Velo magazine, June 2013
To say the spring classics belonged to Fabian Cancellara wouldn’t go far enough. The rider they call Spartacus ravaged the two of the sport’s great Monuments in seven days, winning both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in demonstrative fashion. Velo’s June issue covers the classics season — the cold, wet, brutal cobbled races, in all their glory.
Velo reporter Matthew Beaudin was on the ground from E3-Harelbeke to Paris-Roubaix, and saw Cancellara win both Monuments and the Flanders tune-up, Harelbeke. He reported on Cancellara’s return to punishing form, and has a look at Cancellara’s rise to stardom in “Spartacus Returns,” and the Swiss’ tough year in 2012. Velo technical editor Caley Fretz was also on hand, and reported on riding the stones of Paris-Roubaix, in “In the Tracks of Heroes.”
Classics reporting also has a look at the unlucky breaks of Belgian power Omega Pharma-Quick Step and on the tears of Blanco’s Sep Vanmarcke, who came oh-so-close to snatching a win at Paris-Roubaix, but it was Cancellara who was craftier in the velodrome.
Our man on the ground at the Ardennes races, reporter Andrew Hood, checked in with winners Roman Kreuziger (winner of Amstel Gold), Dani Moreno (Flèche Wallone), and Dan Martin (Liège-Bastogne-Liège).
Also not to be missed in the June issue is VeloLab’s first round-up of full-suspension race 29ers, in which the Specialized Epic S-Works model prevailed over tight competition.