The all-round talented Michal Kwiatkowski

"What a talent Kwiatkowski is. Younger than Sagan by several months, the Polish phenom has proven himself capable in single day races as well as Grand Tours and must surely be seen as the finest young talent in the sport right now."

I wrote that paragraph in the days after Michal Kwiatkowski's World Championship victory back in September 2014. His mega-talent was evident then and he's done little to disappoint since. A consistent performer across an entire season, Kwiatkowski has shown an ability to finish high up in Grand Tours, week long stage races, hilly classics in the Ardennes, and cobbled classics in Flanders.

This past winter Kwiatkowski moved to Team Sky and many wondered what this would mean for his rounded ability under the strict stewardship of the Sky machine, but he hasn't disappointed. High placings in early season Spanish races, three top 10s at the Tirreno-Adriatico, a superb attack at Milan-San Remo, and then over the Easter long weekend a superb victory on the cobbled roads of Flanders in the E3 Harelbeke in a two-up sprint against the much hyped Peter Sagan. The pair got clear on a climb with 30km left, worked together to distance a pack of select favourites and contested a sprint in which Kwiatkowski comfortably won when he caught Sagan napping in the lead-out position.

The cobbled classics league table

With yesterday's Dwars door Vlaanderen I think it's safe to say that the cobbled classic season is well and truly underway. Last month we had the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne to kick things off, and while I said at the time that those Belgian season openers gave off the feel of the road season truly getting underway, it's now that we get into the thick of the northern classics action.

In many ways those first two cobbled races felt like a cobbled classic pre-season. A chance for the riders to stretch their legs in anger and get a feel for where their form was at before returning to training camps and stage races further south and a run at the Milan-San Remo, before returning back up to Belgian ready to fire once more. And all the while the excitement in the fans has been building as they study the form of various contenders to see who might make the biggest impact. All the usual names are trotted out, but who really is the most consistent across the bergs and pave of Flanders?

With that in mind I've decided to draw up a little league table for each of the main Belgian races in the Flanders region, as well as Paris-Roubaix, obviously. Rather than stick with the UCI points system that would see points being awarded to the majority who cross the finishing line, I've gone with the Formula One points system of 25 points for a win, 18pts for second and 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 down to 10th place.

Demare breaks 19 year French Monument drought at San Remo while fighting off towing accusations

Last week I wrote that if Geraint Thomas could win the Milan-San Remo he'd be the first man to win the Paris-Nice and the seasons first Monument in the same year since Laurent Jalabert in 1995. That didn't happen, but Jalabert's 1995 success was still significant because that was the last time a Frenchman had won the La Classicissima before Arnaud Démare crossed the line to win on Saturday. Indeed it was the first French Monument win since Jalabert at the Giro d'Lombardia in 1997.

And yet like with the Tirreno-Adriatico and the cancelled stage, it was a race in which the outcome was once again steeped in controversy with the major talking point far removed from the result itself. Not because snow cancellations sparked a row on Twitter, but because two Italian riders accused Démare of holding onto his team-car on the second to last climb after being held up by a crash. The upshot has been 24 hours worth of Strava analysis and finger pointing without any serious evidence, that has surely taken some of the gleam off the result.

At the end of the day, without video or photographic evidence, and without his power files, something some have called for him to release but which he is under no obligation to do, we'll never know for sure what happened. Proving ones innocence is something we're all too familiar with in cycling, but history has shown that it only tends to lead to more questions and speculation from conspiracy theorists; Demare need only ask Chris Froome about that. And besides, Demare releasing his power files to ensure he took no tow on his way to victory would only see the same demands being put on everyone who won every subsequent race from now until every helmet is fitted with a camera!

What I would like is to see some further clarification from the two Italian riders on their post-race accusations to see if they stood by them in the cold light of day.

Cancelled stages and dramatic results

The Paris-Nice and Tirenno-Adriatico are two races in two countries over a similar length that bring out the same kind of contender. In one aspect you have the Grand Tour favourites who use one of the two as a preparation race for their form ahead of the Giro or Tour, and on the other you have single day classics men who use it as a late conditioner ahead of Milan San-Remo. Often we look at who is racing which and then check to see which of the two the last five San-Remo winners, or Tour of Flanders winners, rode in.

In the case of Milan-San Remo, four of the last five winners came out of Paris-Nice whereas at Flanders, four of the last six winners came from Tirreno-Adriatico. To be fair the Tour of Flanders likely comes a little far out for either of these events to have any real baring on its outcome, but I bring it up because of how Tirreno-Adriatico played out this year.

In a big upset to the form guide, the winner of Tirreno-Adriatico was Greg Van Avermaet, a man that nobody would have expected to win the overall of, but who came good thanks to the cancellation of the queen state that would have seen the climbers shine. That isn't to suggest he's now the likely winner of either upcoming Monument, though he remains a contender and many feel that with the cancellation of that mountain stage it was the ideal preparation race for Milan-San Remo. If he does pull it off, he'll become the first man since Fabian Cancellara in 2008 to win MSR after winning Tirreno but more dramatically should he win the Tour of Flanders he'll be the first man since Roger De Vlaeminck in 1977 to do the Tirreno/Flanders double.

Strade Bianche was a race made for Cancellara to win

The Strade Bianche is a beautiful race. Long camera shots of rolling Italian hillsides show a peloton meandering its way through the Tuscan countryside with dust kicking up from the narrow gravel roads they traverse at a furious pace. It's a single day classic, but not in the conventional sense with cobbles or Belgian bergs or Muurs, or history -- it only began in 2007 -- and it doesn't have monumental status, though you can't help but think with an extra 50km onto its distance and 50 years to breathe, it would be all but worthy. But it's a race that is popular among the viewers and the riders who will hope to contest and win those conventional single day cobbled classics in the weeks ahead.

It comes with a magical finish up into the town of Siena, a punishing steep little climb that stretches the exhausting leg to breaking point after a day of little climbs. And today was no different. It's the kind of race made for a man like Fabian Cancellara; powering along those dusty dirt roads and grinding up over those tight Tuscan hills. No wonder then that he has won it twice before in 2008 and 2012, and no wonder then that he won it again on Saturday. One on the short list that he would badly have wanted as part of his retirement tour of 2016. A shortlist that contains names like the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, another stage at the Tour de France, and even the World Championships.

Yes, it's almost as though the events founders sat down in 2007 and decided to build a race for a young Fabian, something absolutely fitting to his talents that he could win a bunch of times. There must have been shock 9 years ago when Alexandr Kolobnev, and not Cancellara, won the first edition. Then again, back then Fabian had only one monument win to his name, his career as a single day great still to be carved out. Now, with retirement on the horizon and one last kick at the Monuments can lying in wait, he's got a 33% win record at Strade Bianche. Indeed, the race organisors announced pre-race that should he win a third time they would name a dirt sector after him. His three fingered salute as he crossed the line only served as a reminder to them of their promise.