Spring classics 2025

[team fl]

Opening Weekend with Omloop and KBK already over. So here's the thread!

Team FL not with the usual spring classic build, but still competitive. Sten Stenberg 4th at Omloop, Calcedonia Cantagalli with the win at KBK. Next race upcoming: Strade Bianche.

The winners so far:

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad:
10h: Tadej Pituch (r TAKA)
14h: Wakara Ganambarr (Big Donkey)
18h: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Lenny SnakeCycling)
21h: Zineddine Belaid (RV Allagen)

Kuurne Brussels Kuurne:
11h: Bartholomäus Most (Alive And Dead)
15h: Clacedonio Cantagalli (Team FL)
19h: Andres Carrasco (Radunion)
22h: Olga Kalinnikova (Nash Team)

Strade Bianche
10h Rafael Trujillo (Marlhou)
14h Kenzo Tenma (stevens)
19h Clayton Cleverly (bergwerk)
22h Bronislav Karbauskis (Medical Service)

Milano - Torino
10h(1) Yuta Okkotsu (Pokemonogatari)
10h(2) Enno Oper (Falcor CC)
15h Owen Onley (bergwerk)
19h Mekhti Abdulatipov (Team Dagestan)
22h Baptiste Firiam (Alive And Dead)

Milano - Sanremo
09h Roy Louis (Bugatti)
14h Egon Esswein (Bahrain-Merida)
18h Issa Sangaré (Jokers)
21h Alex Alailefaleula (Team FL)

Brugge - De Panne
08h Hannes Rauch (Narrenparty)
14h Onno Bisdorff (Medical Service)
18h RobertBartleh Cummings (Felsenland)
21h Vincenzo Italiano (Carrera Blue Jeans)

Mr. Saxo Beat Harelbeke
09h Robert Takacs (Schartner Bombe)
15h Wakara Ganambarr (Big Donkey)
19h Enrique Ugarte (Los Teros)
22h Firmin VanKerrebroeck (Fraegg)

Gent-Wevelgem
11h Doku Dudayev (Team Dagestan)
14h Ruedi Jungo (Medical Service)
18h Habib Diallo (Elaska)
21h Alaa Bellaarouch (RV Allagen)

Teams to watch, esp. for the Flanders races:
- Tukhtahuaev with Txomin Mendiburu and a superb support cast, even though he doesn't seem totally happy with it
- Alive And Dead with the fruit section.
- r TAKA with the r Quick asylum division
- Pokemonogatari with another asylum seeker from r Quick (and others)
- Lenny SnakeCycling with the Indian guy.
- Bearclaw with pavé power all over the place but no sprint.

And of course, there are some dark horses too:
- Radunion with 3 guys with 90 or more flat
- Alkworld with the french duo
- Fraegg with the holy one.
- Romoc Riders with Mr. Blond and nice support

And the dark donkey:
- Big Donkey with Ganambarr

Maybe there are more to mention, but I am too lazy. So feel free to add others (or yourself). In all cases, have fun, look cool

[Robyklebt]

Donkeys are not horses.... the level of ignorance around here is mind blowing. One quotes rule number 2 with 0 connections, the other one thinks Donkeys are dark horses.

But good, if you had been in my race today I was planning to blast you for not opening the thread yet.

[team fl]

Donkeys are not horses.... the level of ignorance around here is mind blowing. One quotes rule number 2 with 0 connections, the other one thinks Donkeys are dark horses.

But good, if you had been in my race today I was planning to blast you for not opening the thread yet.

You're right, and even though Calcedonio owns a plush toy donkey now, I got it wrong... Will call you a dark donkey from now on.

[Tukhtahuaev]

Teams to watch, esp. for the Flanders races:
- Tukhtahuaev with Txomin Mendiburu and a superb support cast, even though he doesn't seem totally happy with it

Of course I am not happy. Not even a win after 2 races is a disaster.
In all seriousness a decent start from my side with 2 podium positions and most importantly quite fun races. Target for this year is to win at least one spring classic and have more fun than last year

[Robyklebt]

Strade Bianche: Donkey with an expensive, but somehow leaderless team.

E. Almirall
C. Fortuny
W. Ganambarr
F. Glück
M. Lanfredini
N. Lüthi
E. Novelli
C. Roy
T. Uru

74-71-66-65-64-59-58-57 and 50 mountain, nice, fantastic helper team, but where is Qian Baoyu when you need him? He'd be a great leader for this team...
Not sure who should be leader, Uru 74-76 is good, but doubtful pavé skill, and definitely not doubtful sprint, that's just horrendous. So Almirall gets the number 1 and we'll try a flexible approach, 9 leaders, Glück of course seems a bit optimistic, but maybe he can win from an escape. First problem of course will be who will help.

So we don't start with great expectations, but even cannon fodder Donks won't just roll over, cannon balls don't roll, they fly!

[Robyklebt]

Bad result...
13. T. Uru

Lack of leader is ok, but if then the riding is bad as well... in the end 13th is even more than deserved.
Nothing happens, bored, attack with Lanfredini+Novelli, not expecting it goes anywhere, but do something... didn't go anywhere.. later tried another double attack, ended up being Lüthi single, since Ganambarr got clicked on too late. Goes nowhere either. So hanging on as well as possible with Uru and Roy, Roy dropped, not helping him for the first x km didn't help, Novelli was helped instead, good plan... Forgettable race for the Donkeys. Tenma (stevens) winning in front of Becze, sprint finish by the 2, not unexpected, even if the Donkey thought Becze would do it. Oh well, let's hope it all works better in 2 weeks. At least having a plan should help.

[Gipfelstuermer]

Strade Bianche. Rare Gipfel appearance in the morning. And I hope I don't have to return too soon. It began with the earliest of the early gws. Not to any of the Gipfel riders of course. We don't even make it into the "Teams to watch" category of RKL nowadays. Even though that's really disappointing after Boersma came closest to beating the Donkey in the Omloop. So, logically, that early gw came from one "Team to watch" (taka) to another (poke). Had we even ridden one km before the gw? I think it came maybe exactly after 1km... Anyway, Boersma was unimpressed by that and remained motivated after his Omloop performance. He kept his cool and speculated on a Flash attack for the whole race, which eventually came.... but at a -6.... at a -6.... a -6.... not sure I have ever seen a 65-90 attacking on a -6 in a Kat.5 race... So that didn't go anywhere. To make it worse, the winner didn't ride a single km for his win. So, let's forget Strade 2025 quickly.

Tirreno-Adriatico will serve as a welcome distraction before the Classic season continues.

[team fl]

Milano - Sanremo upcoming! La Classicissima di Primavera! Meeting the Passo del Turchino, the Capos, the Cipressa, the Poggio!

Team FL will ride at 21h most likely, with the following line up:

x1 Alex Alailefaleula, il velocista!
x2 Eberhard Eberle, il cinghiale!
x3 Fürchtegott Fürst, il principe!
x4 Joffrey Jouffroy, il re!
x5 Karl Knöppel, il manganello!
x6 Lautaro Lucifero, il diavolo!
x7 Sten Stenberg, il lanciatore di ciottolo!
x8 Thierry Tiendrébéogo, il vecchio!
x9 Yossi Youshimatz, il ragazzo tuttofare

The team is not sure yet, if it needs a local rider like Cantagalli (l'indigeno!) in the line up to find the best route...

[Robyklebt]

1 C. Bucquoy
2 E. Almirall
3 W. Ganambarr
4 F. Glück
5 M. Lanfredini
6 T. Onkelinx
7 C. Roy
8 P. Taiaroa
9 T. Uru

Not much to say, Bucquoy leader, Roy+Lanfredini Almirall the guys for after the Cipressa. Well Uru for very few km useful too then.

[Robyklebt]

Another rather boring edition.

Lots of hill sprinters, but wasn't clear would be for them, sprinters seemed strong too. And some with hill-sprinter and flat sprinter, who knows who they go for?

But T-Mobile off changed a lot, if he's on and rides for Krieger, not easy, and he's a clear guy who 'has' to control a bit. Without him it turned into a constellation where nobody felt responsible (I think), and if there was an early break I thought it would go through. I wasn't going to ride, my goal was winning, not riding. Some flat sprinters maybe put off by Enigma with 3 sprinters but no real flat army. IMO he wasn't that dangerous, his sprinters weren't all going to get over the Cipressa, I thought only Fassol would do it. Still a danger, but not the super danger a team with 3 sprinters might seem.

Finally Furpach went, and wasn't far from going through. Trojer farmer saved the peloton, stupid tactic, those that can't do anything else do the farmer. Bahrain did it too. Pff. But ok, Trojer then continued riding after the fast chase, I thought it highly unlikely a classics group would go through after the Cipressa or have a successful attack on the Poggio, But ok, he believed in it and rode for it, so I forgave him in my heart (but not liver) for the farmer. And ok, maybe Sanremo just really needs more people riding for their chances to be better again. Last few years it's been boring as hell most of the time.

Anyway, Cipressa, Ganambarr to far back, Bahrain catches Fanta and Bucquoy on the 5, maybe Donkey fault? Having Roy in, Quickley alone better? Then chase with Bahrain, I wasn't fully convinced either, but thought as long as he rides with his 66 sprint flat guy it's ok. Otherwise waiting for the next group, with Hopfield, Halkin, Schlattinger, 84-85-83 sprint... Ganambarr for me, but then I can try the 2 man train maybe, see if somehow I get away with it. Sprint changes completely then, then it's all on Hopfield. Like this... Bucquoy wasn't sure what wheel he gets, then go on Fanta, he might do a train. He did, but that train was slower than hoped, then went left instead of right, so unexciting 5th place in a unexciting race.

Sprinters: I thought Klijn had good chances, 70 flat, gets over the Poggio. But big mistake by the sprinters on the Cipressa, they didn't put a classic or even climber with flat on their sprinters to ride the 5% after the 6%. Do that and with lots of mass it might make sense for the Hopkins-Halkin-Hansa group to wait and ride with lots mass... but by losing time on that 5% the race is gone. Why leave your classics in front for minimal win chances, instead of going all in for your sprinters who have decent chances if you manage to bring all together. Hill sprinters weren't that strong either, Donks with 85-85, yes, one wasn't fit anymore though, Bahrain 84, possibly STevens then would have ridden more with his 87 (?).. .but with classic support on the 5, then mass in the flat it's not hopeless to catch the hill sprinters. It's been done.

Anyway, boring race, forgettable result for the Donkey, big chance missed for escapers IMO.

[flockmastoR]

Another rather boring edition.

Lots of hill sprinters, but wasn't clear would be for them, sprinters seemed strong too. And some with hill-sprinter and flat sprinter, who knows who they go for?

But T-Mobile off changed a lot, if he's on and rides for Krieger, not easy, and he's a clear guy who 'has' to control a bit. Without him it turned into a constellation where nobody felt responsible (I think), and if there was an early break I thought it would go through. I wasn't going to ride, my goal was winning, not riding. Some flat sprinters maybe put off by Enigma with 3 sprinters but no real flat army. IMO he wasn't that dangerous, his sprinters weren't all going to get over the Cipressa, I thought only Fassol would do it. Still a danger, but not the super danger a team with 3 sprinters might seem.

Finally Furpach went, and wasn't far from going through. Trojer farmer saved the peloton, stupid tactic, those that can't do anything else do the farmer. Bahrain did it too. Pff. But ok, Trojer then continued riding after the fast chase, I thought it highly unlikely a classics group would go through after the Cipressa or have a successful attack on the Poggio, But ok, he believed in it and rode for it, so I forgave him in my heart (but not liver) for the farmer. And ok, maybe Sanremo just really needs more people riding for their chances to be better again. Last few years it's been boring as hell most of the time.

Anyway, Cipressa, Ganambarr to far back, Bahrain catches Fanta and Bucquoy on the 5, maybe Donkey fault? Having Roy in, Quickley alone better? Then chase with Bahrain, I wasn't fully convinced either, but thought as long as he rides with his 66 sprint flat guy it's ok. Otherwise waiting for the next group, with Hopfield, Halkin, Schlattinger, 84-85-83 sprint... Ganambarr for me, but then I can try the 2 man train maybe, see if somehow I get away with it. Sprint changes completely then, then it's all on Hopfield. Like this... Bucquoy wasn't sure what wheel he gets, then go on Fanta, he might do a train. He did, but that train was slower than hoped, then went left instead of right, so unexciting 5th place in a unexciting race.

Sprinters: I thought Klijn had good chances, 70 flat, gets over the Poggio. But big mistake by the sprinters on the Cipressa, they didn't put a classic or even climber with flat on their sprinters to ride the 5% after the 6%. Do that and with lots of mass it might make sense for the Hopkins-Halkin-Hansa group to wait and ride with lots mass... but by losing time on that 5% the race is gone. Why leave your classics in front for minimal win chances, instead of going all in for your sprinters who have decent chances if you manage to bring all together. Hill sprinters weren't that strong either, Donks with 85-85, yes, one wasn't fit anymore though, Bahrain 84, possibly STevens then would have ridden more with his 87 (?).. .but with classic support on the 5, then mass in the flat it's not hopeless to catch the hill sprinters. It's been done.

Anyway, boring race, forgettable result for the Donkey, big chance missed for escapers IMO.

Hm hm. Problem was that until the end, I didn't know what I wanted to go for. In a perfect world, I wanted a Fanta-Hopfield train with not many better sprinters left, just to be in control in the sprint. Ended up in having a weakened Most, a even more weakened Quickley who was pushed out of tempo uphill and downhill and finally was too weak for a competetive sprint train. Sprint position on the side was also not that good, Most needs to go at least 50m earlier getting a little chance to catch a different wheel. Have checked again, didn't look like the going left cost space, I was just already behind a lot. In the end save some good placements but far from ideal result. Also not really supportive riders for any of my possible leaders. Riding together with Trojer against the sprinter teams after the Turchino was a little fun I had. Keeping them away as long as possible was the idea to not let the Furpach group go through too easy and weaken the bigger sprinter train teams. From what I know now, would have done it differently, Keep Roos fit and let Quickley drop to Hopfield, hope to catch up with Hansa and catch the groups in front. Still not sure if I have a chance for the win in that constellation, but cannot be worse. Need a break from bad riding soon.

[team fl]

Review of the 21h edition: http://www.radsportfreaks.de/RSFForum/v ... 93#p123793

[team fl]

Spring classics 2025 winners list has been updated! Now including Strade Bianche and MSR. Upcoming: De Panne, Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem.

De Panne on Wednesday a clear sprinters race. Let's he which MSR sprinter can preserve his form for the belgium races as well. It's not far fetched for the more mountain and pavé proof sprinters to have a shot at Gent-Wevelgem as well. On the other hand, Harelbeke is more of a foreshadowing of the Ronde van Vlaanderen. There we may find out who has a shot at the second monument this year, although Harelbeke can't keep up with RVV regarding the profile of course.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad:
10h: Tadej Pituch (r TAKA)
14h: Wakara Ganambarr (Big Donkey)
18h: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Lenny SnakeCycling)
21h: Zineddine Belaid (RV Allagen)

Kuurne Brussels Kuurne:
11h: Bartholomäus Most (Alive And Dead)
15h: Clacedonio Cantagalli (Team FL)
19h: Andres Carrasco (Radunion)
22h: Olga Kalinnikova (Nash Team)

Strade Bianche
10h Rafael Trujillo (Marlhou)
14h Kenzo Tenma (stevens)
19h Clayton Cleverly (bergwerk)
22h Bronislav Karbauskis (Medical Service)

Milano - Sanremo
09h Roy Louis (Bugatti)
14h Egon Esswein (Bahrain-Merida)
18h Issa Sangaré (Jokers)
21h Alex Alailefaleula (Team FL)

[Robyklebt]

Ignoring Milano-Torino is a scandal.

[team fl]

Ignoring Milano-Torino is a scandal.

Just wanted to get your attention . Here it is!

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad:
10h: Tadej Pituch (r TAKA)
14h: Wakara Ganambarr (Big Donkey)
18h: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Lenny SnakeCycling)
21h: Zineddine Belaid (RV Allagen)

Kuurne Brussels Kuurne:
11h: Bartholomäus Most (Alive And Dead)
15h: Clacedonio Cantagalli (Team FL)
19h: Andres Carrasco (Radunion)
22h: Olga Kalinnikova (Nash Team)

Strade Bianche
10h Rafael Trujillo (Marlhou)
14h Kenzo Tenma (stevens)
19h Clayton Cleverly (bergwerk)
22h Bronislav Karbauskis (Medical Service)

Milano - Torino
10h(1) Yuta Okkotsu (Pokemonogatari)
10h(2) Enno Oper (Falcor CC)
15h Owen Onley (bergwerk)
19h Mekhti Abdulatipov (Team Dagestan)
22h Baptiste Firiam (Alive And Dead)

Milano - Sanremo
09h Roy Louis (Bugatti)
14h Egon Esswein (Bahrain-Merida)
18h Issa Sangaré (Jokers)
21h Alex Alailefaleula (Team FL)

[Robyklebt]

You always have my attention! Female FL sends a daily report on your activities, I have the Liechtenkiesler secret service observe you too,, and I regularly ask Hugo Marxe, eh, Marx, Marx, no connection to Marxer, he's disappeared, nobody knows where he is, this Hugo Marx is just a guy who likes to take pictures of the sand dunes in southern Liechtenstein, the imaginary ones, I mean.. anyway, I ask him about you too!

[team fl]

They just want to see my naked dancing. It's kind of famous in Liechtenstein by now. I doubt that female FL sends you pictures from that though. Maybe cencored with the plush donkey I won at KBK...

[flockmastoR]

I heard rumors, that Hugo Marxer has connections to Jan Marsalek. Maybe you need to search for him in St. Petersburg or Moscow?

[team fl]

Hugo Marxer's whereabouts are still a mistery. But now I suspect that Big Donkey has something to do with it...

Anyway, Flanders weekend coming up! First Harelbeke, then Gent-Wevelgem. Team FL tries do ride both, but still not sure when exactly. These 10 riders are ready to ride at anytime the team management orders them to ride, then line-ups will be done right before each race:

Calcedonio Cantagalli
Eberhard Eberle
Joffrey Jouffroy
Karl Knöppel
Lautaro Lucifero
Quincy Qinnuayuak
Santiago Souberbielle
Sten Stenberg
Thierry Tiendrébéogo
Yossi Youshimatz

[Robyklebt]

E3!

After Het Volk, Ganambarr wins E3! Both the missing races won. The Donkey with a complete set of classics (that he cares about and keeps track of in his press center). Finally! Ok, De Panne missing... but is fairly new, maybe should just delete it from the press center to have the full set. Anyway, E3 wasn't ridden that often, the Donkey preferred to dominate Catalunya quite often. With Ganambarr we knew we had a chance this year, both Omloop and E3. Winning both... excellent. Despite not training perfectly, but we prefer the wins to the training anyway.

The manner doesn't matter much, it wasn't brilliant, well not horrible either. Thought would most likely end in a Pituch sprint, Ganambarr on the wheel and hoping to win, was happy with that. But first try some stuff, some Lüthi siebs, but too strong, didn't want to put in fighting to keep my stars. Then a sieb where in addition to Uru and Roy, Fortuny stayed too, so.. go with Lüthi. The hidden croc tactic. Ride in front, have the leader being carried by others in the back. Split teams, create helper problems. Worked nicely, brilliant tactic, up to 1' advantage. Worked too nicely even. Then got greedy and wanted to save Lüthi over the Eikenberg, should simply have done a fake farmer there, "save" Lüthi, let the rest be caught.. Because it seemed an ok place for another team to take over, one that had his croc in the open. So Medical did, problems in the back. Instead of going into the Paterberg-Oude Kwaremont combi in a big bunch it was 2. There I lost Fortuny and Uru in front too, maybe Roy could have stayed, but let him drop back to Ganambarr anyway. 5 riders stay in the first group, far, but they ride. In the back IMO there is enough time to catch them, but alone... Taka let Pituch drop somehow, dropped chain it was actually I think. Pituch out, Donks alone, 5 Dagestans, a bit of whining and he was in, later Ansach and Gipfel too. All kind of made sense for them, but actually earlier made more sense. The way it turned otu was then perfect for me... coming closer and closer, last km we need all in, so the mass prevented attacks, sprint, Dagestan train, Donks there, finally an easy win, although looking at the replay I don't understand why Ganambarr didn't fly straight into a block when he went at 150. For the others, lots of help, I had 0 chances to get the front without them, catching that group earlier, with 5 even 10 km to go much better, then it opens up the race, suddenly I'm the only one with interest to ride again. So lucky me they joined a bit late, one after the other. And then put their leaders in when Ganambarr went in 4 km from the end. Didn't expect other leaders to ride at all...

So everything perfect for the Donkey. actually being stubborn still think the hidden-croc made sense, just the implementation not perfect, after that though I just had a lot of luck that others rode. But ok, that happens quite often, and the Donkey did ride a lot with his helpers there, Roy, Uru, Fortuny, despite a bunch of 86, 89, 91 and stuff like that being there.

Donks with 2 classics, more than happy. Actually in a way more happy to win these 2 than I would have been winning Sanremo and let's say Roubaix again. Missing races finally won! Excellent. Ganambarr the hero!

[Dagestan]

March is almost over, we're half way down the spring classics-season. Time to evaluate. Despite a somewhat "meh"-sentiment, the numbers for Team Dagestan look amazing: we rode 7 classics, 6 podium, with 6 different riders. After the retirement of superstar Reza Sadeghi, the team's strength is not in 1 or 2 strong leaders but rather all across the board.

Today, 22 years old youngster Doku Dudayev won Gent - Wevelgem after an unplanned escape (we were co-favo and willing to ride, but everybody else escaped, so yeah, then we escape too). A great result, although there are rumors that some sponsors were not too happy that the manager chose a rider from Chechnya as a leader in the escape instead of Dagestani rider Karim Abdullaev.
Earlier this month Mekhti Abdulatipov won Milano - Torino. On paper there were 2 stronger climbers, but with top form, a lot of bluffing and in the end some luck he managed to beat the stronger duo by just 1 second. After the race, Mekhti praised the advice from his mentor Khamzat Kammagadzhiev, who won the race in a similar way in 2021.
We also got a second place at both E3 Harelbeke (with 54 sprint in a larger group against a 65 sprint, second place is the best you can do) and De Panne (with an 87 sprinter against many stronger ones, also no real chance to win here). We also got a third place in the Omloop (also a 54 sprinter against some 60+) and Strade Bianchi (beaten by 2 riders who were simply stronger on the final kilometer).
And then there was Milano - San Remo. As per our tradition we did terrible there and only got 13th place in a mass sprint because we didn't bring our sprinter.

So conclusion of this evaluation: we really got the most out of our weakish team so far (ok, except MSR). Let's hope for some more good results in April!

[team fl]

End of March indeed. GW to all winners. Here's the update on the winners list:

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad:
10h: Tadej Pituch (r TAKA)
14h: Wakara Ganambarr (Big Donkey)
18h: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Lenny SnakeCycling)
21h: Zineddine Belaid (RV Allagen)

Kuurne Brussels Kuurne:
11h: Bartholomäus Most (Alive And Dead)
15h: Clacedonio Cantagalli (Team FL)
19h: Andres Carrasco (Radunion)
22h: Olga Kalinnikova (Nash Team)

Strade Bianche
10h Rafael Trujillo (Marlhou)
14h Kenzo Tenma (stevens)
19h Clayton Cleverly (bergwerk)
22h Bronislav Karbauskis (Medical Service)

Milano - Torino
10h(1) Yuta Okkotsu (Pokemonogatari)
10h(2) Enno Oper (Falcor CC)
15h Owen Onley (bergwerk)
19h Mekhti Abdulatipov (Team Dagestan)
22h Baptiste Firiam (Alive And Dead)

Milano - Sanremo
09h Roy Louis (Bugatti)
14h Egon Esswein (Bahrain-Merida)
18h Issa Sangaré (Jokers)
21h Alex Alailefaleula (Team FL)

Brugge - De Panne
08h Hannes Rauch (Narrenparty)
14h Onno Bisdorff (Medical Service)
18h RobertBartleh Cummings (Felsenland)
21h Vincenzo Italiano (Carrera Blue Jeans)

Mr. Saxo Beat Harelbeke
09h Robert Takacs (Schartner Bombe)
15h Wakara Ganambarr (Big Donkey)
19h Enrique Ugarte (Los Teros)
22h Firmin VanKerrebroeck (Fraegg)

Gent-Wevelgem
11h Doku Dudayev (Team Dagestan)
14h Ruedi Jungo (Medical Service)
18h Habib Diallo (Elaska)
21h Alaa Bellaarouch (RV Allagen)

Standouts so far: Ganambarr (Big Donkey) with 2 wins, Omloop and Harelbeke. Team Dagestan and RV Allagen also with good performances. Upset of the spring classic campaign so far: Enrique Ugarte (Los Teros), winning Harelbeke in a sprint with 56 sprint.

Disappointments so far: Teams with lots of pavé riders like Lenny SnakeCycling, Tukhtahuaev or Bearclaw (the to watch list if you want). Only Lenny could win one of these races so far. But it's not the end of the days, DdV, RVV, Scheldeprijs and PR still upcoming. So far it's more like: The dark donkey strikes again .

[team fl]

It's April! It's time for three monuments and many more classic races. So what's the schedule you ask? Go and have a look at the calendar you lazy bastard! Just kidding, here it is:

Wednesday, 2 April: Dwaars dor Vlaanderen

Mainly the rehearsal for the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Not as long, not as hard.

Sunday, 6 April: Ronde van Vlaanderen

Second monument after MSR! Like the Classicissima, it offeres many outcomes, depending on the teams attending, their line ups and the race development. Favourites? Rider that have decent mountain, pavé and sprint skill. And a good suppost cast. If you search for riders with the filters mountain 55, sprint 60 and cobbles 75, you get 27 current riders, 20 of them with points. But there are also beasts that could win solo. Or lucky escapers. Here's my selection, sorted by teams in alphabetical order:

- Big Donkey: Ganambarr is one of the most succesfull riders during this years spring campaign so far. So look out for this dark donkey at RVV too! Assisted by Roy, Fortuny or Lanfredini, he could continue his succes stroy. Or he could stubbornly refuse. You never know with these donkeys...

- Lenny SnakeCycling: Won Omlopp and then... well, that was it for March. 2nd at Strade Bianche, 2nd at Milano - Torino, 3rd at Brugge - De Panne, 2nd at Harelbeke and 2nd at Gent-Wevelgem. But oh boy, look at the potential. It look like this teams has been made for RVV. Rankireddy and Vasigaran alone look frightening enough... Be prepared to get bitten by the snake.

- Medical Service: Kinnen and Karbauskis are the riders to watch if you need medical service . But they don't come alone. At your assistance are as well at least Mutale and Kirichenko. My conlusion: try to stay healthy

- RV Allagen: The team has already won two Flanders classics in March with Omloop and Gent-Wevelgem. Belaid and Belaarouch are a great duo for this profile with a very good support cast, incl. Solomon, Adel, Liegeois and Gebregziaiher. And not to forget the 10th "man": The chat.

- r TAKA: He has somewhat a similar record than Lenny SnakeCycling: Won Omloop and some minor races, but missed other opportunites at classic races in March. But don't overlook the 2024 king of classics! Well, this is maybe not the race for pavé prodigy Kucka - I guess he's in for PR - but surely for Pituch, accompagnied by Yilmaz and Uchiha.

- Tukhtahuaev: Unlucky so far in his spring campaign and he preferred the stage races in March. But it's still one of the strongest pavé teams with formidable caption in Mendiburu. Let's see which unspeakable horror, ehm name, he will unleash on you.

Wednesday, 9 April: Scheldeprijs

Just one thing: Don't forget it's a sprinter's race! Alex is waiting for competition...

Sunday, 13 April: Paris - Roubaix

The hell of the north! For more, just sort the riders in the statistics for pavé and make up your own mind

Sunday 20 April: Some beer and noble metal race.

Welcome to the Ardennes! Everybody who hates pavé will rejoice. But I'd rather not drink beer than ride this race. Pfui.

Wednesday, 23 April: La Flèche Wallonne

I refer to anything the Big Donkey has to tell about this race. Especially on how not to win it...

Sunday 27 April: Liège-Bastogne-Liège

The 4th and last monument in the spring campaign: La Doyenne! Again time for good classic riders, climbers and everything in between. Some sprint helps of course. I've heard r TAKA is the expert to assess this race. So I won't.