I was lax in making any picks for Mil...

I was lax in making any picks for Milano-San Remo last weekend.  After some chiding from ploegmaat Ryan on Friday, I have cobbled together (a little Belgian road racing humor there) some picks for Gent-Wevelgem.

 

As in past years, I do not pick anyone that has finished top 10 in the past five years.  This makes my picks a little more of a challenge, which I like. 

 

Gent is a tough race to pick.  First of all, with the race no longer being held mid-week between Flander and Roubaix, the organizers have seemed more willing to increase the difficulty of the race by adding 14 more climbs.  Not sure what to expect.  Seems like a good Flanders rider would do well here except that guys that have a real good shot Flanders probably don't want to risk a good Flanders finish by burning too much energy in Gent.

 

Secondly, there have been 41 riders that have finished top 10 in the past five years.  This race, in past years, has many less than star riders finish well.  Trying to pick the next group of these riders feels like a crapshoot.

 

I'm tempted to pick someone like Ballan, but he falls into that group of guys shooting for Flanders.  I'm also tempted to shy away from anyone that put in a real strong performance at E3-Prijs on Saturday.

 

Getting down to the nitty-gritty.  In no particular order I will take Daniele Bennati of Liquigas.  Pretty good climber that can maybe handle the increased number of climbs and still packs a good sprint.  Tyler Farrar from Garmin for much the same reason as Bennati.  Plus, he lives in the area of Gent.  He should know the roads well.  Lastly, Johnny Hoogerland of Vacansoleil.  He raced E3-Prijs but finished over three minutes back.  I'm hoping he was saving himself a little.  Also, Vacansoleil needs to impress A.S.O. for a wildcard invite to the Tour in July so maybe he is the teams man for Sunday after they had two others riders finish top 10 Saturday.

 

My bonus pick is another rider that rode well at E3-Prijs.  Lars Boom finished fifth.  Two races in a row for a young guy might be asking a bit much but he is a big talent.  Maybe he can do something.