That team gives you the impression that they are sauced all the time anyways. Jest aside, it's a likeable team, b/c the riders really buy into the one-for-all / all-for-one mentality.

And yes, the penultimate laps and the finale were wild (in a good way)

No jest needed. I wouldn't be worried about failed drugs tests with an Aussie team or in my case an Irish team, but a brethalyser test might take out a few riders. ;)

Though if all they have were Foster's, how trashed can one really get (especially for someone with the build of Durbo Turbo or Hayman) :p?

It was pretty amusing to watch the rest of the break trying valiantly to reel him in as he motored away, only to see the gap keep growing as a succession of guys on the front were basically sprinting to try to bridge up. You could see the remonstrations "come on guys, he's getting away! RIDE!" and it's not like they weren't - they were just powerless to stop it from happening. Too bad he's not doing Roubaix this year.

You are right. That group was class and motivated as well. When he went there was nothing else the group could have done. He was long gone.

File that one away. Ballerini rocketed across that gap to Demare who looked to have gone too soon.

He came from way back, that was some sprint.

That was impressive, but all kinds of early season sketchy in that last K watching the overhead. That curb in the middle of the road was in a horrendous spot too. They cut away right as a rider was going down - I assume a lot went down behind him. I guess the new safety measures haven't gotten around to road furniture in windy sections of the sprint lead-ins just yet.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

just a general comment, watching the Tour de la Provence this morning, cold, crappy weather...I SO hope the full spring classic's schedule goes off with out a hitch....

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"one eye doubles my eyesight, so things don't look half bad" John Hiatt

He’s looking like Don’s latest success and ‘21 crusher.

It's almost time for Omloop picks!! (Which feels weird given it's just been a few months since Flanders).

It is pretty awesome not to have to wait 10 months between "spring" classics (no disrespect to the Italian fall races). 4 months between De Ronde and the 'Loop? With a nice little palate-cleanse of CX to tide us through? Silver linings...

In other news, Marcel Kittel's 3s power was apparently 1,940W.

If Mr. Panache didn't go down I do believe Ballerini would've been a helluva leadout, which seemed to have been plan A given the positioning coming in. Baller-ini stomped it up that grade.

First podium-worth nickname of ‘21– well done.

Great ride by Ivan "El terrible" Sosa (we're going to have to work on that one, that's all I've got this morning) today, and Bernal coming around Alaphillipe. If Ineos fires on all cylinders this year, they'll be back to a fully operational Death Star.

Entertaining early season stuff.

The David Bowie, Young American award goes to Matteo Jorgenson. Matty Jorgo?

And Concha at 21, first WT race for Lotto Soudal he gets in the break and then attacks he break. Precocious.

Carlos Rodriguez looking like rookie of the year material for Ineos.

Bernal is back. Looked like he could have ridden right up to El Terrible and right past him.

LFF is everywhere, like the hyper neighborhood kid.

The new formula at Ineos is going to make things interesting this year. They have so much depth. Someone was saying that something like 8 of their riders have finished top-10 in a grand tour. It seems like rather than using all that horse power to control the race, they can just fire any number of riders up the road and see where the chips fall at the end. It should be interesting to see how Jumbo handle that. It seems like it would be almost impossible to drop the whole Ineos team just riding a hard tempo and covering multiple attacks would just blow your domestiques out the back and leave Roglic exposed. It should be interesting to see whether teams become more hesitant to control a race.

Ivan “Sammy” Sosa and Egan “Guaperas” Bernal are both looking sharp.

Alaphilippe looks most impressive hitting the ground running: on attack stage 1, close yesterday and doing some good lead outs. You can tell he just loves to race bikes, truly that old school mentality.

On a separate note, I’m stuck indoors on Zwift for the next week. Give me some real names to follow (pm me if you don’t want to reveal yourself).

Wish I had the verve to Zwift again.
Ala is so much fun to watch. He rarely takes a day off.

Sent you a PM ;)

What about young Mauri Vansevenant pulling for LFF on the final climb as a 19y/o and still finishing in the pack of 4-5 riders that miss the podium in 8th place. That sure made up for his break-away crash during last year's Fleche Wallonne

Racing continues on low boil this week with some good ones coming up. But alas, no WvA or Peto for opening weekend, which is a pity.

I really hope Peto makes a good run in the spring classics this year.

I'm thinking/hoping that we see some real good battles on opening weekend since there's no guarantee there will be racing later on the spring. There are some guys who haven't really seemed to be quite in form (Kristoff, Trentin) and some guys who are looking like they might be peaking (Senechal, Wellens, Pollitt) and then there's LFF who seems to always be good to go.

I'll be particularly interested to see how Mads/Stuyven and GvA/Naessen go.

Agreed on Sagan. A top class Sagan makes cycling more fun, whether he wins or not.

Yes, Sagan is always compelling, but there are so many promising young riders coming up and new roles and combinations....I'm thinking Nils Pollitt gets some new chances with Bora......Pidcock and Moscon? interesting combo..... the Gorilla riding for Sep!........GvA and Ollie Naesen in the French kit..... Phil Gil and Goin' Deep Wellens and their aggression.......all of them versus the Blue Monsters and their shenanigans, featuring LLF, the Panache Guy

Irrational exuberance is taking hold.

Has anyone else viewed the cockpit of Luke Plapp's TT bike? CyclingTips has an article on the bike itself, but that cockpit in particular is gorgeous.