Good finish to a race spoilt by the weather in particular snow. lost 50k due to a climb being too dangerous to race in the middle of the event, and had to bus everyone 50k down the motorway.
ian stannard gave it a real good go but in the end the sagan cancellara duel was spoiled by Ciolek who to be fair was the best placed sprinter. i was routing for Gilbert who gave it a decent go but was edged out on the last climb

weather in northern europe looking dodgy for the next 2 weeks or so as the classics season looks like being a real grueller this year

Top effort by Stannard. He's not got much of a sprint, so his best option was to dig in with a couple of km to go and turbo-diesel it to the line, but there just wasn't much left in the tank.

Quite amusing to see some of the riders tweets during the period the race was neutralised.

Shame the SKY guys took each other out - they could have had a much better time of it EBH looked this he enjoyed his day out - not!!

I bet Sagen was very unhappy, he just went too early - top ride by Stannard. Cav did well to finish top 10 give the abject effort of his team!!

One thing how did tey manage to get their leggings off and into their shorts?

That was an amazing finish. The ride over the Poggio was very exciting.

The rumour is that the cable snapped in Ian Stannards gears and he was stuck in 11. He therefore had very little choice but to try and burn everyone off in the final 2km. As it is I thought it was a superb ride from him. Shame that him and Chavanel couldn't get more time and make the catch from the favourites less of a possibility.

Great ride from Ciolek - this is someone who was considered the 3rd string sprinter at HTC a few years ago behind Cav and Greipel. Absolutely delighted for the team too.

Big Maggy called it as soon as he was still in the picture going over the Poggio and I wonder just how much the pre race favourites either forgot he was there or were more concerned about each other. Either way Ciolek played it to perfection and only stuck his nose in front where it mattered.

Onto the northern classics now which are most definitely my favourite races.

tour of flanders up next, this is the one geraint thomas will be aiming for - can see sky going for a win here, going to be difficult though

paris robaix the week after - i fancy cancellara to tame the hell of the north this year, though sagan is in great form, and this will of course be boonen's main aim of the season

Sagan is ace. That wheelie across the line in Gent-Wevelegem was brilliant. You just can't back against him.