March 2016 Roundup

With such a busy WorldTour schedule this month, there's been lots of news items that have had to go uncovered for the most part, but never fear. Our monthly roundup will catch you up with anything you might have missed this March.

Cycling rocked by loss of two riders

wanty-groupegobert.be

It's hard to start any mention of March with anything but the horrible events of the 27th and 28th. During the Gent-Wevelgem, Antoine Demoitie (WGG) had what seemed an innocuous crash before he was fatally struck by a motorcycle ridden by a race official. The incident - thankfully - wasn't caught by television cameras, so specific details are still sketchy, but the only important thing is that Demoitie did not survive.

Following that, the sport was rocked again by 22 year old Daan Myngheer succumbing to a heart attack suffered in the aftermath of him pulling out of the Criterium International the next day. The Roubaix Lille Metropole rider was met by the medical team following the race, having a heart attack in the ambulance.

daanmyngheer.jimdo.com

TLG's thoughts and sympathies go to the families, friends and teammates of both riders.

Volta a Catalunya hard to watch - for many reasons

Eurosport/Volta a Catalunya

I must admit that I was very let down by the coverage of the Volta a Catalunya. Every other race we've covered so far this season (admittedly only a handful) have had very good coverage, in terms of picture quality, website accessibility and media. Not so this race. At WorldTour level, you'd expect a certain amount of expense on these would be acceptable, but there was seemingly no HD footage available. The race also had very wobbly camerawork from the few bikes filming, as lamented by Eurosport commentator Carlton Kirby, and apparently unreliable graphics.

Following the incidents with motorbikes in the Volta a Espana last year, and of course Antoine Demoitie's accident last week, it's admittedly quite shaky ground to suggest more tv bikes should be used. But held against the professional nature of the other major races' coverage, the fuzzy, muddled and rarely updated website stand out like a sore thumb.

Coupled with the early stage finishes almost being a formality, with a relatively weak sprint field essentially only requiring Nacer Bouhanni to turn up to win them, it was difficult to get at all invested in the race until the mountain stages began.

Mixed track Worlds raise more questions for Cav

trackcyclingworlds2016.london

Much of Mark Cavendish's focus this year has been on his aims of finally winning an Olympic gold medal, and the Track World Championships in London gave him a big opportunity to earn his place in Rio this summer.

Sadly, he wasn't able to reach his goal of a medal in his chosen solo event, the Omnium, having to settle for sixth. His Olympic dreams looked to be hanging by a thread, although a potential classic Cavendish mood was brightened as he took gold in the Madison, as part of a British cycling dream team along with Sir Bradley Wiggins.

The blemish to the silver lining of Cavendish's Omnium cloud (!) was that the Madison is not an Olympic event. Cav showed signs of carrying form on the boards, but is he ready to take a spot on the plane to Rio? Stay tuned.

Women's prize pools hit record highs

@letourdeyorkshire

As the women's tour goes from strength to strength, in terms of rider quality, coverage and popularity, the prize money is also increasing.

The announcement that the Tour de Yorkshire had gained title sponsorship from Asda came alongside the prize for the winner being declared to be €20,000, making it the most lucrative women's race in the world, with a total prize fund of €63,623.

That honour didn't even last until the running of the race, however, as the RideLondon event, already the highest paying one day race for men, has had the €100,000 prize pool matched for the Women's WorldTour event, now known as the RideLondon Classique.

The French naming appropriation can be willingly overlooked considering the serious money available for the women's peloton. At least one race will hope to hand reigning world champion Lizzie Armitstead a sizeable cheque this year.

No doubt there's some other stories we've missed, or not covered in depth enough. If you've got any suggestions, amendments, congratulations or criticisms, get in touch either in the comments below or on Twitter (@Laughing_Group). Otherwise, stay tuned for next month, and find out what to expect from TLG with our race calendar!