Gilbert Goes for it at Strade Bianchi, MSR on way

Well we had the Strade Bianchi race down in Italy, and it was Phillipe Gilbert, (or Pip Giblet as I like to call him) what won. Luckily for me he was picked for the Bile Beans line-up, along with another high scorer for the day, Greg Van Avermaet. Points for the Beans then, and a finish ahead of the only competition in the league from Warwick's Pantaloons.

It doesn't really matter though, as it was only a training race. The real action starts next weekend with the first of the monuments of one-day cycling, Milan-San-Remo. MSR is usually a race for the sprinters if they can make it over the final climb. It takes a proper hardman to go for the solo win at MSR, think Cancellara in 2008, or Sean Kelly back in 1992.





You can now get picking a team at Velogames, but be careful who you chose, as there's only two chances to re-select your team.

Standard Teams - Two Transfer Windows ahead of (a) Ronde van Vlaanderen and (b) Amstel Gold Race

I thought I was being all smart by going for a sprinter-packed line-up for MSR, but my boys may suffer in Gent-Wevelgem. I also noticed that the rider list seems to feature pretty much everyone, so you better check the start list of the races to make sure who you've picked is actually going to ride. I wouldn't go picking Riccardo Ricco, for example. He might be out of hospital after his DIY blood transfusion, but I don't think he'll ever ride with the Pros again - good thing too, I never liked him.... although he did earn me a lot of points at the Giro one year.

In other cycling news, I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that I managed to finish the last of the Snake Creek TT series, despite some adverse weather that scared off some of my less hardy team-mates. Most importantly we got free beer and chili afterwards and I earned myself this super-cool belt-buckle. Now I just have to obtain a belt on which to display it.

I think I'll wear it in combination with that bronze medal I won at a cross race.

In non-cycling news, there's a little Pance on the way, who I hope will stay in the womb long enough to not interfere with the final week of the Tour De France and my Fantasy Tour blogging duties. And Pance HQ will soon be moving to a new location. My local freesheet will be the Decatur Dispatch.

Instead of the Ponce Press

And our new house will also be handy for the "British Isle" at the supermarket.

I'm off for a week's skiing "vacation" starting  tomorrow, so I'm not sure if I'll get to update the blog or send out a reminder before the MSR starts on the 19th. Make sure you get those teams in people! The mini-league name and code are still the same as they were for the training races:

League Name:    Tour De Pance
League Code: 26025027