Giro d'Italia 2013: An Overview & Team lists

The 2013 Giro d'Italia begins this weekend in Napoli as it makes it way down south to the 'toe' of Italy before turning around and heading north into the alps and across the border into France. The race will finish in the city of Brescia on the 26th of May.

The favourites for the maglia rosa have all won a grand tour which should ensure a top quality race and set the standard for grand tour riding in 2013. Ryder Hesjedal pulled off a surprise victory last year when he won the race by blitzing Joaquim Rodriguez on the final ITT stage. With the final stage a flat one a repeat of the excitement of last year seems unlikely. Vincenzo Nibali and Bradley Wiggins have both highlighted the Giro as a season goal. At the 2012 Tour de France which Wiggins won, these two went Mano-a-Mano with the now knighted Wiggins the victor. Cadel Evans was rather underpar in his Tour defence last year and will be keen to put in a good showing and reinforce his role at BMC as the top dog. Robert Gesink could challenge for a podium if he manages to avoid crashing which is becoming far too common for the Dutch rider. Sammy Sanchez likewise could finish on the podium but his time trialling isn't anywhere near good enough to challenge Wiggins or Evans.

2013 Liège–Bastogne–Liège Route & Profile

2013 La Flèche Wallonne Route & Profile

Amstel Gold Race Route

A Monumental Classic

In 2008 Fabian Cancellara won his first and so far only Milan-San Remo. This was his second Monument win after his 2006 Paris-Roubaix victory and just weeks after San Remo, he finished a close second behind Tom Boonen in the hell of the north. 2009 was a lean year for Cancellara in the Monuments as he only raced the queen of the classics, finishing a lowly 49th, once again behind Tom Boonen. In 2010 Spartacus had his most successful campaign on the cobbles as he soloed away to victory at De Ronde van Vlaanderen by over a minute and backed up the win by soloing to victory at Roubaix by two minutes. In doing so he became the 10th rider to have won De Ronde and Roubaix in the same year and the second Swiss rider to do so after Henri Suter won the first double in 1923. Having notched his third Roubaix victory, perhaps Cancellara will adjust his goals and attempt to add the last two missing Monuments from his palmares.

Boonen and Cancellara are the undisputed kings of the cobbles in the millennium as both have now doubled on up the cobbled Monuments double. They are the only two to have ever done so. Last year Cancellara crashed out of De Ronde and the battle royale that everyone was anticipating between the pair was put on ice. Boonen went on to dominate Flanders and Roubaix while Cancellara nursed his broken collarbone on the couch at home. This year the tables were reversed as Boonen crashed out of Flanders and Cancellara blew the peloton apart. 2014 may be the year we can finally see these two go head to head again as they did so in 2010.

Boonen has four Roubaix’s and three Flanders and is currently the most successful Monument rider in the peloton today. Cancellara has two Flanders, Three Roubaix’s and a single Milan-San Remo which leaves him second behind Boonen on the contemporary Monument rider victor list. They were murmurs that Cancellara after his general classification victory at the 2009 Tour de Suisse would turn his attention to winning the Tour de France. This is most unlikely as the Swiss maestro is now 32 and time is against him to adapt his body to the demands of the Alps and loss his muscle mass that has been crucial in his Monuments victories and four ITT World Championship wins.

Having never raced the Giro di Lombardia and with teammate Andy Schleck pencilling in Liège–Bastogne–Liège as a season goal, these two Monuments may remain elusive. Only Eddy Merckx has won three Monuments in a single year, he did so on four occasions with Milan-San Remo, Liège–Bastogne–Liège wins in all four years with Lombardia and Flanders alternating as the third Monument. Belgian Philippe Gilbert has three Monument wins courtesy of two Lombardi’s and a solitary Liège yet his two podium finishers at both San-Remo and Flanders suggests that the current World Champion is more likely to make it to five before Cancellara.

This is an incredibly hard ask as only three riders have ever taken all five Monuments and all three were Belgians. Since the 2008 season, Cancellara has raced 15 Monuments, finished 14 of those, stepped on the podium on 11 occasions and five of those times been on the top step. This season has been his most successful at the Monuments as begun the classics season by finishing third at San Remo and on this form alone, an assault on Liège–Bastogne–Liège in just a few weeks time would be universally welcomed. Just try telling Andy that.

Paris-Roubaix Starlist, Profile and Route

OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP (OPQ)

1 CHAVANEL Sylvain

2 KEISSE Iljo

3 MAES Nikolas

4 STEEGMANS Gert

5 STYBAR Zdenek

6 TERPSTRA Niki

7 VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume

8 VANDENBERGH Stijn

TEAM EUROPCAR (EUC)

11 TURGOT Sébastien

12 CHAVANEL Sébastien

13 COUSIN Jérome

14 GAUDIN Damien

15 GENE Yohann

16 LAMOISSON MORGAN

17 THURAU Bjorn

18 VEILLEUX David

RADIOSHACK-LEOPARD (RLT)

21 CANCELLARA Fabian

22 DEVOLDER Stijn

23 IRIZAR Markel

24 JUNGELS Bob

25 POPOVYCH Yaroslav

26 RAST Gregory

27 ROULSTON Hayden

28 SERGENT Jesse

BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)

31 HUSHOVD Thor

32 BURGHARDT Marcus

33 OSS Daniel

34 PHINNEY Taylor

35 QUINZIATO Manuel

36 SCHÄR Michael

37 VAN AVERMAET Greg

38 WYSS Danilo

SKY PROCYCLING (SKY)

41 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald

42 EISEL Bernhard

43 HAYMAN Mathew

44 PUCCIO Salvatore

45 RASCH Gabriel

46 ROWE Luke

47 STANNARD Ian

48 THOMAS Geraint

BLANCO PRO CYCLING TEAM (BLA)

51 BOOM Lars

52 BOL Jetse

53 FLENS Rick

54 TJALLINGII Maarten

55 VAN EMDEN Jos

56 VANMARCKE Sep

57 WAGNER Robert

58 WYNANTS Maarten

KATUSHA TEAM (KAT)

61 KRISTOFF Alexander

62 GUSEV Vladimir

63 HALLER Marco

64 ISAICHEV Vladimir

65 KUZNETSOV Viacheslav

66 PAOLINI Luca

67 SELIG Rüdiger

68 SMUKULIS Gatis

GARMIN-SHARP (GRS)

71 VANSUMMEREN Johan

72 BAUER Jack

73 FARRAR Tyler

74 KLIER Andreas

75 KREDER Raymond

76 MAASKANT Martijn

77 RATHE Jacob

78 ROSSELER Sébastien

FDJ (FDJ)

81 LADAGNOUS Matthieu

82 BONNET William

83 BOUCHER David

84 DELAGE Mickaël

85 DEMARE Arnaud

86 FISCHER Murilo Antoniobil

87 LE BON Johan

88 OFFREDO Yoann

LOTTO-BELISOL (LTB)

91 ROELANDTS Jurgen

92 BAK Lars Ytting

93 DE HAES Kenny

94 DEBUSSCHERE Jens

95 GREIPEL André

96 HENDERSON Gregory

97 REYNES MIMO Vicente

98 SIEBERG Marcel

ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)

101 BOZIC Borut

102 GUARDINI Andrea

103 GUARNIERI Jacopo

104 HUFFMAN EVAN

105 KAMYSHEV Arman

106 MURAVYEV Dmitriy

107 TLEUBAYEV Ruslan

ORICA-GREENEDGE (OGE)

111 O’GRADY Stuart

112 BEPPU Fumiyuki

113 COOKE Baden

114 DOCKER Mitchell

115 DURBRIDGE Luke

116 KEUKELEIRE Jens

117 LANGEVELD Sebastian

118 MOURIS Jens

VACANSOLEIL-DCM (VCD)

121 FLECHA GIANNONI Juan Antonio

122 BOECKMANS Kris

123 KREDER Wesley

124 LEUKEMANS Bjorn

125 LINDEMAN Bert Jan

126 SELVAGGI Mirko

127 VAN POPPEL Boy

128 VEUCHELEN Frederik

LAMPRE-MERIDA (LAM)

131 POZZATO Filippo

132 FAVILLI Elia

133 GRAZIATO Massimo

134 PALINI Andrea Francesco

135 PETACCHI Alessandro

136 RICHEZE Ariel Maximiliano

137 VIGANO Davide

138 WACKERMANN Luca

TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF (TST)

141 TOSATTO Matteo

142 BRESCHEL Matti

143 CANTWELL Jonathan

144 JORGENSEN Jonas Aaen

145 JUUL-JENSEN Christopher

146 KUMP Marko

147 LUND Anders

148 MORKOV Michael

IAM CYCLING (IAM)

151 HAUSSLER Heinrich

152 BANDIERA Marco

153 ELMIGER Martin

154 GODDAERT Kristof

155 HINAULT Sébastien

156 KLEMME Dominic

157 LARSSON Gustav

158 SARAMOTINS Aleksejs

TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO (ARG)

161 DEGENKOLB John

162 CLARKE William

163 CURVERS Roy

164 DE BACKER Bert

165 DE KORT Koen

166 SINKELDAM Ramon

167 STAMSNIJDER Tom

168 VEELERS Tom

AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)

171 CHAINEL Steve

172 APPOLLONIO Davide

173 BAGDONAS Gediminas

174 HOULE Hugo

175 HUTAROVICH Yauheni

176 IGLINSKIY Valentin

177 MINARD Sébastien

178 MONDORY Lloyd

SOJASUN (SOJ)

181 ENGOULVENT Jimmy

182 DANIEL Maxime

183 LABORIE Christophe

184 LEMOINE Cyril

185 MARTIAS Rony

186 PAIANI Jean Lou

187 SISKEVICIUS Evaldas

188 TALABARDON Yannick

CANNONDALE (CAN)

191 BODNAR Maciej

192 BOIVIN Guillaume

193 DA DALTO Mauro

194 HAEDO Lucas Sebastian

195 KING Edward

196 KOREN Kristijan

197 MARANGONI Alan

198 SABATINI Fabio

COFIDIS (COF)

21 PETIT Adrien

22 BARLE Florent

23 GARCIA ECHEGUIBEL Egoitz

24 GHYSELINCK Jan

25 JOEAAR Gert

26 LABBE Arnaud

27 SIJMENS Nico

28 ZINGLE Romain

TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA (TNE)

211 KLUGE Roger

212 BARTA Jan

213 DEMPSTER Zakkari

214 DOWNING Russell

215 EICHLER Markus

216 BLAZ Jarc

217 SCHILLINGER Andreas

218 WETTERHALL Alexander

MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)

221 ROJAS Jose Joaquin

222 DOWSETT Alex

223 ERVITI Imanol

224 GUTIERREZ José Ivan

225 HERRADA LOPEZ Jesus

226 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy

227 VENTOSO Francisco

228 VISCONTI Giovanni

BRETAGNE-SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT (BSE)

231 DELPECH Jean Luc

233 JARRIER Benoit

234 KORETZKY Clément

235 LAENGEN Vegard Stake

236 MALACARNE Gaël

237 PERICHON Pierre-Luc

238 VACHON Florian

240 LE MONTAGNER Benjamin

EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI (EUS)

241 BILBAO Peio

242 GARCIA AMBROA Ricardo

243 OROZ Juan José

244 RADOCHLA Steffen

245 SAEZ DE ARREGI Adrian

246 SCHULZE Andre

248 TAMOURIDIS Ioannis

Alternative Writing

If you're are interested in seeing other articles I have written that are not posted here. Please head over to The Roar where I will be publishing articles on a regulary basis. This blog will still be updates with articles, previews, results etc.
The Link to The Roar page is http://www.theroar.com.au/author/zeb-woodpower/

The Cobbles of Roubaix

In the 2013 edition of Paris-Roubaix there have once again been several changes to the parcours. The 27 sections of cobbles are listed below at what kilometre that come in the race, their length and their rating between 1-5 stars. Fabian Cancellara will start the race as outright favorite but with the race throwing up the odd suprise winner, he may have to settle for only a victory at De Ronde in 2013 and try again for a second Ronde-Roubaix Double.

27: Troisvilles - km 98.5, (2,200 m) ***

26: Viesly - km 105, (1,800 m) ***

25: Quiévy - km 107.5, (3,700 m) ****

24: Saint-Python - km 112.5, (1,500 m) **

23: Vertain - km 120, (2,300 m) ***

22: Verchain-Maugré - km 130, (1,600 m) ***

21: Quérénaing - Maing - km 133, (2,500 m) ***

20: Monchaux-sur-Ecaillon - km 136.5, (1,600 m) ***

19: Haveluy - km 149.5, (2,500 m) ****

18: Trouée d'Arenberg - km 158, (2,400 m) *****

17: Wallers - Hélesmes, aka "Pont Gibus" - km 164, (1,600 m) ***

16: Hornaing - km 170.5, (3,700 m) ****

15: Warlaing - Brillon - km 178, (2,400 m) ***

14: Tilloy - Sars-et-Rosières - km 181.5, (2,400 m) **** 

13: Beuvry-la-Forêt - Orchies - km 188, (1,400 m) ***

12: Orchies - km 193, (1,700 m) ***

11: Auchy-lez-Orchies - Bersée - km 199, (2,600 m) ****

10: Mons-en-Pévèle - km 205, (3,000 m) *****

9: Mérignies - Avelin - km 211, (700 m) **

8: Pont-Thibaut - km 214.5, (1,400 m) ***

7: Templeuve - Moulin de Vertain - km 220.5, (500 m) **

6a: Cysoing - Bourghelles - km 227, (1,300 m) ****

6b: Bourghelles - Wannehain - km 229.5, (1,100 m) ***

5: Camphin-en-Pévèle - km 234, (1,800 m) ****

4: Le Carrefour de l'Arbre - km 236.5, (2,100 m) *****

3: Gruson - km 239, (1,100 m) **

2: Hem - km 246, (1,400 m) **

1: Roubaix - km 256.5, (300 m) *