More Words About Cycling: Milano-San Remo, Gent-Wevelgem, and Ronde van Vlandaaren

De Ronde van Vlandaaren kicks starts at 12:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time on 1 April, so by the time you catch up with this it will likely be over. That's a shame, because it is almost always a great race, and for the Belgians it is the biggest race of the year.

Since we last visited the Milano-San Remo race finished with Vincenzo Nibali winning by breaking away from the leading group on the Poggio. I had said that the classics races are rarely won by GC riders, but Nibali has won all three of the Grand Tour races, so he is very much a GC rider. He is also a beast that managed to ride away from the best cyclists in the world in one of the hardest races on the calendar, so all credit to him.

How did Nibali win? He won in part because he is awesome, and also in part because the rest of the riders were squabbling amongst themselves about who would lead the chase after he broke away. This happens often, because riders know that they are not strong enough to participate in a chase because they will get outsprinted at the line by someone like Peter Sagan.

Sagan pointed out after the race that no riders were willing to work with him at Milano-San Remo, and he congratulated Nibali for having the balls to take it.

The video above shows the finish of Gent-Wevelgem, and it shows what happens if you leave your sprint too late. You can see the riders waiting for Sagan to take off, because they know if they go first then he will immediately get on their wheel and likely beat them to the line. The alternative is to wait for Sagan to start the sprint, and hope that you have the legs to keep up. Good luck with that.