Cancelled stages and dramatic results

The Paris-Nice and Tirenno-Adriatico are two races in two countries over a similar length that bring out the same kind of contender. In one aspect you have the Grand Tour favourites who use one of the two as a preparation race for their form ahead of the Giro or Tour, and on the other you have single day classics men who use it as a late conditioner ahead of Milan San-Remo. Often we look at who is racing which and then check to see which of the two the last five San-Remo winners, or Tour of Flanders winners, rode in.

In the case of Milan-San Remo, four of the last five winners came out of Paris-Nice whereas at Flanders, four of the last six winners came from Tirreno-Adriatico. To be fair the Tour of Flanders likely comes a little far out for either of these events to have any real baring on its outcome, but I bring it up because of how Tirreno-Adriatico played out this year.

In a big upset to the form guide, the winner of Tirreno-Adriatico was Greg Van Avermaet, a man that nobody would have expected to win the overall of, but who came good thanks to the cancellation of the queen state that would have seen the climbers shine. That isn't to suggest he's now the likely winner of either upcoming Monument, though he remains a contender and many feel that with the cancellation of that mountain stage it was the ideal preparation race for Milan-San Remo. If he does pull it off, he'll become the first man since Fabian Cancellara in 2008 to win MSR after winning Tirreno but more dramatically should he win the Tour of Flanders he'll be the first man since Roger De Vlaeminck in 1977 to do the Tirreno/Flanders double.

Vincenzo Nibali had hoped to ensure that no such outcome would come to fruition. The Italian won't be anywhere near Flanders (though we know he can ride the cobbles and I'd love to see him give it a crack, but alas) but had been one of the favourites to win at Tirreno before his targeted stage was removed. The whole episode resulted in a sideshow of complaints and criticism that completely took the shine of the stages that remained and left many debating cycling's extreme weather protocol rather than Van Avermaets big win. Nibali felt it should have been raced, and his coach Paolo Slongo went as far as to drive the mountain to prove the snow that seen the stage cancelled was no longer there. He then opined that Nibali might skip the Giro if such quick cancellation of stages due to snow became the norm, focusing his training for a run at the Tour instead. Irishman Matt Brammeier then read too much into it and associated Slongo's remarks as Nibali's and went off on a rant at the three Grand Tours winner on Twitter. It was all a bit silly.

It's a fine balancing act when it comes to cancelling stages. Nobody wants the riders to risk their own safety, but then again so much of the sport is about racing through the extremes. Nibali himself won an epic stage in the Giro just a few years ago coming through a blizzard in the pink jersey. Clearly he felt up for more of the same. Cancelling the stage too early is a risk because conditions could easily improve, but likewise you cannot simply move the finish of stage of a race this big so easily. In a way I feel for the organiser: Had they went ahead and it turned into a blizzard, they'd have been criticised by some. As it was, Slongo showed the finish to be OK, and they were criticised by some. I think in general though the riders were happy enough to stay in bed, and who can blame them?

They cancelled a stage of the Paris-Nice too, though in a different manor. They at least started the days racing before deciding that the amount of snow on the road was too much, but by then it had already gotten dangerous for those on the road, hence the each-way-you-lose scenario facing organiser's. That stage however was much less dramatic to the overall outcome by comparison to Tirreno, though perhaps Alberto Contador might disagree. He finished second to Geraint Thomas by just four seconds in what had been a thrilling duel between himself and the Welshman over the final couple of days. Thomas once again proving his metal in these week long races (to go with his overall win at the Volta ao Algarve). Unlike the Tirreno-Adriatico winner, Thomas is in transition away from the single-day classics, and in doing so has really begun to prove himself to be the ideal week-long stage race winner come GC Super Domestique replacement for Richie Porte at Team Sky, and we saw what he could do at last years Tour without this depth of climbing preparation. That said it won't be all stage races and this coming week he will attempt to become the first man to do the Paris-Nice - Milan-San Remo double since Laurent Jalabert in 1995. Without getting into the murky waters of how, Jalabert went on to finish 4th in that same years Tour de France, just a few minutes behind his own team-leader of the time, Alex Zülle.

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Rider of the week:

And so to rider of the week of 7-13 March and I'm going to go with Thomas over Van Avermaet, if only because the cancelled stage wasn't as crucial to the overall outcome at Paris-Nice and Thomas, who didn' win a stage unlike Van Avermaet, fought a brilliant fight on the hills to keep Alberto Contador at bay.