The Favorites of the Impressionists

Dear Cycling Impressionists, you answered the survey and here it is!
Roglic is the undisputed favorite but there is a strong battle for the podium.
Yates and Dumoulin have a little advantage on Lopez but he is close.
Nibali, Landa and the young Sivakov have the same chances (very few) to arrive in Pink in Verona.
In the in between there is Majka, better than the three just mentioned but far from the big dogs.
None of you think Zakarin or Jungels can win the Giro. Would they be better off going on vacation?
I can't see a better place than Italy to spend your holidays.

Who will be right at the end of the third week?

Merry Christmas!!!

Cycling Songs: Il Bandito e Il Campione - Francesco De Gregori

This song is about Costante Girardengo and Sante Pollastri (an Italian anarchist).
Both of them were born and raised in Novi Ligure, a little Italian town, with the same love for cycling.
August 10, 1927, Sante Pollastri was arrested in Paris. He was there just to watch his friend Girardengo  riding a Six-day.

Strade Bianche 2018

The title does not need any addition.
The 2018 edition of this race is already a piece of Cycling History.
First of all, I have to admit that Belgian riders promptly answered to my last post, Proficiat!!
Secondly, I choose this picture because I think that each of this riders deserves a special mention.
Benoot took the first victory of his career. The fact is that winning the 2018 edition of Strade Bianche is worth a career.
Nevertheless, what impressed me has been the way he won the race. He just never stop attacking, choosing a spectacular sector to launch his final attack.
He rode like a champion in a legendary edition of this race.
In one day and with his first victory, he is already part of the cycling history. The hero of the mud.
Bardet proved the world that he is not just one of the many French riders focused just on the Tour de France and pushed by the French cycling environment just to reach this goal.
He proved the world and most of all his nation that he is a  true rider and a tough one.
Van Aert seemed arrived straight outta the good old days of cycling, without radio and without so many team tactics. He attacked all the time during the race and fainted on the finish line. Welcome to road cycling Wout!
Every single rider that finished the race would deserve a special mention but I only write emotional impressions, so, in conclusion, I think that every single rider that finished the 2018 Strade Bianche could add a kind of victory on his personal Palmarès.

The Legend of Peter Sagan - Milano-Sanremo 2017

I've alwaye heared old people saying: "yes, nowadays there are good riders, but when there was Coppi..." or "but when there was Merckx...".
Nobody can say this anymore watching Sagan riding his bike.
Sagan is able to do romantic feat in a cycling dominated by technology and mathematics.
What he did on the Poggio during the 2017 Milano-Sanremo has been something that will remain in the history of this sport.
Milano-Sanremo in recent years has become a sprinter Classic and organizers where thinking about modify the route. This is not necessary anymore, you need champions, not route modifications in order to have great races again.
Yesterday the plot of all the romantic masterpieces was respected once again, the main hero didn't win, beaten by a clever and strong rider, the former World Champion before the Sagan's era.
I don't think this is the start of a new dualism, Sagan is simply The Hero and will have to face many different riders trying to defeat him.
Kwiatkowski deserved his Victory, he won in the only way he could against The Hero and will be remembered in the Milano-Sanremo winners list, but Sagan will be always remembered as The Legend and his presence in the Winners list of the various races will be just in the back burner.
Sagan doesn't know the cycling history, they say, It doesn't matter, It is more important making it.