Bratwurst and black forest cake. It wasn’t that long ago that riders showed up overweight and unfit for the early season races in southern Europe. Jan Ullrich got mocked for burying his face in a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte rather than chewing the handlebars over winter. The German had plenty of company as he huffed and puffed his way around the likes of Andalucia and Murcia.

These days Chris Froome and Alberto Contador turn up lean and mean for their very first race of the season, a fierce battle that picked up from last year and promises more for the coming weeks and months.

It’s not just the story of the riders, the recent Vuelta a Andalucia included two summit finishes that would have been unheard of a decade ago, marking the evolution of early season races as they compete for attention.

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One day to go and a flatter stage but with just two seconds between Chris Froome and Alberto Contador the stage is set for regicide rather than coronation. Contador can try but it’s hard to imagine him surprising Team Sky. Don’t miss the earlier finish time if you’re planning to watch on TV.

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Alberto Contador took yesterday’s stage and it looks like the race for the red jersey is over. The climbing isn’t and today presents a sharp summit finish. Revenge for Chris Froome, confirmation for Contador or the chance for a new name to emerge.

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So much for taking it easy, Alberto Contador even tried a late attack yesterday to pre-empt the sprinters. Today brings the Queen Stage and a vicious summit finish. A Contador-Froome duel awaits but as it’s so early neither are at the top of their form and we should see others push them.

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Professional bike racing is just that, a profession. While there many rules on workplace safety for factories and offices, there are few when it comes to racing down a mountain at 100km/h. Now efforts are underway to make racing safer in extreme weather. The UCI’s Road Commission, prompted by the rider union CPA, is exploring this. Cyclingnews.com explains more.

About time or is the peloton turning soft? Maybe it’s not so binary because the interesting part will be seeing how they might write rules and protocols for something so subjective as when tough conditions become dangerous.

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A day for the sprinters? There’s a tricky climb with 10% slopes just before the finish. After yesterday’s maxi-crash many riders are left licking their wounds and this could be a more open stage but Movistar and Giant-Alpecin have every reason to try for they stage win they expected yesterday.

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He’s been runner-up this season and a couple of readers have been asking if Sagan is in trouble. Surely not, he’s only done one race this season and Qatar wasn’t the big goal: fans of Peter Sagan need not worry.

Forecasts can be foolish but let’s predict Peter Sagan is going to win Stage 2 of the Tour of Oman on Wednesday. The finish suits him perfectly with the difficult climb of Al Jissah just before the fast descent to the finish outside the Al Bustan hotel. He’s won here before.

The Gulf races are for training. It’s all about the spring classics campaign but he won’t have it easy. Alexander Kristoff is looks set to become his nemesis. The two were sprinting in Qatar and there paths are going to cross several times between now and Paris-Roubaix.

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