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Arnaud Démare’s Milan-San Remo winning ride on Strava

Data being scrutinised by many after allegations the Frenchman benefited from a tow up the Cipressa

This weekend’s Milan-San Remo saw FDJ’s Arnaud Démare emerge with the win. He was one of 42 pros to record their rides on Strava. The website shows that he rode 302.1km at an average speed of 42.3km/h. Among other achievements, he became King of the Mountain for the Cipressa, something which has become unusually newsworthy following suggestions he may have benefited from one of racing’s stickier bottles.

To get into a position to sprint for the win, Démare had to recover from a crash 30km from the finish. Gazzetta dello Sport aired the views of two riders – Astana's Eros Capecchi and Tinkoff's Matteo Tosatto – who accused him of getting a tow up the Cipressa as he chased back onto the peloton.

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Démare said he only "profited from the draft of the car" and his team have also denied the allegations. "If I had done something forbidden, I would have been disqualified," he said.

It’s tempting to look at Strava for evidence of naughtiness and cycling blog The Inner Ring has weighed up the merits of doing so. A common question has been how a sprinter like Démare could climb faster than Giro mountains competition winner Giovanni Visconti – but as Inrng points out, Ian Stannard – hardly a featherweight – led the Italian up the climb.

Former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski was another to secure a high profile KOM during the race. The Team Sky set a new Strava record for the Poggio having launched an attack on its lower slopes.

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