You are right about Kwiatek. I'm still not quite sure how he cramped out of the 2014 Lombardia

And as for another team, surely not back to the team on which he first became a veritable classics star ;)? I think it was 2013 when he was in the front of the race at RvV, until the Cancellara express passed him on the last ascent of Oude Kwaremont

They're just trolling other teams at this point. Everyone was keying off Viviani, so they rope-a-doped them with a switch-a-roo. And instead of being content with just a first place once the winning gap was opened Viviani kicked to get past Sagan. I hope that pissed off Sagan.

Last year I think I called him Mini Phil Gil. If he’d stop with the yelling at everyone and be more selectively aggressive and hide a bit more he can win all over the place except maybe Roubaix where he’d take a beating. Actually, he’s so good he can keep bitching and still win. U b u, Depp.

It's just way too early to be in top form. He is either at his top form or he has another gear! I suspect he is peaking for MSR personally and most other guys are just starting to come into form at MSR. It will be very interesting. Ala has to get away (todays sprint was not a true sprint) and that suits Sagan. For Sagan to win MSR he needs somebody else to attack and follow their move or get lucky in the sprint. Vivianni is clearly the fastest at the moment, Gaviria is likely building form. MSR is always the most intense final 20k of the year in my opinion, you never know what is going to happen.

I bet you’re right about Sagan being pissed off. His conundrum will be to follow a move by someone like Nibali on the Poggio and have Alaphilippe in tow or wait and hope for a messy sprint, in which he’s as good as anyone. Bora’s classics bench is as good as any when it come so to supporting their start rider. Problem is DQS’ has 3-4 guys who could win it.

that sort of arrogance just appears a bit unseemly...

i hope they get smashed

I just watched the finale again and it looked like GvA was actually the one to let s gap open. When Richeze went, Alaphilippe followed, and GvA couldn’t match the acceleration. Can’t blame DQS for that, they rode their race and other people botched the sprint.

Yeah, I can't fault DQS either. I just hope it pisses people off so MSR is interesting and not just another DQS clinic.

i'm just gonna giggle at that Freudian slip ;)

Preliminary picks for MSR:

Ewan, Sagan, Alaphilippe
Viviani, Valverde
Magnus Cort Nielsen?

So can Roglic take 25 seconds from Yates in 10km?

Who will win today?

Roglic has looked so good this year and I'm curious to see how he is going on the TT bike. I fear that 10km isn't long enough to get that time on Yates. Both the brothers really have worked hard on power and position of the TT bike over the winter and while I do think he loses a bit of time, 25 seconds would be hemorrhaging it. I also think given its the last day he will dig deep if needed. We shall see. Curious also to see how Tom D goes. Their TTT wasn't too good considering who they had.

I feel bad for Rohan Dennis. Between that brick of a helmet and bike, he can't win. Vicky is superior about chasing the finer details though. He will take the hour record in April.

He was a fantastic triathlete as well and is with an olympic swimmer. I'd love to see an older version of him take a crack at long course.

I don't know, he doesn't look *that* bad, though I'm unfamiliar with the Warp, or that model of Rudy Project. I'm sure he got a great club deal on the Rudy Project helmet though.

I'm putting my money on Roglic. As a trackie that's like taking two laps in a 10K pursuit. I could see Roglic taking two laps on Adam. Despite Simon's recent surprising TT performance.

In all fairness I was being hyperbolic about the bike, but I have seen enough testing with that helmet to know what its worth.

Dennis hasn’t been close this year, the gear must be driving him mad.

20k and my money would be on Roglic. 10k might not be enough real estate to overhaul Yates.

so about 1.75 kph (~1.1 mph) difference at the top end of speed.

doable, i would think

unless the Yates brothers do a switch-a-roo, and the guy who won the TT stage at Paris Nice starts

Roglic is a beast even if he doesn't win. What was hanging off his head though?

Outrageous win by Roglic. Who can stop him in the Giro? Only Bernal I think.

what's Tommy D doing again? Focusing exclusively on the Tour?

Giro. Its not looking great either.

Roglic is a beast.

TD didn't look stellar in the mountains but is still a force to content with in TT; he beat all the other GC guys, and on a course too short to favor him. He's def got more work to do, and/or Roglic is too early.

My only fear with Roglic is that he is too good too early. Then again, maybe we haven't even seen the best. For some reason after the Giro I want to say Tom D still plans on riding the Tour. I believe there are 3 TTs in the Giro so that should help Tom.

Sky and Lotto Jumbo both have incredibly good teams to protect their GC threats at the Giro.

Close to 60k of ITTs at Giro, including 34k in middle and 15k last stage. TD will take a load of time out of Bernal & Yates on that long one. If memory serves, he won last year's final TdF ITT that was about same length, and beat Roglic by more than a minute. And that last 15k when they're all on their knees could be more decisive than it looks on paper. If TD has proven one thing it's his resiliency late in a GT.

Talking about MSR, I haven't looked at the team rosters, is Bennet racing? that would sure be a good foil for Sagen and after Paris - Nice, Bennett is looking in some awesome form.
With all the talk about Kwiat leaving teams for a team that would give him more support, the same is true for Bennett, a whole world tour team can be built around him and I am sure he would deliver lots of (more) wins.

Bennett is THE Dark Horse. He gave up the Green jersey at PN (he had 37 pts, MK won on 33 pts) to recover for MSR. Not sure that this was a good move.

Bennett is the best climber of the pure sprinters. If he can get over the Poggio with the lead group then he can win. If Sagan is there as well it will be fun to watch, everyone marking Sagan while Bennett flies by doing a Ciolek.

Not ruling out Ewan. He rode remarkably well in the crosswinds at PN - always indicates good form. I can see Bennett and Ewan marking each other.