La Classiclisma - Manxman Delivers

The arrival of spring comes in many forms: buds on trees, rain giving way to flowers, chirping of birds, or warmer temperatures. In the professional cycling world, Milano-San Remo, also known as La Primavera or “Spring,” signals its arrival.

This year’s edition of the Italian Classic lived up to its other nickname, La Classiclisma, with a photo finish, two up sprint for the line. Mark Cavendish (Columbia- High Road) out threw Cervelo Test Team’s Heinrich Haussler to take the first of the season’s five monuments of cycling.

With his World Championship coming on the track with Madison teammate Bradley Wiggins, and despite a slew of stage victories in some of cycling most prestigious races, the recent victory has to be considered Cavendish’s most prevalent to date.

Some may not like the Manxman for his brashness or unapologetic self-confidence, but in the final 200 meters it’s hard to argue that he is currently the fastest man on two wheels.

Results
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia - Highroad
2. Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam
3. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervélo TestTeam
4. Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step
5. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini
6. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
7. Aitor Galdos (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
8. Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce
9. Luca Paolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo
10. Peter Velits (Svk) Team Milram


Classics Favorites?
If you’re a fan of the Classics, the newly formed Cervelo Test Team may not only be contenders for the upcoming jewels of the Northern Classics, they might be the favorites. The one-two punch of Thor Hushovd (left), already a winner on the cobbles this year at K-B-K, and Heinrich Haussler, the Aussie sounding German who finished second in La Primavera as well as taking stages at this year’s Paris-Nice and Volta ao Algarve, gives their team management a formidable pair from which to deal. Add cobbled veterans Andreas Klier, Hayden Roulston, and Roger Hammond into the mix and the black clad Cervelo squad may spell doom for the rest of the field.

Fractured Message
An early crash during Milano – San Remo, and the subsequent news of a fractured clavicle, cut short the Classics campaign for Garmin-Slipstream’s Tyler Farrar. It is the second consecutive year that a broken collarbone has felled the leader of Garmin’s Classics’ squad; last year Magnus Backstedt suffered a similar injury at the Tour of Qatar.

Photos: Leonard Basobas (top); Cervelo Test Team (bottom)