Milan – Sanremo

Alas, a combination of laziness and a hectic schedule mean I haven’t got around to previewing this awesome race, la classica di Primavera, the first monument of the season. There is a decent round up of the contenders at cycling news, which which I largely agree. If I was a betting man I would have to say Cavendish will win this hands down. Sky are very strong and Cavendish looks to be in excellent form, perhaps the best of his career. Whilst as British person and Cav fan, I still would love to see Nibali win this race, he almost alone amongst GT contenders tries to win this race and if he gets a well timed move could very well get an upset!

There is live coverage of this race on the Gazzetta di Sport website (link will be provided shortly)

Paris-Nice 2012 – Review

I didn’t get around to previewing this race, as I was not in the country and was busy. 

However, luckily the country I was in was France and hence I got the chance to view this race live on French TV

. I will not go through stage by stage, I will pick out some key points and good rides. This race this year had a decent parcours,

 with entertaining stages and a good GC battle. Particular stage wins which deserved highlighting are; Thomas De Gendt ‘s win

 into Nice, a spectacular show of strength, Lieuwe Westra’s (he convincing beat some strong riders) win on the Montée Laurent

 Jalabert and Tom Boonen’s win in Orléans (been a good year for him, he’s still got it). 

 Indeed, the number of wins from breakaways was good 

and lead to exciting viewing. 

It was a good Paris-Nice for 

Team Sky- A slight obvious point given Bradley Wiggin’s win, however still worth pointing out.

 Both Wiggins and Sky were strong, controlling the race and 

Vacansoleil –DCM – several stages wins, 2nd place for Westra and polka dot jersey for Veuchelen. This team is looking strong

Omega-Pharma-Ouickstep – Apart from the atroius luck Leipheimer had on the penulamte day was a good race for this team. 

Stage good stage win for Boonen, good performance from Leipheimer who is looking very strong and solid team performance.

It was a bad Paris-Nice for

Team Eurocar – Home of their “home” races and they didn’t have any success

·         RadioShack-Nissan-Trek –Kloden looks weak, A. Schleck’s performance was poor

It was a mixed Paris-Nice for

BMC – Illness caused havoc in the squad ruining Hushovd’s race, however Tejay Van Garderen put in a solid performance

Movistar – This team looked good throughout and Valverde is still near the top, however he still needs work.

There are a number of conclusions that can be drawn for the weeks racing, and which will be interesting to compare to the

 conclusions from Tirreno-Adriatico, which finishes in a couple of days time. 

Team Sky and Wiggins are very strong and looking very good for the TDF

 Same for Omega-Pharma-Ouickstep  and Leipheimer

  Boonen’s form is looking good for Milan-Sanremo and the upcoming cobbled classics

 Westra and Vacansoleil –DCM could turn out to be dark horses for the TDF

 Valverde looks good, but still needs some work until he reaches his previous form

Tejay Van Garderen could win white jersey in TDF and looks even more like a name for the future

 

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