Former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski won Strade Bianche on Saturday to provide some good news for Team Sky on a weekend that it was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons - and the Pole has posted his winning ride to Strava.
Kwiatkowski, who was with Omega Pharma-Quick Step when he previously won the race in 2014, the year he claimed the rainbow jersey in Ponferrada, Spain, attacked 15 kilometres from the finish in Siena that takes its name from the sectors of white-gravelled roads on the parcours through Tuscany's Chianti region.
BMC Racing's Greg van Avermaet, who a week earlier had posted his own victorious ride at Classics season opener Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, finished second, 15 seconds behind the winner, with Lotto-Soudal's Tim Wellens a further 2 seconds back in third place.
> Greg van Avermaet uploads Nieuwsblad-winning ride to Strava - and the kudos floods in
Pre-race favourite Peter Sagan of Bora-Hansgrohe, who succeeded Kwaiatkowsk in the rainbow jersey in Richmond, Virginia in 2015 and repeated his success in Doha, Qatar last year, was forced to abandon the race through illness with 70km remaining.
Kwiatkowski wasn't the only winner of a UCI WorldTour race this weekend to post his ride to Strava - FDJ's Arnaud Demare did so after taking the opening stage of Paris-Nice yesterday.
Simon has been news editor at road.cc since 2009, reporting on 10 editions and counting of pro cycling’s biggest races such as the Tour de France, stories on issues including infrastructure and campaigning, and interviewing some of the biggest names in cycling. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, his background has proved invaluable in reporting on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, and the bike industry. He splits his time between London and Cambridge, and loves taking his miniature schnauzer Elodie on adventures in the basket of her Elephant Bike.