	s.t.
7		Rigoberto Uran	LOTTO-BELISOL	s.t.
8		Samuel Sánchez	KATUSHA TEAM	s.t.
9		Lieuwe Westra	RABOBANK	+ 33
10		Cadel Evans	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	s.t.

General Classification

1		Tejay Van Garderen	BMC RACING TEAM	4h37'07
2		Bauke Mollema	VACANSOLEIL-DMC	s.t.
3		Bart De Clerq	LAMPRE - ISD	+ 8
4		Rigoberto Uran	LOTTO-BELISOL	+ 9
5		Samuel Sánchez	KATUSHA TEAM	s.t.
6		David López	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	+ 15
7		Fränk Schleck	TEAM RADIOSHACK-NISSAN	+ 16
8		Mikel Nieve	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	+ 18
9		Lieuwe Westra	RABOBANK	+ 41
10		David Millar	SKY PROCYCLING	+ 42

Points

1		Tejay Van Garderen	BMC RACING TEAM	40
2		Bauke Mollema	VACANSOLEIL-DMC	33
3		Cameron Meyer	OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	25
4		Lieuwe Westra	RABOBANK	23
5		Rigoberto Uran	LOTTO-BELISOL	21

Mountain

1		Julien Simon	AG2R - LA MONDIALE	26
2		Bauke Mollema	VACANSOLEIL-DMC	16
3		Philippe Gilbert	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	15
4		Stefano Garzelli	LAMPRE - ISD	13
5		John Degenkolb	OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	13

Young

1		Lieuwe Westra	RABOBANK	4h37'48
2		Anthony Roux	ASTANA	+ 43
3		Geraint Thomas	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 45
4		Thomas De Gendt	SKY PROCYCLING	s.t.
5		Sergio Henao	SKY PROCYCLING	s.t.

Teams

1		BMC RACING TEAM	13h54'15
2		TEAM RADIOSHACK-NISSAN	+ 11
3		LAMPRE - ISD	+ 13
4		LOTTO-BELISOL	s.t.
5		VACANSOLEIL-DMC	+ 14

Two second places in a row for Tejay, third time lucky maybe

Today's featured rider will review the trajectory of the young Sacha Modolo. The Italian sprinter was one of the sensations last season and he looks ready to shine in his new team.

Sacha Modolo started his career two seasons ago in the BMC Racing team. He arrived at the team along another rookie, Denis Galimzyanov. The American team was built at the time around the Grand Tours, where George Hincapie and Mikel Nieve were meants to shine. All in all it was a good season for the team, as Mikel Nieve took a podium in the Giro d'Italia surpassing all the expectations. For Sacha Modolo it was a quiet year until the teams arrived in Beijing for the last race of the season.

The race in Beijing was supposed to be won by a time trialist, as there was no hills or mountains enough to gain time on them. However, a break managed to make it to the finish in the third stage and Sacha Modolo grabbed a third overall spot in the GC. This result brought the young Italian into the spotlight and gave him a much more important role in the team in the next year.

In 2012 Mikel Nieve left the team for Discovery, but even though BMC didn't have a clear leader there were several good riders that had the potential to achieve good results for the team. At the end of the year Sacha Modolo had been the best among them as BMC reached the 4th overall place in the World Tour. Modolo won 6 stages, 2 points jerseys and 2 podiums in GCs. The only bad race for him was probably the Tour de France, where he couldn't even contend for a stage win.

Modolo has now taken a change in his career, as he moved to the Spaniard Euskaltel squad. Euskaltel lacked a pure sprinter, as Fran Ventoso is more of a fighter type of sprinter, and Modolo fits in the place perfectly. He will share the leading role with David Lopez and up to now the combination has worked prefectly. Sacha Modolo already knows what is winning for his new team, as he took the third stage in the Tour Down Under.

Best results:

Milano - Sanremo	10th (2012)
Tour de Suisse	1 stage (2012)
Tirreno - Adriatico	1 stage (2012)
Tour Down Under	3rd (2012), 5th (2013), Points (2012), 2 stages (2012, 13)
Tour de Pologne	2nd (2012), Points (2012), 3 stages (2012)
Tour of Beijing	3rd (2011)

UCI World Tour Rankings:

- 2011 BMC Racing Team: 39th (91.67 pts)
- 2012 BMC Racing Team: 13th (254.06 pts)