Pinot in there as well. Promises for a good early start. Hopefully he is still good in Paris Nice in a month time

Boonen ( finally ) wins Tour San Luis stage 7 !

Levi wins the overall, making it a great race for OPQS and Contador.

Great season start for both Omega and Lotto, so far.

Stage 7

1. BOONEN Tom OPQ
2. GUARDINI Andrea FAR
3. RICHEZE ARAQUISTAIN Mauro Abel DAN
4. CASPER Jimmy ALM
5. KEOUGH Jake UHC
6. RUBIANO CHAVEZ Miguel Angel AND
7. HAEDO Lucas Sebastian SAX
8. COLBRELLI Sonny COG
9. MARTINEZ REGALADO Yasmani -
10. AGUILAR FIGUERAS Hector Fabian



Master beating his student ... in a way Boonen looks great so far.

Yep. Let's see how they fare when the proper season starts.

Highlights of the Grand Prix cycliste d'Ouverture La Marseillaise :

Bit of surprise result in Etoile de Bessèges, Stage 1 :

1 Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ-BigMat)
2 Marcel Kittel (Project 1t4i)
3 Jempy Drucker (Accent Jobs–Willems Veranda’s
4 Bobbie Traksel (Landbouwkrediet)
5 Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM)
6 Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis)
7 Jure Kocjan (Team Type 1-Sanofi)
8 Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar)
9 Kevyn Ista (Accent Jobs–Willems Veranda’s)
10 Anthony Ravard (AG2R–La Mondiale)

Very nice result from Bouhanni, another great sprinter talent, set for a good season at FDJ hopefully.

They obviously changed the result again with Kittel being 4th now.

1 Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ-BigMat)

2 Jempy Drucker (Accent Jobs–Willems Veranda’s)

3 Bobbie Traksel (Landbouwkrediet)

4 Marcel Kittel (Project 1t4i)

5 Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM)

6 Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis)

7 Jure Kocjan (Team Type 1-Sanofi)

8 Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar)

9 Kevyn Ista (Accent Jobs–Willems Veranda’s)

10 Anthony Ravard (AG2R–La Mondial

Bouhanni indeed looks promising. Already had decent results 2011 in Oman and Turkey, where I saw him first.

It must be damn cold in France at the moment. Must be a real pain to ride you bike all day long.

I have to say Bouhanni had gone under my radar so far. He does seem like a guy to follow for the sprints.

And again, good to see that Traksel looks fine.

I wonder if all the doping talk has affected Kittel's perfomance here. Normally he would be able to beat these guys with ease.

Edit: For me it's not really a surprise to see Bouhanni doing well. I remember some good sprint results from him last year.

BTW, it looks clear Kittel got 2nd in the sprint. 4th might have been an early mistake it seems. Or he got relegated afterwards, but I don't think so.

French telly, for what it's worth (not much...), announced Kittel second as well.

He was on the podium too, so the 4th place result was just an initial mistake, I suppose.

Oh well: 2nd place is the first loser, but the 4th place is the one that get kicked off the podium.

Think Kittel doesn't care

Jean-Christophe Peraud From Ag2r finished nearly 4 minmutes down, I would have though he'd be a good chance for the overall for his team?

Way too early in the season for him. He would also perform much better if there was a TT.

Yeah he didn't achieve a great deal last season, so it would be nice if he managed some strong resutls in the early season.

Think he cut through some muscles in his hand in a fall early in the season and could hardly move it afterwards. He even thought he had to quit cycling, so very nice to see him back.

I remember him being injured but I didn't remember it being that bad. Hopefully he is all set for a strong cobbled season.

Kittel back to winning ways, important victory for Kittel. Should boost his confidence and morale at this time.

Etoile de Bessèges, Stage 2 :

1 Marcel Kittel (Project 1t4i)
2 Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM)
3 Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ-BigMat)
4 Daniele Colli (Team Type 1-Sanofi)
5 Justin Jules (Véranda Rideau-Super U)
6 Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen)
7 Jempy Drucker (Accent Jobs–Willems Veranda’s)
8 Sébastien Chavanel (Europcar)