It was a dusty weekend at Strade Bianche and an all-out Jumbo ambush in Paris-Nice – the cycling was intense and the Twitterstream was teeming with emoji-filled responses to the action. We have Ta-dah Pogacar, Wout, Rog and Christophe bossing it in Paris-Nice, Ganna getting into his groove and much much more.
Strade Bianche
It was dusty, it was windy, it was beautiful.
Strade Bianche. By all means. Strade Bianche! pic.twitter.com/assbZwDFwC
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) March 3, 2022
One of the most unbelievable crashes we’ve ever seen, with LouLou head over heels after the peloton gets blown off the road. Although there were some DNF from this group, the injuries were far less severe than they might have been.
This is insane. pic.twitter.com/3n4oM5c41E
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) March 5, 2022
i hate crashes, i hate seeing crashes repeatedly, but OMFG Alaphilippe doing some incredible acrobatics there to avoid catastrophic injury
— Cycleboredom (@Cycleboredom) March 5, 2022
For a brief and shining moment, we thought Taco might have a chance to take his first Strade …
With the pace of people dropping out of this race, Taco van der Hoorn will probably win this race in a mass sprint of 11 people #StradeBianche
— Ullrichs Erben (@ullrichserben) March 5, 2022
Riders on the storm. #StradeBianche pic.twitter.com/hFvLthk1qe
— daniel mcmahon (@cyclingreporter) March 5, 2022
Meanwhile, Pog does a Pog
A welcome sight. Pogi seems to get a bit tired too. He will make it but he took a big risk by attacking from so far. #StradeBianche pic.twitter.com/FtMDJLRNQ7
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) March 5, 2022
My father right now: If Movistar is riding the pace in the peloton rn I am not scared and Tadej should win.
😂😂— klusman (@ondra279) March 5, 2022
Fantastic photograph from James Stratt
Early candidate for sports photo of the year. The beauty of cycling. https://t.co/cdXkYlaMNA pic.twitter.com/08ZGH3NFSo
— Brian Nygaard (@nygaardbn) March 5, 2022
Egan was with us all in spirit
I missed this today 🧘🏽♂️😭 #StradeBianche pic.twitter.com/btv8R8ZrGU
— Egan Arley Bernal (@Eganbernal) March 5, 2022
The women’s Strade, however, was by far the more exciting finish – this is the way to take the final kilometre! And how not to set up the cameras …
Impressive win from @LotteKopecky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ https://t.co/O8YES1uaMR
— Emma Johansson (@emmaprocyclist) March 5, 2022
Who’s the boss? Jumbo’s the boss
First stage of Paris-Nice and Rog & Co decided to throw down that gauntlet. Then pick it back up and throw it down again … Wout, Rog and Christophe Laporte took the podium for stage 1, with Laporte in yellow and Rog a good 30sec in front of his GC rivals. Teunnisen rode himself inside out to get them set up for their mini team time trial to the finish
Damn me…that was purely brilliant from Jumbos. They drove it with Teunisen and Laporte put the hammer down to drop sprinters then the GC guys. Who expected that..
— midge (@pariswheels) March 6, 2022
Never.seen anything like this, ever.
Unreal riding
— anenglishmaninspain (@AndyElche) March 6, 2022
‘Not much to say. Hats off and respect. They did their homework, they knew how they wanted to ride and executed it. That’s strong. We’ll have to do our homework better next time around’ (2/2) #ParisNice2022
— Dennis Korsbæk Præst (@DennisPraest) March 6, 2022
Laporte delights in a 'gift from two big champions' at Paris-Nice
'He deserves it' says Van Aert after telling Frenchman he could cross the line first in Jumbo-Visma 1-2-3https://t.co/o9qveAwe3I
— Cyclingnews.com (@Cyclingnewsfeed) March 6, 2022
#ParisNice, Stage 1 — photo finish
1. Laporte, 2. Roglic, 3. van Aert (3 x Jumbo-Visma) pic.twitter.com/8rTQzz9iZJ
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) March 6, 2022
If you want to see the action … here it is!
🇫🇷 #ParisNice
🥇🥉🥈 pic.twitter.com/nzBXoiBdO4
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) March 6, 2022
Interview Roglič at the finish https://t.co/iO8k0NGnS6
— Debby 🖤💛 (@Debby_Drckx) March 6, 2022
The acting still hasn’t gotten any better with age
Kuss and Affini are the other teams reactions 😄
— Cycling What Ifs (@cyclingwhatifs) March 6, 2022
Jumbo against Pogacar is going to be thrilling at the TDF this year!!
— Adam Blythe (@AdamBlythe89) March 6, 2022
What’s going on? Yesterday and today, just nuts for different reasons.
— Niall McGlone (@niallmcglone) March 6, 2022
Stage 2 was for the sprinters, although again Jumbo put the hammer down, forcing some very exciting echelons, and hoping that the stage win would go to WvA. But Fabio Jakobsen … faster than the speed of light … well and truly took that sprint in some style.
Equilibrium (kind of) restored…🐝🐝🐝 back at the helm #ParisNice #ParisNice2022 pic.twitter.com/figEACracJ
— Katy M (@writebikerepeat) March 7, 2022
more of this please pic.twitter.com/vhEe3jMQcK
— adam becket (@adambecket) March 7, 2022
Wout is here to punish today.
— nyvelocity (@nyvelocity) March 7, 2022
It's absolutely incredible how quickly Jakobsen has got back to the very top of the sport after all he's dealt with. Plenty of people would've never wanted to ride a bike again, let alone contest a bunch sprint. #ParisNice
— Freddie Shires (@fshires) March 7, 2022
Meanwhile, in Italy
Tirreno-Adriatico started on Monday with a time trial. The pundits were hyping Remco but seriously, with Ganna in the race? There was no way the world champion would not win Stage 1 and go into the leader’s jersey
Ganna took the shortest possible riding line in bend. There weren't very many cms between him and barrier. #TirrenoAdriatico pic.twitter.com/aeVPmDXCaK
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) March 7, 2022
Not many people can live with Filippo Ganna when he hits numbers like these 😳
__________
🇮🇹 #TirrenoAdriatico pic.twitter.com/xyt8AZzTI3— Velon CC (@VelonCC) March 7, 2022
Things that make us go ‘huh?’
Socks over leg warmers is not a crime.
— Peter Flax (@Pflax1) March 6, 2022
The photo sessions prior to the start of Tirreno … (I love Ciccone!)
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) March 6, 2022
The less this is spoken about, the better I think …
I'm very curious what the purple thing is. It looks rude.
Still, this is much better than getting a massive bunch of bananas you can't get through. https://t.co/LuJrFqkAgn
— Sadhbh O'Shea (@SadhbhOS) March 3, 2022
Not to mention the Kama Sutra playing cards & satin mask. Surpasses the GP Samyn garden gnome in the wild prizes league
— William Fotheringham (@willfoth) March 3, 2022
That whole story sounds like a hallucination 😂😂
— Sadhbh O'Shea (@SadhbhOS) March 3, 2022
Interesting – is Miguel Angel Lopez going to come after Pids to get his nickname back?
Because every superhero needs a costume… 🦸♂️
From pen to @Tompid, watch how @bioracer brought a kit concept to life 📽️ pic.twitter.com/P5o3hpUQZb
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) March 8, 2022
The Gruppetto
Tiesj Benoot, who won Strade solo and muddied a few years back, got taken out by that windy crash.
Thanks to the man for taking care of me. On the moment there I was a bit more grumpy than he deserved. https://t.co/cseq12gDQs
— Tiesj (@TiesjBenoot) March 6, 2022
The whinging contest of the week
I found riding with @alexdowsett at altitude was a lot harder than it should have been too!
— Michael Hutchinson (@Doctor_Hutch) March 6, 2022
I think we’ve been out-whinged, Joe.
— Michael Hutchinson (@Doctor_Hutch) March 6, 2022
King Kelly is back on comms
Can someone please make a drum’n’bass song out of King Kelly saying “just riding around” thank you in advance. #ParisNice
— David C B 🌻 (@tzed250) March 6, 2022
Love the Grubers, love @kiss_my_panache, love this ethereal photo
I don’t know how the Grubers got a picture of me and my best friend @cbillings in the future after we die and go to heaven… but they did. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/a2R69e6Z8x
— Chris Carlson (@Kiss_my_Panache) March 6, 2022
G’s little brother … does that mean we need to call Marc Soler ‘g’?
Haha I’m not the only one
— Lena (@reathina) March 6, 2022
Would require him to slightly change his hair which I was even more surprised about then UAE 😂
— Lena (@reathina) March 6, 2022
Let’s hope it gets better on the back of that bike as the season progresses
Brad’s next update: “there are bikes in the race, we’re getting closer to the finish, there are turns in the road, there are no cobbles”
— Journal Velo (@JournalVelo) March 5, 2022
LouLou has impeccable manners
Love that, always appreciative isn't it. https://t.co/JFQtO8wJOw
— anenglishmaninspain (@AndyElche) March 5, 2022
Definitely
I’m calling the color of @EFprocycling ‘s bibs “Chewed licorice”
— Zimbololo (@LoisHorwitz) March 5, 2022
HURRAH!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!
A very warm welcome to @mcewenrobbie, who'll be with us on GCN+ and Eurosport for Tirreno, MSR, RVV, the Tour and the Giro this season.
With my days of sprint analysis almost certainly over, I shall instead focus on time cut calculations. pic.twitter.com/vkUERIfTdA
— Daniel Lloyd (@daniellloyd1) March 4, 2022
The last word
Oh, my captain, my captain!—noble heart—go not—go not!—see, it’s a brave man that weeps
— Moby Dick (@MobyDickatSea) March 7, 2022