Cycling - Gent Wevelgem & Volta A Catalunya

Cycling’s classics season has already given us plenty of thrills spills, and more notably chills with Milan San-Remo amongst many of the races to have been seriously affected by freezing temperatures and snow. Gent Wevelgem, the second monument of the season, has had a significant part of the race cut in reaction to the already freezing temperatures which have battered the peloton already – Tour De France favourite Alberto Contador had to miss today’s on-going Criterium International due to cold and Slyvain Chavanel had to miss E3 Habreke earlier in the week.

There’s a huge sense of unpredictability regarding every classic but compared to other monuments Gent Wevelgem is far flatter than most of the spring events and that, along with the reduction of the race by 47KM, should prove to be a big help towards the sprinters who have found opportunities in the early classics hard to come by. With Mark Cavendish having proven himself ready for the challenge by winning the main bunch sprint in Milano San Remo it’s no surprise to see him as favourite amongst last year’s second Peter Sagan – whose Canndondale team is much underrated due to his incredible strength – and those two should take the beating if their teams decide to work for a common cause. Sagan is yet to win a major classic this season but his consistency is frightening and only opening his sprint too early cost him San Remo to Gerald Ciolek. The odds against for a top 3 finish is tempting, but if he’s close enough a straight win will do and 4.1 on Betfair appeals. If this is to be a sprinter’s race, then it would be criminal of Lotto not to put Andre Greipel – one of few fast men on the planet who can go toe to toe with Cavendish in the main position and with 14’s available on Betfair he looks to be the value.

Over in Spain, Bradley Wiggins looks set to finish out of the Volta A Catalunya top 3 unless he decides to launch an attack on any one of the seven ascents of the cat 3 Alt de Montjuïc, which comes just 3.5km from the line with a steep drop until the finish in Barcelona today. An innovative finish, it presents punchers like Joaquin Rodríguez with a chance (or seven) to take some significant seconds if able to build gaps on the short punchy climbs, with the Spaniard at present lying some 17 seconds behind leader Daniel Martin, which would explain the reasoning behind them being first and second favourites. Rodriguez is made for a stage such as today, but odds against looks too short and Nairo Quintana, who was so impressive when outspeeding the opposition on the final climb of stage 3 and also when cutting a deficit of 1.20 to 36 seconds by the finish on stage 4. As comfortable a descender as he is a climber, and much the best in short sharp bursts, a price of 10/1 with Bet365 seems very

Advice – Gent Wevelgem

1 pt Peter Sagan (4.9 Betfair)

1 pt Andre Gripel (15.5 Betfair)

Advice – Volta A Catalunya

1 pt each/way Nairo Quintana (10/1 Bet365)

Already Advised

2 pts each/way Bradley Wiggins (8/1 Paddy Power)