Spring classics 2026

[team fl]

It seems something went wrong with the inscription for 21h... I was signed up for the race and now I see that I am not in the race... Now my riders don't know what to do in Siena on a Saturday evening. Any advice where to go to forget about all of this?

[Robyklebt]

Still argh...

Donkey was painting a masterpiece, came along well, then he dropped his coffee cup all over the canvas. Argh. 64-76 with 76.9 leader, yes, Aurélien Bonjour, Ousland no 1, a bit of pointless misinformation and more importantly a little reward for him, he was our best rider in Omloop.
Plan was clear, and for once it went exactly as it did in our dreams (well, Omloop too, but there the plan was just do nothing forever, then a little bit) In my dreams I saw Aurélien sucking in a 3-5 man group as weakest climber, then winning. Preparation really went perfectly. Almost at least. Very early, unexpected sieb by Narren, wasn't too happy at first, 6 riders in front, but only one early helper... so Kagge on Aurélien, rest free. Narren with 9 then gave up, by then I had started to like the situation very much, after my planned sieb then not one group, but 2 behind, even better!! But Narren gave up and wasn't heard of anymore until the last km... So Donkey sieb km 66, Winzenried, 23 riders, 2 Donkeys ride back up, that's it, 25 riders, Vigni rides (plan was Kotibaruly first, but since Vigni rode a km to come back...)By the end of the sector advantage of almost 2' over one big group in the back (all 9 Narren there, he should have continued and then chased ahead of the slow last peloton with the 80-70) Still 1'19" when Winzenried went in again, at 102, 20 riders in front, Vigni gone, 4 Donkeys, 4 Sprees (but clearly fighting each time) 3 WZF, 3 Schnuggeritos, 3 BB Breakers 97, the latter 3 teams with classics, thus the favorites in that group. Kotibaruly, my last contribution to the group brought up the advantage to just over 3', normally then with Lambert's help, BB Breakers, after Monte Sante Marie still at 2'40" since he waited for Kotibaruly, ok, he kept riding a bit longer then, original plan was to stop after that sector, or more likely be dropped there. IMO would have made sense for the 3 guys with classics to go in there together... 3 guys in together can hold off the still slow peloton easily for 50+ km, risk of attacks is minimal, some people have a leader and helpers, some only helpless leaders...but of course they were reluctant, rather did it the more difficult way. At around 2' advantage Donkey out, Schnuggeritos in, drops Lambert soon, then despite already riding a few km drops 2 Sprees, that had been fighting a lot on Winzenried I guess, 16 riders left in front., still 2', very strong Cramer. Km 167 peloton finally accelerated, on a 6 a classic, in front WZF joined, but possibly too late to hope to keep the peloton away with the helpers I guess, so earlier action with leaders probably needed. Only 31" left before the second Colle Pinzuto, Mandyczewski goes in, 3 riders left, Bonjour at 5". And fighting off. DAMN. Would have had exactly my dreamscenario, +/- 20 km left, I'm the weakest, can suck. Would Bonjour have stayed with fighting? I was confident, but of course don't know. 8 more mountain, 0.4 more pavé, more energy (in the front group Bonjour always had 2 helpers, but before not, and with less flat costs more)... could be dropped, but assuming same form, somehow still think could have held on, with fighting. What happens then, we don't know. I probably would have ridden a bit too much, even if less than Schnuggeritos and Spree probably would have joined the first 2 km or so to get it going, then out, in my dreams already prepared the statement "I rode enough to give me a chance, not going to throw away it by riding more"... but yeah, probably as the over-optimistic Donkey would have ridden a bit too much and got 2nd or 3rd. Or maybe the group would have been caught, Donkey out more than half the km would have freaked out the later winner. The guy even let Schiffbauer ride the 3** alone. Imagine Donkey not riding 2 km pretty soon after!! Group not working big chance too. Or maybe I would have managed to be out enough and actually win it, who knows.. but more likely probably riding just a bit too much, follow but lose the sprint or something like that. All these scenarios would have been ok, from dropping while fighting, from riding too much, being dropped at Le Tolfe with 5** (very wary of those..), group doesn't work... but like this? Forget to put fighting in. At least I think I did, I sort of thought of putting it in, now counts, but probably didn't, because after being dropped saw the fighting at no...Such a basic mistake after riding it almost perfectly until then, after being in exactly the position I wanted to be, putting myself there. But well, 5" back, waited for the BB who was 3" further back, 15", but 3 vs 2, more flat in front, lost more and more, on Le Tolfe 5** though we kept the distance, well Aurélien did, Dubois didn't manage to get in tempo. IMO showed that if Rehberg and the 753rd generation Schiffbauer can stay there... and fight and slow down M on Le Tolfe, Aurélien there would be pretty ok. Maybe should have continued alone after being dropped, but wouldn't have come back anyway... In front Schiffbauer then took 8 km off, second last in again, IMO a mistake, but probably changed little. A bit more was needed, of the 18km Donkey probably would have tried to miss at least half, ride downhill, cover Le Tolfe, let the others out, but ride the first 2 or so km with them... But well, no fighting, dropped, all "could have". Frustrating after creating exactly what I wanted, doing exactly what I needed to do... In principle 4th with Aurélien is a good result, just that I took away the chance for more by being stupid.
In the back Lüthi then was an amazing 5th.. Never expected that, so 10th in the race... but guess that without the siebs, there would have been later anti 80-70 siebs and Lüthi with 70.6 pavé would have been in the siebed part... hm, that's what I assumed, looking at the peloton now.... he holds up pretty well against other classics. But hadn't really bothered with checking the opponents too closely, what for, I knew that for Aurélien I had to do what I had to do (but forgot about this fighting feature to put on later it seems), pretty regardless of what other teams have. And Lüthi simply didn't seem to have a way to the victory, much better chances for a placement, but win... still don't see how actually. For Aurélien yes, a tiny chance, but thought it was there, and if I had put fighting in it would have been there, still not huge, but.. So pretty happy with how I rode, but frustrating to make that mistake (would prefer to put fighting in and just be too weak, much better)

Anyway, next is Sanremo, well, Milano-Torino first, have to check if they kept the Superga version or went back to a sprint version, whichever it is, ready to win, if I overperfom (and 4th with Aurélien is overperforming, despite the frustrating end) like here, can't be beaten there! And then Kebede for Sanremo. IN the meantime we go and hang out a bit in France, but our heart stays in Italy

[team fl]

Thanks to Alkworld, the Team FL riders were able to start in Siena, right on time. In the end, 2 secs were missing for the Fürst to garnish it, while Uchiha and his team mates showed, how it's done. Very interesting edition, very deserved winner at 21h.

Here the full list of winners for this year's Strade Bianche:

07.03.2026: Strade Bianche (Cat. 5)
09h - Leonid Pavlenko (NoMoreLulz)
14h - Eusebius Mandyczewski (Wiener Zentralfriedhof RV)
18h - David Martinez (stevens)
21h - Sasuke Uchiha (Uomo Nero)

[team fl]

Next race: Milano - Torino, Wednesday 18 March 2026

Milano - Torino is called a "semi"-classic in the internet. Well, it's not part of the World Tour which leads to that description I guess. But it's part of the UCI ProSeries. And more important: Milano - Torino is the oldest classic race in the world, first raced in 1876. Interesting fact: The race was not run (or cycled) between the spring of 2007 and the autumn of 2012.

Until 1987, Milano - Torino was always one week before Milano - SanRemo and was seen as a preparation for La Primavera. However, in 1987 Milano–Torino was switched to a date in October just before the Giro di Lombardia because the race organisers were not happy with the weather conditions in early March in northern Italy. In 2005 Milan–Torino returned to its traditional date in early March until it was again put in October in 2008 exchanging dates with the Monte Paschi Eroica race (Strade Bianchi, remember?) which is now run in March. Because of all that switcheroo, the race got ill and was not held until 2012, when it was placed back to October. Since 2022, it's placed in the spring again.

So, Milano - Torino is not only the oldes classic race, its history and positioing in the calendar is quite bumpy. Which leads to profile: May I say that the evolution of its profile is similar to its history, like a roller coaster? Being a sprinters race from 2020 on, the profile changed back to a climber's race in 2025 with a finish after a steep climb up the Colle di Superga after passing the Bivio di Superga and a flat warm up for around 150 kms. Last year's winner was a climber again consequently. Isaac del Toro finished first after 174 kms.

This year's edition is exactly the same as last year, so a climber win is very likely again, also in C4F. But let's see who won the race last year in your beloved game (which isn't a game according to Gipfelstuermer, let alone fun). Anyway, the winners were: Yuta Okkotsu (Pokemonogatari), Enno Oper (Falcor), Owen Onley (bergwerk), Mekhti Abdulatipov (Team Dagestan) and Baptiste Firiam (Wiener Zentralfriedhof RV).

Who are the favourites you ask? Read you lazy bastard! Or think... but that's too much asked for some players. The answer: Climbers. Preferably with a decent flat skill not to lose to much power during the warm up. If it's a fast race. But be aware. Baptiste Firiam for example messed up the Giro after winning Milano - Torino. So a win could be a bad sign, maybe even a curse! We need more conspiracy theories in the game... which is yours?

[flockmastoR]

Next race: Milano - Torino, Wednesday 18 March 2026

Milano - Torino is called a "semi"-classic in the internet. Well, it's not part of the World Tour which leads to that description I guess. But it's part of the UCI ProSeries. And more important: Milano - Torino is the oldest classic race in the world, first raced in 1876. Interesting fact: The race was not run (or cycled) between the spring of 2007 and the autumn of 2012.

Until 1987, Milano - Torino was always one week before Milano - SanRemo and was seen as a preparation for La Primavera. However, in 1987 Milano–Torino was switched to a date in October just before the Giro di Lombardia because the race organisers were not happy with the weather conditions in early March in northern Italy. In 2005 Milan–Torino returned to its traditional date in early March until it was again put in October in 2008 exchanging dates with the Monte Paschi Eroica race (Strade Bianchi, remember?) which is now run in March. Because of all that switcheroo, the race got ill and was not held until 2012, when it was placed back to October. Since 2022, it's placed in the spring again.

So, Milano - Torino is not only the oldes classic race, its history and positioing in the calendar is quite bumpy. Which leads to profile: May I say that the evolution of its profile is similar to its history, like a roller coaster? Being a sprinters race from 2020 on, the profile changed back to a climber's race in 2025 with a finish after a steep climb up the Colle di Superga after passing the Bivio di Superga and a flat warm up for around 150 kms. Last year's winner was a climber again consequently. Isaac del Toro finished first after 174 kms.

This year's edition is exactly the same as last year, so a climber win is very likely again, also in C4F. But let's see who won the race last year in your beloved game (which isn't a game according to Gipfelstuermer, let alone fun). Anyway, the winners were: Yuta Okkotsu (Pokemonogatari), Enno Oper (Falcor), Owen Onley (bergwerk), Mekhti Abdulatipov (Team Dagestan) and Baptiste Firiam (Wiener Zentralfriedhof RV).

WZF this year will not play a big role, Falco best climber with only 74 mountain. So we will try our luck in an early escape or not ride at all.

Who are the favourites you ask? Read you lazy bastard! Or think... but that's too much asked for some players. The answer: Climbers. Preferably with a decent flat skill not to lose to much power during the warm up. If it's a fast race. But be aware. Baptiste Firiam for example messed up the Giro after winning Milano - Torino. So a win could be a bad sign, maybe even a curse! We need more conspiracy theories in the game... which is yours?

Really appreciate your historic comments about the classics.
A good climber is needed but also a strong team. The 2 climbs finish with just little flat in between is dangerous and Okkotu showed last year how to win attacking on the first climb and support from the early escape group. As for Baptiste, he won this classic for Alive And Dead, not for Wiener Zentralfriedhof RV. And he was cursed for sure, already at AAD but even more in his later team at the GIRO, he still had a good carreer all together

[flockmastoR]

Milano - Torino: Morning edition

Due to some short term work appointment in the afternoon, WZF started in the morning. With a rather new team having a 89 climber (Oswaldo Mosquera) and besides that weak support, it didn't look too bad also for chances out of a group first. Many other teams thought the same, especially those who wanted to bring helpers over the first Superga passage. A big group was formed with 15 riders from 9 teams, including co-favorite and later winner team SV Furpach and co-favorite and later third place Dreizehn. Many good 60-80s with strong downhill skills, so a big potential danger to the favorites. r FCSL did chase hardly from the beginning, and so there was never really a chance to go for the stage but the gap was 2:30 on foot of the first climb and therefore could be used for attacks. WZF with our best classic Hölzel just climbing up on 75 mountain in training recently and topform for Milano - Torino hoped to be part of a 80-70/young climber double attack (we figured out Bugatti was the one to hang) and to surprisingly win on the climb later. But the attack was done without the Bugatti riders, the 80-70s of Dreizehn, Allagen, Furpach and OBK attacked and reached the top 47s behind the 3 escape riders (Adams, Miller, Liebgott) while Dreizehns Pauls already waited his leader Barbosa. So attacking one km earlier was possible for them. Instead of attacking himself, Bugatti's Lompo did ride in the back leaving just a small gap of 10s between the 80-70 attack and the peloton.

Here our big mistake happened, instead of think about where to hang for the rest with Hölzel, we wanted to force it, attack and wait with Adams and easily being carried by the 80-70 group. But we ended up behind them, Hölzel needed to ride a lot of downhill kms and the downhill, the attack from behind (Allagens + Bugattis + all support classics of the guys in front) got together with the early 80-70 group. Problem was that Oswaldo was also there. But the group pushed and attacked Oswaldo on the last flat km before the final climb having 28s now on the peloton with r FSCL riding with his helper climber. Due to the multiple attacks, the 80-70s were weaker and lost too much time against the 84 climber helper. Hölzel could still stay in the 80-70 group even with wasting a lot of energy (red attack on 3, 5 km tempo) that finally wasnt necessary. He was in the top group until the very last km were he was dropped by the climbers and finished on place 13.

In peloton, Leick attacked on the 11 with Liu Bei being able to follow. But it was perfectly blocked by Ansach and could only gain 2s. Leick and Bei with no final attack were overtook by the attacks of Carlos Noriega and Gregor Großmann. While Großmann pushed Noriega out of tempo on the block 11 km, Großmann was stronger on the final km and took the win. Leick, whos team did 90% of the work only finished 4th even behind Leick.

With 75-78, our chances were not even small, but with a good following a top 5 place would be reachable. Without the panic attack right after the climb, Falco has more energy for the final climb, but I don't see anybody that would then land behind him, just 80-70s in front of him.

[team fl]

Thanks for the detailed morning report. Here are all winners of this year's Milano - Torino edition:

18.03.2026: Milano - Torino (Cat. 4)
10h Carlos Noriega (SV Furpach)
15h Michael Redrocks (Falcor)
19h Kamila Zuk (Schappy)
22h Santonio Holmes (RSV Gera)

Next up: MSR

[team fl]

Si avvicina il primo grande appuntamento dell'anno: La Classica di primavera, La Classicissima, La Primavera! È la prima delle cinque Classiche del ciclismo dell'anno e una delle gare ciclistiche di un giorno più prestigiose al mondo. Milano-Sanremo è anche, con i suoi 298 chilometri, la gara di un giorno più lunga del ciclismo moderno. Si è disputata per la prima volta nel 1907.

Ma non è solo la gara in sé ad essere prestigiosa, bensì anche l’elenco dei vincitori. Harald Mühlenberg, Stefano Benni, Alex Aleilefaleula, solo per citarne tre. Naturalmente ci sono anche vincitori meno importanti come Eddie Merckx, Gino Bartali o Erik Zabel. Nel 2025 il vincitore è stato Mathieu van der Poel, che anche quest'anno figura tra i favoriti.

A vincere la gara non sono stati solo corridori con una buona potenza, ma anche velocisti che se la cavano bene in salita (Philippsen, Cavendish, ecc.), bravi discesisti (Nibali, Mohoric) o specialisti delle classiche come van Aert o Cancellara. Questo è ciò che rende la gara così estremamente interessante. Di solito la verità si svela dopo la Cipressa, quando si sale e si scende dal Poggio verso il rettilineo finale verso Sanremo. Prima di vedere chi sono i favoriti di quest'anno, diamo un'occhiata ai vincitori dell'anno scorso:

2025: Roy Louis (Bugatti), Egon Esswein (Bahrain-Merida), Issa Sangaré (Jokers), Alex Alailefaleula (Team FL)

Velocisti, velocisti a prova di salita, fuggitivi, velocisti. Quindi nessun specialista delle classiche l'anno scorso. Vediamo se quest'anno ce la farà qualcuno. I favoriti sono molti. Chi vedi in testa?

[Robyklebt]

Milano-Torino done, Donkey failed, the tactic of course do nothing, if critical try to help prevent relais stations, then second Superga, block n' go. Well, failed at that, lost patience, but how am I to resist a slow 80 going up, attack, 8" gained, caught, 6th. Of course block n'go wouldn't have worked for the win either most likely, 11-8, block 11, 85 vs 87 Block 11, I don't get back at 8 normally, only works if they go earlier, so I would have been in for the block 1 km earlier too... Anyway, doesn't matter, even with patience would have fought for 3rd/4th, now sixth, ok.

But more important:

MILANO-SANREMO

Bad news. The Donkey doesn't feel it this year. Right now he lacks the necessary hate for his opponents, the disgust at their low skills, their cowardice in choosing their field not by time but which opponents fit best, lacks the general sense of superiority over all you useless peasants. And that's what you need to win in Sanremo. Hate! Aggressiveness! Not for other races, but somehow can't find it right now. This competitive anger that brings you wins in Via Roma. Let's see if I find it in the next 6 hours.

Despite that, we start of course:

The team:

DS in first car: P. Taiaroa
Second car: R. Henri

1 D. Kebede: Leader, 66 with 78 sprint, he's a bit unhappy with management, he's been told that only Sanremo counts for him, and now his support team is rather weak, embarrassingly weak.
His comment: I'll try to win, if the team and hopefully others bring me in position, you can count on me.

2 A. Bongiorno: 50 mountain, 86 sprint, our second sprinter. In case the hill sprinters are caught, very likely if it depends on my heroic team, we have Arcadio. He's very enthusiastic about this sort of surprise nomination, we are much less convinced it makes sense. After all it's likely he'll end up behind most other flat sprinters on the Cipressa.
I've been told that I maybe won't ride the Giro, despite the promise when I signed here. So riding Sanremo makes up for that, winning Sanremo is like winning 3 Giro stages! And who knows, a win here might convince the Donkey to take me to the Giro after all

3 A. Bonjour: 66-76, helper for Kebede. Good for downhill, not much else really with 76 flat. Unlikely to get his own chance, apart from the missing flat he has too little sprint as well.
Sanremo, good preparation for the other spring monuments I guess. Flanders, Roubaix, Liège, that's my races, here... I don't know, what do they expect me to do?

4 P. Gallego: 74-79. Yes, he's still alive, first race since Oman. And here he's our best helper, 74-79, that's good for Kebede. Cipressa and Poggio his terrain.
I'm ready, of course I'm in good shape, I trained, if we fail, it won't be because of me. I'm more than ready.

5. B. Gjeldens: 50-77-79 with reg, so clearly a helper for the early part. Bring bottles, navigate the peloton for the rider he has to protect.
My first really big race, seems I'll ride almost all big races for the team this year. Good, look forward to this here, if I can help, I'm ready. Tempo, I like doing tempo, can start whenever the DS tells me.

6 T. Onkelinx: 58-81, he was at 84 flat 7 trainings ago, when he turned 33... While with him at 83 or 84 the team still wouldn't be good, at least a bit better. Helper for after the Cipressa, well, the original plan, as it stands he's useless there. His role will be decided after we see the opponents. From still helped for Kebede to helped for Bongiorno to helper from km 1, all is possible.
I'm sorry Donkey! He didn't actually say that, but it's the only statement we accept from that downtrainer.

7 E. Ousland: 60-83, decent enough helper for Kebede. More mountain would have helped. Maybe an advanced hacking course would make it possible for us to exchange him for his younger win brother...that would help Kebede immensely. But Erling is ok too, limited usefulness if we have to wait for him, since we lose a few seconds that Kebede probably is ahead, but then in the flat part before the Cipressa he can help.
Of course I'll give everything for Kebede, that's why I'm here. Donkey claiming my brother is better? Well, Björn sure has made big progress lately, we were pretty equal when we turned pro, but he was always a better in the mountains, so.... if the Donkey wanted my brother he could have signed him...

8 F. Vigni: Helper, early helper, probably for Bongiorno, unless we give up on him from the start.
No need to worry about Arcadio, I'll keep him fit till the Cipressa, after that it's up to him. But until then, I'm experienced enough to make sure that he won't suffer.

9 L. Winzenried: 89 flat, good to have if we need fast tempo at some point. Well, at some point before the Cipressa. Keeping him fit for Arcadio makes little sense since if Arcadio is in the sprinters group, flat mass to be expected. If he's behind, the flat mass will keep Lukas behind too.
My grandfather Anton Hasler was in escape here from km 1 or 2 till the Poggio! He keeps telling me to do the same, I just might. The Donkey and Taiaroa are not too confident due to the team that is not fitting the parcours so well? Then let me have a go! I can bring the an escape to the end, just to show my grandfather that I'm as good as he was! Better!