A pictorial look back at the first Grand Tour of 2016, a dramatic edition of the Giro d’Italia.
All photos supplied by RCS, courtesy of ANSA, Claudio Peri, Alessandro Di Meo, Luca Zennaro and Matteo Bazzi.
inthedrops: a compilation of my work
A pictorial look back at the first Grand Tour of 2016, a dramatic edition of the Giro d’Italia.
All photos supplied by RCS, courtesy of ANSA, Claudio Peri, Alessandro Di Meo, Luca Zennaro and Matteo Bazzi.
Not everybody love Scheldeprijs. It’s a flat windy race, stuck mid-week between two races of much greater prestige, a time when most fans are either basking in the afterglow of De Ronde or looking ahead to Paris-Roubaix.
The race is 200km long and part of the Flanders Classics organisation group, but it stands apart from its stablemate – races like Gent-Wevelgem and the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. Scheldeprijs lacks the hills and the cobbles that make those races selective.
In recent years the race’s main obstacle has seemingly been the pile-ups that decimate the field as riders fight for places before the finish in the town of Schoten, north-east of Antwerp. Things were changed this year, with an alternate route designed to prevent a repeat of last year’s mass crash in the final kilometre.
Other than that, it’s the lack of obstacles that make the race notable. Aside from adverse weather conditions and the usual bad luck of ill-timed mechanicals or crashes, Scheldeprijs is almost always destined to end in a sprint – in fact the race is informally known as the ‘Sprinter’s World Championships’.
And today it did. Whether it was down to the redesign, good luck, or just a more careful peloton, there were no major crashes on the run-in, so we saw a clean sprint. A clean sprint featuring the generation’s top three sprinters – Mark Cavendish, André Greipel, and Marcel Kittel.
Six years may separate them, but Cavendish and Greipel came to prominence at the same time, battling to be top dog at HTC-Columbia between 2008 and 2010. Cavendish, armed with his low-profile aero style, came out on top, taking 15 Tour de France stage wins as the German was consigned to “shitty small races” (Cav’s words, not mine).
During that time Greipel won the Tour Down Under twice, along with four stages of the Vuelta a España and two at the Giro d’Italia. 2011’s move to Omega Pharma-Lotto saw him ride the Tour, finally. He won a stage, but Cavendish was better, taking three and later winning gold to Greipel’s bronze at the World Championships in Copenhagen.
Meanwhile, ProContinental team Argos-Shimano were nurturing their own sprinting talent. Kittel, another big tall German (both are 10cm taller than Cavendish), was busy winning a variety of Europe Tour races, also tasting victory at his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta.
At the 2012 Tour it was a draw as both Greipel and Cavendish won three stages, while Kittel left the race after five stages due to illness. The next two years would see him usurp the title of ‘World’s Best Sprinter’ though.
In 2013 he took four stages including Paris, a stage which Cavendish had claimed ownership of, having won it four years in a row before. The Brit won two stages that year, Greipel just one.
2014 saw Kittel win another four, including Paris once again. Cav crashed out early and Greipel took another solitary win. It was also the final year of his Scheldeprijs three-peat, though none of those races saw the all of the ‘big three’ take the start.
Of course we all know what happened last season. It was Kittel’s annus horribilis, as he was plagued by a virus which saw him take only one win all year. Cavendish took Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and a host of stages at the smaller races he had once derided Greipel for having to ride.
Meanwhile Greipel, at the age of 32, took advantage to win four Tour stages to Cavendish’s one. The tables had finally turned.
While Kittel may have won this race three times, he had never before faced off against his two great sprint rivals here before. That has been something of an oddity, but you can file it alongside the fact that the trio only have one Tour de France green jersey between them.
Back to today though, and it was Kittel who triumphed, taking a record fourth win at the race. He sprinted from the front, and was unassailable. Cavendish, hidden behind him, was able to draw alongside him but couldn’t move ahead. Meanwhile Greipel came in behind the duo, unable to get near either of them. On the line Kittel took it by just half a wheel.
Today’s race was the first time that the calendars of the three men have lined up so far this season. The next, should all go to plan, will be in July. The last meeting of the year, most probably, will be at the actual World Championships, in pan-flat Qatar.
In 2016 it’s round one to Kittel, just.
Cavendish – “I was a little bit late to go actually. When I saw 150 metres to go I thought there was still 50 more metres so I thought I better go now.”
Greipel – “Because of the tailwind in the final road to the finish line I’d planned to take the initiative.”
Kittel – “I started my sprint with around 200 meters to go. I made a small mistake, sprinting in a gear which was too big at first, so I had to shift up. It wasn’t easy, but I gave my all.”
Cavendish – “When I came alongside Kittel I thought I had the better of him. He was just able to pull that little bit more out; it was something I used to be able to do but not anymore. I’ve lost by closer this year – it is how it is.”
Kittel – “I saw Cavendish come around and tried to shift down again, but it didn’t work. Suddenly my legs got really soft and I just tried to hold it as good as possible to the finish. I managed to keep my advantage.”
Greipel – “But then [when it came to the sprint] it became clear that I can’t compete with Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel at the moment. I know I can sprint better than I did but today is today and the best rider won.”
André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and Elia Viviani (Team Sky) shared the spoils on the final weekend of the 2015 Tour of Britain. Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) successfully defended his yellow jersey to take his second overall win at the race – the first man to win two editions of the modern race.
The East Anglia stage saw Greipel take his sixteenth win of the season, his first at the Tour of Britain, in a photo finish. The German started his sprint early, holding off a resurgent Elia Viviani to just shade it on the line.
Earlier in the day the Brit trio of Alex Dowsett (Movistar), Gabriel Cullaigh (Great Britain) and Graham Briggs (JLT-Condor) were in the break, though with such a flat stage on the menu they were never going to make it to finish.
The trio were duly caught thanks mainly to the work of Lotto-Soudal, while a late bid for glory from Zdeněk Štybar also proved fruitless as the Belgian squad were determined to deliver the Gorilla to the win.
stage result | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto – Soudal | 5:14:42 | |
2 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky | ||
3 | Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling | ||
4 | Mark Renshaw (Aus) Etixx – Quick Step | ||
5 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka | ||
6 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS | ||
7 | Rasmus Guldhammer Pedersen (Den) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | ||
8 | Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) IAM Cycling | ||
9 | Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Cannondale – Garmin | ||
10 | Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal |
Elia Viviani triumphed on the final stage of the race, though he had to wait for race judges to confirm his win after Greipel, the first man over the line, was relegated due to irregular sprinting.
The big German moved across Viviani’s path as he stormed past, a move which saw the Sky rider protest and meant that Greipel would end up in 39th on the day.
“I had good speed in the legs after this really hard week,” said Viviani. “The guys have done amazing work for Wout [Poels] and myself this week. I’m disappointed because it would’ve been better to win without this, but we won in London and that’s the main thing.”
For the most part, the circuit race around Central London was a victory parade for Boasson Hagen, though the day did see Owain Doull move up onto the final podium thanks to bonus seconds claimed at the intermediate sprint.
It capped a strong race for the 22-year-old Welshman, who also took home the points jersey. One Pro Cycling, who are looking to move up to the ProContinental level for 2016, took the mountains and sprints jerseys thanks to a strong performance from Peter Williams.
The big plaudits, however, go to Boasson Hagen, who outperformed everybody’s expectations to take the overall win. His surprise performance on the summit finish of Hartside Fell will be seen as the defining moment of his second Tour of Britain victory.
stage result | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky | 1:50:16 | |
2 | Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team | ||
3 | Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick Step | ||
4 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka | ||
5 | Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal | ||
6 | Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling | ||
7 | Mark Renshaw (Aus) Etixx – Quick Step | ||
8 | Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor | ||
9 | Ruben Zepuntke (Ger) Team Cannondale – Garmin | ||
10 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS |
general classification | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka | 34:52:52 | |
2 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky | 0:00:13 | |
3 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS | 0:00:42 | |
4 | Rasmus Guldhammer Pedersen (Den) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | 0:00:43 | |
5 | Zdenek _tybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick Step | 0:00:51 | |
6 | Rubén Fernandez Andujar (Esp) Movistar Team | ||
7 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | ||
8 | Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Cannondale – Garmin | 0:00:53 | |
9 | Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Tinkoff – Saxo | 0:00:59 | |
10 | Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post – Chainreaction | 0:01:02 |
mountains classification | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling | 36 | pts |
2 | Thomas Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis | 34 | |
3 | Mark McNally (GBr) Madison Genesis | 29 |
points classification | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team Wiggins | 78 | pts |
2 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka | 77 | |
3 | Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal | 59 |
sprints classification | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling | 18 | pts |
2 | Conor Dunne (Irl) An Post – Chainreaction | 11 | |
3 | Danilo Wyss (Sui) BMC Racing Team | 10 |
Etixx-QuickStep’s stagiaire Fernando Gaviria made it two wins from four stages for the Belgian team, showing a great sense of timing to overhaul stage favourite André Greipel on a damp day in Blyth.
It was the Colombian’s fifth win of the season, the third since joining Etixx-QuickStep. Another two came at January’s Tour de San Luis, beating the man who helped him win today, Mark Cavendish.
“Cav put me into position ahead of him,” he said. “And when the sprint began I simply went for it and gave everything I had to win.”
The manner of Gaviria’s victory was impressive, as he came from a long way back in the sprint. Team Sky and Lotto-Soudal had done the lion’s share of the work in the final ten kilometres, with Etixx-QuickStep less prominent on the run-in as they had had Matteo Trentin in the main break of the day.
Four-time Tour de France stage winner André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) was the first to hit the front, and it looked as though Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) would be his only competition.
Gaviria had other ideas though, and hopped into Boasson Hagen’s slipstream before speeding past on the outside to ease to victory.
After the stage, Etixx-QuickStep DS Brian Holm had high praise for his team’s new sprint star. “In the Czech Tour he was great. He was like Cav eight years ago,” he said. “He also has a twist of Sagan inside him. He’s fast, fearless and can climb a bit too.”
stage result | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) Etixx – Quick Step | 5:13:08 | |
2 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto – Soudal | ||
3 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka | ||
4 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS | ||
5 | Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal | ||
6 | Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) IAM Cycling | ||
7 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky | ||
8 | Gerald Ciolek (Ger) MTN – Qhubeka | ||
9 | Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team | ||
10 | Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor |
general classification | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team | 18:50:12 | |
2 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka | 0:00:06 | |
3 | Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:12 | |
4 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky | 0:00:13 | |
5 | Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Cannondale – Garmin |
mountains classification | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Thomas Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis | 25 | pts |
2 | Ian Bibby (GBr) NFTO | 23 | |
3 | Kristian House (GBr) JLT Condor | 20 |
points classification | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS | 44 | pts |
2 | Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team | 40 | |
3 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky | 39 |
sprints classification | |||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling | 9 | pts |
2 | Pim Ligthart (Ned) Lotto – Soudal | 8 | |
3 | Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) An Post – Chainreaction | 8 |