She is a harsh mistress, that Lady Primavera. Or at least she had her way with the Impaler today. Averaging almost 400 points per race and sitting pretty after the first three races, Mrs Spring slapped him silly and put him back in his proper place. Brad picked up just 160 points today and limped all the way down to 11th place. Ali was also a victim of a savage vicarious beating. He had the bad fortune of being the only person not to have a single finisher among the top 30. Fortunately, five of his racers did manage to finish the full 300 kms, so he didn't get shutout. But that 50 point performance was enough to drop him into last place, below the likes of even Vic and Steve.
Jonny B, LeAnn, and Larry fared much better. Jonny B won the race, thanks largely to the fact that he had the day's first, second, and fifth place finishers. He picked up 1355 points today and now finds himself at the front of the pack with a fairly sizable lead. The Fraggle placed four of her riders in the top 13 and finished with 1210 points. She now sits in second overall. And little Larry Sellars finally had his homework pay off today. He wound up on the final step of the podium with a 1045 point day. Dallas, however, did not have a good day. It was not as bad as Brad's and Ali's. Our leader heading into the day finished with just 420 points and dropped down to third overall.
Full results and overall standings here.
In Milan - San Remo, the question is always whether it will stay together for a sprint or break apart on one of the race's late climbs. Some big names (Cavendish and Boassen Hagen) were casualties of the Cipressa and the Poggio, but it largely stayed together today. And we were treated to a sweet sprint. Check out the final km here:
After waiting two weeks between races, we are back on track with a busy week of racing ahead of us. Dwars Door Vlaanderen goes down on Wednesday. And then on the weekend we have E3 Prijs Vlaanderen and Gent-Wevelgem. Too bad Heinrich Haussler will not be there. He re-injured his knee in Paris -Nice, and it looks like his entire Classics campaign might be in jeopardy. That is bad news for Greg, Mike, Ali, and me. Geert Steegmans is also out. Greg and Mike have him as well. As do Chris D, Tom, Brad, and Vic. But the good news is that he seems to think he will recover from his broken collarbone in time to race Paris - Roubaix.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
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4 comments:
I knew I was going to have a bad day, just not quite that bad.
Friere, from the book of Bobkestrut:
http://www.bobkestrut.com/2007/03/27/oscar-freire-i-jam-econo/
Man, my team is hurting. I hope for a strong showing in the Ardennes.
Things can change in a hurry, as MSR just demonstrated. But it doesn't help to be without last year's second leading points guy. Hopefully Haussler will be back. But Flanders and Roubaix are coming soon.
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