tombeej

Geraint Thomas is down! Poor guy. How many times does he fall. He seems to be on the ground every second race he enters.

7.5km to go. I got a feeling this could be Michael Matthews day...

Good man! Big confidence boost - I'm sure he really needed that one. He’s been under a lot of pressure to perform. The gorilla on his back is now a little vervet monkey...

News is that Sergio Pardilla (MTN-Qhubeka) has been confirmed to have a broken wrist after his stage 2 crash. That will be a dent in the season aspirations for the team.

A breakaway group of riders has just crossed the Col de l'Ecre with 100km to go: The gap is 2:50 to the peloton. Km 100 - Lieuwe Westra (AST), Pim Ligthart (LTB) Laurent Didier (TFR), Sylvester Szmyd (MOV), Albert Timmer (GIA), Florian Guillou (BSE), Mathias Frank (IAM) and Cyril Lemoine (COF). So is there going to be a no-name winner today?

TBH I would have preferred to be watching T-A on the box instead of Paris Nice. Hopefully Multichoice will look at buying the rights for it next year...

Damn, terrible news. Wishing a speedy and full recovery for both riders.

Eish, my mistake - today's coverage starts at 16h15. Yesterday's stage now showing.

Then again, this is the sort of stage where a complete no-name has his 15 min of fame...

A stage suited for a long breakaway of a small group of strong riders. Those who've had a bad tour so far, but still in great shape and a very big heart - willing to suffer. If a break stays away for this one, I'll expect the winner to become a favourite for the coming classics. I'll wager that only people outside the top 20 (1 min+ arrears) will be allowed to go off the front. So some of my picks for today: Chavanell Michael Matthews Romain Bardet Wilco Kelderman I'd love to see Tommy Voeckler have a go - I'm sure he's been eyeing this stage.

Today's stage profile:

Coverage starts on DSTV ch 208 at 14h40.

Today's stage is the big one for all the GC boys. Will definitely be on the couch this arvie to watch. Buena suerte Betancur. Rápido!

Bravo Betancur, brillante! The lad is getting back to his best again, so good to see. Definitely one of my picks for the Classics - he's got some unfinished business with the Mur. A future grand tour winner too.

For those out of towners, the second half of the race will be Fast. That’s if you've been able to stay with the bunch going over the top into Pinetown. Going to be one of those races where you absolutely burn it up the climb to make sure you're not dropped, then lots and lots of time to recover in the bunch before the finale.

Reinardt showing good form.

Bucket of water with a very mild bleach solution, soak overnight. Kills all germs and all smells one time .

Advantage Kwiatkowski! Stage 1 TTT has bust this race wide open. Some very unhappy GC riders this morning for sure. Cycling News summarises it nicely: After just 18.5km of this race, Kwiatkowski already has a 24-second advantage over Contador and much bigger margins on many of his pre-race rivals. Movistar's excellent third place in the team time trial limited Nairo Quintana's losses to 18 seconds but Richie Porte (Team Sky) is 27 seconds behind. Bauke Mollema (Belkin) starts stage two with a 37-second handicap, Cadel Evans (BMC) is at 47 seconds and Michele Scarponi (Astana) is at a more distant 54 seconds. Garmin-Sharp's poor performance left Dan Martin at 1:04, while Chris Horner (Lampre-Merida) faces an uphill task to pull back 53 seconds.

Dale, many thanks for the commentary. Much appreciated.

Some serious introspection for Doug Ryder and his boys this morning after what happened yesterday at Strade Bianche. Granted, nearly a third of the field didn't finish the race. But still, won't have done much for the teams confidence for the spring season. All the best to the team as they look to bounce back today at Roma Maxima.

A bad day at the office for MTN Qhubeka. Five of their riders DNF'd, with Sergio Pardilla the best placed in 32nd (9 min down).

This is it. The spring classics. The heart and soul of bike racing. For me, everything else comes second. The mud and the rain and the cobbles, the Koppenberg, the Muur, the Mur de Huy. This is the domain of the hard man, the bare knuckle fighter, the working class hero, no place for pretty boys or panzies. Wiggins will wilt under the pressure, the little English rose.

I re-learnt an old lesson today: that no matter how visible you are, how far away they saw you, or that you have right of way, don't just make the 'reasonable' assumption that they'll actually give you right of way. Safe cycling means assuming all motorists are blind, unreasonable, in a bad mood, and found their drivers licence in a lucky packet.

(Double post. Blerrie crackberry)

Yep, I'm signed up for the full distance Flatish route, should be quite a fast one.