For sure. It's insane this is happening today and even more so in Europe. Too bad former president numbnuts can't fire his favorite thug.

I'm down too!

It truly is bizarre. Without going too far off the rails, I'll just say this. Putin has done more to unify Europe in a week than has been done in many decades.

It will be interesting to see if the UCI participates in any of the sanctions that have popped up against Russian athletics. I can't see them doing it and frankly I don't think it is fair to individual athletes. They are just normal people caught in the mess a horrendous government is creating.

I guess my question is answered. The Tour of Norway announced they are banning Gazprom-Rusvelo from the race.

That was very touching. I remember when Tchmil won Paris-Roubaix, in epic conditions. Sounds like he is still a hardman.

It's not fair. But in these situations it's always a balancing act between allowing sports to be a unifying force that helps bridge cultural divides or just another propaganda "sports-washing" tool in the arsenal of bad governments.

In this instance I'm OK with temporarily "cancelling" all Russian athletes. I feel bad for the athletes who may personally detest the war. But at this point the message to the Russian government needs to be unambiguous. You don't get to be represented on the international stage in any capacity until you fix this.

He was a bad MFer that is for sure.

Le Samyn fun picks since they don't count.

Campanaerts off the front
Jakobsen
The Hof

Phil Gil wildcard

David double dee Dekker
Stan hungry like DeWulf
Freddie tenth avenue Frison

I sort of agree, but it's a slippery slope. The Olympic thing was similar.

Vermeersch, Naesen, Dutch Taco
Jakobsen, Merlier

Vermeersch is a great selection and has been looking very strong.

Taco "Tuesday" was pretty darn good the other day. Sort of like Hayman's famous day, he was strong in the break all day, then one of the strongest once the break got caught.

That was definitely a 3 Margarita performance. Hope he gets a one-day before long.

He was thinking and looking and positioning the whole time. Super ride. Like Hayman, yessir.

If I were going with more serious picks tomorrow I might pick Tom van Asbroeck who looked good in KBK. I just couldn't think up a nickname for him.

"Going For" Asbroeck? That's all I've got.

Fabio (again)
Merlier
Trentin

Postleberger
Terpstra

For Le Samyn I like Merlier for the sprint. Taco and Campenaerts for a late break.

But let's have some fun here and give some other guys a shot:

Rasmus Tiller, Amaury Capiot and Brent Van Moer

That was a great win for Emma Norsgaard today. I'm pleased to see her on the top step after a string of strong seconds last year.

The men's race looks to be starting with some carnage. Vermeersch looks pretty battered but is back on the bike at least.

And there goes my other pick, Naesen. My hopes now rest on it being a Taco Tuesday.

Preliminary Strade picks:
Pogacar, Benoot, Mohoric
Sepp, Pidcock

AG2R did a nice job of blocking for Hungry Like.

Fearless Pat has apparently been losing his sh*t at the Pack. They really miss Le Tractor.

Just caught the replay

I'm glad that Trentin took it. That was really close, both in terms of almost getting caught by second place and needing to jostle second place just a tad, and nearly getting caught by the charging peloton.

Creating a women's team was apparently smart by Movistar! And once Gigante gets back into action they're going to have a good number of weapons.

Trentin deserved that one, he took it upon himself. Almost left it too late!

The way that front group was playing around at the end it looked like it was going to go the way of the women's race with the peloton making a last minute catch. Trentin deserved that one... strong driving that split and doing lots of work on the front, then real cagey at the end and not panicking when everyone stopped riding and started to looking at him.

I never get the staring at each other, especially the small teams. Take your chances out of that break and finish 10th at worst. Or dick around and let the peloton catch and finish 98th.