the hard men of spring

There's been some tremendous racing during the past two weeks.

My favorite winners: Gilbert, Evan, and Vockler, in that order.

I mean, Gilbert is just unreal. Did you see this from Stage 5 of the Tirreno-Adriatico?



Or from the Montepasche Strade Bianche a couple of weeks ago?



I love this guy. I mean, Gilbert's becoming more of an odds-on favorite in some of these races than a high-seeded team in the NCAAs!

Then of course there was Evans pulling out a tremendous win in the race leader's jersey in Stage 6 of the Tirreno-Adriatico on his way to the overall:



Awesome.

Interesting (to me) to note that Gilbert seemed to get the better of Ballan in the Montepasche by taking the inside line in the final corner before the finish, whereas Evans gains the advantage over Visconti and Nibali by carrying his momentum through the outside line of two of the final turns.

Finally, Vockler impressed in Paris-Nice by pulling out stellar victories in both Stage 4 and Stage 8.





What a great year of racing so far!