Spring classics 2026

[team fl]

It seems something went wrong with the inscription for 21h... I was signed up for the race and now I see that I am not in the race... Now my riders don't know what to do in Siena on a Saturday evening. Any advice where to go to forget about all of this?

[Robyklebt]

Still argh...

Donkey was painting a masterpiece, came along well, then he dropped his coffee cup all over the canvas. Argh. 64-76 with 76.9 leader, yes, Aurélien Bonjour, Ousland no 1, a bit of pointless misinformation and more importantly a little reward for him, he was our best rider in Omloop.
Plan was clear, and for once it went exactly as it did in our dreams (well, Omloop too, but there the plan was just do nothing forever, then a little bit) In my dreams I saw Aurélien sucking in a 3-5 man group as weakest climber, then winning. Preparation really went perfectly. Almost at least. Very early, unexpected sieb by Narren, wasn't too happy at first, 6 riders in front, but only one early helper... so Kagge on Aurélien, rest free. Narren with 9 then gave up, by then I had started to like the situation very much, after my planned sieb then not one group, but 2 behind, even better!! But Narren gave up and wasn't heard of anymore until the last km... So Donkey sieb km 66, Winzenried, 23 riders, 2 Donkeys ride back up, that's it, 25 riders, Vigni rides (plan was Kotibaruly first, but since Vigni rode a km to come back...)By the end of the sector advantage of almost 2' over one big group in the back (all 9 Narren there, he should have continued and then chased ahead of the slow last peloton with the 80-70) Still 1'19" when Winzenried went in again, at 102, 20 riders in front, Vigni gone, 4 Donkeys, 4 Sprees (but clearly fighting each time) 3 WZF, 3 Schnuggeritos, 3 BB Breakers 97, the latter 3 teams with classics, thus the favorites in that group. Kotibaruly, my last contribution to the group brought up the advantage to just over 3', normally then with Lambert's help, BB Breakers, after Monte Sante Marie still at 2'40" since he waited for Kotibaruly, ok, he kept riding a bit longer then, original plan was to stop after that sector, or more likely be dropped there. IMO would have made sense for the 3 guys with classics to go in there together... 3 guys in together can hold off the still slow peloton easily for 50+ km, risk of attacks is minimal, some people have a leader and helpers, some only helpless leaders...but of course they were reluctant, rather did it the more difficult way. At around 2' advantage Donkey out, Schnuggeritos in, drops Lambert soon, then despite already riding a few km drops 2 Sprees, that had been fighting a lot on Winzenried I guess, 16 riders left in front., still 2', very strong Cramer. Km 167 peloton finally accelerated, on a 6 a classic, in front WZF joined, but possibly too late to hope to keep the peloton away with the helpers I guess, so earlier action with leaders probably needed. Only 31" left before the second Colle Pinzuto, Mandyczewski goes in, 3 riders left, Bonjour at 5". And fighting off. DAMN. Would have had exactly my dreamscenario, +/- 20 km left, I'm the weakest, can suck. Would Bonjour have stayed with fighting? I was confident, but of course don't know. 8 more mountain, 0.4 more pavé, more energy (in the front group Bonjour always had 2 helpers, but before not, and with less flat costs more)... could be dropped, but assuming same form, somehow still think could have held on, with fighting. What happens then, we don't know. I probably would have ridden a bit too much, even if less than Schnuggeritos and Spree probably would have joined the first 2 km or so to get it going, then out, in my dreams already prepared the statement "I rode enough to give me a chance, not going to throw away it by riding more"... but yeah, probably as the over-optimistic Donkey would have ridden a bit too much and got 2nd or 3rd. Or maybe the group would have been caught, Donkey out more than half the km would have freaked out the later winner. The guy even let Schiffbauer ride the 3** alone. Imagine Donkey not riding 2 km pretty soon after!! Group not working big chance too. Or maybe I would have managed to be out enough and actually win it, who knows.. but more likely probably riding just a bit too much, follow but lose the sprint or something like that. All these scenarios would have been ok, from dropping while fighting, from riding too much, being dropped at Le Tolfe with 5** (very wary of those..), group doesn't work... but like this? Forget to put fighting in. At least I think I did, I sort of thought of putting it in, now counts, but probably didn't, because after being dropped saw the fighting at no...Such a basic mistake after riding it almost perfectly until then, after being in exactly the position I wanted to be, putting myself there. But well, 5" back, waited for the BB who was 3" further back, 15", but 3 vs 2, more flat in front, lost more and more, on Le Tolfe 5** though we kept the distance, well Aurélien did, Dubois didn't manage to get in tempo. IMO showed that if Rehberg and the 753rd generation Schiffbauer can stay there... and fight and slow down M on Le Tolfe, Aurélien there would be pretty ok. Maybe should have continued alone after being dropped, but wouldn't have come back anyway... In front Schiffbauer then took 8 km off, second last in again, IMO a mistake, but probably changed little. A bit more was needed, of the 18km Donkey probably would have tried to miss at least half, ride downhill, cover Le Tolfe, let the others out, but ride the first 2 or so km with them... But well, no fighting, dropped, all "could have". Frustrating after creating exactly what I wanted, doing exactly what I needed to do... In principle 4th with Aurélien is a good result, just that I took away the chance for more by being stupid.
In the back Lüthi then was an amazing 5th.. Never expected that, so 10th in the race... but guess that without the siebs, there would have been later anti 80-70 siebs and Lüthi with 70.6 pavé would have been in the siebed part... hm, that's what I assumed, looking at the peloton now.... he holds up pretty well against other classics. But hadn't really bothered with checking the opponents too closely, what for, I knew that for Aurélien I had to do what I had to do (but forgot about this fighting feature to put on later it seems), pretty regardless of what other teams have. And Lüthi simply didn't seem to have a way to the victory, much better chances for a placement, but win... still don't see how actually. For Aurélien yes, a tiny chance, but thought it was there, and if I had put fighting in it would have been there, still not huge, but.. So pretty happy with how I rode, but frustrating to make that mistake (would prefer to put fighting in and just be too weak, much better)

Anyway, next is Sanremo, well, Milano-Torino first, have to check if they kept the Superga version or went back to a sprint version, whichever it is, ready to win, if I overperfom (and 4th with Aurélien is overperforming, despite the frustrating end) like here, can't be beaten there! And then Kebede for Sanremo. IN the meantime we go and hang out a bit in France, but our heart stays in Italy

[team fl]

Thanks to Alkworld, the Team FL riders were able to start in Siena, right on time. In the end, 2 secs were missing for the Fürst to garnish it, while Uchiha and his team mates showed, how it's done. Very interesting edition, very deserved winner at 21h.

Here the full list of winners for this year's Strade Bianche:

07.03.2026: Strade Bianche (Cat. 5)
09h - Leonid Pavlenko (NoMoreLulz)
14h - Eusebius Mandyczewski (Wiener Zentralfriedhof RV)
18h - David Martinez (stevens)
21h - Sasuke Uchiha (Uomo Nero)

[team fl]

Next race: Milano - Torino, Wednesday 18 March 2026

Milano - Torino is called a "semi"-classic in the internet. Well, it's not part of the World Tour which leads to that description I guess. But it's part of the UCI ProSeries. And more important: Milano - Torino is the oldest classic race in the world, first raced in 1876. Interesting fact: The race was not run (or cycled) between the spring of 2007 and the autumn of 2012.

Until 1987, Milano - Torino was always one week before Milano - SanRemo and was seen as a preparation for La Primavera. However, in 1987 Milano–Torino was switched to a date in October just before the Giro di Lombardia because the race organisers were not happy with the weather conditions in early March in northern Italy. In 2005 Milan–Torino returned to its traditional date in early March until it was again put in October in 2008 exchanging dates with the Monte Paschi Eroica race (Strade Bianchi, remember?) which is now run in March. Because of all that switcheroo, the race got ill and was not held until 2012, when it was placed back to October. Since 2022, it's placed in the spring again.

So, Milano - Torino is not only the oldes classic race, its history and positioing in the calendar is quite bumpy. Which leads to profile: May I say that the evolution of its profile is similar to its history, like a roller coaster? Being a sprinters race from 2020 on, the profile changed back to a climber's race in 2025 with a finish after a steep climb up the Colle di Superga after passing the Bivio di Superga and a flat warm up for around 150 kms. Last year's winner was a climber again consequently. Isaac del Toro finished first after 174 kms.

This year's edition is exactly the same as last year, so a climber win is very likely again, also in C4F. But let's see who won the race last year in your beloved game (which isn't a game according to Gipfelstuermer, let alone fun). Anyway, the winners were: Yuta Okkotsu (Pokemonogatari), Enno Oper (Falcor), Owen Onley (bergwerk), Mekhti Abdulatipov (Team Dagestan) and Baptiste Firiam (Wiener Zentralfriedhof RV).

Who are the favourites you ask? Read you lazy bastard! Or think... but that's too much asked for some players. The answer: Climbers. Preferably with a decent flat skill not to lose to much power during the warm up. If it's a fast race. But be aware. Baptiste Firiam for example messed up the Giro after winning Milano - Torino. So a win could be a bad sign, maybe even a curse! We need more conspiracy theories in the game... which is yours?

[flockmastoR]

Next race: Milano - Torino, Wednesday 18 March 2026

Milano - Torino is called a "semi"-classic in the internet. Well, it's not part of the World Tour which leads to that description I guess. But it's part of the UCI ProSeries. And more important: Milano - Torino is the oldest classic race in the world, first raced in 1876. Interesting fact: The race was not run (or cycled) between the spring of 2007 and the autumn of 2012.

Until 1987, Milano - Torino was always one week before Milano - SanRemo and was seen as a preparation for La Primavera. However, in 1987 Milano–Torino was switched to a date in October just before the Giro di Lombardia because the race organisers were not happy with the weather conditions in early March in northern Italy. In 2005 Milan–Torino returned to its traditional date in early March until it was again put in October in 2008 exchanging dates with the Monte Paschi Eroica race (Strade Bianchi, remember?) which is now run in March. Because of all that switcheroo, the race got ill and was not held until 2012, when it was placed back to October. Since 2022, it's placed in the spring again.

So, Milano - Torino is not only the oldes classic race, its history and positioing in the calendar is quite bumpy. Which leads to profile: May I say that the evolution of its profile is similar to its history, like a roller coaster? Being a sprinters race from 2020 on, the profile changed back to a climber's race in 2025 with a finish after a steep climb up the Colle di Superga after passing the Bivio di Superga and a flat warm up for around 150 kms. Last year's winner was a climber again consequently. Isaac del Toro finished first after 174 kms.

This year's edition is exactly the same as last year, so a climber win is very likely again, also in C4F. But let's see who won the race last year in your beloved game (which isn't a game according to Gipfelstuermer, let alone fun). Anyway, the winners were: Yuta Okkotsu (Pokemonogatari), Enno Oper (Falcor), Owen Onley (bergwerk), Mekhti Abdulatipov (Team Dagestan) and Baptiste Firiam (Wiener Zentralfriedhof RV).

WZF this year will not play a big role, Falco best climber with only 74 mountain. So we will try our luck in an early escape or not ride at all.

Who are the favourites you ask? Read you lazy bastard! Or think... but that's too much asked for some players. The answer: Climbers. Preferably with a decent flat skill not to lose to much power during the warm up. If it's a fast race. But be aware. Baptiste Firiam for example messed up the Giro after winning Milano - Torino. So a win could be a bad sign, maybe even a curse! We need more conspiracy theories in the game... which is yours?

Really appreciate your historic comments about the classics.
A good climber is needed but also a strong team. The 2 climbs finish with just little flat in between is dangerous and Okkotu showed last year how to win attacking on the first climb and support from the early escape group. As for Baptiste, he won this classic for Alive And Dead, not for Wiener Zentralfriedhof RV. And he was cursed for sure, already at AAD but even more in his later team at the GIRO, he still had a good carreer all together