I really can’t believe this happened today 🤯 Soooo happy to take my first ever elite worldtour victory on the road during the Trofeo Binda 🥇🇮🇹😍 This team was in one word just amazing today 💙 Thanks to everyone who helped to make this possible 🫶🏼 pic.twitter.com/Mbpkg77zBi
— Shirin van Anrooij (@x_shirin) March 19, 2023
Of course, Mathieu van der Poel wasn’t the only cyclocross star to win a monument this weekend.
At yesterday’s Trofeo Alfredo Binda, one of the oldest and most prestigious one-day races on the women’s calendar, U23 ‘cross world champion Shirin van Anrooij underlined her position as one of the most exciting prospects on the road with a stunning 25km solo raid to secure her Trek-Segafredo team’s third consecutive victory in Cittiglio.
It was also, amazingly, the 21-year-old’s first ever elite road victory, and caps off a tremendous year for the Dutch talent, who finished 14th overall and won the white jersey at last year’s Tour de France Femmes before taking three World Cup victories and winning the U23 world title during a cyclocross winter which saw her barge her way into a new ‘Big Three’ alongside the sport’s other wonderkids, Fem Van Empel and Puck Pieterse.
VICTORY FOR SHIRIN VAN ANROOIJ!
There she is. What a solo! Amazing effort by Shirin van Anrooij to win the 24th Trofeo Alfredo Binda!#TrBinda#UCIWWTpic.twitter.com/Bp0hG5AYAi
— UCI_WWT (@UCI_WWT) March 19, 2023
“I just can’t believe it, it’s my first victory for the team. I never expected to stay away, I expected them to come back for someone to win in a sprint. Somehow I won this race,” a laughing Van Anrooij said after her breakthrough victory on the road yesterday.
So after Tom Pidcock’s win at Strade Bianche, and Van der Poel and Van Anrooij’s monumental successes at the weekend, I think it’s fairly safe to say that we’re well and truly in the era of the ‘cross-road crossover.
CX World Champions 🤝 2023 one day races
Tom Pidcock = Strade Bianche 🥇
Mathieu van der Poel = Milan-Sanremo 🥇
Shirin van Anrooij = Trofeo Alfredo Binda 🥇😎 #TrBinda#Milansanremo#StradeBianche
— Katy M (@writebikerepeat) March 19, 2023
I for one welcome our knobbly-tyred overlords…
I know that Milan-Sanremo, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, and a few other events made it a grand slam weekend of sport (see what I did there?), but there was also plenty of other stuff going on around the cycling world too. Here’s what you may have missed on road.cc…
> Cycling UK takes council to court over “unlawful” decision to keep rat-run open
> Sunday Telegraph accused of using divisive rhetoric in “death trap” floating bus stops article
> Campaigners hit out at removal of pop-up cycle lane in Birmingham
I know, I know, it’s Monday morning, but I just don’t think I’ve fully recovered yet from Mathieu van der Poel’s thunderbolt attack at the top of the Poggio on Saturday – a thrilling, jaw dropping moment that may well define an entire era of bike racing.
> Milan-Sanremo 2023: Van der Poel pummels the Poggio to win first Monument of the season
(Or maybe it was all that whiskey I had on Saturday night…)
Anyway… If you thought the flying Dutchman’s attack looked good on the telly, here’s what it looked like on the roadside:
— Alberto Facchinato (@Fack1986) March 18, 2023
I dream of going this fast one day...downhill. https://t.co/FWW1cvBhnl
— Will Newton (@InsidePeloton96) March 19, 2023
Cycling, eh? Bloody hell.
Not only did Van der Poel make history by winning Samremo 62 years to day after his grandfather Raymond Poulidor won his one and only monument, he also secured the biggest winning margin – 15 seconds – the race has seen since Giorgio Furlan in 1994…
A special moment for Corinne Poulidor as she realizes her son is about to win #MilanoSanremo, 62 years after her father.🥲
📸IG: sarettacavallini pic.twitter.com/t66k2MKR61
— Domestique (@Domestique___) March 19, 2023
And he set the new fastest time ever on the Poggio, covering the 3.7km iconic climb in five minutes and 38 seconds (that’s a ridiculous average of 39.4kph and an estimated 564 watts, for anyone looking to try it at home) – three seconds quicker than his all-star pursuers, Tadej Pogačar, Filippo Ganna, and Wout van Aert, who themselves were three seconds faster than the previous record time set by Maurizio Fondriest and Laurent Jalabert in 1995.
The best stage racer of his generation
The best time trialist of his generation
Two of the best classics riders of their generationMilano-Sanremo ❤️🇮🇹
📸RCS pic.twitter.com/YNEzeHTgH0— Dan Deakins (@DanDeakins) March 18, 2023
That record was also set during the second fastest ever Milan-Sanremo in its 116-year history, with MVDP averaging 45.773kph for the 294km race (a staggering feat do doubt helped by the strong tailwinds along the Ligurian coast, but still).
45.7 km/h average speed 💨🤯
Join the action at Milano-Sanremo 2023 as the peloton tackled the longest race of the year at warp speed! Don't miss the best of the drama in an intense edition of La Classicissima! 🔥
____
🇮🇹 #MilanoSanremopic.twitter.com/GfDjF5QE5W— Velon CC (@VelonCC) March 18, 2023
And, most importantly of all, Van der Poel, Ganna, and Van Aert’s incredibly tight and awkward sofa moment before the podium presentation has proved the inspiration for countless jokes and memes on the interweb, which is what this whole thing is about, really…
So... going anywhere nice on holiday this year? 🤣 #Milansanremopic.twitter.com/0VPFPC6YYX
— Katy M (@writebikerepeat) March 18, 2023
The one where we won Milano-Sanremo.
#MilanoSanremopic.twitter.com/JfhmvsawaV
— Anna Mac 🌈 (@AnnamacB) March 20, 2023
— MHP (@theun4seen) March 19, 2023
I’m sensing a pattern developing during the big early season races this spring…
Earlier this month, a segregated cycle lane – installed to keep everyday cyclists safe as they exit a roundabout – proved a serious hazard during the final kilometre of a Paris-Nice sprint stage, as riders were forced to jink either side of the unmanned concrete divider at over 50kph… with no more than a splash of pink paint to warn them of the potential danger.
Sorry...but this is unacceptable at this speed within 1KM to go...#ParisNice#gotawaywithitpic.twitter.com/wcsG29R6FI
— Brian Smith 𝕆𝕃𝕐 (@BriSmithy) March 9, 2023
> Paint is not protection, pro cycling style
After the stage, Astana’s American climber Joe Dombrowski noted the irony of infrastructure designed to make cycling safer and easier in towns and cities in recent years has actually made pro racing more dangerous.
Ironically all the infrastructure to make cycling safer in cities, makes it more dangerous for us ..
— Joe Dombrowski (@JoeDombro) March 9, 2023
And just nine days later at Milan-Sanremo (we’ll get to that attack on the Poggio soon, don’t worry), it was the turn of the humble bike rack to foil the chances of some of those hoping for monument glory on the Via Roma.
With 34km to go at La Classicissima, as the bunch was steaming towards the start of the race’s finale at the Cipressa, a crash – seemingly caused by a road sign at a crossing and the bike rack jutting out into the road behind it, which, again, was devoid of any marshalling or warning signs – bought a number of riders down, including Irish sprinter Sam Bennett.
Crazy - a bike rack sticking out into the road. Sam Bennett went down in this crash, stayed down a while but hopefully not badly hurt. https://t.co/vLvleWPpl1
— Shane Stokes (@SSbike) March 18, 2023
Thankfully this looks worse than it was. Gutted to miss the finale but happy to have bounced OK. Thanks to everyone who’s sent messages 👌 Be back again next year Sanremo pic.twitter.com/YGKleyGSUD
— Sam Bennett (@Sammmy_Be) March 18, 2023
Fortunately, the Bora-Hansgrohe rider wasn’t injured too badly in the spill, though a team spokesperson later said that he has some back pain and may be a doubt for the Classic Brugge-De Panne on Wednesday, a race he won in 2021.
While most pundits and fans criticised the race organisers for not properly signposting the cycle parking hazard, it seems the Danish commentary team have been reading too much road.cc lately, and suggested a different way of dealing with a pesky bike rack…
Danish commentators suggested that they should have used an angle grinder before the race
— Linus Midtgaard (@LinusMidtgaard) March 18, 2023