Great overall performance from Menchov and he totally deserves the Race victory

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Tirreno - Adriatico)

1		Peter Sagan	Vacansoleil	147.42
2		Denis Menchov	Quickstep	144.12
3		Tony Gallopin	Quickstep	113.12
4		Fränk Schleck	Radioshack	86.62
5		Marcel Kittel	Discovery	82.62
6		José Joaquin Rojas	HTC	74.37
7		Bauke Mollema	Vacansoleil	72.43
8		Sacha Modolo	Euskaltel	65
9		David López	Euskaltel	64
10		Hubert Dupont	Rabobank	55.25
11		Rui da Costa	Saxo Bank	53.25
12		Simon Gerrans	Radioshack	51.62
13		Davide Rebellin	Movistar	46
14		Ben Swift	Sky	46
15		Emanuele Sella	Astana	43

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Tirreno - Adriatico)

1		OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	305
2		VACANSOLEIL-DMC	233
3		TEAM RADIOSHACK-NISSAN	183
4		EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI	129
5		DISCOVERY CHANNEL	125
6		RABOBANK	100
7		HTC-HIGHROAD	91
8		SAXO BANK	89
9		SKY PROCYCLING	67
10		LOTTO-BELISOL	58

Quickstep have started the season like a house on fire

Sagan still leads

The E3 will be the first race classified HC ever in this story. The Belgian race gives a start to the 3 cobbled races that we will see this season, along with the Gent - Wevelgem and the Paris - Roubaix. The E3 is the hilliest of the 3, so we should expect a not-too-big group in the finish line of Harelbeke for the final sprint. Two seasons ago, in the first E3 of the story Jelle Vanendert even managed to win from the early breakaway in a very tight finish ahead of the favorites.

Favorites:

- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Belisol): Bjorn Leukemans is probably the biggest favorite for the E3 Prijs. The World Champion showed that he can dominate the classics world in the last part of the last season. However, strangely enough he hasn't been able to win any cobbled race to date. He has several times being hit with bad luck, like in last year's Ronde van Vlaanderen when he suffered an untimely puncture.
- Johan van Summeren (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Last year's winner of the Ronde has to be among the favorites for the win in the E3. However, being in the super team Quickstep has not helped him, as he couldn't be in the Tirreno and therefore arrives in Belgium short of racing days.
- Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing): Another one of the podium finishers in last year's Ronde is also among the favorites. The cobbles are his main target for the season and he probably has one of the best teams for the cobbles, as Benhard Eisel and Geraint Thomas will both be in Belgium.
- Sylvain Chavanel (Ag2r - La Mondiale): Chavanel has had a hard time in the Ag2r team since he arrived. Last year he had to settle for a podium place in the Clasica de San Sebastian as the best result of the season, but he was overshadowed for some part of the season by the young Thibaut Pinot. Therefore, Chavanel needs to prove that he still is the great rider that abandoned Quickstep to enroll in the French team.

Other notable riders for the race include Gregory Rast (Sky), Tom Boonen (Saxo Bank), Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Dries Devenyns and Pieter Weening (Quickstep) and Bernhard Eisel (BMC).

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2011	Jelle Vanendert	Alexandre Vinokourov	Pieter Weening

Startlist

Weening needs to start showing his face

That is the bad side of being in a super-team. He lost the leading role in many of the races. I can see Weening having trouble to fit in the new structure of Quickstep and having to change teams after this season.

Thats not good news at all, he may be better moving on then

E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke
Harelbeke - Harelbeke



The route of the E3 is the same that saw Jelle Vanendert win 2 years ago. The first part of the race is very flat, while the second half is plagued with hills and cobbled sections that will make the control of the race very difficult. On the bright side, it is a nice but windy day in Belgium.



The first half of the race was pretty quiet today. No team wanted any trouble in the first sections of cobbles, but Vacansoleil's leader for the race, Greg van Avermaet, crashed in the first of them. He didn't have trouble to rejoin. The break of the day is made of 8 riders, but none of them is really dangerous. The most important ones are: Sergio Henao (Sky), Thomas Voeckler (Movistar), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Radioshack) and Eros Capecchi (Liquigas). They had a gap of 5 minutes on the bunch before the start of the hills.



The first significant break in the bunch appeared with 50 kilometers remaining. A group of 11 riders got ahead, including Bjorn Leukemans, Johan van Summeren, Tom Boonen, Pieter Weening and Jurgen Roelandts. BMC and Ag2r are working in the main group to try to bring them back.



That group was eventually brought back, but what looked as the first selection came a bit later. This second break had around 25 riders and all the main favorites. They were about to catch the early break with 28 kilometers remaining. Among those left behind, the biggest surprises are Gregory Rast, Dries Devenyns and Geraint Thomas.



Shortly after the main favorite, Bjorn Leukemans, launches the first serious attack of the race and leaves everyone else behind. As he enters the last 20 kilometers he has 35 seconds on the chasing group. The organization in the chasers group is not good, although most of the favorites have domestiques with them.



Other attacks follow in the last section of cobbles. Alessandro Ballan is followed by Johan van Summeren and they soon open a small gap over the group. However, Leukemans is powering ahead and already has a gap of 1' 35''.



Johan van Summeren left Ballan behind and tried to go on his own. However, he was already losing 2 minutes with Leukemans as they enter the last 8 kilometers of the race. Meanwhile, Boonen and Pozzato have joined Ballan and are 2' 25'' behind Leukemans. The chasing group is now 3 minutes behind the leader.



The third group grew a little bit more, as Oscar Freire and Sylvain Chavanel made the group count rise to 5 in the last 4 kilometers. Degenkolb and Cancellara tried to do the same but didn't have enough gas. Meanwhile, Leukemans is already celebrating as he has a nice advantage in the streets of Harelbeke.



Bjorn Leukemans wins in Harelbeke! The World Champion finally takes a cobbled classic into his records. The Belgian made the last kilometer among the cheering of the local crowd. They were delighted to see Leukemans take the win on his own, riding for a Belgian team and wearing the rainbow jersey! The day was complete for the Belgians as Johan van Summeren arrived 2 minutes behind to take the second place.



Alessandro Ballan won the sprint for the third place in the podium ahead of Boonen and Pozzato, what means that Belgians and Italians topped the top 5 in today's race. Pozzato was quite a surprise, as he had a 2012 to forget but comes back to the highlight. However, he is going to have to walk a long way to be the rider that won the Milano - Sanremo 3 years ago.

The main conclusion from today's race is the dominance of Bjorn Leukemans. He has given his credentials looking forward to the Gent - Wevelgem and, more importantly, the Paris - Roubaix 2 weeks from now. The same main characters will race again in Gent on Sunday, where the dominance of Van Summeren and Leukemans will be put to a test.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Björn Leukemans	LOTTO-BELISOL	5h50'32
2		Johan Van Summeren	OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	+ 2'13
3		Alessandro Ballan	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 2'49
4		Tom Boonen	SAXO BANK - TINKOFF	s.t.
5		Filippo Pozzato	ASTANA	s.t.
6		Oscar Freire	RABOBANK	s.t.
7		Sylvain Chavanel	AG2R - LA MONDIALE	s.t.
8		John Degenkolb	OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	+ 3'17
9		Fabian Cancellara	TEAM GARMIN - SHARP	s.t.
10		Heinrich Haussler	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	+ 3'46

The World Champion is winning again

Got to love a rainbow-jersey victory. I hope Ballan can grab a win before the cobble season is up!

I'm happy that Leukemans finally won a cobbled race. He had had a lot of bad luck in the past...

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke)

1		Peter Sagan	Vacansoleil	147.42
2		Denis Menchov	Quickstep	144.12
3		Tony Gallopin	Quickstep	113.12
4		Fränk Schleck	Radioshack	86.62
5		Marcel Kittel	Discovery	82.62
6		José Joaquin Rojas	HTC	74.37
7		Bauke Mollema	Vacansoleil	72.43
8		Sacha Modolo	Euskaltel	65
9		David López	Euskaltel	64
10		Björn Leukemans	Lotto	57.12
11		Hubert Dupont	Rabobank	55.25
12		Rui da Costa	Saxo Bank	53.25
13		Simon Gerrans	Radioshack	51.62
14		Davide Rebellin	Movistar	46
15		Ben Swift	Sky	46

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke)

1		OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	343.5
2		VACANSOLEIL-DMC	233
3		TEAM RADIOSHACK-NISSAN	183
4		EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI	129
5		DISCOVERY CHANNEL	126.1
6		RABOBANK	111
7		SAXO BANK	111
8		LOTTO-BELISOL	102
9		HTC-HIGHROAD	91
10		SKY PROCYCLING	67

The second race of the Belgian cobbles weekend is the Gent - Wevelgem. Even though both the E3 and the Gent - Wevelgem run along the same part of Belgium this race isn't as hilly. The most probable outcome is normally a sprint of a reduced group. Two years ago Oscar Freire beat Bjorn Leukemans and Sylvain Chavanel in the final sprint.

Favorites:

- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Belisol): Bjorn Leukamans will be full of confidence after his win in the E3. The race in Gent doesn't fit him as well, as he would be looking for a more demanding route wither in terms of cobbles or in terms of hills. However, he is broadly recognized as the main favorite for the win.
- Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing): Ballan couldn't keep with the pace of the best on Friday, but the lack of hills favors him more than other cobblers. The Italian seems to be the main alternative to the Belgian dominance in the cobbles.
- Johan van Summeren (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Van Summeren took the second place in Harelbeke, but surely he would like to taste the first step in the podium again. Considering the amount of support that he enjoys being in the Quickstep team it is not so hard to think that he has a great chance of doing that.
- Gregory Rast (Sky Procycling): The Swiss had a really bad day at the E3 Prijs, where he missed the important cut. He ended up arriving almost 6 minutes late to the finish line. However, the Gent - Wevelgem suits him a bit better and Sky is hoping he can take a good result as the team is struggling to get them lately.

Other riders to follow in the race will be Sylvain Chavanel (Ag2r), Tom Boonen (Saxo Bank), Bernhard Eisel (BMC), Dries Devenyns (Quickstep) and the Rabobank duo Oscar Freire and Lieuwe Westra, including the defending champion of the race.

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2011	Oscar Freire	Bjorn Leukemans	Sylvain Chavanel

Startlist

Can Leukemans do back to back wins in Belgium

Gent - Wevelgem
Gent - Wevelgem



The Kemmelberg is the star of the Gent - Wevelgem. The cobbled climb is the judge of the race as, even though it is far from the finish line, the group that will fight for the victory normally comes ahead of the hill. It is a less hilly classic than the E3 so bigger groups tend to reach the finish line in Wevelgem.



No dangerous riders for the cobbles joined the break of the day, a group of 8 riders that included Damiano Cunego (Radioshack), Stefano Garzelli (Lampre), Thomas Voeckler (Movistar) and Giovanni Visconti (BMC). The day was very windy, much more than last Friday in Harelbeke and that meant that the early pace was slow. In the second cobbled section the group had 6 minutes on the bunch, but there were still 95 kilometers remaining.



Tom Boonen and the Saxo Bank team starting making the race very hard in the first couple of climbs. There are still 56 kilometers remaining, but the race is already in an important point. Alessandro Ballan seems to be much more active than in the E3, where he lost the important movement. The acceleration has also left the break very close, so slim chances for them now.



Bjorn Leukemans, Alessadro Ballan and Tom Boonen reached to the break after a movement by the Saxo Bank rider. In the last climb to the Kemmelberg they have 1' 15'' on Jurgen Roelandts, who is trying to bridge the gap, and 2 minutes on Chavanel's group of 15 riders.



The lead group was only composed of Ballan, Leukemans, Boonen and Haedo. However, the Argetinean was having all kinds of trouble to stick with them even though the pace wasn't too fast. They had 1' 25'' on Jurgen Roelandts and 1' 50'' on the group of Chavanel, Rast and Eisel. This group is very well organized and cutting the lead.



Sylvain Chavanel, Gregory Rast and Yoann Offredo are taking the responsibility to chase down the 4 guys in front. They sut the lead to 1 minute, but there are only 10 kilometers remaining. This group has been narrowed to only 9 riders by the high pace of the Ag2r guys.



The main favorites are caught by 5 other riders with only 4 kilometers remaining. It looks like the race will be settled in a sprint of this small group. Among those who joined the fight are Sylvain Chavanel, Gregory Rast and Bernhard Eisel.



However, once the sprint is launched it is clear that the guys in front had saved a lot of energies. Tom Boonen is the first to start sprinting and only Bjorn Leukemans can follow him. Further back, Sylvain Chavanel is third ahead of Alessandro Ballan.



Tom Boonen wins in Wevelgem! The very narrow sprint among the two Belgian ends with Boonen denying Leukemans by the slightest of the margins. The Lotto rider tried to come around Boonen but he didn't have the speed to overtake. It is clear after this weekend that the Belgians are the dominant force of the cobbles. They are the best positioned ahead of the Paris - Roubaix.

The third spot of the podium was again for Alessandro Ballan, as he seems the only rider that can face the Belgian forces. Clearly the three men that were able to save in the last kilometers had an edge on the rest of the riders in the first group. The disappointment of the race was today Johann van Summeren, as the Quickstep rider arrived in the third group 1' 30'' behind.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Tom Boonen	SAXO BANK - TINKOFF	5h57'28
2		Björn Leukemans	LOTTO-BELISOL	s.t.
3		Alessandro Ballan	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
4		Sylvain Chavanel	AG2R - LA MONDIALE	s.t.
5		Bernhard Eisel	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
6		Grégory Rast	SKY PROCYCLING	s.t.
7		Geraint Thomas	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
8		Jurgen Roelandts	LOTTO-BELISOL	s.t.
9		Juan Jose Haedo	SAXO BANK - TINKOFF	s.t.
10		Arnaud Demare	LOTTO-BELISOL	+ 57

Good win for Mr Boonen

But so unlucky for Leukemans, runner up for the second season running

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Gent - Wevelgem)

1		Peter Sagan	Vacansoleil	147.42
2		Denis Menchov	Quickstep	144.12
3		Tony Gallopin	Quickstep	113.12
4		Björn Leukemans	Lotto	90.12
5		Fränk Schleck	Radioshack	86.62
6		Marcel Kittel	Discovery	82.62
7		José Joaquin Rojas	HTC	74.37
8		Bauke Mollema	Vacansoleil	72.43
9		Tom Boonen	Saxo Bank	69.25
10		Sacha Modolo	Euskaltel	65
11		David López	Euskaltel	64
12		Alessandro Ballan	BMC	56.25
13		Hubert Dupont	Rabobank	55.25
14		Rui da Costa	Saxo Bank	53.25
15		Simon Gerrans	Radioshack	51.62

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Gent - Wevelgem)

1		OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP	343.5
2		VACANSOLEIL-DMC	233
3		TEAM RADIOSHACK-NISSAN	183
4		SAXO BANK	157.75
5		LOTTO-BELISOL	141.6
6		EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI	129
7		DISCOVERY CHANNEL	126.1
8		RABOBANK	111
9		BMC RACING TEAM	97.75
10		HTC-HIGHROAD	91

Ballan is edging closer... though Leukemans would still be my pick for Roubaix.

Roubaix will come soon enough, but we have Pais Vasco first. I think Leukemans will be the grand favorite but also think that Ballan will be tough to beat there.

Sutty, any bets for Roubaix?