Kristoff in Prime Spot at La Primavera

It was another cold and wet edition of Milan-San Remo yesterday.  And although apparently not quite as cold and wet as last year, it was still enough to get those pampered pros complaining and making excuses.   

One man who didn't need any excuses though, was canny Norseman Alexander Kristoff, who showed he's quite good really, by winning the dash for the line from a select group of twenty or so.

As is traditional at this point, let's look at those scores...........

League Standings - Overall

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	1	114
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	2	110
	Rouleurs	tdm911	3	77
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	4	72
	Only here to have the P taken	Drew	5	60
	WACA`s wilters	Warwick Anderson	6	50
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	7	38
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	8	17
	Evil Chicken Bots	King Chicken	9	16

So a strong start from Mungo and the Bile Beans, a very average showing from Drew, and I've no idea what the Smugblokes and the Chicken Bots think they are doing.

To those of you underwhelmed by your team's performance so far, remember that there's still plenty more races still to come (10 more to be precise), so maybe you should use some of those 24 transfers?  You should certainly think about making some transfers if most of your riders are inactive for the coming races, or if you seem to have chosen a Grand Tour team instead of a Classics squad (WACA and Smugblokes, I'm looking at you).  If you're having trouble deciding on how to use those transfers, I've made this handy spreadsheet of who's on the startlist of the next few races, which I will try to keep updated - although I'm not making any promises.

Next up on the Velogames calendar is Dwars door Vlaanderen, which will be going down on Wednesday.  Here's how the top ten looked last year.

1 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 4:43:40  
2 Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana Pro Team  
3 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Sky Procycling  
4 Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team  
5 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar  
6 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team  
7 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-GreenEdge  
8 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) Astana Pro Team  
9 Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:04  
10 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:24

And here's what CN say about the course:

The first few hours of the race take in flat country roads from the start in Roeselare before the first climb, the Nieuw Kwaremont at 87 kilometres. By then a break will have likely formed but the first climb, with the Kattenberg and Leberg coming in quick succession, will see the pace ramp up as the strongmen and their teams battle for position at the front of the peloton. The two cobbled sections – Holleweg and Haaghoek – between the Kattenberg and the Leberg may also prove decisive.

However, the most challenging sections are yet to come, with the Eikenberg at 140 kilometres, starting a run of six bergs in 40 kilometres of racing, with the Paterberg at 179 kilometres, sure to see fireworks. But another key point could arrive just after the Paterberg, with a two-kilometre stretch of cobbles leading into the final set of climbs.

There are three more climbs before the finish: the Vossenhol, Hostraat and Nokereberg, with the climb summit seven kilometres from the finish in Waregem.