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Infographic: Team Sky number-crunch the Tour of FlandersTam Sky Flanders crop.png

Infographic: Team Sky number-crunch the Tour of Flanders

Sunday's Monument likely to have a new winner - can Sky continue their strong campaign over the cobbles?...
by John Stevenson
Wed, Apr 01, 2015 15:03
0

It’s the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, and notwithstanding the absence through injury of Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara, as ever it’s one of the most eagerly anticipated races of the year – it’s also one where Team Sky will be aiming to continue their strong showing over the cobbles this year, and they’ve released an infographic to go with it.

Geraint Thomas has twice placed in the top ten – he finished eighth last year – and comes into the race on the back of a strong ride at Milan-San Remo, a victory at E3 Harelbeke and podium place at Gent-Wevelgem.

Ian Stannard, meanwhile, won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for the second year running, and while Sir Bradley Wiggins’ big target is Paris-Roubaix a week on Sunday, he’ll be wanting to keep near the front out of trouble, which could present him with an opportunity depending how the race pans out.

Boonen and Cancellara have a record-equalling three wins apiece in the Belgian Monument, but with them missing, the likelihood is we’ll see a new winner – the only man who can stop that happening is Trek Factory Racing’s Stijn Devolder, winner in 2008 and 2009.

Click the image for a larger version.

Tour of Flanders
Team Sky
Ian Stannard
Geraint Thomas
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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