He certainly is good in these smaller Italian classics! I'm looking forward to seeing him in the Ardennes later, and hopefully also the Giro.
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Strade Bianche: Preview March 2nd, 2014
We're set for some more Italian hills, and this time on the awesome gravel roads in Tuscany! Strong position throughout the entire race will be key to success, given how narrow the roads are in many places.
The final outcome will then be decided on the climb into Siena for the finish on Piazza del Campo.
Even with Ulissi busy elsewhere, Lampre are looking strong. Team leader Filippo Pozzato was strong in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and should have improved since then. His sprint could be useful if he starts the final climb in a good position.
Then there are two familiar faces from GP Camaiore: Kwiatkowski and Spilak. It'll be interesting to see how they fare against stronger competition posed by ex-world champion Philippe Gilbert. Those four are the clear favourites to me.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Except for a long-distance attack from Vini Fantini's Mauro Finetto, the race is completely uneventful up to the final 20 km. Everything looks set to explode from here however, with Philippe Gilbert blasting off the front!
Kwiatkowski sets off in pursuit of the Belgian on the next climb, accompanied by Moreno Moser.
Gilbert has some 30 seconds of advantage, having brought back Finetto.
Moser does in fact counter Kwiatkowski's move soon afterwards, hoping to close down Gilbert (and Finetto) on his own.
The two link up at the bottom of the next climb, with Finetto struggling to hang on. A few meters off the back, Kwiatkowski is also coming across; now together with Spilak.
More favourites up front means less interest in cooperation. Elmiger, Capecchi and Bardet therefore manage to cross the gap too.
As they descend down towards the final climb into Siena, a tired Kwiatkowski figures that there are likely more fresh riders in the group.
He therefore tries a little attack just before the road starts to go upward.
A gap does appear in front of Capecchi, but it is soon shut by Gilbert, who also bounces away from the others in the process.
The rest you can probably figure out. No competition for the impossible Belgian today!
An exhausted Kwiatkowski falls back to 4th. The podium is instead completed by Moser and Elmiger, who both really impressed today.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Second year running for this race since the return from a five-year absence. Rocca Massima, Rocca Priora and Campi di Annibale are the main difficulties this year too, along with the short Cappuccini ramp halfway down the final descent.
Whether the riders decide to make the day hard or not remains to be seen, however.
Quite possibly the strongest field we've faced all season, with many stars hoping to add the finishing touch to their form before the upcoming Tirreno-Adriatico.
RodrÃguez and Nibali look like the big favourites; followed by our own Kwiatkowski, Kreuziger and Urán. Then there's also the likes of Moser, Spilak and Elmiger, who should be watched out for after a good Strade Bianche.
The first two climbs are dealt with at a reasonably low speed, but once the tough Campi di Annibale looms ahead, Astana start increasing the pace to set up an attack from Nibali.
Kwiatkowski is also sitting in a very good position, assisted by Antomarchi.
First to go is someone else, however: Kreuziger
Kwiatkowski and Urán respond, while the early breakaway is swallowed.
An obviously very strong Kreuziger keeps up his rhythm for a long time, allowing him to open a gap to Kwiatkowski, Uran and Huzarski.
As those four start to pull away from the rest, other riders start panicking, afraid of missing a crucial move. A recently strong Francesco Bongiorno leads the way for these, followed by no one else than JoaquÃm RodrÃguez.
Up (or down, really) the road, the front four reach the Cappuccini wall. Kreuziger has extended his advantage to some 35 seconds, with Kwiatkowski fighting hard to close it down.
In the process, he cracks both Uran and Huzarski. They reach the top just a couple of meters off the back though, and manage to cling back on when the road starts to go down again.
Behind them, you can also see RodrÃguez (now ahead of Bongiorno) closing in.
Annoyingly, both Uran and Huzarski refuse to cooperate with Kwiatkowski from now onwards. He therefore tries attacking them on the descent, but ultimately fails.
The descent comes to an end with 20 km to go, along with Kwiatek's attacks. The group almost comes to a complete stop as a result of this, letting RodrÃguez and Bongiorno catch up after the lengthy chase. Kreuziger meanwhile increases his lead to 1'30.
Who's that in the background, though? Ciao, Mr. Savoldelli... I mean Nibali!
Unwilling to let the man from Astana back in contact, RodrÃguez puts in a big attack. Huzarski and Urán initially try to follow, but quickly sit up.
The attack is eventually closed down by Nibali, who just motored on after entering the group. His pace is in fact so hard that Kwiatkowski is unhitched!
So much for trying to get the others to cooperate.
One man who doesn't pop is Kreuziger. After 35 km solo, he raises his arms in celebration outside the Colosseum. Amazing ride from him.
Huzarski is a somewhat surprising 2nd, profiting from having done no work in the group whatsoever. Urán completes the podium, ahead of the only rider who might've been able to challenge Kreuziger: Nibali
Kwiatkowski comes home another minute later, beaten into 8th place by Rinaldo Nocentini. He tried his best, but it just didn't work today.
I think it's safe to say that Kreuziger just emerged as a very strong candidate for Tirreno-Adriatico!
The Saxo jersey in the third to last jersey looks so weird for some reason...
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
547984 - It's the 2012 jersey. I'm using that instead of 2013, since Tinkov isn't sponsoring them anymore in 2014.
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Paris-Nice: Preview March 3rd-10th, 2014
A very climber-friendly parcours this year. Strong time-triallists wont have much advantage over the pure climbers at all, since the only ITT on the route is the 3 km prologue. Barely any differences, in other words.
Following that are a couple of remarkably short flat stages, before finally reaching the decisive final three days. Mont-Faron should be the toughest finish, but the climby stages to Cannes and Nice should not be underestimated.
Movistar are clear front-runners for the overall victory, with Valverde, Quintana and Sánchez in their squad. There's always the chance of another tactical disaster like in AndalucÃa, however. You know what they say about too many cooks!
Contador, Moreno, Costa, Pozzovivo and Kangert look like the strongest names outside the Spanish squad. It is in fact a surprisingly weak startlist, but I guess that means Tirreno will be extremely hotly contested instead.
Oh, and there's one more guy who you can't discount from the overall even with several mountainous stages. I think he's Slovakian...
A prologue that measures a mere 3 km inside central Issy-les-Moulineaux - just outside Paris - kick-starts the race. A stage this short might seem pointless at first sight, but some relatively challenging uphill sections on the route should make sure that we get some time gaps anyway.
Like many times before, the fight for the stage win stood between world champion Tony Martin and ex-ditto Fabian Cancellara. The reigning champ came out on top in the end, three seconds faster than Spartacus.
The two TT-specialists were in a class of their own, really. Neither are likely to be a factor in the general classification, however.
The same can't be said for Alejandro Valverde or Peter Sagan, who followed in 3rd and 4th: both 7 seconds short of the win. Although it is still early in the race, I think it's safe to say that they've already cemented themselves as the two top favourites for claiming the overall!
Strade Bianche: Preview
Paris-Nice: Preview
