We had some sunshine in Spain but more frigid conditions in Belgium. But that didn’t stop a couple of storming rides by Cancellara and Sagan or fluffly earmuffs and masked men courtesy of BMC. Let’s start with E3 and the promise of a cake …

Spartacus gets his cake

E3 Harelbeke on Friday saw Fabs in classic/Classics form where he put in a powerful dig that the rest of the peloton couldn’t follow. And he just rode away.

Jered Gruber was there to catch the action – nothing but love for the Grubers and their magnificent photography. Gets you right to the heart – or in this case, haunches – of the race.

After the race, the reaction from My Beloved™.

And my favourite tweet in this set … this made me laugh so much! Excellent! I was getting an awful lot of congratulations from my Twitter chums when Fabs won – which made me very happy.

Gent gets a gimp

Gent was colder than a cold thing from Cold Town so the boys bundled up for the start. Some much more than others.

The sign-in had a few interesting sights, not least PhilGil‘s earmuffs. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that guy must have balls the size of those earmuffs to show up to a sign-in for a Belgian race with those things on! But as Sue asks, who is that masked Batman on the very left?

Hmmmm, there he is again! Now let me see – a cheeky cheerful rider, unfeasibly tall (maybe 6’5″?) Could it be …

…the guy who is driving this peloton. Yep, it was That Boy Phinney! You might notice that Tom Boonen and Mark Cavendish are right behind him, looking like ‘could you bloody well slow down?!’

It was the men who didn’t wear gloves that was a topic of Twitter conversation. Heinrich Haussler is known for never wearing gloves – not in the cold, not on the cobbles, never. Because gloves are obviously for sissies.

The cold brings out the ninja in these guys and I have to say, it is incredibly difficult to figure out who’s who in the peloton when they’re all dressed as the Milk Tray man. In fact, a Lampre rider took off his hot pink and lime green jacket to race … in a black fleece! Give us a break, teams – surely you can race in jackets made from your colours!

And then SuperSagan won Gent … gloveless. Love this guy – I really do.

How many calories in a podium bouquet?

Maybe I should call this section the Gruppetto – still great stuff, just a little straggly …

I particularly love the indignation that is radiating off this tweet. But my question is this – why would Fabs know how many people Justin Bieber is following if he maybe wasn’t following him himself. (That’s a worrying thought).

Lovely Gianni deserves double the blooms. Doesn’t he look happy!

You wonder if Tommy V sees the photographers and starts making faces to ensure that he gets into Tweets of the Week.

Food is always a popular subject for cyclists – both professional and above average amateurs (Hi Alex!). Important calorie counting information in this string, started by the exuberant Ted King.

The luck of the Irish worked for Dan Martin on his Spanish adventure!

How do I get this magazine? Seriously. How?

But the last word goes to…

Until next week, tweeties, when it will almost certainly be a Flan-tastic Tweets. Have a great week!