Autumn...no wait, Spring...right the first time, Autumn Classics

Missed it all. A problem with the car meant a few hours in a garage. Was it a good race?

It was a brutal race, wind and rain aplenty - basically last man standing won & Quickstep had the most cards to play! 

Yeah, the wind did for them today, massive gusts broke it up and Quickstep ended up with 4/9 in the final run in.

I did enjoy seeing the Molteni Volvo racing alongside on the other side of the railway tracks and also a Quickstep car with a PA system calling out time gaps to Lampaert.

I transferred out Lawless, he went and took last place...DOH

I only saw the wind thing later in the day. Definitely would have gone for Trentin, he doesn't seem to mind what kak is thrown at him....Ewan not so much. I remember Ewan really struggling in echelons in races gone by. 
 

I had Trentin and Degenkolb in the front, would have had MVDP aswell.

It's a tough race when you see whole teams DNF

AG2R, Bahrain, Bingoal and Circus - Wanty. A whole raft of teams with only 1 finisher and only 47 getting to the line.

The weather is all important in the classics. Some of those riders are made out of left over bits of WW1 dreadnoughts...and some are not. 

Looks like I've won the classics game...yeah...happy days.

Congratulations - it has been a long haul this one. At the risk of showing my age, a bit like the 'Fil Rouge/Mini Marathon' in 'Jeux Sans Frontières/It's A Knockout'!

I remember it well. 

The Tractor finishing second, says it all.

Aye. The original HMS Dreadnought. 

I reckon he could have won it if Lampaert hadn't gone off the front. He had to knock off one attack when he started dragging people towards Lampaert and still had enough for a second go up to the line. Would have been a bold call in the game though! 

Must be hard for Andy to keep up. Riders in, riders out...and repeat.

You always have the option to tick the box.

Just thought it fair to flag it up as he is a realistic contender..... I agree though that keeping up with the start lists must have been a nightmare. No more to do after today!! 

Very fair. I had come on to post the same, 

So basically Dutch racing cancelled and now French. How long will the bit in between last?

Based on nothing at all... I really think we may have passed the point of cancellation. Spain has been bad enough to cancel it for a while, so there must be a resistance to do so. 

I don't think we have yet, as more restrictions are still being put in around Spain that from my sources are causing a big headache and routes are being looked at daily to avoid certain places, along with hotels being changed. I'll be surprised to see it happen, I'm surprised Gent-Wevelgem is still going happening. I think Paris-Tours will be done for along with Flandres

Really. I was wondering why no routes on PCS yet. They surely have to make a decision very soon then...they can't wai until a day or two before can they?

I don't think they have any choice at the moment, the routes are up on La Vuelta's website, but are very subject to change, they've already put certain climbs "behind closed doors" with military going to be supervising. With certain areas, I'm sure they are "no go".

Some teams are doing all their food in their own trucks/vans, some are even having supplies delivered by their own staff from "outside" the bubble, to save the staff on the race going shopping. Meals being delivered to bedrooms or eaten on the bus/food vans so riders don't even have to be anywhere but their room.

Mmmm. That doesn't sound good. 
 

When they restarted the Prem league in the UK one of the reasons given was that it would be good for the population to have some footy on the TV...and the fixtures were staggered so we had a match almost every day. I wonder if the reluctance to cancel the Vuelta may be a similar sort of thinking. It already sounds less than ideal for the riders and teams. Would the viewing figures in Spain make that a reason to continue with it?