Road News and Results – Post Paris-Roubaix edition

Here’s the latest in cycling news. We’re heavily stacked on Tom Boonen and post Paris-Roubaix news today, but there’s some other things going on as well. Good reading and Happy Monday!

Results:

• Alberto Contador won the closing time trial and the defended his overall at the Tour of the Basque Country.
• Tom Boonen won his third Paris-Roubaix.
• Belgium’s Guillaume De Keirsbulck won Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix junior race.
• U.S. Junior National Team member Adam Leibovitz won Friday’s prologue of the Ster van Zuid Limburg stage race in Belgium.
• Mauro Finetto (CSF Group-Navigare) won the first stage of the Tour of Turkey. Last year’s overall winner David Garcia (Xacobeo) took the second stage.
• Alejandro Valverde won the 55th edition of Spain’s Klasika Primavera.
• Denmark’s Martin Pedersen won today’s edition of the Rund um Köln. The race was limited to national teams, so there were no Pro Tour racers at the event.

Paris-Roubaix:

• Tom Boonen says that this edition of the race was his hardest ever. He stated that he had to fight man-to-man with Pozzato, and that every second was a battle.
• Boonen’s next goal this year is to take the green jersey at the Tour de France. He also makes no secret of his goal to equal the record of his compatriot Roger de Vlaeminck, and win Paris-Roubaix four times.
• Boonen says that he is quite happy with Quick Step and has no reason to change teams.
• Bonnen becomes the first person to win the Tour of Flanders (2005, 06) and Paris-Roubaix (2008, 09) twice in a row.
• Filipo Pozzato was generous in his praise for Boonen, saying, “He deserved the win, there’s nothing you can say about it. I had to try and close the gap to him on my own after Flecha and Hushovd crashed but he was just too strong for me.” He was more critical of Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha and the Flemish fans who he said spat on him and threw beer in his face.
• Roubaix will get a new velodrome by the end of 2011, but the race will still see its traditional finish on the old track, which will remain at the site.
• Three spectators were seriously injured Sunday when a motorcycle crashed into fans watching the race. Three people were taken by helicopter to hospitals in Lille and Valenciennes for further scans, two for abdominal injuries and a woman who was briefly knocked unconscious. The motorcycle belonged to race organizers to provide regular time checks for riders, he said. It appeared to lose control and swerved sideways into the side of the road. [The four year old girl that was injured suffered a broken clavicle. It is expected that she will recover in time to be a spectator at the Tour of Picardy (May 15 to 17) - Ed.]

Other News:

• After a ‘good’ week at the Tour of the Basque Country, Oscar Freire (Rabobank) feels that he is sufficiently recovered from the broken ribs he suffered earlier this year and will be ready to go full guns at the rest of the spring classics. He’ll race Sunday at the Amstel Gold Race, and do Fleche Walloon the Wednesday thereafter and four days later, Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
• The UCI has updated their world rankings. Heinrich Haussler of the Cervelo Test Team now sits at the top, with Alberto Contador (Astana) only 9 points back.

Tags: alberto contador, Alejandro Valverde, filipo pozzato, Heinrich Haussler, Mauro Finetto, Oscar Freire, Paris-Roubaix, Tom Boonen