Early Shows Of Form; the “Mini Liege” Stage has been done and dusted, and the next big thing in bike racing (if he isn’t already there) has shown he will be competitive at the very highest level.
Peter Sagan entered the stage as one of the favourites for the win, and was flawless in executing his victory. He is not as quick as Cav (and never will be) but can contest so many more finales as he is able to stay with the leaders on tougher stages.
Alongside this, he will still be in the top couple for out and out bunch sprints, meaning he may threaten the Green Jersey this year, and will certainly only improve in the coming DECADE (he is that young!)
Other notable elements: the jumpiness of the peloton early in the race was on display, with Tony Martin unfortunately suffering another mishap.
I fear he is a liability in my Cycling Dream Teams!! So selfish of me.
Mick Rogers and LL Sanchez also were in falls, and then there was the IDIOT fan standing on the road to get a better photo of the bunch approaching. It seems to happen every couple of years or so. Thankfully no one was too badly hurt. I wonder if they had their camera in “video” mode… it would be amazing footage…
Fabian has shown he is well and truly back to his best, with only Sagan being able to go with his original move, and Boassen Hagen being the only man able to bridge the gap to the lead two.
Evans showed great positional sense being in the right place at the right time, but clearly decided to not spend any pennies chasing a couple of seconds back on Wiggo.
Sky rocked up in yellow helmets in a move guaranteed to annoy both riders and fans with their cockiness, and I’m sure it worked! Good on them I reckon.
Everyone loves the story of Babe Ruth pointing to the bleachers, so why not be obvious with their intentions?
And so the racing is underway!
Catch more of Toby on his site.
