I felt it coming it's called anticipation!
For some reason, though, I can't keep CX running at a high speed all the time. It takes up a lot of time so it's impossible to keep up all year round so it goes in waves a bit. Mainly because I only want to write when I feel like (and when I have the time)

Hooray! Another interesting race Ian

Not sure how to feel about Sylvain's result there with Vague's trouble (injury? Illness?) Sylvain was the best rider there but he fell for Vague's ruse and had to settle for third, but still happy with him there and back to 8 points off Vague in the Superprestige.

Thanks for the report Ian

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Hope to have next preview up tomorrow but I'm expecting some reaction posts from you all, too

Aosta Valley preview.
Last year was a nice moment, with Mazzarelli taking it with the home crowd.
Different situation this year, though.

Now that was long ago! But here's another Piece of History, finally!

Quite a nice surprise, indeed it's been some time since the last trip down memory lane. Expecting a tough race in Aosta.

Good to see a very nice piece of some juicy CX history, and developing one for the riders you had mentioned that hadn't had as many stories was nice too. Now, bring on Aosta!

As I've said months ago, April - first week of May will be a very busy time for me (last internship of the school year)

That said, I hope not to fall on my ass completely, especially since I've just run the result for Aosta and I can't wait to report on it. But I'll do it when I have time, when I'm on schedule with my work

Always an eventful and special race, Aosta Valley is ready! Really enjoyed writing it
Up next will be Alpe d'Huez and that'll conclude Superprestige December (well, still Christmas Classic then, but Alpe will be 4th and final Superprestige in December)

Jesus, Lipawsky's turning into Lipaw3ky

Rider	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Francis N. Vague	6	2	2
Matt Mazzarelli	2	4	1
Eddie Goldenberg	2	1	0
Pieter Van Dyck	2	0	0
Milan Listerijn	1	1	2
Iban Etxeberdea	1	1	2
Shay Gormley	1	1	0
Sylvain Lipawsky	1	0	7
Sven Welling	1	0	0
Robin Huser	1	0	0
Mustafa Moli	1	0	0
Max Power	1	0	0
Elliot Cook	0	3	2
Paul Rosanski	0	2	0
Jan Soucek	0	2	0
Christian Schiltz	0	2	0
Fred Markson	0	1	0
Mohuti Sow	0	0	1
Chris Young	0	0	1
Baris Dao	0	0	1
Arthur Ledoux	0	0	1

Really awesome report Ian, enjoyed that one, my heart was thumping and...
GET IN YOU BEAUTY!


Lipawsky

Meh unlucky vague but trophy isnt lost yet!

If it was anyone else, I'd laugh at you...

So many thirds! He's almost worst than Rojas.

Thanks Ian for another exciting report and congrats jandal.

But, you know, make Sylvain win next time

I can't wait to see Vague's game thread post after that race.

It was a nice showing from Dubois despite not quite being 100%, hopefully that top 5 is proof of form and he'll kick on from that in the next couple of races.

Forcellini didn't have the most active race but hopefully as he continues to race with the seniors for the next few weeks he'll start adjusting to the pace and the step up from the under 23's.

And I'm surprised Cook couldn't quite manage a victory before his crash but I guess Vague was extremely dominant early season.

If that crash has bad repercussions for Vague it could throw everything really wide open and make the next couple of races uncontrollable and hard to predict.

*Disclaimer: the above is my thoughts/ ramblings, it does not reflect the views of either of my riders, I'm yet to decide how to react to that race in character for either of them, I will probably need to re read it once I'm in the character's mindset.

Alpe d'Huez preview!
A rare race with only 1 top favorite.

Also interesting fact: Last year the Superprestige looked like this going into Alpe:

1	Francis N. Vague	82
2	Elliot Cook	72
3	Matt Mazzarelli	63
4	Sylvain Lipawsky	59
5	Dries Cornelis	54
6	Christian Schiltz	47
7	Baris Dao	42
8	Hafthor Eldfjallsson	35
9	Jan Soucek	30
10	Iban Etxeberdea	27

Now, it looks like this:

1	Francis N. Vague	82
2	Sylvain Lipawsky	74
3	Matt Mazzarelli	73
4	Milan Listerijn	45
5	Pieter Van Dyck	44
6	Olivier Dubois	41
7	Christian Schiltz	40
8	Iban Etxeberdea	36
9	Eddie Goldenberg	27
10	Jan Soucek	26

So, yes, Vague with a good run, but after his perfect start he lost some points and it actually on the exact same course as last year, which ended in him winning the trophy, though. But behind him, Mazzarelli and Lipawsky have done way better and are really close. Even better than Cook in his days!
Watch out, Vague!

EDIT: And, 6 riders in both top 10s, meaning the peloton hasn't changed significantly. Some big chances, obviously, but you see the same names popping up, too. Vague, Lipawsky, Mazzarelli, Schiltz, Etxeberdea and Soucek.

Yeah, it's definitely more closed down with it being 3 riders in contention however Cook lost points through Lisbon-Gate last year, so he would have been arguably in the lead actually at that point.

Loved to read this. I'll get a blog post in as soon as I have 1 consecutive hour to write stuff. Result will make for a very interesting follow up of Matt's-Milan's exchange as well.

Thanks Ian :3

Eafly morning, but what is this referring to? The "right little champion" thing or what?

Yeah when Matt wrote about Milan being good but not good enough and Milan replied that we would see.