Who is the biggest performer of the season to date? (From top left clockwise) Dennis takes the Tour Down Under and then the Hour Record (Regallo), Rafael Valls upstages the big names to take the biggest victory of his career in Oman (Brynn Lemon/Getty Images Europe), Ian Stannard laughs last after facing off against EQS in the Omloop (telegraaf.nl) and Alexander Kristoff already has four wins to his name (Katusha).
Tour Down Under
The season kicked off with the Tour Down Under, and it remains the only WorldTour stage race contested so far. Coming so early in the season, it was mostly contested by the Australians, but riders like Tom Dumoulin and Juan Jose Lobato showed that they were more than mere tourists, even if most of the peleton used the race to get some early season race kilometres into their legs.
Jack Bobridge had a race to remember, taking the first stage from a breakaway, wearing the ochre jersey for the next two stages, before eventually winning the KOM jersey. Stage 2 was the first win of an impressive start to the season by JJ Lobato, he's really looking very hard to beat in those uphill sprints. Stage 3 was where Rohan Dennis laid the foundation for his overall GC victory, benefitting from a tactical stalemate between the favourites and taking the stage and race lead. Stage 4 saw Steele Von Hoff win a reduced bunch sprint, a great result from the former Garmin rider, and it shouldn't be long before he is back in a WorldTour team. The Queen stage of the TDU saw Richie Porte explode away from the leading group, splitting the race to pieces, winning the stage, and only just missing out on taking the race lead by two seconds. Wouter Wippert took a crash-marred final stage, but he and Drapac will be very happy with that result in their home race.
The season kicked off with the Tour Down Under, and it remains the only WorldTour stage race contested so far. Coming so early in the season, it was mostly contested by the Australians, but riders like Tom Dumoulin and Juan Jose Lobato showed that they were more than mere tourists, even if most of the peleton used the race to get some early season race kilometres into their legs.
Jack Bobridge had a race to remember, taking the first stage from a breakaway, wearing the ochre jersey for the next two stages, before eventually winning the KOM jersey. Stage 2 was the first win of an impressive start to the season by JJ Lobato, he's really looking very hard to beat in those uphill sprints. Stage 3 was where Rohan Dennis laid the foundation for his overall GC victory, benefitting from a tactical stalemate between the favourites and taking the stage and race lead. Stage 4 saw Steele Von Hoff win a reduced bunch sprint, a great result from the former Garmin rider, and it shouldn't be long before he is back in a WorldTour team. The Queen stage of the TDU saw Richie Porte explode away from the leading group, splitting the race to pieces, winning the stage, and only just missing out on taking the race lead by two seconds. Wouter Wippert took a crash-marred final stage, but he and Drapac will be very happy with that result in their home race.
Tour of San Luis
Another early season race where the locals get to race with the internationals and beat them, as the international stars are mostly focused on preparing for races down the line, whilst it is the grand final for the South Americans.
Gav vs Cav occupied the media interest for much of this race as the unheralded 20 year old Colombian Fernando Gaviria beat Mark Cavendish twice, before Cav got his revenge on the final sprint stage. And seeing that Gaviria has now signed with Etixx-Quickstep it is clear that he impressed more than the media pundits, and it will be very interesting to follow what he does next. In the TT, it was Adriano Malori who beat Michal Kwiatkowski and Fishy Preview's favourite Hugo Houle to reaffirm his status as one of the best time triallists in the world.
The GC battle took place in the mountains, and it was Daniel Diaz who took the win and two stages along the way, with Rodolfo Torres in second. Nairo Quintana (3rd), Eduardo Sepulveda (4th, he also went on to win the Classic Sud Arche) and Daniel Moreno (6th) all started their seasons well.
Another early season race where the locals get to race with the internationals and beat them, as the international stars are mostly focused on preparing for races down the line, whilst it is the grand final for the South Americans.
Gav vs Cav occupied the media interest for much of this race as the unheralded 20 year old Colombian Fernando Gaviria beat Mark Cavendish twice, before Cav got his revenge on the final sprint stage. And seeing that Gaviria has now signed with Etixx-Quickstep it is clear that he impressed more than the media pundits, and it will be very interesting to follow what he does next. In the TT, it was Adriano Malori who beat Michal Kwiatkowski and Fishy Preview's favourite Hugo Houle to reaffirm his status as one of the best time triallists in the world.
The GC battle took place in the mountains, and it was Daniel Diaz who took the win and two stages along the way, with Rodolfo Torres in second. Nairo Quintana (3rd), Eduardo Sepulveda (4th, he also went on to win the Classic Sud Arche) and Daniel Moreno (6th) all started their seasons well.
Tour of Qatar
A big week in the desert, with strong winds and strong teams causing a lot splits in the peleton. Particularly memorable was an epic stage 2, which saw the peleton average 54 km/hr in the first two hours of the stage. That stage was one of three taken by a dominant Alexander Kristoff, with JJ Rojas and Sam Bennet taking surprise wins as well.
Niki Terpstra was present in all the major peleton splits, and he powered to victory in the GC with a superb TT ride, beating both Wiggins and Cancellara. It's an important race, not just for the result itself, but also as a pointer to the cobbles classics, so it's often important to do well here. Maciej Bodnar took 2nd, also with a strong TT, whilst Kristoff was breathing down their necks in 3rd, and would have taken the GC with a win on the final stage. Also strong were Ian Stannard, Heinrich Haussler, Luke Rowe, Tom Boonen and Greg Van Avermaet, and probably the big losers were Lars Boom and Bradley Wiggins, both of whom were expected to do very well, but really looked to be suffering during the race. Bodnar is probably the only who won't be a major player on the cobbles, but then again he does have a 3rd on GC at Drieesdage de Panne, so maybe he can do something.
A big week in the desert, with strong winds and strong teams causing a lot splits in the peleton. Particularly memorable was an epic stage 2, which saw the peleton average 54 km/hr in the first two hours of the stage. That stage was one of three taken by a dominant Alexander Kristoff, with JJ Rojas and Sam Bennet taking surprise wins as well.
Niki Terpstra was present in all the major peleton splits, and he powered to victory in the GC with a superb TT ride, beating both Wiggins and Cancellara. It's an important race, not just for the result itself, but also as a pointer to the cobbles classics, so it's often important to do well here. Maciej Bodnar took 2nd, also with a strong TT, whilst Kristoff was breathing down their necks in 3rd, and would have taken the GC with a win on the final stage. Also strong were Ian Stannard, Heinrich Haussler, Luke Rowe, Tom Boonen and Greg Van Avermaet, and probably the big losers were Lars Boom and Bradley Wiggins, both of whom were expected to do very well, but really looked to be suffering during the race. Bodnar is probably the only who won't be a major player on the cobbles, but then again he does have a 3rd on GC at Drieesdage de Panne, so maybe he can do something.
Vuelta de Andalucía/Ruta del Sol
It proved to be the Froome-Contador battle that everyone expected, but maybe in a slightly different way to what everyone expected. Contador took time on the prologue, albeit a very technical one (when you have Javi Moreno winning, you know it's not a normal TT), then escaped on a small downhill section mid-climb up the Alto de Hazzalanes, and from there it was a mountain time trial, with Froome able to claw enough time back to make it possible for him to take the race lead with an explosive acceleration on the next stage. Froome won the overall by a slim 2 seconds, but I'll give the win to Contador on points, as he shouldn't be expected to be at the same level of form as Froome at this stage of the season. I'm sure Froome will prefer the win to my points.
In the other stages, there were two wins for JJ Lobato, who proved that he's the man to beat when it comes to uphill sprints (as long as Degenkolb doesn't do what he did in Dubai). He did beat Degenkolb twice here, and a crash-marred finale stopped his other chance at a win. Ligthart took that stage, confirming that he'll be one to watch this season, as he looks to have added a bit of speed in the off-season.
It proved to be the Froome-Contador battle that everyone expected, but maybe in a slightly different way to what everyone expected. Contador took time on the prologue, albeit a very technical one (when you have Javi Moreno winning, you know it's not a normal TT), then escaped on a small downhill section mid-climb up the Alto de Hazzalanes, and from there it was a mountain time trial, with Froome able to claw enough time back to make it possible for him to take the race lead with an explosive acceleration on the next stage. Froome won the overall by a slim 2 seconds, but I'll give the win to Contador on points, as he shouldn't be expected to be at the same level of form as Froome at this stage of the season. I'm sure Froome will prefer the win to my points.
In the other stages, there were two wins for JJ Lobato, who proved that he's the man to beat when it comes to uphill sprints (as long as Degenkolb doesn't do what he did in Dubai). He did beat Degenkolb twice here, and a crash-marred finale stopped his other chance at a win. Ligthart took that stage, confirming that he'll be one to watch this season, as he looks to have added a bit of speed in the off-season.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad/Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
Omloop proved to be the one for the classics specialists, whilst the sprinters' teams pulled it all back together for a bunch finish in Kuurne. The big talking point from the weekend was the failure(!) of EQS in Omloop, where they took 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th, but the race was labelled a big miss for them after they had 3 vs 1 in the winning move. Cycling can be a funny business. Nonetheless, Stannard made them look rather silly, as he countered a few moves, before latching onto a long Niki Terpstra sprint and passing him with 40m to go and taking a memorable victory. Vanmarcke looked strong with an unlucky 5th, whilst Gilbert, Chavanel and Marcato just missed out on some critical splits, but all looked quite strong.
Kuurne was predicted to have some nasty weather, but that didn't arrive, and the peleton was able to catch the fairly large escape group that rode away during the tough part of the race. The headwind holding up the breakaway also helped, but in the end they might as well not have bothered, as Mark Cavendish, who was in the break, won regardless, coming round Kristoff, who managed to hold off a fast-finishing Viviani for second. Van Asbroeck showed some serious sprinting prowess, finishing 4th, to go with his 2nd in a Volta Algarve stage.
Omloop proved to be the one for the classics specialists, whilst the sprinters' teams pulled it all back together for a bunch finish in Kuurne. The big talking point from the weekend was the failure(!) of EQS in Omloop, where they took 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th, but the race was labelled a big miss for them after they had 3 vs 1 in the winning move. Cycling can be a funny business. Nonetheless, Stannard made them look rather silly, as he countered a few moves, before latching onto a long Niki Terpstra sprint and passing him with 40m to go and taking a memorable victory. Vanmarcke looked strong with an unlucky 5th, whilst Gilbert, Chavanel and Marcato just missed out on some critical splits, but all looked quite strong.
Kuurne was predicted to have some nasty weather, but that didn't arrive, and the peleton was able to catch the fairly large escape group that rode away during the tough part of the race. The headwind holding up the breakaway also helped, but in the end they might as well not have bothered, as Mark Cavendish, who was in the break, won regardless, coming round Kristoff, who managed to hold off a fast-finishing Viviani for second. Van Asbroeck showed some serious sprinting prowess, finishing 4th, to go with his 2nd in a Volta Algarve stage.
Talking Points
Sprinters: Cavendish, Guardini, Kristoff and Lobato have all started their seasons well, not a surprise for the first two, who generally start in good form, but Kristoff and Lobato look to have found an extra gear, and it probably represents an overall improvement by them.
In the battle of the leadouts Cavendish will be very happy with how his train looks at the moment, beating all-comers a laying on a few straightforward wins for him, particularly in Dubai. Giant's leadout looks in good shape, albeit that they are only getting results for riders not named Kittel, as he hasn't contested a sprint yet in a race over 100 kms long. Ligthart, as mentioned above, might also becoming a sprinter to watch, though I would want to see him in a real bunch sprint against the big names, before making any big calls,
I didn't find space for the Tour of Oman, but Rafael Valls' win deserves a mention. Used to be known as Rafael Valls Ferri, but maybe dropping the Ferri has given him that little bit less weight to drag uphill as he convincingly beat the likes of Van Garderen and Valverde. Hopefully, he is more than just a flash in the pan, as Lampre desperately need some more leaders.
Another race that didn't make the cut was the Volta Algarve, with Geraint Thomas taking the win there to show that he's more than ready for a good classics campaign, and topping off a very good start to the season for Sky. Kwiatkowski, Porte, Martin and Malori all looked good as well, so they'll be pooping up in their respective strengths over the season.
One of my favourite riders, Rein Taaramae appears to be back into something resembling top form, with a solo victory in Vuelta a Murcia, and also going on the attack in Algarve, taking a handy 6th. Unfortunately he's going to be affected by the Astana controversy, unfortunate considering he's only just moved to the team. If he has finally managed to deal with the breathing problems that hampered him in the past, he will again be a contender for stage races, and a top 10 candidate for the Grand Tours.
And of course, cycling has a new world record in the Hour record, with Rohan Dennis beating Matthias Brandle's mark, and surviving one challenge so far, from Thomas Dekker. It has all been part of a great start to the season for Dennis, who also won the Tour Down Under and finished 2nd in the National Time Trial Championships.
Sprinters: Cavendish, Guardini, Kristoff and Lobato have all started their seasons well, not a surprise for the first two, who generally start in good form, but Kristoff and Lobato look to have found an extra gear, and it probably represents an overall improvement by them.
In the battle of the leadouts Cavendish will be very happy with how his train looks at the moment, beating all-comers a laying on a few straightforward wins for him, particularly in Dubai. Giant's leadout looks in good shape, albeit that they are only getting results for riders not named Kittel, as he hasn't contested a sprint yet in a race over 100 kms long. Ligthart, as mentioned above, might also becoming a sprinter to watch, though I would want to see him in a real bunch sprint against the big names, before making any big calls,
I didn't find space for the Tour of Oman, but Rafael Valls' win deserves a mention. Used to be known as Rafael Valls Ferri, but maybe dropping the Ferri has given him that little bit less weight to drag uphill as he convincingly beat the likes of Van Garderen and Valverde. Hopefully, he is more than just a flash in the pan, as Lampre desperately need some more leaders.
Another race that didn't make the cut was the Volta Algarve, with Geraint Thomas taking the win there to show that he's more than ready for a good classics campaign, and topping off a very good start to the season for Sky. Kwiatkowski, Porte, Martin and Malori all looked good as well, so they'll be pooping up in their respective strengths over the season.
One of my favourite riders, Rein Taaramae appears to be back into something resembling top form, with a solo victory in Vuelta a Murcia, and also going on the attack in Algarve, taking a handy 6th. Unfortunately he's going to be affected by the Astana controversy, unfortunate considering he's only just moved to the team. If he has finally managed to deal with the breathing problems that hampered him in the past, he will again be a contender for stage races, and a top 10 candidate for the Grand Tours.
And of course, cycling has a new world record in the Hour record, with Rohan Dennis beating Matthias Brandle's mark, and surviving one challenge so far, from Thomas Dekker. It has all been part of a great start to the season for Dennis, who also won the Tour Down Under and finished 2nd in the National Time Trial Championships.