| Daily News Digest

In this morning’s edition of the CyclingTips Daily News Digest: Degenkolb - “I am definitely targeting the world championship”; Degenkolb on Roubaix success - “Now was the moment…all or nothing”; UCI to investigate Paris-Roubaix train incident and Pais Vasco crash; French railway seeks legal action against Roubaix riders; How the Race was Won - Paris-Roubaix; Riders jumping train tracks in the 1937 Paris-Nice; Team Sky Diaries - Bradley Wiggins’ last race; Tour de Yorkshire flythrough.

Degenkolb: “I am definitely targeting the world championship”

by Shane Stokes

Victorious at Milan-San Remo and at Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix, John Degenkolb is taking a break from racing to recover but intends rebuilding form afterwards and targeting some big goals a little later this year.

One of those is the world road race championships in Richmond, Virginia. It is being held on a course that many say will suit fast riders, and thus could be ideal for him.

Asked by CyclingTips in recent days if he knew anything about the course, he said that he was yet to do reconnaissance of it. “I don’t really know much about it,” he said. “[But] I am definitely targeting the world championship. I think it is always good to have also a goal in late season and then you can hold the concentration and hold the focus.

“After the Classics I prepare 100 percent for the Tour. That is for sure. Then we will see. It is not really clear which programme I do to go to Richmond. But I definitely want to do a good race there.”

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Degenkolb on Roubaix success: “Now was the moment…all or nothing”

by Shane Stokes

What was likely the vital moment in Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix came close to the end when John Degenkolb made an important gamble. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Yves Lampaert (Etixx-QuickStep) had pushed clear and Degenkolb faced the choice of waiting to see if those in his group would chase, or risking all, digging deep and possibly riding the sprint out of his legs.

He chose the latter and attacked hard, bridging across to the two leaders and then pushing through to work with Van Avermaet to try to keep them clear.

“I had to invest a lot of energy to be in a situation that I could sprint for the victory and that I let the group go. Finally the last five kilometres, Greg [Van Avermaet] and me were only pulling alone because [Zdenek Stybar] was coming from the back,” Degenkolb explained at the post-race press conference, talking about how the finale played out.

“This double with San Remo and Roubaix means so much to me,” Degenkolb said. “I am running out of words to describe it.

“This is probably even more great because now the Classics season is over and we really can enjoy it, can just relax, lean back. Now I will take a couple of days to really believe it and then…you are the winner of Paris-Roubaix.” [He briefly pauses with emotion, then adds:] It is amazing.”

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

UCI to investigate Paris-Roubaix train incident and Pais Vasco crash

After a nasty crash at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco last week, and after riders crossed train tracks while the boomgates were down at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, the UCI has announced that it will investigate both incidents.

The statement reads in full:

“

Following two extremely worrying incidents that occurred over the past week during the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco and Paris-Roubaix, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) would like to reiterate that safety should at all times be the number one priority of all those involved in a cycling race.

The UCI is taking both incidents very seriously and has requested that a comprehensive report on each of them be submitted as soon as possible for review and potential action. It is everyone’s duty to make sure that our beautiful sport of cycling is not tarnished by incidents that appear to have been avoidable.

Click here to read more at the UCI website.

French railway seeks legal action against Roubaix riders

Meanwhile, the French state railway company SNCF has demanded police action against the Paris-Roubaix riders who crossed train tracks in front of an oncoming train.

SNCF made an official complaint to French police, saying in an accompanying statement: “Several riders deliberately, and against all safety rules, crossed a closed safety barrier. Millions of television viewers saw live this extremely grave and irresponsible action which could have been tragic.

“A few seconds later, a TGV ran on this line and could have hit the peloton.”

Despite UCI rules clearly stating that riders should be disqualified for crossing train lines when safety barriers are down, no riders faced sanctions on Sunday. The race was neutralised briefly to allow riders who waited for the train to rejoin the peloton.

Click here to read more via AFP/VeloNews.

Giant-Alpecin manager Spekenbrink: “When you don’t have passion for this, you should be out of cycling”

by Shane Stokes

After several years as one of the smaller teams on the world stage; after needing invites to the Grand Tours and other top events; and after only turning WorldTour in 2013, the Giant Alpecin team confirmed its arrival at the top of the sport on Sunday when John Degenkolb won his second Monument of the season.

The team’s general manager Iwan Spekenbrink has long played a pivotal role in the team and was understandably delighted with how things turned out on Sunday.

“This is unique,” he told CyclingTips. “For me, it is personal, but Paris-Roubaix is the most beautiful Classic of the year.

“I think they should stop organising Paris-Roubaix – no, no, it is a joke – but this is extreme. Or we should stop cycling, the team. This is once in a lifetime. This is once in a lifetime.”

“There are five monuments in the year,” he elaborated. “To win one – I already said that maybe we never, ever win one again. So many teams never win a true monument, one of the five. So to win two in one season is unbelievable.”

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

How the Race was Won: Paris-Roubaix

Great stuff as ever from Cosmo Catalano.

Riders jumping train tracks in the 1937 Paris-Nice

In light of the events at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, we thought it was worth re-sharing this video from the 1937 Paris-Nice in which a bunch of riders can be seen taking a great risk to cross in front of a train. Admittedly the train in this case wasn’t going as fast as the modern-day TGV, but still …

Team Sky Diaries: Bradley Wiggins’ last race

We reckon Team Sky still has a little ways to go before they’re producing videos as good as Dan Jones at Orica-GreenEdge, but this video from Bradley Wiggins’ last race for Sky, Paris-Roubaix, is worth a look.

Tour de Yorkshire flythrough

Impressive work here from the Tour de Yorkshire organisers. The UCI 2.1 race runs from May 1-3 and this video shows the most important features of the race, from the air. Very cool.

What You Missed

And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips in the past few days:

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Today’s feature image comes from Kristof Ramon and was shot at Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix.

Nitro

Bottle toss through an open window?!? That’s rider-skill-of-the-year and Cosmo’s observation-of-the-year in one moment right there…
- muz
  
  Pretty much exactly what I was going to say, who the hell see’s that stuff apart from Cosmo!
  - scottmanning
    
    10hrs of watching, re-watching, editing, that’s what. That’s what it took him to put that HTRWW together.
    - Dave
      
      Good thing that Cosmo isn’t stuck in South Australia, where SBS missed much of the action.
- muz
  
  Pretty much exactly what I was going to say, who the hell see’s that stuff apart from Cosmo!
- Jessy Vee
  
  Not sure Cosmo noticed that first. It went viral on Twitter that night, so he probably caught wind of it that way. His eyesight can’t be any more amazing, can it?
Damien

Quick change needed. Tour of Yorkshire May 1-3 as on video, not Mach 1-3 as in story. It is early in the morning!
- http://cyclingtips.com.au Matt de Neef
  
  Oops! Fixed.
Dave

Your link to the SNCF/TGV article is broken.

It is most disappointing that the UCI, despite Brian Cookson’s campaign for President bringing in a new era of transparency and openness, still seems to operate on the basis that all problems can be solved by press releases. I thought last year was when they said they would start taking race safety seriously, but here we are a year later and there’s still just talk?

I’ll believe they are serious about it when they do something real - starting by identifying the teams of the riders which ran the crossing and disqualifying the highest-ranked rider who signs on for each of those teams at each WorldTour event until they nominate which riders ran the crossing.

I agree with SNCF laying a prosecution - even if they can’t ID all the riders they can at least get some to serve as an example to the rest - I believe that Sir Pratley has been positively ID’d as ducking under the barrier. Hopefully the railways there have sufficient Trespassing legislation to make an end run around any issue of whether the road rules apply to a closed road cycling race.
- Sean Doyle
  
  While I agree than some riders should be sanctioned. Especially the ones that run the gauntlet after it was obvious the barriers were down, there are a whole bunch of riders there that wouldn’t have seen the barrier until they actually hit it. The is a lot of fault laying with the race control. They should have seen the train coming and have actually PULLED UP THE RACE BEFORE the barriers started coming down. There should never have been a situation where the riders were crashing into the barrier. While as a rider in a bunch you are always looking forward to see whats happening, I’ll guarantee that it is very hard to spot a suddenly moving barrier in that particular bunch whe the pace was so hot.
  
  Great race beside sthat incident. JD thoroughly deserved to win that and rode it like a boss. I jumped off the couch when he one crossed the line. One of teh good guys who has his feet planted firmly on the ground and understands the reality of what he’s achieved.
  - Dave
    
    Indeed, and I expect that the poor organisation will lead to SNCF laying charges against the race organiser in addition to any individual riders that get identified.
- scottmanning
  
  They cannot identify all the riders, but they do have sufficient video of it to know which teams those riders belong to. The teams should be fined!
  - Dave
    
    Some sporting penalties would focus the mind a bit more than fines would.
    
    As I suggested, tally up the riders and then take the best rider/s (the UCI’s ranking systems have to be good for something, right?) out of the team at the start of every WorldTour race until the riders who ran the crossing fess up and take an individual penalty for the incident.
  - Nitro
    
    Pretty sure you could pick some rider numbers / teams out of this one ….
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hf11p05gJA
- JBS
  
  The “can’t ID all the riders” argument is a cop out in my book. I see it as analogous to speed cameras on roads; they don’t ID every car that speeds, but that doesn’t stop the police fining those they do catch. DQ all the riders they can ID and send a very strong warning to all the teams who’s riders they can’t ID.
  
  The other point in the argument is the the rules state that rail lines can’t be crossed once the warning lights flash, not when the booms come down. As I understand it (and I’m prepared to be wrong) the lights come on in advance of the boom gates. So if the booms are coming down you’re well into the wrong by crossing, not borderline/unlucky as I’ve seen suggested.
  - JBS
    
    OK, I just went back and re-read INRNG’s take on it. The rule is no crossing when the barriers are down (not the warning lights). Still its not like the riders get no pre-warning that the barriers are coming down.
    - Dave
      
      That’s the UCI racing rule, the road rules and Trespassing legislation protecting the railways also need to be considered.
      - JBS
        
        For sure. Those rules countermand the racing rules in the first place.
        
        Thinking about if further, surely the rule as I (wrongly) originally had it would be the way to go. Bit like orange light, red light at intersections. Warning lights/siren at crossing = riders must stop unless unsafe to do so (ie you’d bring down the peloton if you jammed on the brakes). Barriers dropping = do not cross, no exceptions (rider DQ’d, team fined heavily).
        
        Dave
        
        Who knows, more competent race organisers might well give notice in pre-event briefings that the rule will be interpreted and applied in that manner.
        
        The biggest organisational problem I saw was that there was no marshal stationed there with some kind of indicator board tall enough to be seen over the top of riders in front.
        
        JBS
        
        “more competent race organisers”, yes but lets keep the ideas in the realms of reality shall we…
- velocite
  
  You are right, of course, or maybe that should be righteous - but I would have ridden around the barriers. But I think it is ridiculous that it’s possible - the race organizers need to make it impossible, either with their own barriers plus a scheme to equalize lost time, or with a demountable bridge. Victorian race organizers were responsible for the death of Russell Mockridge.
CC

There was also a train incident in the U23 Tour of Flanders on Saturday. Perhaps even worse than the Paris Roubaix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG8ExPQwFFc
- http://cyclingtips.com.au Matt de Neef
  
  Oh man, not good.
  - Dave
    
    That last one is lucky to be alive, but I bet he didn’t learn anything from it.
- Richard Bruton
  
  I thought that in Belgium the trains stopped for the races!
Anto, NZ

That photo of Iwan Spekenbrink is just brilliant. So much happiness!
velocite

I reckon Andre Greipel is on a mission. TdF, watch out! Matt Goss, DNF, on the other hand..
- http://cyclingtips.com.au Matt de Neef
  
  Sadly Matt Goss’ results so far this year don’t make for great reading. 23 race days, a best result of 12th (stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico) and 4 DNFs (Cadel Evans Road Race, Dwaars Door Vlaanderen, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix).
  - velocite
    
    In recent years I seem to recall the unofficial commentary on Matt featured hamburgers and a lack of motivation, but surely this year there can’t be a lack of motivation? What is the real story behind all those DNFs?
De Mac

How cool is that cheeky grin on Koen de Kort’s face - big win for the team and a fantastic Classics season outcome.
Jessy Vee

That video on the Tour of Yorkshire is awe inspiring. I may be biased (as it’s the family’s home town) but it brought a tear to my eye. I can’t wait for that race. The scenery is SO beautiful. The long roman roads and narrow, twisty lanes through the townships will make for amazing racing - the peloton catching a glimpse of a breakaway and then losing sight for the next hour… Brilliant! And the potential for some smart racing in the cross winds. And, OH WOW! Beverley Minster… What a stunning building.

Ok, I’m going to shut up now. Too much excitement for this late at night. I might go and look at prices for flights to England. (Road Tripping Yorkshire, anyone???)