The Positive Spin: Looking at What’s Good in Cycling #4

Entertaining racing must be counted as a plus when looking at the positive of the sport, and so far this spring has produced loads of exciting events. The early Belgium races were fun to watch, as were the Paris-Nice and Tirenno-Adriatico stage races and now over the last weekend of winter racing (officially speaking as the first official day of spring came on March 20th) brought us a thriller in Italy at the Milan-Sanremo monument classic. World Champion Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe) attacked on the final climb of a 291km seven hour race from Milan to the Mediterranean coastal town Sanremo and drew out equally fit Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quickstep Floors). The trio held enough of a gap on the charging peloton to make it a three up sprint to the finish where the former world champ Kwiatkowski pipped Sagan to win on the Via Roma by the slimmest of margins.

Also in Italy at the Trofea Alfredo Binda, cycling fans, especially from the United States were treated to a sprint finish where rising American star Team Sunweb’s Coryn Rivera bested the field to win her first women’s world tour race. Rivera held off a charging Arlenis BlahBlahBlah (Astana) on a long slightly uphill charge to the line taking the biggest win of her young career that has been already marked with seventy some national championships from racing as a junior to the pro ranks. Coryn has an easy going casual California personality off the bike, but is a fiercely fast finisher who has risen to compete against the best of the best. It’s exciting to see her reach this level as a 24 year old with the promise of a long career ahead of her.