2013 UCI Europe Tour
Events
Table:
Date	Race Name	Location	UCI Rating	Winner	Team

27 January	Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise	France	1.1	Justin Jules ( FRA )	La Pomme Marseille

30 Jan-3 Feb	Étoile de Bessèges	France	2.1	Jonathan Hivert ( FRA )	Sojasun

3 February	Trofeo Palma	Spain	1.1	Kenny Dehaes ( BEL )	Lotto-Belisol

4 February	Trofeo Campos-Santanyí-Ses Salines	Spain	1.1	Leigh Howard ( AUS )	Orica-GreenEDGE

5 February	Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana	Spain	1.1	Alejandro Valverde ( ESP )	Movistar Team

6 February	Trofeo Platja de Muro	Spain	1.1	Leigh Howard ( AUS )	Orica-GreenEDGE

6-10 February	Tour Méditerranéen	France	2.1	Thomas Löfkvist ( SWE )	IAM Cycling

14-17 February	Volta ao Algarve	Portugal	2.1	Tony Martin ( GER )	Omega Pharma-Quick-Step

16 February	Trofeo Laigueglia	Italy	1.1	Filippo Pozzato ( ITA )	Lampre-Merida

16-17 February	Tour du Haut Var	France	2.1	Arthur Vichot ( FRA )	FDJ

17-20 February	Vuelta a Andalucía	Spain	2.1	Alejandro Valverde ( ESP )	Movistar Team

23 February	Vuelta a Murcia	Spain	1.1	Daniel Navarro ( ESP )	Cofidis

23 February	Beverbeek Classic	Belgium	1.2	Nick van der Lijke ( NED )	Rabobank Development Team

23 February	Omloop Het Nieuwsblad	Belgium	1.HC	Luca Paolini ( ITA )	Team Katusha

24 February	Les Boucles du Sud Ardèche	France	1.1	Mathieu Drujon ( FRA )	BigMat-Auber 93

24 February	Clásica de Almería	Spain	1.HC	Mark Renshaw ( AUS )	Blanco Pro Cycling

27 February	Le Samyn	Belgium	1.1	Alexey Tsatevich ( RUS )	Team Katusha

28 February	Gran Premio Città di Camaiore	Italy	1.1	Peter Sagan ( SVK )	Cannondale

1-3 March	Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen	Belgium	2.1	Kristof Vandewalle ( BEL )	Omega Pharma-Quick-Step

2 March	Strade Bianche	Italy	1.1	Moreno Moser ( ITA )	Cannondale

Looking at the given table plus the supporting evidence provided.

Solve the question: When was this early-season road bicycle race first organized for which the winner was this French professional road bicycle racer born on 23 March 1985 ? Provide just your answer in a JSON object {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Avoid adding external knowledge.

The Union Cycliste Internationale ( UCI ) , the world 's governing body in the sport of bicycle racing , classifies races according to a rating scale . The rating is represented by a code made of two or three parts and indicates both the type or style of race ( the first part ) , and its importance or difficulty ( the second and third parts , lower being harder ) . The first part can be an integer or an abbreviation , and the second part , when present , are usually integers . Both parts are separated by a period or decimal point ( . ) . A higher rated race will result in the successful riders receiving more world ranking points .
Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise , formerly known as the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise , is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in February around the city of Marseille , France . Since 2005 , the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour . It is usually the first race of the European calendar , one day before the stage-race Étoile de Bessèges , which is held in the same region .
France ( French : [ fʁɑ̃s ] ( listen ) ) , officially the French Republic ( French : République française , pronounced [ ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛːz ] ( listen ) ) , is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . [ XIII ] The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . It is bordered by Belgium , Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast , Switzerland and Italy to the east , and Andorra and Spain to the south . The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . The country 's 18 integral regions ( five of which are situated overseas ) span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres ( 248,573 sq mi ) and a total population of 67.02 million ( as of July 2019 [ update ] ) . France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris , the country 's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . Other major urban areas include Lyon , Marseille , Toulouse , Bordeaux , Lille and Nice . France , including its overseas territories , has the most number of time zones of any country , with a total of 12 . During the Iron Age , what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls , a Celtic people . Rome annexed the area in 51 BC , holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476 , who formed the Kingdom of Francia . The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into East Francia , Middle Francia and West Francia . West Francia , which became the Kingdom of France in 987 , emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages , following its victory in the Hundred Years ' War ( 1337-1453 ) .
Justin Jules ( born 20 September 1986 ) is a French professional road bicycle racer , who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Nippo-Delko-One Provence .
Nippo-Delko-One Provence ( UCI team code : NDP ) is a French UCI ProTeam that was founded in 1974 . They became a Continental team in 2011 allowing them to ride UCI Europe Tour races .
The Étoile de Bessèges ( English : Star of Bessèges ) is an early-season five-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually around Bessèges , in the Gard department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France . First organized in 1971 as a one-day race , it became a stage race run over five days in 1974 . Since 2005 , it is on the calendar of the UCI Europe Tour as a 2.1 event and features as the earliest stage races of the European season . The Étoile de Bessèges is the first of several stage races held in the hilly South of France in February , preceding La Méditerranéenne , the Tour du Haut Var and the Tour La Provence . These early-season races are competed mainly by French teams and are considered preparations for Paris-Nice , the first European World Tour event in March .
Jonathan Hivert ( born 23 March 1985 in Chambray-lès-Tours ) is a French professional road bicycle racer , who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Total Direct Énergie . In 2013 , Hivert won the general classification of the 2.1 event Étoile de Bessèges . He was 3 seconds in arrears of Jérôme Cousin of Team Europcar before the final time trial , and he finally got the first position after besting Cousin by 7 seconds on the stage . Hivert joined Belkin Pro Cycling for the 2014 season , after his previous team - Sojasun - folded at the end of the 2013 season .
Sojasun was a French cycling team registered at UCI Professional Continental level . They were founded in 2009 as Besson Chaussures-Sojasun . The team rode BH bicycles . Their sponsor Sojasun is a company which manufactures soya-based foods . In 2012 , the team received a wildcard invitation to the Tour de France , along with three other French-registered teams . The professional cycling team Sojasun will not be present in the professional peloton in 2014 , after the team was unable to find a new title sponsor .
The Challenge Vuelta Ciclista a Mallorca ( English : Tour of Majorca , Catalan : Challenge Volta Ciclista a Mallorca ) is a series of four ( five until 2012 ) professional one day road bicycle races held on the Spanish island of Mallorca in late January or early February . The event is used as an early season preparatory event by many of the top teams in readiness for the bigger races later in the season . The five races are ranked 1.1 on the UCI Europe Tour . Although the race styles itself as the Tour of Majorca it has never been allowed to be classed as a multi day stage race by the sports governing body the Union Cycliste Internationale ( UCI ) because the race rules allows riders not to participate on certain days if they dont want to . However , there is an unofficial overall classification winner taken on total time over five days . This laid back attitude by the race organisers makes the race popular with team managers who can bring a large squad ( sometimes as many as 20 riders ) and interchange them over the five days . Apart from the overall classification on time there are the usual Mountains , Points and Sprints competitions associated with any stage race . There is also a competition for the top Majorcan based rider , in the past this has been won by Vicente Reynès , Antonio Colóm and Antonio Tauler . The first day of racing is the Trofeo Mallorca which is a criterium ( circuit race ) around the streets of Palma . The second day is the Trofeo Cala Millor , sometimes called the Trofeo Alcúdia . These two opening days are run over a fairly flat course and result in a sprint finish . The Trofeo Pollença ( day three ) and Trofeo Sóller ( day four ) are contested over a more hilly course using the climbs of the Col de Sóller ( 501 metres ) and the Col de Puig Major ( 850 metres ) amongst others on the route .
Spain ( Spanish : España [ esˈpaɲa ] ( listen ) ) , officially the Kingdom of Spain ( Spanish : Reino de España ) , [ a ] [ b ] is a country in Southwestern Europe with some pockets of Spanish territory across the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean . Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula . Its territory also includes two archipelagoes : the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa , and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea . The African enclaves of Ceuta , Melilla , and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country ( Morocco ) . [ h ] Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are also part of Spanish territory . The country 's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar ; to the north and northeast by France , Andorra , and the Bay of Biscay ; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean . With an area of 505,990 km2 ( 195,360 sq mi ) , Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe , the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union , and the fourth largest country in the European continent . By population ( about 47 million ) , Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union . Spain 's capital and largest city is Madrid ; other major urban areas include Barcelona , Valencia , Seville , Zaragoza , Málaga and Bilbao . Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago . Iberian cultures along with ancient Phoenician , Greek , Celtic and Carthaginian settlements developed on the peninsula until it came under Roman rule around 200 BCE , after which the region was named Hispania , based on the earlier Phoenician name Sp ( a ) n or Spania . At the end of the Western Roman Empire the Germanic tribal confederations migrated from Central Europe , invaded the Iberian peninsula and established relatively independent realms in its western provinces , including the Suebi , Alans and Vandals .
Kenny Dehaes ( born 10 November 1984 in Uccle ) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer , who rode professionally between 2006 and 2019 for the Topsport Vlaanderen , Team Katusha , Lotto-Soudal , Wanty-Groupe Gobert and Wallonie Bruxelles teams .
Lotto-Soudal ( UCI team code : LTS ) is a Belgian professional cycling team at UCI WorldTeam level sponsored by the Belgian lottery and Soudal , an adhesives and sealants manufacturer . For the 2016 and 2017 editions of Paris-Nice , the 2018 Giro d'Italia , and the 2019 Tour de Pologne , the team raced under the name Lotto Fix ALL , and in a different colour of kit , to promote a particular product from the Soudal range . The same organisations also sponsor a women 's cycling team , Lotto-Soudal Ladies .
Leigh Howard ( born 18 October 1989 ) is an Australian professional racing cyclist for UCI Continental team ACA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast .
Mitchelton-Scott ( UCI team code : MTS ) is an Australian professional road race cycling team . Launched in January 2011 , it competes at UCI WorldTeam level . The team is under the management of Andrew Ryan and Shayne Bannan with Neil Stephens and Matt White as Sporting Directors . The team ride Scott bikes , wear Giordana Cycling clothing , and wear Scott eyewear . The team has financial backing from Australian businessman Gerry Ryan who owns Jayco Australia . The team has a women 's team and supports its riders competing in track cycling . In 2017 they also established a development team , Mitchelton-BikeExchange . In June 2016 , ahead of the 2016 Tour de France the team announced BikeExchange , an Australian cycling retailer , was stepping up as a title sponsor of the team . Team owner , Gerry Ryan , had previously sought to secure further sponsorship after Orica announced they would stop sponsoring the team after the 2017 season . As of the 2018 season the team is known as Mitchelton-Scott , with Mitchelton Wines as a major sponsor .
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte ( born 25 April 1980 ) is a Spanish road racing cyclist , who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Movistar Team . Valverde 's biggest wins have been the Vuelta a España in 2009 , Critérium du Dauphiné in 2008 and 2009 , Tour of the Basque Country in 2017 , Volta a Catalunya in 2009 , 2017 and 2018 , Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2006 , 2008 , 2015 and 2017 , La Flèche Wallonne in 2006 , 2014 , 2015 , 2016 and 2017 , the Clásica de San Sebastián in 2008 and 2014 , the 2006 and 2008 UCI ProTours , the 2014 and 2015 UCI World Tours , and the road race in the 2018 World Championships . Overall , Valverde has 123 professional wins . Prior to his Worlds win , he already held the record for most medals won at World Championships - he twice collected the silver medal in the World Championships , in 2003 and 2005 , as well as the bronze four times in 2006 , 2012 , 2013 and 2014 . As of 2019 , Valverde has placed in the Top 10 of a Grand Tour nineteen times . Valverde is rare in combining different specialities in road bicycle racing , being a strong climbing specialist , sprinter and a good time-trialist . The online database Cycling Ranking ranks him as the 4th best cyclist of all time . After a lengthy court battle , he was suspended for two years as part of the Operación Puerto blood doping investigation , but he returned to competition in 2012 upon completion of the ban . All his results from 2010 were stripped , including the overall win in the 2010 Tour de Romandie , and he did not compete in 2011 .
Movistar Team ( UCI team code : MOV ) is a professional road bicycle racing team which participates at UCI WorldTeam level and has achieved thirteen general classification ( GC ) victories in Grand Tours . The title sponsor is the Spanish mobile telephone company Telefónica , with the team riding under the name of the company 's brand Movistar . The team was formed as Reynolds , led by Ángel Arroyo and later by Pedro Delgado , who won a Tour de France and a Vuelta a España , and was subsequently sponsored by Banesto , under which name the team included 5-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain and Alex Zülle , twice winner of the Vuelta a España . The team offices are in Egüés , a municipality of Navarre , Spain , in the metropolitan area of Pamplona . A later sponsor was Caisse d'Epargne , a French semi-cooperative banking group . Having previously used Pinarello bikes , the team rode Canyon frames in 2014 , with Campagnolo parts . Since 2008 , Eusebio Unzué has been the manager of the team after the long running manager , José Miguel Echavarri , retired from the sport . The directeurs sportifs of the team are José Vicente García , Pablo Lastras , José Luis Jaimerena , José Luis Arrieta and Max Sciandri .
La Méditerranéenne , previously known as Tour Méditerranéen , is a professional road bicycle racing event held in Spain , France and Italy , close to the Mediterranean Seaside . Run over four days , it holds a 2.1 rating on the UCI Europe Tour . The event is part of a series of stage races being held in the south of France in February , alongside the Étoile de Bessèges , the Tour du Haut Var and the Tour La Provence . These early-season races are competed mainly by French teams and are considered preparations for Paris-Nice , the first European World Tour event in March .
Thomas Löfkvist ( born 4 April 1984 ) is a Swedish former professional road bicycle racer who last rode for the UCI Professional Continental team IAM Cycling . Since 2015 Thomas Löfkvist is general manager of Swedish professional cycling team Team Tre Berg-PostNord . He became the youngest Swedish professional road bicycle racer when he started his professional bicycling career in FDJeux.com at the age of 19 in 2004 . Löfkvist was a good time trialist with solid climbing abilities , winning the Monte Paschi Eroica in 2009 with a powerful attack during the steep final kilometer ascent . He has previously used , both within and outside of the cycling world , the surname spelling 'Lövkvist ' . Beginning with the cycling season of 2010 he is using his legal surname Löfkvist throughout .
IAM Cycling was a Swiss registered UCI WorldTour cycling team , managed by former French road race champion Serge Beucherie . The title sponsor was IAM Independent Asset Management SA , a Swiss investment management company .
The 2013 Volta ao Algarve was the 39th edition of the Volta ao Algarve cycling stage race . It was rated as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour , and was held from 14 to 17 February 2013 , in Portugal . The race was won by Germany 's Tony Martin , of Omega Pharma-Quick-Step courtesy of his dominant victory in the final ITT stage winning the time trial by over a minute . Martin 's winning margin over his teammate and runner-up Michal Kwiatkowski was 58 seconds , and Dutch rider Lieuwe Westra ( Vacansoleil-DCM ) completed the podium , a further second behind Kwiatkowski and 59 seconds down on Martin . In the race 's other classifications , Italian Giacomo Nizzolo ( RadioShack-Leopard ) won the points classification , Portugal 's Hugo Sabido ( LA Alumínios-Antarte ) won the sprints classification , Italy 's Manuele Boaro of Saxo-Tinkoff won the green jersey for the mountains classification , and RadioShack-Leopard finished at the head of the teams classification .
Portugal ( Portuguese : [ puɾtuˈɣal ] ) , officially the Portuguese Republic ( Portuguese : República Portuguesa [ ʁɛˈpuβlikɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ ] ) , [ note 5 ] is a country located mostly on the Iberian Peninsula , in southwestern Europe . It is the westernmost sovereign state of mainland Europe , being bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain . Its territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira , both autonomous regions with their own regional governments . Portugal is the oldest nation state on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in Europe and the world , its territory having been continuously settled , invaded and fought over since prehistoric times . The pre-Celtic people , Iberians , Celts , Carthaginians and Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigoths and Suebi Germanic peoples . After the Muslim conquests of the Iberian Peninsula , most of the territory was part of Al-Andalus until their expulsion . Portugal as a country was established during the early Christian Reconquista . Founded in 868 , the County of Portugal gained prominence after the Battle of São Mamede in 1128 . The Kingdom of Portugal was later proclaimed following the Battle of Ourique in 1139 , and independence from León was recognised by the Treaty of Zamora in 1143 . On 12 December 2017 , the Portuguese Navy commemorated the 700th anniversary of its official creation by King Denis of Portugal . Tracing its origins back to the 12th century , it is the oldest continuously serving navy in the world . In the 15th and 16th centuries , Portugal established the first global empire , becoming one of the world 's major economic , political and military powers .
Tony Hans-Joachim Martin ( born 23 April 1985 ) is a German professional road bicycle racer , who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jumbo-Visma . Martin is known as a time trial specialist , and is a four-time world champion in the discipline , having won the title in 2011 , 2012 , 2013 and 2016 . He also won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London , finishing runner-up to Bradley Wiggins in the event . Martin has also been a part of three world championship-winning team time trial squads with Omega Pharma-Quick-Step/Etixx-Quick-Step , in 2012 , 2013 and 2016 . Martin has also won seven Grand Tour stages , including five individual time trial stages - three at the Tour de France in 2011 , 2013 and 2014 , and two at the Vuelta a España in 2011 and in 2014 . He has also won several stage races , including the Eneco Tour ( 2010 ) , Paris-Nice ( 2011 ) and the first two editions of the Tour of Beijing in 2011 and 2012 .
Deceuninck-Quick-Step ( UCI team code : DQT ) is a Belgian UCI WorldTeam cycling team led by team manager Patrick Lefevere . The directeurs sportifs are Davide Bramati , Wilfried Peeters , Rik Van Slycke , Tom Steels , Brian Holm and Jan Schaffrath .
The Trofeo Laigueglia is an early season road bicycle race held annually in Liguria , Italy . From 2005 to 2014 , the race was organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour . It is held about ten days after the opening to the Italian season , the Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi . In 2015 , it was held as a 1.HC event .
Italy ( Italian : Italia [ iˈtaːlja ] ( listen ) ) , officially the Italian Republic ( Italian : Repubblica Italiana [ reˈpubblika itaˈljaːna ] ) , is a European country consisting of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and surrounded by several islands . Italy is located in south-central Europe , and it is also considered a part of Western Europe . The country covers a total area of 301,340 km2 ( 116,350 sq mi ) and shares land borders with France , Switzerland , Austria , Slovenia , and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino . Italy has a territorial exclave in Switzerland ( Campione ) and a maritime exclave in the Tunisian Sea ( Lampedusa ) . With around 60 million inhabitants , Italy is the third-most populous member state of the European Union . The capital and largest city is Rome ; other major cities are Milan , Naples , Turin , Palermo , Genoa , Bologna , Florence and Venice . Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean , Italy has historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures . In addition to the various ancient peoples dispersed throughout what is now modern-day Italy , the most predominant being the Indo-European Italic peoples who gave the peninsula its name , beginning from the classical era , Phoenicians and Carthaginians founded colonies mostly in insular Italy , Greeks established settlements in the so-called Magna Graecia of Southern Italy , while Etruscans and Celts inhabited central and northern Italy respectively . An Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC , which eventually became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People . The Roman Republic initially conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the Italian peninsula , eventually expanding and conquering parts of Europe , North Africa and Asia . By the first century BC , the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became a leading cultural , political and religious centre , inaugurating the Pax Romana , a period of more than 200 years during which Italy 's law , technology , economy , art , and literature developed . Italy remained the homeland of the Romans and the metropole of the empire , whose legacy can also be observed in the global distribution of culture , governments , Christianity and the Latin script .
Filippo Pippo Pozzato ( born 10 September 1981 ) is an Italian former road racing cyclist , who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the Mapei-Quick-Step , Fassa Bortolo , Quick-Step-Innergetic , Liquigas , Team Katusha , Lampre-Merida , and two spells with the Farnese Vini-Selle Italia/Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia teams . A northern classics specialist , Pozzato finished in second place at both the 2009 Paris-Roubaix and the 2012 Tour of Flanders . Pozzato finished a total of 37 Monument classics , including a victory in the 2006 Milan-San Remo ; he finished second in the race in 2008 as well . Pozzato also won stages at the 2004 Tour de France , the 2007 Tour de France and the 2010 Giro d'Italia , and was the winner of the 2009 Italian National Road Race Championships .
UAE Team Emirates ( UCI team code : UAD ) is an Emirati road bicycle racing team . The team competes at UCI WorldTeam level and has done so since the UCI World Tour was formed as the top category of road cycling in 2005 . However the team was temporarily suspended from the ProTour in 2010 , missing one ProTour event . The general manager , Giuseppe Saronni , was himself a famous professional cyclist , a world champion and winner of two editions of the Giro d'Italia .
The Tour du Haut Var ( English : Tour of the Haut Var ) is an early-season two-day road bicycle race in the Var department region in the south of France . Until 2008 it was run as a one-day race , part of the UCI Europe Tour . In 2009 , the race transformed to a 2.1 event , raced over two days . Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk and France 's Arthur Vichot hold the record with three wins . The Tour du Haut Var is one of several stage races held in the hilly Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in February , alongside the Étoile de Bessèges , La Méditerranéenne and the Tour La Provence . These early-season races are competed mainly by French teams and are considered preparations for Paris-Nice , the first European World Tour event in March .
Arthur Vichot ( born 26 November 1988 ) is a French professional cyclist , who currently rides for UCI ProTeam B & B Hotels-Vital Concept . He is the nephew of Frédéric Vichot , who won stages in the Tour de France in 1984 and 1985 .
Groupama-FDJ ( UCI team code : GFC ) is a French cycling team at UCI WorldTeam level . The team is managed by Marc Madiot , a former road bicycle racer and winner of the Paris-Roubaix classic in 1985 and 1991 . The team is predominantly French .
The Vuelta a Andalucía ( Tour of Andalusia ) or Ruta del Sol ( Route of the Sun ) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race first held in 1925 . Since 2005 , it has been a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour . The race will become part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020 . The nickname , Ruta del Sol , is in reference to the region 's popular tourist coastline the Costa del Sol .
The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia ( English : Tour of Murcia ) is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia , Spain . The first four editions were reserved to amateurs . Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages . However , due to Spain 's financial turmoil , the race was scaled back to three stages in 2011 and two stages in 2012 . From 2013 to 2018 the Vuelta a Murcia was organised as a single-day race and shifted to mid-February on the international calendar . In 2019 the race was expanded to two stages . It is part of the UCI Europe Tour as a 2.1 event .
Daniel Navarro García ( born 18 July 1983 ) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer , who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Israel Start-Up Nation .
Cofidis Solutions Crédits ( UCI team code : COF ) is a French professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by a money-lending company , Cofidis . It was started in 1996 by Cyrille Guimard the former manager of Bernard Hinault , Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon of the Renault-Elf-Gitane team of the 1980s . The team 's sponsor has supported the team despite repeated problems such as doping scandals . After it was part of the UCI ProTour for the ProTour 's first five seasons , from 2010 on the team competes as a UCI Professional Continental team . The team returned as part of the UCI World Tour for the 2020 season .
Beverbeek Classic is a single-day bicycle road race held annually in Hamont-Achel , in the Belgian region of Limburg . From 1998 to 2003 , it was reserved to amateurs . Since 2005 , it is organized as a 1.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour .
Belgium , [ A ] officially the Kingdom of Belgium , is a country in Western Europe . It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north , Germany to the east , Luxembourg to the southeast , France to the southwest , and the North Sea to the northwest . It covers an area of 30,689 km2 ( 11,849 sq mi ) and has a population of more than 11.5 million , making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe , with a density of 376 per square kilometre ( 970/sq mi ) . The capital and largest city is Brussels ; other major cities are Antwerp , Ghent , Charleroi and Liège . The sovereign state is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system . Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional and linguistic grounds . It is divided into three highly autonomous regions : the Flemish Region in the north , Wallonia in the south , and the Brussels-Capital Region . Brussels is the smallest and most densely populated region , as well as the richest region in terms of GDP per capita . Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups or communities : the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community , which constitutes about 60 percent of the population , and the French-speaking Community , which comprises about 40 percent of all Belgians . A small German-speaking Community , numbering around one percent , exists in the East Cantons . The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual ( French and Dutch ) , although French is the dominant language . Belgium 's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance , made up of six different governments .
Nick van der Lijke ( born 23 September 1991 in Middelburg ) is a Dutch racing cyclist , who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Riwal Readynez .
Rabobank Development Team was a professional bicycle racing team , the development team of the former Rabobank team now known as the Team Jumbo-Visma . The team folded after the 2016 season .
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad , previously Omloop Het Volk , is a one-day road cycling race in Belgium , held annually in late February . It is the opening event of the Belgian cycling season , as well as the first race of the year in Northwestern Europe , and holds significant prestige because of it . Since 2017 , the race is part of the UCI World Tour , cycling 's top-tier professional events . The race starts and finishes in Ghent , Flanders , and covers the hills in the Flemish Ardennes , marking the start of the cobbled classics season in Europe . Due to its early calendar date , it is characterized by often cold weather , coming as a contrast to the early-season stage races in the Middle East and Southern Europe . The day after the Omloop , Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne completes the opening weekend . Since 2006 , a women 's edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is held on the same day as the men 's race , starting and finishing in the same location , approximately 130 kilometres in distance . Both events are organized by Flanders Classics .
Luca Paolini ( born 17 January 1977 ) is an Italian former road bicycle racer , who rode professionally between 2000 and 2015 . He started his sports career in the early 2000s by joining Mapei-Quick-Step ( 2000-2002 ) , UCI ProTeam directed by Patrick Lefevere . Within Mapei-Quick Step and then its successor team Quick-Step-Innergetic ( 2003-2005 ) , Luca Paolini achieved several victories . Among them were first places at Gran Premio di Lugano , Giro del Piemonte and Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli . He has also won stages at Tour of Britain and Tour de Wallonie .
Katusha-Alpecin ( Russian : Катюша , UCI team code : TKA ) was a Swiss road bicycle racing team which competed at UCI WorldTeam level using Canyon bikes . The team was created in 2008 by Igor Makarov within the framework of the previously established Russian Global Cycling Project , which was intended to help cycling in Russia to move to a qualitatively new level . In 2017 the team took an international direction , still supported by Igor Makarov 's company ARETI International Group , clothing company Katusha Sports and German shampoo manufacturer Alpecin . The team competed as a UCI ProTeam/WorldTour team between 2009 and 2019 . Joaquim Rodríguez , Alexander Kristoff , Daniel Moreno , Simon Špilak , Filippo Pozzato , Luca Paolini , Ilnur Zakarin , and Tony Martin are some of the most successful riders who rode for Katusha . In 2019 , the team was taken over by Israel Cycling Academy , along with its UCI World Tour license .
Classic Sud-Ardèche ( also known as the Souvenir Francis Delpech ) is a road bicycle race held annually in late-February in the Ardèche department of France . The race was a National Event from its inception in 2001 until 2007 , before joining the UCI Europe Tour in 2008 as a 1.2 category race and becoming a professional 1.1 race in 2010 . Until 2013 , the race was known as Les Boucles du Sud-Ardèche , before a secondary race was added by the Ruoms Cyclisme Organisation - La Drôme Classic - to be held on the same weekend as the Classic Sud-Ardèche .
Mathieu Drujon ( born 1 February 1983 in Troyes ) is a French road bicycle racer for St. Michel-Auber93 . Drujon will retire at the end of the 2013 season , after six years as a professional .
St. Michel-Auber93 ( UCI team code : AUB ) is a UCI Continental cycling team based in France . The team is managed by Stephane Javalet with the help of Guy Gallopin and Stephan Gaudry . The team was founded in 1994 as Aubervilliers 93-Peugeot , a name they had until 1997 when they turned into BigMat-Auber 93 . The team has participated in the Tour de France in 1996 , 1997 , 1998 , 1999 and 2001 . In 2004 the name changed to Auber 93 , reverting to the current name in 2010 . In 2015 , BigMat once again stopped sponsoring the team .
The Clásica de Almería ( English : Classic of Almería ) is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in February or March in Almería , Spain , starting and finishing in Almería itself . Established in 1986 , the race was run as an amateur event in its first six years . In 1992 , it became fully professional . From 2005 , the race was organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour , and became part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020 as a 1.Pro event .
Mark Renshaw ( born 22 October 1982 ) is a retired Australian racing cyclist , who rode professionally between 2004 and 2019 for the Française des Jeux , Crédit Agricole , HTC-Highroad , Belkin Pro Cycling , Etixx-Quick-Step and Team Dimension Data teams . His most notable wins are the general classification of the 2011 Tour of Qatar , and the one-day race Clásica de Almería in 2013 . From 2009 to 2011 and from 2014 until his retirement , Renshaw was known as the main lead-out man for fellow sprinter Mark Cavendish at HTC-Highroad , Etixx-Quick-Step and Team Dimension Data .
Team Jumbo-Visma is a men 's professional bicycle racing team , successor of the former Rabobank . The team consists of three sections : ProTeam ( the UCI WorldTeam team ) , Continental ( a talent team racing in the UCI Europe Tour ) , and Cyclo-cross . The cycling team was founded for the 1984 season under the name Kwantum-Decosol , anchored by Jan Raas , with mostly cyclists coming from the TI-Raleigh cycling team . With Raas as directeur sportif from 1985 onwards , the head sponsor was succeeded by Superconfex , Buckler , Wordperfect and Novell , respectively , before Raas signed a contract with Rabobank , a Dutch association of credit unions , in 1996 . After Rabobank sponsorship ended in 2012 , it was known as Blanco , Belkin , and then Lotto-Jumbo . Since 1984 , the team has entered every Tour de France and since the introduction of divisions in 1998 , the team has always been in the first division . A 2012 investigation by Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant concluded that doping was at least tolerated , from the team 's 1996 beginnings as Rabobank until at least 2007 .
Le Samyn is an annual single-day road bicycle race in Belgium , held usually in late February or early March . The event was created in 1968 as Grand Prix de Fayt-le-Franc , named after the former municipality where it started and finished . In 1970 it was renamed Grand Prix José Samyn as a tribute to José Samyn , the race 's first winner who died in a race accident in 1969 . Johan Capiot holds the record with three wins .
Alexey Tsatevich ( born 5 July 1989 ) is a Russian professional road bicycle racer , who last rode for UCI Professional Continental team Gazprom-RusVelo .
The Gran Premio Città di Camaiore was a road bicycle race held in Camaiore , Tuscany , Italy . Since 2005 , the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour . It was an amateur race between 1949 and 1965 . It was traditionally held in August , but in 2013 and 2014 , was held in February . In 2014 it was announced that the race would be discontinued .
Peter Sagan ( Slovak pronunciation : [ ˈpɛtɛr ˈsaɡan ] ; born 26 January 1990 ) is a Slovak professional road bicycle racer , who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Bora-Hansgrohe . Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career , winning the Junior Mountain Bike World Championship in 2008 , before moving to road racing . Sagan is considered one of cycling 's greatest talents , having earned many prestigious victories , including three consecutive World Championships , one European Championship , two Paris-Nice stages , seven Tirreno-Adriatico stages , one in the Tour de Romandie , three and the overall classification in the Tour de Pologne , a record seventeen stages and the overall in the Tour of California , and another fifteen in the Tour de Suisse . He has won a number of classics , including the Monument races Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders , three Gent-Wevelgem races and E3 Harelbeke , together with sixteen stages in Grand Tours : twelve at the Tour de France and four at the Vuelta a España . After having become the first rider to win the points classification of the Tour de France on his first five attempts , he went on to win it a record seven times , in 2012 , 2013 , 2014 , 2015 , 2016 , 2018 and 2019 . Following his win at the 2017 UCI World Road Race Championships , Sagan wore the rainbow jersey for the duration of 2018 for an unprecedented third consecutive season . He currently represents the German team Bora-Hansgrohe , which he joined in 2017 .
Cannondale Pro Cycling Team ( UCI team code : CAN ) , previously known as Liquigas , was an Italian professional road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour .
Dwars door West-Vlaanderen is a road bicycle race through the Belgian province of West Flanders .
Kristof Vandewalle ( born 5 April 1985 ) is a Belgian former professional road cyclist , who rode professionally between 2008 and 2015 for the Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator , Omega Pharma-Quick-Step and Trek Factory Racing teams . While a member of the Omega Pharma-Quick-Step squad , he won two successive World Team Time Trial Championships and two consecutive Belgian National Time Trial Championships . In the 2014 season , Vandewalle was riding for Trek Factory Racing , after three seasons with Omega Pharma-Quick-Step and its precursor Quick-Step . His first victory in the team 's colours was a third national time trial championships in May 2014 , in Hooglede .
The 2013 Strade Bianche was the 7th edition of the international one-day cycling race Strade Bianche . The race was held on 2 March 2013 , on the same route of the previous edition . The race started in Gaiole del Chianti and ended in Piazza del Campo in Siena . The race was won by Cannondale 's rider Moreno Moser , the nephew of Francesco Moser . His team-mate Peter Sagan was second and Rinaldo Nocentini of Ag2r-La Mondiale was third . Moser attacked together with Juan Antonio Flecha with 17 km to go , chased down the four fugitives Michael Schär , Maxim Belkov , Giairo Ermeti and Aleksejs Saramotins , and attacked again for a solo breakaway on the final climb in the last kilometer .
Moreno Moser ( born 25 December 1990 ) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist , who rode professionally between 2012 and 2019 for the Cannondale , Cannondale-Drapac , Astana and the Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizanè teams . Born in Trento , Moser comes from a family of professional cyclists ; his uncles Francesco and Aldo both finished in the top five overall placings of Grand Tour events , with Francesco winning the Giro d'Italia in 1984 , and another uncle , Enzo , also wore the leader 's jersey in the Giro . His father Diego , brothers Leonardo and Matteo and cousin Ignazio also competed professionally . He was named in the start list for the 2015 Vuelta a España .