Cafe Roubaix

2015 Tour de Suisse Stats

– Simon Spilak became the first ever Slovenian rider to win the race

– Slovenia is the 16th country to give an overall champion in the Tour de Suisse

– Same Spilak is the first rider since Levi Leipheimer, in 2011, to take the GC without scoring a success in a stage along the way

– Peter Sagan joined Ferdi Kübler and Hugo Koblet in an all-time stage wins classification, with 11 victories

– The Slovak also holds the record for the most points jerseys, five, all won in a row

– IAM Cycling’s Stefan Denifl became the first Austrian to win the mountains classification

– Tom Dumoulin took both individual time trials; not since Gerrie Knetemann (1979) a Dutch rider has managed to notch at least two stages at one edition

– Winner in Risch-Rotkreuz, Kristijan Durasek is the first Croatian cyclist to nab a World Tour success

– Gotthardpass featured in the race for the 37th time, thus extending its record in the history of the Tour de Suisse

– 120 riders have completed the race, the fewest since 2012

Tour de France roadbook

TdF roadbook

Eddy Merckx – a career in numbers

On the day the one they called “The Cannibal” turns 70, here’s a look back at his achievements.

– 11 Grand Tours: Giro d’Italia (1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974), Tour de France (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974), Vuelta a España (1973)

– 64 stage wins in the Grand Tours

– Other important stage races: Paris-Nice (1969, 1970, 1971), Tour de Romandie (1968), Volta a Catalunya (1968), Tour of Belgium (1970, 1971), Critérium du Dauphiné (1971), Tour de Suisse (1974)

– 19 Monuments: Milan-Sanremo (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976), Tour of Flanders (1969, 1975), Paris–Roubaix (1968, 1970, 1973), Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975), Giro di Lombardia (1971, 1972)

– Other important one-day races: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (1971, 1973), Gent-Wevelgem (1967, 1970, 1973), Scheldeprijs (1972), Brabantse Pijl (1972), Flèche Wallonne (1967, 1970, 1972), Amstel Gold Race (1973, 1975), Coppa Agostoni (1970), Paris-Bruxelles (1973), Giro del Piemonte (1972), Giro dell’Emilia (1972), National Championships (1970)

– 3 World Titles: 1967 (Herleen), 1971 (Mendrisio), 1974 (Montreal)

– 525 victories on the road and on the track, as an amateur and as a pro

– Only rider to have won the general, the points, the mountains and the combativity classification at one edition of the Tour de France (1969)

– He is the cyclist who has scored the most victories in a season: 54

– Holds the record for the most Grand Tour wins (11) and most wins in a Monument (Milan-Sanremo, 7)

– He was the first rider to win the Triple Crown – Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and World Championships – in one season (1974)

Conclusions after the Criterium du Dauphiné

Things are looking good for Chris Froome ahead of the Tour de France. The 30-year-old hasn’t had an easy season so far, with just two early wins to his name (a stage and the overall standings in the Ruta del Sol), followed by some health problems which hampered his Spring races. But things turned around in June, once Froome took an impressive victory in the Criterium du Dauphiné – the last event he rode before the Grande Boucle – where he was clearly the best rider. After his 9th career triumph in a stage race, the Brit will start the Tour de France as the main favorite for the yellow jersey, but more important, he’ll not have the same question marks that have shred his confidence before last year’s edition, following his crash and poor GC results in the Dauphiné.

BMC’s Tejay van Garderen was upset after Sunday’s finale because he missed the victory for just ten seconds, but the US cyclist has reason to stay confident he can reach his goal in the Tour de France, where he hopes to get on the podium. Although he did not enter the Dauphiné as a big favorite, Van Garderen slowly began to show he’s in great shape, so that mid-way through the race everyone could see he was one one of the strongest cyclists out there. A smart rider, who knows when to go to the attack and when to play it safe, the 26-year-old made some significant progress in the past months and he is now headint towards the right direction, which can land him his best ever result in a Grand Tour.

For many, Simon Yates was the revelation of the race, but he isn’t a surprise anymore and people shouldn’t forget that the young Brit underlined his huge potential since he rode as a U23 in 2013 and won two stages in the Tour de l’Avenir. Last year, because of an injury, he stayed in the shadow of his twin brother Adam, but this didn’t stop him get a couple of strong results, which continued this season in 2015 with top 10 placings in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, the Tour de Romandie and the Criterium du Dauphiné, where he also secured the white jersey after a gutsy ride in the last two mountain stages. Just 22-year-old, Simon Yates will race his second Tour de France next month and he’ll surely be one to watch out for in the mountains, where he’ll fight for a victory.

Nacer Bouhanni came home safe and wrapped up the points classification at the end of a perfect week. The French sprinter arrived here with the precise goal of notching just a stage win, but he was the fastest in the flat days and that helped him produce two great sprints, which led to as many victories, his first in the World Tour this year. After taking the green jersey, Cofidis’ star cyclist will hope to carry these success and form in the Tour de France, There, hiss fearless attitude and high speed will certainly add some extra incentive to the sprints, where he’ll fight with the likes of Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, Marcel Kittel, André Greipel and his former teammate Arnaud Démare, the man he still considers to be at fault for missing many opportunities during his spell with FDJ.

Alejandro Valverde and Vincenzo Nibali came 9th, respectively 12th at the end of the week-long stage race, minutes behind Chris Froome, but these results aren’t by all means worrisome, as it was obvious for everyone that neither hit top form for the Dauphiné, where they came just to tune up their shape before July. Actually, judging by the look of things, Valverde and Nibali took it easy in the mountains and played it smart, as they have just one goal in mind: the Tour de France, where they will start as two of the strongest riders in the pack, while also being somewhat of an unknown quantity for their rivals.

Tour de Suisse Stats

Historical stats

– Italy’s Pasquale Fornara has the most GC wins – 4 – scored between 1952 and 1958

– Fornara is also the rider with the most days in the leader’s jersey – 18

– The nation standings is led by Switzerland, which has 23 wins so far

– Only four cyclists from outside of Europe have won the race: Phil Anderson (Australia), Andy Hampsten (U.S.A.), Levi Leipheimer (U.S.A.) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazahstan)

– Pasquale Fornara has the most days in the leader’s jersey: 17

– In 1987, seven cyclists succeeded one another at the top of the general classification

– Of the cyclists who have never won the race, Wladimir Belli has the most podiums: 3

– Last rider to triumph here while wearing the rainbow jersey was Rui Costa in 2014

– Same Rui Costa is the only cyclist to have won the event three consecutive times

– With 11 stage victories, Hugo Kobler and Ferdi Kübler are the most successful rider in the history of the race

– Ferdi Kübler won the mountains classification four times, a record for the event; in the points standings, Sean Kelly and Peter Sagan share the record, with four jerseys

– Zurich is the city that has hosted the most starts (34) and finishes (45) throughout the years

– Italy and Switzerland are the only countries to place three riders on the podium at one edition

– Belgium’s Daniel Willems holds the record for the most stages won at a single edition: six, in 1980

– The first individual time trial took place in 1947 (60,6 kilometers) and was won by Fausto Coppi

– Gotthard is the climb that featured the most times – 37 – while Nufenen is the highest ever point of the race, 2478 meters

– Roman Kreuziger is the youngest stage winner (22 years in 2008); Levi Leipheimer is the oldest one (37 years in 2011)

– Albert Zweifel is the cyclist with the most participations: 16

– In 1941, Josef Wagner and Werner Buchwalder finished with the same overall time, with Wagner being the winner after a two-man sprint on the Oerlikon Velodrome

– Largest winning margin between first and second was recorded in 1947, when 21:16 have separated Gino Bartali and Giulio Bresci

– The longest ever edition took place in 1991 – 1921 kilometers; shortest one had 606 kilometers, in 1941

– 2001 saw the highest average speed – 41,781 km/h; lowest average speed was 30,9 km/h in 1935

2015 stats

– 19 teams (17 World Tour, 2 Pro Continental) will race the 79th running of the event

– Of these, six haven’t scored a World Tour victory in 2015: IAM Cycling, LottoNL-Jumbo and Wanty-Groupe Gobert

– The course includes 43,5 kilometers of ITT and a summit finish, on Rettenbachgietscher

– Two former winners will be at the start: Fabian Cancellara and Frank Schleck

– The cyclists in the 2015 race have won a combined total of 18 Monuments, 7 world titles and more than 110 Grand Tour stages

– Youngest rider in this years’ race is Matej Mohoric, 20 years; oldest one is Italy’s Davide Rebellin, 43 years

– 27 countries will have at least one cyclist in the race, with Belgium and France topping the list (20)