Michele Scarponi 1979 ~ 2017

If you are you having fun then you don't tend to spend too much time worrying about life. It is as it should be, and you should be lucky for it. But life is fragile and sometimes something horrible happens that reminds us of that, and we count our blessings.

Last Friday afternoon, April 21, I looked up the results of the final stage of the Tour of the Alps. I seen that Thibaut Pinot had won it and that Geraint Thomas had taken the general classification. A huge result for the Sky rider ahead of his Giro d'Italia ambitions. In fourth place was Michele Scarponi. I didn't take too much notice of it but considered him a man on form. He would lead his Astana team at the Grio now that team leader Fabio Aru had withdrawn through injury. Often a faithful lieutenant of Nibali and Aru, this was a chance of freedom for the 37 year old Italian.

On Saturday morning, April 22, I woke up, put on the kettle, settled into my armchair, looked at my phone and seen the horrible news. Scarponi, with so much going for him, was dead. An accident with a van while out training near his home in Italy that morning had ended it all. It was shocking and so saddening. His final tweet had been a picture of him a few hours after returning from Switzerland, with the race leaders jersey he had had won on the first stage, on the shoulders of his sons while they sat on his back, all smiling at the camera. How could your heart not break in knowing the fate that awaited them all in the hours ahead?

Van Avermaet completes one of the great cobbled campaigns

I didn't see any of Paris-Roubaix live this year. I was out on the bike instead. I promised myself come Sunday morning that I wouldn't fall victim to temptation and make an excuse to stay on the sofa watching the Hell of the North. It promised to be a great race as Peter Sagan looked to salvage his spring cake and Greg Van Avermaet looked to ice his. As it turned out it was the later who came through.

By all accounts it was a decent race though I have heard it was far from historic. No Paris-Roubaix is bad but I got the sense when Sagan punctured for a second time, ruling him out of contention, some of the drama went out of the race. Tom Boonen was of course competing in the final race of his career but the four-time winner could only manage 13th. The fairy tale finish was not meant to be.

No shock though at the winner. Van Avermaet has been a level above this spring. Sagan has been unlucky on several occasions, but the Belgian was always able to capitalize. Philippe Gilbert stole his thunder at the Tour of Flanders but didn't race this one. Still, across the seven cobbled classics this spring Van Avermaet won four of them. He took Omloop Het Niewsblad to kick off the campaign, followed it up a month later with wins at E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem, he was second at Flanders and returned to winning ways in Roubaix. Throw in a second place at Strade Bianche too and seventh at Kurrne-Brussles-Kuurne and you see an Olympic Champion on form.

A ride for the ages

It has to be the image of the cycling season so far. Philippe Gilbert standing solo on the finishing line of the Tour of Flanders in the Belgian champions jersey with his bike held high above his head, victorious. It was everything the locals could want from such a race. And what a race it was. It always is. But we don't usually get an individual performance quite like that. We don't usually get such drama from so far out.

The Muur-Kapelmuur is one of the most famous climbs in the Tour of Flanders. In recent years though it hasn't featured due to its location on a new route, but that changed for 2017. The climb was back in, but early in the race. Too far out from the finish to factor, or so we thought. They hit it with 95km to go, and but for the forlorn hopes up the road, the pack was still together. As they hit it, Gilbert brought his Quickstep team to the front. Rivals, such as Sagan and Van Avermaet hung back. Too early, right? Wrong.

Quickstep hit the climb hard. Teammates Tom Boonen and Gilbert looked at one another and gave a nod. The power went down and the race blew wide open. Over the top a gap had opened, but again it seemed to soon to matter. It would likely come back together or those behind would bridge across. Gilbert, Boonen et al would sit up and save their matches for later. But nobody knew how many matches Gilbert carried. With so long still to go, Gilbert pushed on, urging the group to work. And the group was dangerous. Sep Vanmarcke was there, so was Alexander Kristoff. Luke Rowe, Jasper Stuyven and a cluster of others were also present. Sagan and Van Avermaet were not.