TotW: Paris-Nice nuances, Tirreno tears and the wisdom of Ted King

Hard races, races that make men cry, hotel rooms with cinderblocks for bedframes, Taylor Phinney warms the heart and Ted King gets the last word.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle …

Even though the yellow jersey wearers are men, they are given cuddly toys in all the ASO races. But they seem to take the little guy to their hearts. Here, the lion poses for a shot by Yoann Offredo, on the bus ride back after teammate Nacer Bouhanni took the yellow jersey on stage one of Paris-Nice.

A lion shamed is a terrible thing – this is the bus ride back to the hotel after Garmin’s Andrew Talansky lost the yellow jersey to Richie Porte on stage five.

Remember the Tour of Oman where Chris Froome had on a leader’s jersey that looked like he was wearing his dad’s jersey? Well, I think it must be a look for Sky now because, look, Richie Porte‘s dad loaned him a yellow jersey! (So does Rapha know about this turn of fashion events yet?)

Jens looking rather satisfied with himself … after all, he was in the break for most of the day. Sometimes all by himself!

The look on PhilGil’s face, when Sylvain Chavanel snuck up on him and took the stage away, really was priceless. He was not a happy World Champion on Saturday, that’s for sure! (I blame the helmet – hideous, hideous headgear!)

But Paris-Nice was tough. Just ask Gregory Rast and Ted King – they were only in it for the teeshirt.

Actually, poor Ted King just needed some love to get him through. Give the man his finisher’s teeshirt!

#Sadomaso for sure

The guys might have found Paris-Nice tough, but nothing, *nothing* compared to Tirreno-Adriatico. It went from hard, to harder, to “oh my God, I have to push my bike uphill”. Let’s start at the very beginning.

The race kicked off with a TTT. All’s I can say is, I won’t be having gestures like this on Team Fondue! Fabian, really …

Greg Henderson gives us his reckoning of what happened for Lotto in the TTT. Don’t you absolutely love this guy?

Just off the Death Star and looking for a rebel alliance to smash up – it’s the Skyriders. Is it just me, or aren’t they a little short for stormtroopers?

Nothing but love from Cavendish.

Well, that changed … doesn’t love mean you never have to say you’re sorry? (yeah, load of crap, that saying)

Manuel Quinziato, on the other hand, is putting the groove in the heart of the riders before the stage. If you recall last week, he posted up his own playlist for the race.

Yeah, I’m cooler than cool, SuperSagan seems to be saying. We’ll come back to him …

But let’s just get right to it, shall we? Monday’s stage. Gruelling. In the rain. 30% gradient. Guys just stepping off their bikes and leaving them for dead. It was glorious. As were the fabulous tweets …

Please note that Fabian Cancellara, my One True Love, retweeted a tweet from someone in reply to our tweet … that’s a declaration of love if I’ve ever seen one! Don’t you think? Well? No? Just me? (He loves me, he loves me not …)

These following tweets by That Boy Phinney – tell me, seriously, how you couldn’t love this guy! Heart of a lion – not those little cuddly lions that live on the team buses but a real lion.

Legend. He is a legend. Taylor, you make me love cycling more with your tweets.

For those of you who don’t know, Davis Phinney suffers from Parkinson’s Disease. If you’d like to donate to the Davis Phinney Foundation, here is the link.

Taylor + Gaga

Round up of random tweet-tasticness

David Millar has uncovered some damning evidence.

Well, hello! Come here often?

Boy, that forlorn breakaway at Strade Bianche must have taken its toll on Juan Antonio Flecha!

This is the bed that Jens had to sleep on … and get up fresh the next morning for the race. Honestly, does RadioShack have *no* budget for hotels?