2011 FGBC Classics Pool Watch

There were no races this weekend. That was not easy. But many of our favourite classics studs were in action, as the early season stage races took centre stage. Paris - Nice was filled with more bad news than good. Martijn Maaskant fell yesterday and broke half his ribs. Haussler was a casualty of the slick roads too. He kept going, but didn't look too happy. In fact, just about everybody hit the deck at one point or another. But the most spectacular crash belonged to Robert Kiserlovski. Somehow he wound up wedged under a truck. The most spectacular non-crash came courtesy of his Astana teammate, Rémy Di Gregorio. How he managed to keep the rubber side down is almost as mysterious as the SOB and DOC campaigns. Watch the highlights in all their brutal glory here:




Speaking of crashes, make sure to take some time to read about this guy. He crashed once and broke his leg. Then he crashed again and broke his arm. Still, he managed to finish 8th in this year's Iditarod Invitational. And here we thought being tough meant running around shrieking HTFU on the interwebs. Damn. Thanks to Lindsay for passing on the link.

Meanwhile, over in Italy, Philippe Gilbert is showing some pretty hot form. Last year's top point getter in the FGBC Classics Pool won today on a perfectly timed jump to the line. Fragile Cadel Evans is looking alright too. He currently leads the race.

The vicarious racing returns on Wednesday--finally--with another new race, Nokere Koerse. Jens Keukeleire won it last year. He found his way onto a handful of teams in the pool, who are no doubt hoping for a repeat victory. Watch last year's finish here.




Of course, the big race we're all waiting for goes down on Saturday with the first of the monuments. Milan - San Remo will announce the beginning of spring, just as it does every year. Will it be a sprint or a breakaway? Last year it was a sprint, as Mike has already reminded us. Oscar Freire won it. It was also a sprint the year before. The Manx Mouth won that one. The last breakaway of sorts was in 2008, when my boyfriend wowed us with a thrilling win. He is so cute when he does that. It feels like we're due for a breakaway again this year. That would be super sweet.