tombeej

I was happy to see Geraint Thomas get onto the podium. The poor guy must think he has to be jinxed - he can't get through a race without ending up on the floor at least once. I can't think of anyone else who crashes as much as he does. So it was again yesterday with another spill for the guy, but he dusted himself off and ended up making the decisive move of the day. Kudos to him.

Safer than GP . Of course we're not talking about the city centre, but the same rules apply for JHB city centre (how many people look for accommodation in Hillbrow these days?) Lots of very nice B&B's here in Westville. Very central location for the race and a great place to stay.

(Double post deleted)

They are out-muscling and out-thinking the other teams at the moment. Very canny tactics by Patrick Lefévère and his DS team, backed up by some serious hardmen on the road.

He went on his own with 27km to go. Making a big statement with this ride.

Terpstra for the win? Great riding!

Shaping up to be a bunch sprint I reckon

Good move by Steegmans. One of the real danger men.

Hells bells

Ja that's what I meant, just a team tactic to force the hand of other teams, not intended to be a winning move.

Terpstra surely has been sent out as bait by his DS for other teams to chase and take the focus off Boonen.

Not surprising to see Tommeke attacking on the Taaienberg, considering that it's also known to the locals as the Boonenberg (due to his exploits on that climb in past years).

Up to 2:20 lead now...

The Dwars door Vlaanderen – latest live feed: 122km remaining and there are now over 20 riders in a breakaway, 1:15 ahead of the main field. Good to see Songezo Jim in the break! The others are: Longo, Sutton, Cummings, Millar, Alafaci, Wild, Maes, Moeravjov, Smukulis, McCarthy, Bagdonas, Van Emden, Boeckmans, Saramotins, Vanlandschoot, Veuchelen, Vanbilsen, Van Asbroeck, Zingle, Jarc, Scorn and Murphy.

The reason I use the oven method is that I live in a place where the air is heavy and very humid in summer. I recently moved from the beachfront on the north coast to Westville, which is a little less humid, but I still have problems with things not drying for ages unless they get sun/heat and ventilation/wind. If I used just the newspaper method here in Natal my shoes would take days to dry and then the ‘wet takkie’ smell starts to become an issue as well.

I turn the oven on and let heat up until it’s nice & warm, but far away from reaching a point where it will melt the plastic bits, and then turn the dial off. With shoes packed with newspaper and the inserts removed I put them on a wooden board (I use an old bread board) and place into the oven. I use the wooden board so that the soles are protected from hot metal shelves. I leave the oven door very slightly ajar (with a wooden wedge) to allow for max evaporation. After a while, I come back to take the shoes out and check progress (maybe it’s time to remove the wet newspaper now), heat the oven up a bit again, turn the dial off and insert the shoes on wooden board once more. Repeat process a couple of times until shoes are bone dry. I’m also going to try that nappie idea though…

On the subject of rain and wet shoes, reminds me of another thing I've learnt about commuting, and that is the technique for drying my shoes (safely) in the oven

The start list for tomorrow below. It will be interesting to see how the guys who did MSR hold up just 3 days later, most notably the newly crowned 2014 champ... And good luck to the MTN-Qhubeka boys . Cannondale 1. Oscar Gatto (ITA) 2. Maciej Bodnar (POL) 3. Edward King (USA) 4. Kristjan Koren (SLO) 5. Matthias Krizek (AUT) 6. Paolo Longo Borghini (ITA)) 7. Alan Marangoni (ITA) 8. Marco Marcato (ITA) Movistar 11. Alejandro Valverde (ESP) 12. Francisco Ventoso (ESP) 13. John Gadret (FRA) 14. Alex Dowsett (GBR) 15. Imanol Erviti (ESP) 16. Benat Intxausti (ESP) 17. Juan Jose Lobato (ESP) 18. Jasha Sütterlin (GER) Sky 21. Geraint Thomas (GBR) 22. Bernhard Eisel (AUT) 23. Christian Knees (GER) 24. Salvatore Puccio (ITA) 25. Gabriel Rasch (NOR) 26. Luke Rowe (GBR) 27. Ian Stannard (GBR) 28. Christopher Sutton (GBR) BMC Racing 31. Daniel Oss (ITA) 32. Michael Schär (SUI) 33. Stephen Cummings (GBR) 34. Silvan Dillier (SUI) 35. Sebastian Lander (DEN) 36. Klaas Lodewyck (BEL) 37. Danilo Wyss (SUI) 38. Rick Zabel (GER) Garmin-Sharp 41. Nick Nuyens (BEL) 42. Jack Bauer (NZL) 43. Tyler Farrar (USA) 44. Lasse Norman Hansen (DEN) 45. Raymond Kreder (NED) 46. David Millar (GBR) 47. Dylan van Baarle (NED) 48. Steele Von Hoff (AUS) Trek Factory Racing 51. Stijn Devolder (BEL) 52. Jesse Sergent (NZL) 53. Eugenio Alfaci (ITA) 54. Markel Irizar (ESP) 55. Fabio Silvestre (POR) 56. Jasper Stuyven (BEL) 57. Boy van Poppel (NED) 58. Danny van Poppel (NED) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 61. Tom Boonen (BEL) 62. Niki Terpstra (NED) 63. Andrew Fenn (GBR) 64. Iljo Keisse (BEL) 65. Nikolas Maes (BEL) 66. Gert Steegmans (BEL) 67. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (BEL) 68. Stijn Vandenbergh (BEL) Astana 71. Borut Bozic (SLO) 72. Danil Fominykh (KAZ) 73. Francesco Gavazzi (ITA) 74. Dmitriy Gruzdev (KAZ) 75. Jacopo Guarnieri (ITA) 76. Valentin Iglinskiy (KAZ) 77. Arman Kamyshev (KAZ) 78. Dimitry Muravyev (KAZ) Orica-GreenEdge 81. Matthew Goss (AUS) 82. Mathew Hayman (AUS) 83. Mitchell Docker (AUS) 84. Michael Hepburn (AUS) 85. Jens Keukeleire (BEL) 86. Aidis Kruopis (LTU) 87. Jens Mouris (NED) 88. Svein Tuft (CAN) Katusha 91. Alexander Kristoff (NOR) 92. Alexey Tsatevich (RUS) 93. Gatis Smukulis (LAT) 94. Rudiger Selig (GER) 95. Aliaksandr Kuschynski (BLR) 96. Viatcheslev Kuznetsov (RUS) 97. Alexander Porsev (RUS) 98. Alexander Rybakov (RUS) Tinkoff-Saxo 101. Michael Morkov (DEN) 102. Christopher Juul Jensen (DEN) 103. Manuele Boaro (ITA) 104. Michael Kolar (SVK) 105. Marko Kump (SLO) 106. Jay McCarthy (AUS) 107. Nicki Sörensen (DEN) 108. Nikolay Trusov (RUS) Ag2r-La Mondiale 111. Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR) 112. Davide Appollonio (ITA) 113. Gediminas Bagdonas (LTU) 114. Steve Chainel (FRA) 115. Maxime Daniel (FRA) 116. Damien Gaudin (FRA) 117. Hugo Houle (CAN) 118. Lloyd Mondory (FRA) Belkin 121. Moreno Hofland (NED) 122. Jos van Emden (NED) 123. Maarten Wynants (BEL) 124. Jetse Bol (NED) 125. Rick Flens (NED) 126.Barry Markus (NED) 127. Nick van der Lijke (NED) 128. Robert Wagner (GER) Lotto-Belisol 131. Kris Boeckmans (BEL) 132. Vegard Breen (NOR) 133. Sean De Bie (BEL) 134. Jens Debusschere (BEL) 135. Kenny Dehaes (BEL) 136. Pim Ligthart (NED) 137. Jonas Van Genechten (BEL) 138. Frederik Willems (BEL) IAM Cycling 141. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) 142. Marcel Aregger (SUI) 143. Kevyn Ista (BEL) 144. Dominic Klemme (GER) 145. Roger Kluge (GER) 146. Matteo Pelucchi (ITA) 147. Jérôme Pineau (FRA) 148. Aleksejs Saramotins (LAT) Wanty-Groupe Gobait 151. Björn Leukemans (BEL) 152. Laurens De Vreese (BEL) 153. Jean-Pierre Drucker (LUX) 154. Jan Ghyselinck (BEL) 155. Wesley Kreder (NED) 156. Marco Minnaard (NED) 157. Mirko Selvaggi (ITA) 158. Frederik Veuchelen (BEL) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise 161. Yves Lampaert (BEL) 162. Tim Declercq (BEL) 163. Jarl Salomein (BEL) 164. Stijn Steels (BEL) 165. Tom Van Asbroeck (BEL) 166. Gijs Van Hoecke (BEL) 167. Kenneth Vanbilsen (BEL) 168. Jelle Wallays (BEL) Cofidis 171. Edwig Cammaerts (BEL) 172. Egoitz Garcia (ESP) 173. Gert Joeaar (EST) 174. Cyril Lemoine (FRA) 175. Adrien Petit (FRA) 176. Florian Senechal (FRA) 177. Louis Verhelst (BEL) 178. Romain Zingle (BEL) Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela 181. Marco Bandiera (ITA) 182. Matteo Di Serafino (ITA) 183. Patrick Facchini (ITA) 184. Johnny Hoogerland (NED) 185. Antonio Parrinello (ITA) 186. Nicola Testi (ITA) 187. Kenny van Hummel (NED) 188. Andrea Zordan (ITA) MTN-Qhubeka 191. Gerald Ciolek (GER) 192. John Lee Augustyn (RSA) 193. Ferekalsi Debesay (ERI) 194. Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU) 195. Bradley Potgieter (ZAF) 196. Martin Reimer (GER) 197. Jim Songezo (RSA) 198. Andreas Stauff (GER) Netapp-Endura 201. Sam Bennett (IRL) 202. Blaz jarc (SLO) 203. Ralf Matzka (GER) 204. Jonathan McEvoy (GBR) 205. Andreas Schillinger (GER) 206. Daniel Schorn (AUT) 207. Michael Schwarzmann (GER) 208. Scott Thwaites (GBR) UnitedHealthcare 211. Martijn Maaskant (NED) 212. Alessandro Bazzana (ITA) 213. Ken Hanson (USA) 214. Aldo Ilesic (SLO) 215. Christopher Jones (USA) 216. Luke Keough (USA) 217. John Murphy (USA) 218. Danny Summerhill (USA)

The next event on the Spring Classics calendar takes place tomorrow... The Dwars door Vlaanderen. Tommeke is confirmed on the start list, so many eyes will be on him tomorrow. DWARS DOOR VLAANDEREN The race, which can be translated as "Across Flanders", was for the first time organised in 1945. During the first years, it was called "Dwars door België", which means "Across Belgium". Traditionally, it takes place on a Wednesday, a week and a half before the Tour of Flanders. The arrival is in Waregem. The 2014 edition takes place on Wednesday, March 26th. This 69th edition starts in Roeselare. The first part is rather flat. After 91 km, the first hill, the Nieuwe Kwaremont, has to be climbed. From then on, the climbs follow each other at regular intervals: Kattenberg after 111 km Leberg after 123 km Valkenberg after 131 km Eikenberg after 144 km Taaienberg after 149 km Oude Kwaremont after 167 km Paterberg after 171 km Vossenhol after 181 km Holstraat after 186 km Nokereberg after 193 km The arrival lies in Waregem, after a total distance of 201 km has been covered.

Luca Papini ‏@LucaPapini 2h The @Kristoff87 bike behind the @Milano_Sanremo podium. Super congrats pic.twitter.com/Ugiykf2KW0

Gerald Ciolek ‏@GeraldCiolek 1h Now THAT was cold! I felt really good but got boxed in a bit at the end... Congrats to @Kristoff87!

Nibali must be thinking that if he can just get over the Poggio still in 1st place, he's got a chance. The descent is technical and he's one of the best descenders in the world. Gives him a good chance. Great move, Nibali.

Guys must be kaking a bit for the descents (esp the hairpins at the bottom of the Poggio). Every chance of someones front wheel washing out and taking people down. Makes sense to go out front.

MTN guy up front. Is it Gerald or Louis?

The Cipressa is coming up. Watch the bunch shatter. We'll soon see whose got the legs today.