Place your bets

It's Springtime. That means Milano-San Remo is here and the start of my picks for the big one day races. Like last year I will be limiting who I can select. Riders that have finished top 10 in the last 5 years are off limits.

As I often do, I will start with a few statistics.
- Thirty-five riders have finished top 10 at San Remo in the last five years.
- Of those thirty-five, five are active riders that are not on the start list.
- Another eleven riders are no longer racing.
- That leaves only 19 riders in Saturday's race that have finished top 10
- Oscar Freire would normally be an odds-on favorite if he were not injured. He has been top 10 each of the last 5 years.
- Petacchi is the next most successful rider with four top 10s, followed by Boonen and O'Grady with three top 10s

Now for the picks in no particular order.

Daniele Bennati - seems to be the pick of many
Heinrich Haussler - probably a little inexperienced but he's had a good year
Giovanni Visconti - this is a late choice by me. I figured I would take a chance on more of an all-arounder that might make an early move to outwit the sprinters.
Wildcard pick - I was going to pick Hincapie before switching to Visconti. I dont think Cavendish will be there at the end and George will be able to ride for himself. He seems to have good legs right now.