Classic race

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The classic cycle races are the most important one-day professional cycling road races in the international calendar (list of races)

All of the races are run in western Europe. Most of the events have been on the professional calendar for decades and the oldest ones date back to the 19th Century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. In the last few years, the five top races are sometimes described as the 'Monuments'.

From 2005, the Classics have formed part of the UCI ProTour run by the Union Cycliste Internationale. This event series also includes various stage races including the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, Paris-Nice and the Critérium de Dauphiné Libéré, and various non-Classic single day events. The ProTour replaced the UCI Road World Cup series which contained only one-day races.

[change] The Classics

Race	Country	Started	Notes
Milan-Sanremo		1907	The first true Classic of the year, its Italian name is La Primavera (the spring), this race is normally held in late March. .
Ronde van Vlaanderen		1913	The first of the 'Spring Classics', is normally raced in early April.
Paris-Roubaix		1896	La Reine ("Queen of the Classics") or l'Enfer du Nord ("Hell of the North") is traditionally one week after the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
Amstel Gold Race		1966	Normally held mid-April.
La Flèche Wallonne		1936	The Walloon Arrow is traditionally held mid-week between the Amstel Gold and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège		1892	late April. La Doyenne, the oldest Classic, was first held in 1892 as an amateur event; a professional edition following in 1894.
Rund um den Henninger Turm
Clásica de San Sebastián			San Sebastian Classic
Züri-Metzgete			Championship of Zürich
Paris-Brussels	/
Paris-Tours
Giro di Lombardia		1905	Also known as the "Race of the Falling Leaves", is normally held in October. First called the Milano-Milano (Milan to Milan) in 1905, it became the Giro di Lombardia in 1907.

Some races that were Classics are no longer run. These include the gruelling (very hard) 560km, Derny event, Bordeaux-Paris, run from 1891 to 1988.

[change] The 'Monuments'

Five of the classic races are sometimes called "the Monuments"

1. Milan-Sanremo
2. Ronde van Vlaanderen
3. Paris-Roubaix
4. Liège-Bastogne-Liège
5. Giro di Lombardia

Only three riders have won all five 'Monument' one-day races during their careers: Roger De Vlaeminck, Rik Van Looy and Eddy Merckx. All were from Belgium.

Seán Kelly of Ireland won four Monuments but only finished second in the Ronde van Vlaanderen on three occasions (1984,1986,1987).

Year	Milan-Sanremo	Ronde van Vlaanderen	Paris-Roubaix	Liège-Bastogne-Liège	Giro di Lombardia
2007	Óscar Freire	Alessandro Ballan	Stuart O'Grady	Danilo Di Luca	-
2006	Filippo Pozzato	Tom Boonen	Fabian Cancellara	Alejandro Valverde	Paolo Bettini
2005	Alessandro Petacchi	Tom Boonen	Tom Boonen	Alexander Vinokourov	Paolo Bettini
2004	Óscar Freire	Steffen Wesemann	Magnus Bäckstedt	Davide Rebellin	Damiano Cunego
2003	Paolo Bettini	Peter Van Petegem	Peter Van Petegem	Tyler Hamilton	Michele Bartoli
2002	Mario Cipollini	Andrea Tafi	Johan Museeuw	Paolo Bettini	Michele Bartoli
2001	Erik Zabel	Gianluca Bortolami	Servais Knaven	Oscar Camenzind	Danilo Di Luca
2000	Erik Zabel	Andrei Tchmil	Johan Museeuw	Paolo Bettini	Raimondas Rumšas
1999	Andrei Tchmil	Peter Van Petegem	Andrea Tafi	Frank Vandenbroucke	Mirko Celestino
1998	Erik Zabel	Johan Museeuw	Franco Ballerini	Michele Bartoli	Oscar Camenzind
1997	Erik Zabel	Rolf Sørensen	Frédéric Guesdon	Michele Bartoli	Laurent Jalabert
1996	Gabriele Colombo	Michele Bartoli	Johan Museeuw	Pascal Richard	Andrea Tafi
1995	Laurent Jalabert	Johan Museeuw	Franco Ballerini	Mauro Gianetti	Gianni Faresin
1994	Giorgio Furlan	Gianni Bugno	Andrei Tchmil	Evgeni Berzin	Viatcheslav Bobrik
1993	Maurizio Fondriest	Johan Museeuw	Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle	Rolf Sørensen	Pascal Richard
1992	Seán Kelly	Jacky Durand	Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle	Dirk de Wolf	Tony Rominger
1991	Claudio Chiappucci	Edwig van Hooydonck	Marc Madiot	Moreno Argentin	Seán Kelly
1990	Gianni Bugno	Moreno Argentin	Eddy Planckaert	Eric van Lancker	Gilles Delion

[change] See also

List of important cycling events

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