Chapeau

...Gregario Forza's weekly "tip of the hat" 

Cobbles, Ik heb je gemist!! Oh, how I’ve missed you. Saturday felt like Spring, with a balmy 55 degrees in the Twin Cities and classics races playing on my laptop while I fry bacon and sip on coffee. It doesn't get much better. The racing was also fabulous with the Omloop featuring a selection of hard men battling it out for the win while all eyes were on Quickstep in the peloton, wondering “will they ever get organized?”, and KBK featuring a heroic a show of strength as one man staved off a chasing group and a peloton buzzing with fast men.

If the first weekend is a preview of things to come then we will be in for an exciting season with new faces and first time winners. It does seem as though there is a changing of the guard in the spring classics. Greg Van Avermaet, Tiesj Benoot, and Peter Sagan will feature the list of newcomers. However, the classics season is a long one, and how good can GVA be in April (Check his Palmares)? But that's for another post, another day.

Chapeau to Greg Van Avermaet for winning! The bridesmaid was wearing white at Omloop and out sprinted the World Champion, Peter Sagan, once again for victor. “Avi” showed tons of strength by going early and maintaining all the way to the line, taking away the sprint from Sagan. I was really happy for GVA to win a classic and will be cheering for him to take a monument this year.

Chapeau to Jasper Stuyven for his huge effort to win Kurne-Brussels-Kurne. I didn't think he had a chance at 10 km but he kept his lead out and even seemed to put time into the peloton in the final 3km. It was as though he was doing his best Fabian Cancellara impression. Once again a glimpse at the future of the classics and for Belgium, chapeau!

Chapeau to Peter Sagan for featuring in both races and just oozing panache, all while demonstrating the bad tactics that continue to haunt him in all places outside California. Chapeau to Alexander Kristoff, the Ice Harvester, was frozen in the peloton in both races but won the group sprint for second place at KBK.

This weekend the racing moves to white roads under the Tuscan Sun. Also, we start the race to the sun in France, Paris-Nice, in the first real, historic, World Tour stage race of the year. La Course au Soleil!