You know what's coming...
- Gent-Wevelgem previews are coming on line. CyclingNews gives us the straight dope; Pez with the obscure, historical version; and Eurosport is on the ball as well. BiciRace is doing whatever they do, and VeloNews... well, it's still early.
- BTW, I'm not ignoring the Pais Vasco, I even got to see the last 10km this morning, while reading "Slippers Takes a Nap" to Sage. But it and the Sarthe are warmups for later, while the Cobbled Classics are here and now. Anyway, nothing's been settled in Euskadi; read about Sammy Sanchez' win here. One for the homeboys today.
- The Paceline offers Demol's take on Flanders and G-W as well as Graham Watson's G-W race preview. Also, if you want to send nice thoughts to Michael Barry, who's badly injured, fill out this form.
- T-Mobile confirms that Wesemann is out but Klier is pumped for G-W. As team websites go, these guys are probably the most entertaining, though that's not a high bar.
- I'd been looking around for Philippe Gilbert after his win in the Volk, but he tells Eurosport he's saving it for the Ardennes. Sounds like fear of the cobbles is part of the issue. He's not the first rider to dread the Hell.
- Oscar Freire gives an update on his classics form.
- Ugly finish today at La Sarthe: Forster won, but crashes left Americans Tyler Farrar and Saul Raisin, among several others, nursing fractures.
- Dario Pieri quits his day job:
"It is useless to go on... getting up in the morning without any desire to even pedal," explained Dario Pieri, who recently retired form Team LPR. The squadra hired Pieri for the current Classics campaign, but the Fiorentino has seemly lost all love for race and pavé and will not continue.
- Bicirace reports last year's Giro surprise Jose Rujano is returning to Italy -- to turn in his bike. Apparently the impasse between him and Selle Italia didn't really get resolved, and he'll sit around until June 1 when he becomes Quick Step's designated pint-sized climbing machine.