Lappartient's is a virtue? Pro Cycling 2018

[Me Old Flower]

Chantal Blaak has just had to abandon the Ronde van Drenthe. Nasty pile up on a muddy corner of pave.

[ursus arctos]

Marc Soler wins by four seconds after the Izagirre brothers take each other out with less than 5km to go.

[ursus arctos]

Reports that Gaviria's broken hand will keep him out of all of the spring classics, not just MSR

[longeared]

That's a right bugger. Not really been his season so far has it?

Team WIGGINS won a race yesterday - Gabriel Cullaigh took the opening stage of something called the Volta ao Alentejo. Outsprinted Justin Jules though, which makes it a pretty decent result.

[Kevin S]

I watched the Nokere Koerse yesterday, a pretty decent race. A nice chance for the second and some third tier teams to show themselves off over the cobbles. A good race for Aqua Blue Sport, for example, with Conor Dunne going solo for a good stretch, but as the chase groups got swallowed up by a reduced bunch late on he was reeled in. Then Andy Fenn came fifth in the sprint, with Quick-Step's 21 year old Fabio Jakobsen taking his first pro win.

The field of sprinters is a bit reduced for the 'sprinter's monument' this year, isn't it? Sagan has been stoking the flames by saying he wouldn't want to win by following wheels like Kwiatkowski did last year. So the balance of riders and strategies should be interesting. As always, a good place to get a feel for it is The Inner Ring:
http://inrng.com/2018/03/the-sanremo...tv/#more-33123

[ursus arctos]

We watched that too and found it surprisingly entertaining.

I would also note Van Aert's efforts in the last 5 km. He strung the peloton out so that the final sprint was contested by a much smaller group than looked likely.

Jakobson just blew by the competition in the final 100 metres, which makes me wonder if Lefévère is raising sprinters in some sort of laboratory.

There is a good chance it will rain on Saturday, which will make the race even more complicated.

[Kevin S]

The field according to Paddy Power:

[Kevin S]

We watched that too and found it surprisingly entertaining.

I would also note Van Aert's efforts in the last 5 km. He strung the peloton out so that the final sprint was contested by a much smaller group than looked likely.

Jakobson just blew by the competition in the final 100 metres, which makes me wonder if Lefévère is raising sprinters in some sort of laboratory.

There is a good chance it will rain on Saturday, which will make the race even more complicated.

Ah, that was Van Aert was it? (I had to watch without sound.) Yes, he did a great job; I guess the rough terrain and tight corners in the finale were playing to his strengths.

[Kevin S]

Oooh, the Dauphiné route is out:
http://inrng.com/2018/03/2018-criter...te/#more-33118

[ursus arctos]

Sagan is my favourite, but 2/1 is just ridiculous.

Can I get more than 150/1 on Benoot?

[Kevin S]

I think it means they've forgotten about him, and I'd have to ask them.

He's 80/1 on bet365 though (who have Sagan marginally shorter than 2/1).
https://www.bet365.com/?&cb=10580204.../E35962990/F2/

[longeared]

Benoot is at 66/1 with some firms. Though one bookie will give you 250/1 on Boonen.

Bet Coquard is delighted about that Dauphine route given that Vital Concept got a wild card - two possible sprints at absolute best. Finishing the whole thing on Le Bettex is a bit rubbish though, it's a climb that doesn't tend to create huge gaps and whoever is in the lead should just be able to defend up there after someone further down on GC has leapt away for the stage on the penultimate climb.

[ursus arctos]

21 year old Colombian Alvaro Hodeg wins the Handzame Classic for QuickStep after Jakobsen seemed to lose Hodeg's wheel in the sprint.

QuickStep's 14th win of the season, from seven different riders.

[ursus arctos]

It's a bit wet at the start

[delicatemoth]

I'm back! Btw, the reason I go missing from this thread for lengthy periods is that I'm usually watching races in arrears, so I don't want spoilers. Bit of a shame but live streams are often buffering hell for me, so there we are.

Magnus Cort Nielsen is my outside bet for today, but really I think Sagan will finally do it. Can't see Kwia repeating his trick.

Quickstep were excellent in the week's two classics, though they are still somewhat in my bad books after sending an overpowered team to 1.1 race Le Samyn and thus dominating what is normally one of the most exciting races of the season.

Charles Planet of Novo Nordisk is in the break, he's been showing off this fine team very well in the early season.

[ursus arctos]

Great to see you.

Almost every kilometer of this course has memories for us.

Eurosport going heavy on the adverts early in

[delicatemoth]

To be frank I'd like the TV to show it from the start, make that slow build even sloooooower, but I realise I do have more time on my hands than most people.

Eurosport going heavy on the adverts early in

They always do. I understand and accept it when they are actual paid adverts, but when they are just squibs for Eurosport itself (like those Winter Olympics bits) it's puzzling.

[ursus arctos]

Agreed on all points.

Ursus minor and I once walked to Pavia along essentially the same route, so the first 30 km would be especially evocative for us.

[delicatemoth]

I'm glad the teams are finally making an effort with branded rain jackets. Considering the attention normally paid to kit in cycling it always seemed weird that they'd often apparently chuck on random anoraks that made rider identification difficult.

[delicatemoth]

Big group onto the Poggio, containing all the main contenders (i think). Kittel got dropped a while back. Cavendish in a big crash just before the Poggio, he's pretty luckless these days.

[ad hoc]

Cavendish with a horrible crash

He hit a bollard straight on somersaulted in the air and landed on his back

[ursus arctos]

Just awful

[ursus arctos]

Bravissimo squalo!

[delicatemoth]

This race! Those last 10-15km always feel like the most important thing in the world. Bravo Nibali!

[Kevin S]

Oh, now that was a beautiful thing. So glad it finally came off for him in this race, what a brilliant win.