Milano-Sanremo: Goss!

Ok, my podium prediction was completely wrong. Also my race prediction ('it will end up in a bunch sprint') was completely wrong. Oh dear, what happened to my prediction abilities?
Anyway. Yesterday Milan-Sanremo was even more thrilling than usual, thanks to some big crashes and to some great attacks. La Classicissima is one of my favourite races because of many reasons. Firstly, it's the first one-day classic of the year. Secondly, it marks the official beginning of the true season (next week there is Gend-Wevelgem, yay!). Thirdly, it's a 298 kms long race, but a rider can make the winning move even in the last meter of it (ask mr. Freire for further information). Moreover, la Classicissima has the Poggio and the Cipressa descents, two of the craziest downhills roads that the peloton must face every year. Last but not least, Milan-Sanremo = Primavera (Spring), just like Lombardia = Classica delle foglie morte ('Classic of the falling leaves', aka of the autumn).

Yesterday race began under the sign of Japan. Farnese-Vini's rider, Takashi Miyazawa, was very moved at the start of the Classicissima, when the riders had a moment of silence in order to think about the Japanese tragedy. In order to help his country, Takashi asked his colleagues for help and in fact every rider will sell the jersey that he wore yesterday. Moreover, a big Japanese flag was signed by the 198 riders that took part in the race and it will be sold as well in the next days.
Takashi was one of the early protagonists of the race, since he formed a breakaway after just 12 kms of race. When he got caught, he helped his teammate Visconti and he was one of the 156 riders who ended the race. Chapeau to him!
Yesterday race had its first coup de scene after 208 kms of race, at the start of le Mànie climb. Right before of it, Hushovd crashed together with other riders. On the climb descent, instead, it was Freire's turn to tumble. After these falls, the peloton was broken in two parts. In the first one there were guys like Cancellara, Bennati, Gerdemann, O'Grady, Gilbert, Greipel, Van Avermaet, Ballan, Pozzato, Paolini, Petacchi (only Lampre rider there), Boonen, Offredo, Chainel, Boasson Hagen, Nibali, Sagan, Ventoso, Marcato, Rojas, Rollin, Klier and Haussler. In the second group, instead, there were riders like Hushovd, Farrar, the whole Lampre team apart from Petacchi, Visconti, Cavendish, Renshaw, Bozic, Matthews (who had crashed earlier in the race), Freire, Cooke, Haedo and Arvesen.
BMC, Omega Pharma-Lotto and Katusha immediately started to pull hard at the front of the race, whereas the second group of riders couldn't get organised in a fast way. Amongst the most active teams in the chase there were Farnese-Vini and Euskaltel Euskadi (why?), whereas Columbia never chased in a decided way.
At the beginning of la Cipressa, the first group had about 1.50 minute advantage on the second one. Then, Scarponi attacked and he came back in the first group in a great way. That move made us understand that Petacchi wasn't at his best, while Michele right now has a great condition. Scarponi managed not to be followed by anyone in his chase and that was really a great numero.
In the meanwhile, the race got even more thrilling. Offredo and Ballan attacked, but the first one to arrive on the top of la Cipressa was Popovych. However, he was soon caught and Française des Jeux launched a great attack with Offredo and Chainel, who were soon joined by Van Avermaet and O'Grady. It was a very interesting move, since Van Avermaet and O'Grady are very fast, Chainel seemed in a great form and Offredo, in spite of the young age, is never afraid of attacking riders that are more famous than him. Moreover, Yoann seems to love Sanremo, since he attacked in the finale also a few years ago.
Greipel sacrificed himself for Gilbert during the quartet chase and in the end the 4 breakawayers were caught on the Poggio. Nibali attacked and during the descent he was joined by Cancellara, Gilbert, Ballan, Offredo, Pozzato, Goss and Scarponi.
In the last few kms, Cancellara tried to attack, but he was immediately chased by Goss. Therefore, he immediately interrupted his effort. The second one to attack was Gilbert, who was followed by-guess who?- Pozzato. In the end, the race was decided in a sprint. The one who launched it was Scarponi, but in the end the winner was Matthew Goss, the only sprinter that managed to stay glued to the wheel of the attackers. Second (for a few centimeters) was Cancellara, while 3rd was Gilbert.

I must say that I enjoyed this edition of la Classicissima, although I was sorry for the riders who crashed. Chronists kept on saying that it was the most exciting Sanremo of the last few years and that caused my father (who supported Matthews and Freire) to get very angry. 'If you consider exciting a race that is decided by crashes, well, this year Sanremo was the perfect race for you. On the other hand, if you like races where the strongest, and not the luckiest, wins, then you might have found it disappointing', he said at the end of it.
Luckily for me, although he wasn't in a very happy mood, watching the race with my father was very nice. For example, he was the one who said the quote of the day. During the podium ceremony, in fact, he looked at me and he said: 'Hey, but what colour are Cancellara's hair?'. I looked at him in a pretty surprised way before answering: 'Dark brown, I guess... Why did you ask me? Are you not feeling fine?'. His answer to my questions (be careful not to fall off your chair) was : 'Dark brown? Really? Are you sure? They actually look violet to me...' . I was almost falling off the couch when he told me that. After all, it had been a long (and disappointing) Sanremo also for him...
Talking about tiredness, also Rai's Alessandra De Stefano was exhausted at the end of the race. So exhausted that she said 'That's all from the Lungotevere of Sanremo, good evening everyone!' instead of 'That's all from the Lungomare of Sanremo!'. In fact, Lungotevere is a word that Italians use to indicate places in Rome that are near to the rider Tevere, while 'lungomare' is a word that is used to indicate the long roads near to the sea that you can find in many Italian villages. However, Alessandra was able to correct herself when she saw that her colleagues were grinning at her.
Back to the riders, however, I must say that I'm happy for Goss. I bet that, in the finale, he probably thought: 'The two most dangerous riders right now are Gilbert and Cancellara. Considering that Pozzato will surely follow Gilbert wherever he can, it's better if I glue myself to Cancellara's wheel!' . He did so (he was the only one who followed Fabian when he attacked, the other ones remained behind them) and in the end he got a stunning victory.
Also Cancellara was very good. He stopped his attack when he saw that Goss had followed him (why continuing the attack with Goss glued to your wheel when you know that he is going to beat you in a possible two-men sprint?) and in the end he came 2nd and he managed to outsprint a fast guy like Gilbert.
Also Stuart O'Grady was really good. I was actually happy to see Leopard behaving as a team. Fabian, Stuart, Bennati and Gerdemann were in the first group of riders and I was very glad about it.
Gilbert was 3rd and I'm sure he was pretty disappointed by that. However, he didn't look very brilliant on the Poggio, so I think he should be quite happy for his result.
Pozzato, as usual, seemed to race not in order to win, but in order to make other riders lose. In fact, he was the one who followed Gilbert and helped the other ones to catch him in the final 2 kms of the race. Philippe got pretty angry at that, especially because Pippo has been shadowing him since the Worlds in Australia. However, now that Philippe is not going to take part in Roubaix, Pippo will probably start to shadow another Belgian, Tom Boonen. Therefore, Tommeke, you'd better get ready for that.
On to another rider, I think that Scarponi raced very well. Petacchi didn't feel fine and Michele gave Lampre a good placement anyway. Moreover, he was the one who started the sprint: he knew he isn't very fast, but he gave it a try anyway.
Chainel and Offredo were really strong too. Pay attention to Yoann: this boy's got a lot of talent. It isn't easy to do certain things after 290 kms of race!
Haussler was disappointing, but it wasn't easy to follow guys like Gilbert and Nibali when they attacked. Saxo Bank was considered 'disappointing' too, but their leader was JJ Haedo and he had problems because of Hushovd's crashes. Therefore, Tosatto (the only one who remained in the first group of riders after le Manie) couldn't do much.
Greipel gave a big hand to Gilbert, perhaps because he wasn't in good form. Sagan disappeared in the finale, probably because 290 kms are too many for him. Petacchi instead was 12th although he didn't feel fine, while Bennati was 13th. Poor Marcato, who crashed on the Poggio, was 15th.
Boasson Hagen was 30th, but he doesn't seem in a good form right now. Therefore, no surprises from him. Rabobank was disappointing, but we must consider that its team leaders, Matthews and Freire, crashed, while Langeveld, Tjallingi and Boom had to work hard to help them.
Visconti was extremely disappointed by the race (it looked as if he was going to break into tears when he was interviewed by the Italian tv!) but he was very unlucky. Now Giovanni will have plenty of time to prepare the next races, where I'm sure that he'll get very good results.
So, that's all for now. Have a good Sunday and enjoy the sun (at least, here in Italy it is sunny, I don't know what the weather is like in the rest of the world...)! And don't forget to take a look at Bananas about Bikes: Mar has published a great post about la Vuelta in Assen!!

(Pic by Bettini)

New blog + Milan-Sanremo predictions and start list:

Dear readers, I'm proud to announce you the birth of 'Bananas About Bikes!', the new cycling blog created by Mar, Marleen, Marleen, Tien, Cristin, Susanne, Leela and me. The link to it is http://bananasaboutbikes.blogspot.com/ . Feel free to leave comments!
Here's the presentation of the blog in English :)

A whole new concept in cycling blogging is born. This blog cannot be compared to any other cycling blog. We are new, we are refreshing, we are bananas!
But what exactly are we? This is a blog behind the scenes of cycling. It's not about the latest news, it's about the experiences of fans behind the scenes. It's about the tales of cycling lovers who visit races. It's about what they saw during the races. Most cycling blogs talk about the races they see on TV. We want to talk about the races we see on the street. Before the start, behind the barriers and after the finish.
The blog is controlled by a group of fangirls from all over the world. But we need you too! We will visit races, we will write reports, but we can't be everywhere. This blog is also for you, and your experiences at the races. You can write reports; send us pictures. Everything is welcome. We love track cycling, MTB and women's cycling too! Don't hesitate, you can send it to us in almost every language! Take a look at the "Who Are We?" tab to read more about the moderators and their languages.
If you're interested, email us at bananasaboutbikes@gmail.com
If you hesitate, feel free to ask us more!

So, did you get the message? A new great cycling blog has been created, check it out immediately! And if you have race tales to send us, feel free to do it! We're looking forward to receiving them :) And don't worry if your English isn't fine: you can send us an e-mail in Spanish, German, Dutch, French, Italian or Danish and we'll translate it into English, no problems about it!!!

Talking about races, there have been some problems in my family over the last few days, so I couldn't watch the last stages of Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice. Moreover, right now I don't feel in the mood to answer the comments under my last post (sorry girls!) and I'm not sure I'll be watching Milan-Sanremo on Saturday (yes, the situation is that serious).

Anyway. I have some free time now and I want to get distracted. Therefore, here you have my personal preview of Milan-Sanremo: the start list, my predictions and some opinions of mine about the teams. I haven't been reading Gazzetta for more than a week now, so I'm not very up-to-date. Therefore, feel free to laugh at the bullshits I'm going to write!

RABOBANK: Freire, Boom, Matthews, Flens, Langeveld, Tjallingii, Tankink, Wijnants. Rabobank has a good team and it will probably do everything to make the race end with a sprint. Freire is an old fox, as we say in Italy. I predicted him as winner last year (my best cycling prediction ever!), but he has been hiding himself in the last races. However, we mustn't forget about him, especially now that the peloton seems to lack of a true 'King of the Sprints'. Still talking about Rabobankers, I suggest you keeping an eye on Matthews. I don't know how he'll feel after 300 kms of race, but I have a feeling that he may do well on Saturday.

ACQUA E SAPONE: Napolitano, Ciavatta, Codol, Donati, Marzoli, S. Masciarelli, Corioni, Taborre. The team sprinter is Napolitano. He's a good sprinter, but I don't think he's as strong as the other ones.

AG2R LA MONDIALE: Nocentini, Elmiger, Hinault, Kadri, Minard, Mondoru, Montaguti, Ravard. Ravard is a good sprinter, but I think that the team will try to invent something on the last climbs, using Nocentini as leader.

ANDRONI: Vicioso, Ferrari, Barla, De Marchi, Ermeti, Bertolini, Solari, Santoro. Ferrari has already won a race this year, but I don't think he'll be able to end up in the top 5 (although a top 10 could be possible for him).

BMC: Ballan, Burghardt, Hincapie, Wyss, Kroon, Quinziato, Schaer, Van Avermaet. The American team has no spinters, so I think they may try to break free from the peloton in the last kms. Just imagine an attack with Van Avermaet, Cancellara, Nocentini, Visconti, Sagan, Gilbert and Pozzato... Yum!

COLNAGO: Modolo, Belletti, Pozzovivo, Pirazzi, Stortoni, Frapporti, Pasqualon, Brambilla. This team isn't very famous , but his riders are young and strong. Modolo was 4th last year, Belletti won the Cesenatico stage in the Giro 2010. Pay attention to them!

COFIDIS: Duque, Ista, Keukeleire, Labbe, Saramotins, Sijmens, Valentin.
EUSKALTEL: Sesma, Castroviejo, Aramendia Llorente, Insausti, Murillo Velasco, Egoi Martinez, Txurruka, Oroz. Where is Koldo Fernandez?!? What did I miss?
FARNESE VINI-NERI: Visconti, Miyazawa, Failli, Gatto, Giordani, Favilli, Ricci, Sinkewitz. Farnese can allow the race a bunch sprint or not. Visconti will surely attack on the last climbs and, if his attacks isn't successful, Gatto will try to make up for that. Oscar has improved a lot over the last months and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a Top 5.
FDJ: Bonnet, Delage, Geslin, Guesdon, Offredo, Rollin, W. Sulzberger, Vaugrenard.
GEOX: Brandle, Cobo, De La Fuente, Florencio, Kump, Ratto, Alberio, Pelucchi. Pelucchi and Ratto are fast riders, but I don't see them ending up in the top 10.

HTC: Cavendish, Albasini, Bak, Goss, Eisel, Grabsch, Renshaw, P. Velits. In case of a sprint finish, this is the strongest team of the bunch together with Garmin. No one knows how Cavendish feels. In this first part of the year he has won just one race, but the thing that strikes me most is that he didn't taken part in some sprints, even if he had the chance. However, Cannon-Ball has already cheated once about his pre-Sanremo form, why shouldn't he do it again? And then, even if Cavendish isn't fine, Renshaw and Goss are ready to make up for that.

KATUSHA: Pozzato, Hoste, Ignatiev, Goussev, Kolobnev, Kuchynski, Paolini, Isiachev. Are you telling me that Galimzyanov isn't racing? Ok, I need to phone Katiusha's ds to get an explanation for that. However, the Russian team looks strong even without Denis. Pozzato won Sanremo a few years ago and he may attack on the last climbs. On the other hand, Paolini is very fast and is one of the most resistant riders of the peloton.

LAMPRE: Petacchi, Scarponi, Bole, Gavazzi, Hondo, Bono, Moro, Ulissi. Petacchi has been a Sanremo favourite for many years now, but it seems that he's not feeling fine right now. And to win a 300 kms race, you terribly need to feel fine in the days before of it. If Petacchi isn't at his best, Gavazzi, Hondo and Bole will try to make up for it. Hondo was 2nd in this race many years ago, while Gavazzi and Bole are both very young.

LIQUIGAS: Nibali, Sagan, Agnoli, Dall'Antonia, Caruso, Finetto, Koren, Marangoni. The team looks strong, although it hasn't got a pure sprinter. Koren is young and talented, while Nibali could attack on the last descent of the race. However, to win he needs to arrive alone at the finish-line. Sagan is a big question mark for me. He's fast, but I'm not sure he can resist for 300 kms. Obviously, I'd be happy if he threw away all my doubts in 48 hours time.

MOVISTAR: Bruseghin, Konovalovas, Kiryenka, Rojas, Samoilau, Ventoso, Ruiz, Amador. Ventoso and Rojas are fast, but not enough to win a race like Sanremo.

OMEGA: Gilbert, Greipel, Hansen, Roelandts, Lang, Reynes, Sieberg, Veikkanen. Gilbert will be the toughest opponent for the 'we want a sprint!' party. He's fast, he's resistant, he's got nothing to lose, he's brave...In a few words, he's the Classic rider that everyone would love to have in their team. However, Omega is also ready for a bunch finish: Greipel is fast and Sieberg (I quite like him), Hansen, Lang and Roelandts know how to launch a sprint.

ASTANA: Davis, Lorenzetto, Bazayev, Gasparotto, Grivko, Iglinskiy, Clarke, Vaitkus. Look out for Davis, ladies and gentlemen. The boy is fast and resistant (see last year Worlds to remember about it)! However, Fangirl is unhappy because of Vinokourov's absence.
QUICKSTEP: Boonen, Bandiera, Malacarne, Reda, Terpstra, Pineau, Chavanel, Van Impe. I have a feeling that Chavanel will enter one of the key breakaways of the day. Boonen is one of the best sprinters out there, but I haven't seen him in a particularly good condition.

SAXO BANK: Cooke, Larsson, Haedo, Klostergaard, Morkov, Nuyens, Tanner, Tosatto. Tosatto and Cooke will help Haedo in the finale, but on paper JJ looks slower than Cavendish or Farrar. Fangirl would like to underline the presence in the team of David Tanner.

SKY: Wiggins, Boasson Hagen, Thomas, Flecha, Arvesen, Rogers, Lovkvist, Stannard. I've just had a trauma. Rogers has gone to Sky and I didn't know about it. I go hiding my head in the sand (*goes hiding head in the sand*). Ok, now I feel better. Shame on me! Anyway. EBH was one of the main contenders of last year race, but he disappeared very soon during it. Thomas is fast, but he's always worked as lead-out man. But where is Henderson?

GARMIN-CERVELO: Hushovd, Farrar, Haussler, Hammond, Klier, Navardauskas, Van Summeren, Wilson. The team to defeat, at least imo. Haussler, Hushovd, Farrar... Great line-up. Perhaps even too great. Will Thor, Tyler and Heinrich be honest with their teammates and be ready to sacrifice themselves for them? Or will they try to their luck on their own? Personally, Haussler is my main favourite of the race before of Hushovd. Time will tell if I'm right.

LEOPARD TREK: Cancellara, Bennati, Weylandt, Gerdemann, Wegmann, Lund, O'Grady, Wagner. Bennati will be the captain and he'll be helped by Weylandt and Wagner during the sprint. Cancellara could try something on the Poggio (I saw him in a very good form in the last races), while Gerdemann, Wegmann and Lund will keep the situation under control.

RADIOSHACK: McEwen, Hunter, Cardoso, Rosseler, Rast, Lequatre, Murayev, Popovych. My first Giro memories involve my family watching McEwen's successful sprints at the Giro, but this time I must say that I don't consider Robbie a serious threat to the final victory.

VACANSOLEIL: Bozic, De Gendt, Leukemans, Marcato, Mouris, Ongarato, Feillu, Selvaggi. Great line up also for Vacansoleil! Marcato could enter a breakaway, just like De Gendt, while Bozic is one of the best (unknown) sprinters that I know.

So, this is the start list. My prediction: the race will end up in a sprint. Garmin and HTC will work hard to make that happen. Gilbert, Pozzato and Nibali will try to break away on Poggio. My podium prediction is: Haussler (or Hushovd), Bozic, Freire. There. I said it. Now I'm going to lose my reputation because of that. However, even if my prediction turns out being terribly wrong, don't forget to take a look at 'Bananas About Bikes' and to send us e-mails!!

PS: Attention also to Matthews, David, Gatto, Paolini and Modolo!

Oscarito takes his third Sanremo victory:

This year edition of Milano-Sanremo was really thrilling,especially in the last 30 kms.La Classicissima in fact is always a very nervous race,because the peloton is always divided between guys who have to attack if they want to win and guys who dream of winning the race after an exciting sprint.And because of this division,of course,every team has its own strategy.Someone has just one sprinter,some other teams have both a sprinter and a possible attacker,other teams have just some attackers,other teams don't have anyone.
The weather,who could have helped sprinters like Boonen and Hushvod and attackers like Cancellara or,say,Nibali,wasn't that awful,although it was actually worse than usual for a Milano-Sanremo.On the Turchino climb it was foggy and rainy,but luckily then it didn't rain anymore.
After the gallery at the top of the Turchino the Brazilian rider Murillo Fischer had to retire because of a broken collarbone.
After 202 kms of race,on Le Mànie climb,the early breakaway formed by Caccia,Ratti and Piemontesi ended.Little thing to notice: this breakaway had begun just 1 km after the beginning of the race,therefore I virtually clap my hands to the riders who formed it.
On Le Mànie a little brown dog started to run in front of the riders: a funny moment for the supporters at home,a moment of nervousness for the riders and a moment of pure fear for the little animal.
With about 55 kms to go,Bouet attacked and this led to a the creation of a breakaway formed by Grabowsky,Mazzanti,Monfort,Beuret,Hoj,Mori and Sentjens.Anyway on the Cipressa the last breakaway rider (Grabowsky) was caught,whereas Cavendish and Visconti got dropped.On the descent Ginanni attacked,but he didn't create a lot of selection.
After the Cipressa,Offredo attacked with 15 kms to go.On the Poggio he was caught by a group containing all the favourites of the race.Rogers attacked on the descent together with Gilbert,Hushvod,Breschel (Fangirl had a lot of faith in him) and Ginanni.I must admit that,while watching them,I thanked the fact that Frank Schleck wasn't racing.
Pozzato attacked with 2 kms to go but he didn't succeed in winning again this race.Although I normally dislike Pozzato because he never attacks in important moments,I must admit that today,at least,he played the "attack" card.Considering that he usually forgets to own that card,he showed an improvement during today's race.
With 1 km to go the main peloton was led by Liquigas' rider Daniel Oss,who was trying to help his captain Bennati.Behind Bennati there was Freire,behind the Spaniard there was Boonen. Bennati started the sprint a bit too early,so Freire easily outsprinted him and Tornado Tom.3rd was Petacchi,while 4th was the incredibly surprising Sacha Modolo.7th was Ginanni,whereas the Best Saxo Banker was Matti Breschel (11th).When he attacked on the Poggio descent I started to think that a Top-5 placement would have been possible for him,but then other riders showed to be faster than him when bunch sprints are concerned.Iglinskiy,9th,was a surprise to me,since I didn't think he could be faster than guys like Gilbert and Breschel.Also Geslin (12th) and Gasparotto (13th) got good results.
In my opinion,the most disappointing rider was probably Boasson Hagen.Anyway I had predicted that he wouldn't have won because of his very young age,therefore I think we must be soft on him.And then,considering Bennati's 5th final placement,I confirm my previous opinion, aka: Liquigas ds should have brought Peter Sagan to this race.
Mark Cavendish came 89th,6 minutes after the winner,together with Boasson Hagen.Anyway,I was really impressed by his way of riding.In fact he managed to stay with the best riders until the Cipressa and,when he found himself at the "arriere du peloton" after Le Mànie climb (all the other favourites had a lot of seconds of advantage of him),he didn't give up and gave it all in order to honour this race.Chapeau Mark.
Between the riders who didn't finish the race there were also Andy Schleck and Baden Cooke.Considering this fact,I think that Andy raced this afternoon just in order to have a long training ride.But,as we know,his first goals of the season are in the month of April,therefore he still has some weeks to improve his condition.
To end this post,here are two things: first of all,a little pat on my shoulder.In fact,I managed to guess the names of the 3 podium riders (even if their order in my prediction was different).After my "oh so totally wrong" predictions before of the Mendrisio RR Championship,I needed this.
And then,the grammatical horror du jour: morning interview to an Italian rider: "C'è molte squadre che lavoreranno per avere una corsa tranquilla".A quanto pare,c'è anche qualcuno che ha bisogno di lavorare per migliorare il suo italiano. ("There is a lot of teams who will work hard to have a quiet race".Actually,it looks as if there is also someone who needs to work hard if he wants to improve his Italian).

(Pic by Bettini)

Milano Sanremo: personal predictions and start list

On Saturday the first one day Classic of the year,la Milano-Sanremo,will be raced.The parcours is the one of the last 2 years (the one with Le Mànie climb) and,according to the last weather forecast,tomorrow it will probably rain in Milan.
Of course me,with my egocentic mania,feels like trying to make some predictions about the race podium and in order to do so in this post you can find the favourites of mine and the start list of the race with relative comments.

First of all,I must say that I believe that the race will end in a bunch sprint.If this happens,my favourites for the victory will be Boonen,Freire and Petacchi (in this order).In fact they've showed good form in this part of the year,they are experienced riders and they've already got good results in La Classicissima (Petacchi and Freire have actually already won it in the past).

Although a part of me has been screaming :"Boasson Hagen will win!" since Monday,Logic thinks he can't beat the 3 guys I mentioned above in a bunch sprint.And then,considering that in the last Worlds he completely disappeared although he was one of the favourites,I think that Edvald might have problems with the length of the race and the media pressure on him (many people in fact have already chosen him as "personal favourite").
If the race ends up in a bunch sprint then I obviously hope in a surprise by Matti Breschel.In fact I think he may surprise lots of people tomorrow and get a good result (I'm sure he can make it at least to the Top 10).This because Matti has already shown he's a resistent and fast rider in the 2008 and 2009 Worlds,which were both hard and very long races (and the Sanremo is very long as well).
Of course also Hushvod can't be left out from the list of favourite riders,although not a lot is said about him in these days.
Talking about another sprinter,Tyler Farrar,I believe he's not ready to win a big one day Classic yet and that the Sanremo is probably too long for him.
Last year's winner Cavendish isn't in form in these days,or at least it seems so.In fact I don't trust him a lot because I remember that last year lots of people thought: "If he gets dropped on every climb at T-A,he can't surely win Sanremo" .And who won Sanremo in the end? Mark Cavendish from the Isle of Manx.Funny.

Of course these are the sprinters names.As far as the "attacking guys" are concerned,I think that guys like Pozzato,Cancellara or Gilbert will surely try to play their cards before of the final meters of the race.Also guys like Ginanni or Paolini may show something interesting during the race,just like Garzelli,Visconti and Cunego (although Lampre's captain will be Petacchi and not Cunego).

Unfortunately then there are some very good riders who won't take part in the race (I'm not talking about sir Lancelot).They are Haussler,Greipel and Sagan.Few days ago in fact one of my picks for the Sanremo podium would have surely been Heinrich Haussler.But since the Australian/German rider is injured,he won't take part in the race.What a sadness.
Talking about Greipel,I think he would have been a good alternative to Cavendish,but apparently something's wrong with him.
Talking about Sagan,I've been pretty disappointed by Liquigas' decision of leaving him out of the team line-up for the Sanremo.I know that Liquigas ' captain is Bennati,that Peter is young and that perhaps his ds doesn't want him to be too much under pressure,but I think that for Sagan racing the Sanremo would have been a chance of improving and becoming more experienced.And then I believe he could have done well in a breakaway and that he would have been able to work hard for Bennati in the main peloton.By the way I'm not Liquigas' ds,so here I stop complaining.

If you want to know more about the riders who are taking part in the race,here's the start list (source : http://www.milan/sanremo.co.uk/2010/2010-start-list.html ).
TEAM COLUMBIA:: Cavendish, Albasini, Eisel, Goss, Monfort, Rogers, Roulston, Peter Velits. I've already written what I think of Cavendish and of Greipel.As everyone knows,the Manx rider didn't show a great form in Tirreno-Adriatico (but he did the same also last year),has lost a month of training because of his teeth problems and fell during the last stage of T-A.In spite of all these things,I think he's a dangerous contender for the victory.The alternatives to him in the team are Eisel and Goss.If Cavendish gets dropped before of the finale,Michael Rogers (who is already in a very good form),Monfort or someone else might try to break away from the peloton.
ACQUA & SAPONE MOKAMBO: Garzelli, Paolini, Failli, Andriotto, Marzoli, Codol, Andrea Masciarelli, Palumbo. Paolini is a strong and pretty fast rider and I think that he and Garzelli can be considered good contenders for the final victory.
AG2R LA MONDIALE: Hinault, Bouet, Vladimir and Alexander Efimkin, Champion, Mandri, Kadri,Mondory.I believe that,between these riders,the only ones who can do something dangerous during the Sanremo are los Efimkins and Mondory.

ANDRONI-DIQUIGIOVANNI: Scarponi, Bertagnolli, Ginanni, Loddo, Serpa, Bertolini, Piemontesi, Jackson Rodriguez.Imo this is a very good team,with lots of experienced riders (Scarponi,Bertolini,Bertagnolli) and some younger athletes like Ginanni.Scarponi may try to attack in the finale of the race,whereas the team sprinters should be Ginanni and/or Loddo.I'm particularly interested in watching what Ginanni will do,since I believe he's a really promising rider.
ASTANA: Davis, Gasparotto, Bazayev, Dmitriyev, Grivko, Maxim and Valentin Iglinskiy, Selvaggi.Davis is the team sprinter,but Maxim Iglinskiy and Gasparotto may try something in the finale of the race as well.In particular,me feels that Gasparotto is sooo going to attack on the Poggio.
BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM: Arashiro, Bonnet, Chainel, Claude, Haddou, Pichot, Turgot, Voeckler.Me thinks that the most dangerous rider on this team is Voeckler.Anyway,where is Fedrigo?
BMC: Hincapie, Ballan, Burghardt, Kroon, Schaer, Wyss, Louder, Bookwalter. Until last year Kroon was a Saxo Bank rider and had to work for his captains in almost every race.Last year he could ride for himself (with good chances of winning) just during the Amstel Gold Race and that day he came 2nd.Of course me's looking forward to see how he'll ride tomorrow,whereas I think that it's still too early to see Hincapie and Ballan in action.Btw: why wasn't I aware of the fact that Wyss has gone to this team?
CAISSE D'EPARGNE: Bruseghin, Amador Bikkazakova ,Kiryenka, Lastras, Rojas Gil, Erviti, Uran, Zandrio.Kiryenka might attack,but the team captains should be Rojas Gil and/or Lastras.
CARMIOORO-NGC: Ventoso, Sella, Ratto, Berthou, Kocjan, Beuret, Piechele, Ferrara.If cycling was like Italian football,considering that I'm convincted that Sella should have been banned from Cycledom for at least 4 years,I would probably try to bring bad luck to him and to his team for the next 3 seasons (yes,I'm evil).Luckily for Carmiooro-Ngc,cycling isn't Italian football.
CERVELO: Hushvod, Hammond, Hunt, Florenzio, Klier, Lancaster, Rasch, Reimer.Attention to Thor.
COLNAGO-CSF: Gavazzi, Belletti, Canuti, Modolo, Marangoni, Frapporti, Pavarin, Contoli. Modolo and Gavazzi are promising riders,but imo they are still too young to be dangerous in a race like Sanremo.
EUSKALTEL EUSKADI: Urtasun Perez, Isasi Florez, Koldo Fernandez, Txurruka, Perez Moreno, Perez Lezaun, Oroz, Azanza.Not a very strong team,imo.
FRANCAISE DES JEUX: Bonnaire, Cherel, Guesdon, Geslin, Hutarovich, Offredo, Roux, Vaugrenard.
GARMIN-TRANSITIONS: Farrar, Julian Dean, Fischer, Hunter, Maaskant, Millar, Van Summeren, Wilson.Fischer,Dean and Farrar are good sprinters,whereas Maaskant and Van Summeren (if they are already in good form) could try to attack on the final climbs.
ISD-NERI: Visconti, Scognamiglio, Scarselli, Longo Borghini, Caccia, Clarke, Vona, Gatto.Gatto is the team's sprinter,but I believe that Visconti is the best one in this team.
LAMPRE-FARNESE VINI: Petacchi,Cunego, Da Dalto, Bernucci, Gavazzi, Hondo, Lorenzetto, Pietropolli.The team will probably try to bring Petacchi to the final sprint in the best possible way.If a dangerous beakaway gets clear from the peloton in the last kms,Cunego will probably be ready to join it.
LIQUIGAS-DOIMO: Bennati, Nibali, Kreuziger, Oss, Pellizotti, Quinziato, Sabatini, Willems. Where is Peter Sagan?!?
OMEGA-PHARMA LOTTO: Gilbert, Cretskens, Hoste, Delange, Lang, Loewik, Roelandts, Van Avermaet.Gilbert will try to attack on the Poggio,but I think that also Greg Van Avermaet can be dangerous.
QUICK STEP: Boonen, Chavanel, Barredo, Devenyns, De Weert, Reda, Tosatto, Velo.Velo and Tosatto know how it feels to be part of the Sanremo's winner's team.Of course they'll be ready to give everything to feel that joy again,this time for a Tornado Tom's victory.
RABOBANK: Freire,Boom,Flens, Langeveld, Nuyens, Stamsnijder, Tankink, Tjallingii.Oscarito doesn't seem to have a good lead-out train,but he knows how to win even without any help from his teammates.
SKY: Boasson Hagen, Barry, Flecha, Hayman, Lovkvist, Stannard, Sutton, Henderson.Everyone on this team will probably work for the blonde Edvald from Norway,but a fast guy like Henderson might enter a final breakaway (if he doesn't have to work in Boasson Hagen's train,of course).
KATUSHA: Pozzato, Bandiera, Ignatiev, Ivanov, Kirchen, Mazzanti, Trussov, Brutt. Pozzato is in good form,but don't worry:I'll avoid putting a pic of him on this blog even if he wins.
MILRAM: Gerdemann,Fothen,Frohlinger, Knees, Knaven,Sentjens,Terpstra,Wegmann.This team doesn't convinct me a lot.
RADIOSHACK: Impey, Beppu, Irizar, Lequatre, Murayev, Rast, Rosseler, Steegmans.There are some good sprinters in his team,butthe question is: are they good enough to win Sanremo?SAXO BANK: Cancellara, Andy Schleck, Cooke, Lund, Hoj, Larsson, Breschel,O'Grady.If the race ends in a bunch sprint,Breschel and Cooke will be ready.If a dangerous breakaway gets clear from the peloton in the last kms,O'Grady and Cancellara will be ready.And don't forget Andy Schleck.