1) Greipel looks AWESOME right now, but so does Cav. This is going to make for a very interesting and exciting Tour de France 1st week, let alone the rest of the year!
2) Wiggins showed his climbing prowess in the Algarve with a monster turn to help Richie Porte take the win. He then beat Tony Martin in the final day's TT and in doing so, moved up to 3rd on the GC. This was done riding for a team mate so imagine what he can do when the teams attention is focussed on him! This is another reason for British fans to be excitedly tuning into Eurosport or ITV4 come July, but it also sets up a tantalizing Olympics Time Trial in London. Wiggins was the only person to come close to Martin in any time trials last year, namely the Dauphiné where he could have won had he not been playing it safe on a wet descent. Oh boy oh boy oh boy!
3) Boonen's back! Wins in San Luis and Qatar as well as a solid performance in the opening classic Omloop show his form is good going into the spring. Cancellara also looked strong in Qatar and with Hushovd, Breschel, Gilbert, Flecha as well as new Vaughters protégé Vanmarcke going well the classics season looks set to be a case of the bit meaty power houses that dwarf the bike beneath them gunning for victory once again. Hopefully they will have learnt not to mark eachother out like last year. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing an underdog like Nuyens or Van Summeren win but when Cancellara did everything he possibly could to escape and deserved to win so much it was sad to see it not happening.
Paris-Nice starts soon and it will be a great test of early-season form for the Grand Tour hopefuls. While there is a lot of climbing compared to the Tour, meaning Wiggins might not be able to reach the top step, he should at least be able to tell further how his fitness is when he's heading in an upward direction.
In terms of favourites I think the Schleck's would have to be ill not to get their seasons off to a storming start with wins here, especially when you consider the parcours only include a mountain Time Trial.
The presence of Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden, the week-long stage race assassins from last year, should cause some heart rates to rise even before the riders hit the pedals!
The likes of Tejay Van Garderen, Janez Brajkovic and the previously discussed Wiggins have had success in these kind of races previously so watch out for them too.
Ivan Basso will be there to test himself before the Giro, while Cunego is looking to start fine-tuning for his main aim this year which is the Ardennes Classics.
This is all without mentioning last year's winner Tony Martin of course, although I don't think think the hillier course will suit him this year so he may just be there to help Leipheimer.
Look out for the French trying to shake things up a bit as well. Voeckler never stopped attacking in this race last year, Sylvain Chavanel will be looking to show off his tricolour in its home country, and Jerome Coppel will be hoping to follow some of the favourites' wheels in the mountains. I wouldn't put it past Belgian De Ghent to go off the front a few times as well after his success with this tactic on stage 1 in 2011.
Let's not forget the French revelation of the Tour in 2011, Pierre Roland. If that race and his early season for are anything to go by, and if he has the right support, then he my well be challenging for the top places as well.
In terms of sprinters, it looks like Boonen could be a good tip considering many of the big name sprinters have headed over to Tirrenno-Adriatico, however he will face competition from Renshaw, Rojas Gil, Haedo and a rider who has been very impressive so far this season, Yauheni Hutarovic of FDJ-Big Mat.
And this is all just for one of the races going on next week. The season is well and truly under way!!
