Cafe Roubaix

Tour of Flanders Stats

Historical stats

– First ever cyclist to take the victory was Paul Deman, back in 1913, when he needed 12 hours, 3 minutes and 10 seconds to complete the 324 km-long course

– Six riders share the record for the most wins (3): Tom Boonen, Achiel Buysse, Fabian Cancellara, Eric Leman, Fiorenzo Magni and Johan Museeuw

– Belgium leads in the nations standings, with no less than 68 victories

– Other countries to have a winner are Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland and United Kingdom

– Last victory of a home rider was brought by Tom Boonen, five years ago, this being the longest drought of the host nation since the inception of the race

– Five of the 99 editions didn’t have a Belgian cyclist on the podium: 1951, 1961, 1981, 1997 and 2001

– Briek Schotte and Johan Museeuw share the record for the most podiums (wins included): 8

– The legendary Briek Schotte is also the rider with the most starts (20 in a row) and the most finishes (16), but the latter record is shared with Frederic Guesdon

– Youngest ever winner is Rik Van Steenbergen, 19 years and 206 days (1944); oldest one is Andrei Tchmil, 37 years and 71 days (2000)

– 1920 – when Jules Van Hevel took the win – saw the lowest average speed: 26,105 km/h

– Highest average speed – 43,576 km/h – was recorded in 2001

– The first edition was also the longest one: 324 kilometers

– Only once throughout history De Ronde had less than 200 kilometers, in 1941 (198 de kilometers), when Achiel Buysse won the race for the second time

– Five reigning world champions racked up a victory in De Ronde: Louison Bobet (1955), Rik Van Looy (1962), Eddy Merckx (1975), Tom Boonen (2006) and Peter Sagan (2016)

– 1919 saw the largest winning margin: 14 minutes between Henri Van Lerberghe and Lucien Buysee

– The only cyclist to take three wins in a row is Fiorenzo Magni (1949-1951)

– Five riders have won the amateur, as well as the pro Ronde van Vlaanderen: Roger Decock, Edward Sels, Eric Vanderaerden, Edwig van Hooydonck and Nick Nuyens

– Last Grand Tour champion to take the victory here was Gianni Bugno, in 1994

– Gent is the only city that has hosted both the start and the finish of the race

– Brugge is a start city since 1998, the year of Museeuw’s third and final win

– 1944 was the last year in which the Tour of Flanders ended on the velodrome

– In 1984, only Phil Anderson and Jan Raas made it to the top of the Koppenberg without walking, the main reason for the ordeal the riders had to endure being the deteriorating state of the cobbles

– First cyclist to ride over the Muur-Kapelmuur was Fiorenzo Magni, in 1950

 

2016 stats

– 25 teams (18 World Tour and 7 Pro Continental) will be at the start of the race

– Of these, CCC Sprandi Polkowice, Giant-Alpecin and Wanty-Groupe Gobert are winless this season

– 34 nations will have at least one cyclist in the peloton, with Belgium providing the most riders, 35

– Youngest rider in the race is Michal Paluta (20 years), while the oldest one is Svein Tuft (38 years)

– Four former winners will line-up at the start: Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara, Stijn Devolder and Alexander Kristoff

– Søren Kragh Andersen, Jorge Arcas, Romain Cardis, Nico Denz, Matteo Draperi, Michael Gogl, Jack Haig, Gianni Moscon, Nils Politt, Lukas Pöstlberger, Toms Skujiņš and Mirko Trosino are the 12 neo-pros to make their debut in a Monument at De Ronde

– Of the riders at the start, Stijn Devolder has the most participations: 15, including the one of this year

– The peloton of Tour of Flanders has won a combined total of 20 Monuments, 10 world titles (road race+individual time trial) and more than 80 Grand Tour stages

Milan-Sanremo Stats

Historical stats

– “La Primavera” was first raced in 1907, when Lucien Petit-Breton took the victory

– The inaugural edition had 33 riders at the start, only 14 of them completing the event

– Eddy Merckx holds the record for the most wins, seven, between 1966 and 1976

– The team with the most victories in the race is Bianchi – 17; first came in 1907, last one in 1974

– Italy leads the nations standings with 50 successes over the years, the last of which came in 2006

– Six-time winner of Milan-Sanremo, Costante Girardengo has the most podiums, 11

– Italian cyclists have taken the first three positions 34 times

– Youngest winner is Ugo Agostoni, 20 years and 252 days (1914); oldest one is Andrei Tchmil, 36 years and 57 days (1999)

– Wladimiro Panizza has the most starts in “La Primavera”, 18

– Four riders have won Milan-Sanremo while wearing the rainbow jersey: Alfredo Binda (1931), Eddy Merckx (1972, 1975), Felice Gimondi (1974) and Giuseppe Saronni (1983)

– The only winners from outside of Europe are Australia’s Matthew Goss and Simon Gerrans

– Sean Kelly is the last Grand Tour champion victorious in Milan-Sanremo (1992)

– Throughout history, the maximum distance of the race has never exceeded 298 kilometers

– The last year to witness a winner from a daylong breakaway was 1982, when Marc Gomez was part of a 20-man escape

– Gino Bartali holds the record for the biggest time span between the first and last victory: 11 years

– Poggio was introduced on the course in 1960, when Gastone Nencini was the first rider at the top of the climb

– Highest average speed was recorded in 1990: 45,806 km/h

– 1954 is the year in which the race was shown live on television for the first time

– Biggest gap between first and second came in 1910, when Eugene Christophe got to the line 61 minutes ahead of Giovanni Cocchi

– Milan-Sanremo is the only Monument which hasn’t been won three years in a row by the same rider

2016 stats

– 25 teams (18 World Tour and 7 Pro Continental) will be at the start of the race

– Of these, Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, Bora-Argon 18, CCC Sprandi Polkowice, Giant-Alpecin, Lampre-Merida and Novo Nordisk are winless this season

– 30 nations will have at least one cyclist in the peloton, with Italy providing the most riders, 60

– Youngest rider in the race is Daniel Martinez (19 years), while oldest one is Davide Rebellin (44 years)

– Four former winners will line-up at the start: Fabian Cancellara, Mark Cavendish, Alexander Kristoff and Filippo Pozzato

– Julen Amezqueta, Fernando Gaviria, Mirco Maestri, Gregor Mühlberger and Lorenzo Rota are the five neo-pros to make their debut in a Monument at “La Primavera”

– Of the riders at the start, Matteo Tossato has the most participations: 17, including the one of this year

– The peloton of Milan-Sanremo has won a combined total of 4 Grand Tours, 23 Monuments, 8 world titles (road race+individual time trial) and more than 160 Grand Tour stages

Tirreno-Adriatico Stats

Historical stats

– Dino Zandegu won the first edition of the race, which was called at tht time “The Three Days of the South” (1966)

– Roger De Vlaeminck has the most overall victories, six, between 1972 and 1977

– The Belgian is also the rider who got the most stage wins, 15

– Italy leads in the nations classification, with 24 triumphs, the last one being scored by Vincenzo Nibali, in 2013

– Nibali is the only cyclist who has won Tirreno-Adriatico and the Giro d’Italia in the same season

– Only one non-European rider took home Neptun’s Trident: Australia’s Cadel Evans, in 2012

– 1997 saw the longest edition, 1437 kilometers; the shortest one came in 1973, just 582 kilometers

– With one exception (1966), all the editions have finished in the same town, San Benedetto del Tronto

– In 2003, Filippo Pozzato became the youngest ever winner (21 years and 193 days); the oldest winner is Stefano Garzelli, 36 years and 252 days in 2010

– Spain’s Oscar Freire is the only world champion who finished first in the overall classification (2005)

– In two occasions, the first and the second rider in the GC came home in the same time (1966: Dino Zandegu – Vito Taccone; 2010: Stefano Garzelli-Michele Scarponi)

– Biggest gap between the winner and the cyclist who finished second was recorded in 1990, when 2:31 separated Tony Rominger and Zenon Jaskula

2016 stats

– 23 teams (18 World Tour and 5 Pro Continental) will be at the start of this year’s edition

– Of these, five are winless in 2016: Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, Bora-Argon 18, CCC Sprandi Polkowice, Giant-Alpecin and Lampre-Merida

– The riders in Tirreno-Adriatico have won a combined total of 5 Grand Tours, 17 Monuments, 10 World Titles and more than 170 Grand Tour stages

– Five neo-pros will ride Tirreno-Adriatico, with the race acting as their first ever World Tour event: Søren Kragh Andersen, Fernando Gaviria, Gregor Mühlberger, Jaime Roson and Lorenzo Rota

– In 2016, 33 nations will be represented in the peloton, Italy being the one with the most cyclists at the startline, 49

– Youngest rider in the race is Bardiani’s Lorenzo Rota (20 years); oldest one is Davide Rebellin (44 years)

– The line-up of the 51st edition includes two former winners: Fabian Cancellara and Vincenzo Nibali

Paris-Nice Stats

Historical stats

– First winner of the race was Alfons Schepers, back in 1933

– Sean Kelly holds the record for the most GC wins, seven, which he got between 1982 and 1988

– The nations standings is topped by France, with 21 victories, but the last one came in 1997

– Eddy Merckx has the most days spent in the leader’s jersey, 57

– He’s also the rider with the most stage wins to his account, 21, and the most edition in which he nailed at least a victory: 9

– Another Belgian, Freddy Maertens, holds the record for the most wins at a single edition: 6 in 1976

– Ten riders have led the race from the first until the last day: Alfons Scheepers (1933), Jean Bobet (1955), Eddy Merckx (1971), Freddy Maertens (1977), Gerrie Knetemann (1978), Sean Kelly (1986), Alex Zülle (1993), Laurent Jalabert (1997), Frank Vandenbroucke (1998) and Jörg Jaksche (2004)

– In 20 editions, the winner didn’t score a stage win along the way; last one to do that was Davide Rebellin, in 2008

– The longest edition took place in 1959 (2033 kilometers), while the shortest one was in 1973 (850 kilometers)

– 1934 saw the introduction of half-stages in the race, while the 1936 one featured bonus seconds for the first time

– 1969 was the first year in which an individual time trial finished at the top of Col d’Èze

– Highest average speed was recorded in 2010 – 43,118 km/h; lowest one was recorded in 1933 – 33,432 km/h

– 2008 saw the smallest time gap between the winner (Davide Rebellin) and the second placed rider (Rinaldo Nocentini): 3 seconds

– The biggest winning margin came in 1939, when 9 minutes and 33 seconds separated Maurice Archambaud and Frans Bonduel

– René Vietto is the youngest ever winner – 21 years in 1935; Raymond Poulidor is the oldest one, 36 years in 1973

2016 stats

– 22 teams (18 World Tour and 4 Pro Continental) will be at the start of the 74th edition

– Of these, three are winless this season: Delko Marseille, Giant-Alpecin and Lampre-Merida

– Alberto Contador, Luis Leon Sanchez and Richie Porte ar the three former winners to line up for the race

– The riders in Paris-Nice have won a combined total of 7 Grand Tours, 12 Monuments, 3 World Titles and more than 100 Grand Tour stages

– Five neo-pros will ride Paris-Nice: Patrick Bevin, Lilian Calmejane, Daniel Hoelgaard, Odd Christian Eiking and Quentin Pacher

– If Alberto Contador wins the general classification, he’ll equal Jacques Anquetil’s record for the biggest timespan between the first and the last victory: 9 years

– For Sylvain Chavanel, this will be the 16th consecutive participation in the race, a new record

– France has the most riders at the start this year: 40

– Odd Christian Eiking (21 years) is the youngest cyclist to race Paris-Nice, while Matteo Tosatto (41 years) is the oldest one