On the Rivet

...a look at who's racing hard this weekend 

Bring on the Cobbles!!!

For many people the Omloop marks the beginning of the season.  In conjunction with the slightly less prestigious Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, we have a pretty fun weekend of racing.  Tough weather, tough cyclists and tough courses.  And of course, how could we forget...COBBLES!

Omloop

The Omloop has been one of my favorite races since my boy Juan Antonio Fletcha won it back in 2010.  It got me into the classics and gave us this sweet poster:

Van der Fletcha
Intense

Admittedly, this race is usually not contested by the big guns, but that doesn't mean a few don't use it to flex their muscle a little bit.

Bitch, it's curtains

Who's looking good this year?
Well, look forward to my preview, but please, feel free to add your own thoughts in the mean time.

KBK

Yeah, sometimes it gets cancelled due
 to snow, not something I would advertise

I mean there are cobbles, but really this is a classic for the sprinters.  Not that that is all bad.  We did get this sweet poster out of the deal:

Apparently the course is guarded by some sort of Flandrian Ogre.  I mean, that's something to watch for.  

Who are the favorites? 

Check back to find out.

The Spokes Man

...talking points from The Commish. 

GC Men

Too early for Tour talk?

A couple stage races so far, including TdU and the desert triumvirate.  However, the race that was probably the most exciting so far is one that doesn't even count in our league.  The Vuelta a Andulucia, also known by the flashier name Ruta del Sol, is only rated a 2.1 making it a middle tier race that involves a few big name teams and several pro conti teams.  So imagine you are say Dylan Groenewegen of pro conti  Team Roompot.  You think hey, I'm hot shit, I'm in good shape, it's early in the season, this is going to be fun,  Next thing you know Tour de France Champions are ripping the peloton apart and you are hanging on for dear life.  Contador goes, you lose 20 minutes, Froome goes, there goes another 20.  Big name guys are full on quitting but you can't, you do not have a guaranteed contract.  So much for fun in the sun.  Sorry Dylan Groenwegen, but hey, you finished.

So why am I getting so excited about this?  I know it's only February but if this little scuffle between Froome and Contador is any indicator the Tour is going to be bomb.  Could this year be the most exciting GC battle ever?  I will have to defer to Patrick, our resident cycling folk historian, but I can not think of another Tour with so many past winners in their prime, not to mention a few other grand tour winners as well.  Yeah, I know, a long way to go and anything could happen between now and then.  And even if all the contenders line up it doesn't mean they will finish, but come on, humor me.

Let's break this down.
Top favorites:  Contador, Froome and Nibali.  All former winners, all great climbers.  In addition, each has a team that is stacked.  Is it me or are these teams getting better?  They all have at least one guy who could be a legitimate contender on their own.

Just a step behind: Quintana and Valverde.  Both former grand tour champions and both on the same extremely strong team.  Can they blow things up with a little "you go, then I go" action?

Outsiders:  When you get to the outsiders and you are mentioning a former podium finisher like JRod you know this Tour is stacked. Due to the climby nature of the course all of these up and coming french GC guys will be in the mix. And maybe the Americans can make a play for the jersey with a well timed move.

Do I really think TVG or some frenchy is going to win this year's tour? No. But my point is that this Tour will probably have more grand tour champions fighting it out then ever before.  I mentioned 5 that I can think of without researching it and shit maybe Hesjedal and Scarponi show up to pump those numbers up a bit.

So what do you think?  You ready for some Alpe d'Huez action?  

The Broom Wagon

The Desert 

What the hell are we doing out here?

Dubai, Qatar and Oman...why?  Well, its warm in February there, its got that going for it.  I've been told the riders stay in some plush oil funded hotels.  Riders looking to tune up for the classics appreciate the hard, flat days in the wind.  But for the most part, we only care about these races because they are so early in the season.  Also, they used to be on tv but now I can barely find highlights of Oman on youtube.  But who am I kidding.  I'm watching the shit out of these races and talking even more when my boys take a stage or two.  Let's recap.

Dubai

The most powerful? 

They mixed things up this year by adding a very steep yet very short finish on stage 3.  That stage actually had quite a bit of action and it was worth watching more than just the last 30 seconds.  In the end Cav and his time bonuses reigned supreme.  Gotta say, he showed some pretty good form.  

Qatar

There is nothing out here

Dubai's promo poster should have been used by the Tour of Qatar, cause stage two was a sandy shitstorm.  But that didn't stop Alexander (I still live full time in the blustery fjordlands of Norway) Kristoff from dominating the sprints.  But in the end it was The Terpinator using his TT skills, his strong classics team and of course his own huge engine to seal overall victory.

Oman

 "Green" Mountain is green like
"Green"land is green.

This one gets decided on a dusty ass mountain in the middle of nowhere.  Updates to come.

Ruta Del Sol

"Gregario? Are you there?  Why won't you pick up?"

This race doesn't actually count in our points I just wanted to see if Greg is paying attention.