Sprinters foiled in a cold and wet bunch sprint by Kristoff

They build them tough in Norway, and tough you had to be to come out on top of this one. Indeed, even to survive to the final group of 25 took some doing on a day in which the Milan-San Remo course was battered with rain, wind and cold, and for almost 300 kilometres. The effort it took on the bodies of these athletes was never more evident that in the final sprint itself, for how many times do you see a bunch sprint containing names such as Mark Cavendish, Andre Greipel and Peter Sagan, and have a one-two-three finish of Alexanter Kristoff, Fabian Cancellara, and Ben Swift.

To look at the top three finishers alone without seeing the race itself would have left you thinking they had been part of a small group that had attacked before the finish and made the move stick, rather than a bunch sprint that contained some of the fastest men in the world. But in these conditions and with that many miles in pairs of legs further sapped by short-sharp climbs along the Ligurian coast road, it was the strongest, rather than the pure fastest, that had the best chance of winning.

And I wonder did Kristoff, the Norweigen hard man, know that? Did he know that in these conditions, at this pace and with this many hours in the saddle -- four minutes, four seconds shy of seven hours, to be exact -- that it would be the strongest who would win and that it wasn't necessary to try and lose the pure sprinters on the final climb up the Poggio?

Contador rolls back the years and shows his new found form

It was vintage Contador and I couldn't help but watch and wonder just what Chris Froome was thinking from wherever it was he was rehabbing from his injury. This was the Contador of old, albeit it is still only March and it is only the Tirreno-Adriatico, but perhaps it's a sign of what's to come this season now that he's had a full winters training, with no distractions, to put into his legs.

Just the day before, race leader Michal Kwiatkowski had battled to the point of exhaustion to keep his race lead over Contador as the Spaniard attacked on the final climb to the finish at Cittareale and left everyone else struggling to keep pace. Good old El Pistolero won that day after his team-mate Roman Kreuziger had blown the race open with a ferocious attack, riding the majority of the climb in the big-ring before finally burning out. Contador took over and grinding up behind him, 10 seconds later was Kwiatkowski, doing just enough to retain his overall lead over the two time Tour de France winner by 16 seconds.

It was all to play for on the final climbing stage before a flat stage and a short time-trial to finish the race. This was a stage that finished up a wall of a climb to Muro di Guardiagrele. Short, but so steep that it hit 30 percent at times and which one climber described as now knowing what it's like to ride up the banking of a velodrome.

Notes from the Winter training bunker: It's snow going away, you know

At the start of January I made a winter training plan on my computer. Something to try and carry out down in the basement of my house -- the winter training bunker -- on the turbo. The plan probably looked a little over ambitious, but the idea was that if I could at least do the lions share of it, it would still be a good winters training and something to carry onto the road once the winter moved on.

Now, it is safe to say that I didn't stick with the plan entirely. When you're a rank amateur, in it for the fun of it, the real world often throws up things that keep you from going on the turbo 5-6 days per week, and so the plan often had to chop and change so that I still got the best of the workouts in, if not as often as I had planned.

Still, I came out of January with 284km in the legs and out of February (only 28 days, remember!!) with another 197km to add to it. I felt good even if I wasn't losing the weight I had hoped to lose quite as fast. That takes more discipline on the dieting side of things, but it's something that will come in time. As far as I was concerned I was feeling fitter in my legs and that's what I wanted. I didn't want to go out on the road come spring and struggled to cover 15k because I'd say on my backside doing nothing but eat a little less over the winter.

Cycling's elite converges on Italy

When it comes to week long stage races in the spring time, the Paris-Nice may hold the most historical prestige, but it's the Tirreno-Adriatico in 2014 were all the big names have shown up proving that this race may be beginning to overshadow the grand old 'Race to the Sun'. Such is the entry list this year, that you'd be forgiven for looking upon it as an early season battle of cycling's best, out to lay down the physiological marker over the others.

Of names that you would consider favorites to win or at least finish high up the order and be competitive come the Grand Tours, you have, in alphabetical order: Ivan Basso (Cannondale), Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), Cadel Evans (BMC), Robert Gesink (Belkin), Chris Horner (Lampre), Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo), Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp), Bauke Mollema (Belkin), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr), Richie Porte (Team Sky), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Michele Scarponi (Astana), Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), and Sir Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).

The obvious names of Chris Froome (who was meant to ride but pulled out injured) and Vincenzo Nibali (at Paris-nice) aside, it's a who's who of stage race cycling in 2014. Not every one of them will be going for the win here of course ... some will be looking for form, but there will be others out to prove a point and looking for an early stage race victory to give them the confidence to carry into the season.

Two of cycling's biggest young stars duel at Strade Bianche

Ask almost any cycling fan who the biggest young talent is in the sport today and you're likely to hear the name Peter Sagan. The young Slovak and his charasmatic style has entertained and thrilled us all over the last couple of years and big things are expected of him in 2013. But for all his talent there may be someone else of the same age who could go even further. He's Polish national champion, Michal Kwiatkowski.

Each year it seems a young cyclist bursts onto the scene winning several years, showing a huge talent for success and as a result is designated the title of being the next Eddy Merckx. The pressure is put on and despite many going on to forge brilliant careers, nobody has lived up to such a moniker.

In 2013 at the age of just 23, Sagan won his second green jersey at the Tour de France to go with 21 victories on the year including wins at Gent–Wevelgem and Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. His second place results at Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders only hinted at his bright future. Some even felt that on top of winning the big classics, he could one day win a Grand Tour. The pressure was heaped on. Now, that isn't to say it has gotten to Sagan ... quite the opposite for the he has done nothing but perform well in the majority of races he has been expect to shine in. It's just that now it might be Kwiatkowski's turn to come under that microscope of expectation. And on the weekend we got to see them both go head to head at the Strade Bianche.

Spring is in the air

Outside my window the grass is still covered in two feet of snow, a solid layer of ice, and then perhaps another foot of snow under that. It's the work of a vicious winter that blew in sometime in late November dropping temperatures well below zero, forcing me to burn as many calories shoveling snow as on the turbo, and it hasn't let up since. But despite the lack of green, despite the continued cold temperatures, and despite the threats that we could yet get more snow in the next week, there is that feeling that spring isn't too far away. That it's closer for some than others, and that eventually it'll find its way up here also.

Down in Florida the 15 American League teams of Major League Baseball have reported for Spring training, and pre-season games are underway. When you tune in to watch you cannot help but notice the pristine green grass, the blue skies, the sunshine, the fans sitting on the grass banking that rings the outfield of many of the teams's spring training stadiums, sipping cold beer and wearing shorts. It almost looks like summer, yet you know it's spring and you hope that little bit of spring will come back north again with the players for the start of the new season in April.

Then there is Belgium and an altogether different sign that spring is nearing with altogether different weather.