Tomorrow is the start of the Tour of St Louis.  For the first time in a few years I will be taking part in the time trial.  This course should be much better than the insane course of the past few years.  Yesterday, after work, I bought a TT helmet.  Now, if only I put a little effort into having my bike built up for the time trial.  I suppose I just will throw some basic aerobars on after the morning crit and crush the field with standard wheels and shift cables flying everywhere.  Who needs to practice or know what the course is like to do well?  Apparently, I think I do not need to do those things.

Yesterday, I started gathering info for my Liege picks.  This race is much like Amstel in the number of repeat finishers.  Only 28 riders have finished top 10 in the past five years.  That is the same number as Amstel and the lowest number among the Spring Classics. 

- Michael Boogerd had a five year streak going, but his retirement has put and end to that. 
- The other top guys have been Basso, Bettini, Cunego and Di Luca in the top 10 three times. 
- Beyond that there have been a lot of 'two-timers'.
- Of the twenty-nine riders who have been top 10, six are not active riders but not participating.
- Seven of the twenty-nine are retired.
- Sadly, eight of the twenty-nine have been busted for doping and serving suspensions.
- Only seven active riders have recently finished in the top 10 and participating in the race.

Those numbers would indicate that this is a wide open race in terms of possible picks.  I have successfully been riding the Thomas Dekker train the last few races but, in the interest of mixing things up, I will refrain from choosing him again.  These are subject to change but for now my picks are...

Third pick:  John Gadret
Second pick:  Franco Pellizotti
First pick:  Fabian Wegmann

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