Freak weather in Italy was a recurring theme through the first half of the WorldTour calendar, with the Milan-San Remo and Giro d’Italia both victims of heavy snowfall.

At the former, the conditions caused organisers of the season’s first Monument to shorten the route, with the team buses called in after the Passo del Turchino was declared unrideable after 117km of racing, before restarting with 130km remaining on a re-routed course.

Whether the weather contributed to the end result will remain uncertain, but for South African ProContinental outfit MTN-Qhubeka, the 2013 Milan-San Remo became a defining moment not only in their team’s history but for the country, too.

German rider Gerald Ciolek found himself in an elite six-man leading group as they approached the finish line but with Classics king Fabian Cancellara and pre-race favourite Peter Sagan also in the mix-up, few picked Ciolek as the winner.

But Ciolek had other ideas, timing his sprint to perfection to claim the biggest win of his career as MTN-Qhubeka became the first African team to win a WorldTour event.