The first monument of the 2025 season and the start of the V-Sprint Club Trophy league. There was some deliberation about the pro’s & cons of picking the most expensive rider, Tadej Pogačar (34 credits) and if he’d be worth it. Many did pick him, but it meant making sacrifices elsewhere. It’s good to see a few more people getting involved with 15 people competing for the trophy this year, including last years winner Paul Mawhinney, who was one of those who didn’t pick Pog.

First place goes to Lee Aston who successfully picked the top 3, with Mathieu van der Poel, Filippo Ganna & Tadej Pogačar and one of the breakaway riders Baptiste Veistroffer who at 4 credits was a great pick. Second place goes to the defending champion Paul Mawhinney, whose gamble paid off to spread his 100 credits to include two of the top three as well as Mads Pedersen, Ben Tulett and Veistroffer to finish 210 points behind Lee. In Third place was Dave McCall who also had Ganna, Pogačar and Tulett. For many Tom Pidcock (24) was an expensive pick who after a small crash at the foot of the Cipressa finished in 40th place, scoring zero points.

Lee and Paul start off with a good lead, but there’s a long way to go. The next club trophy race will be the Tour of Flanders on the 6th April.

In the overall league, Lee’s consistent form bumps him up to third place, with Paul in second and Russ has had his lead cut in half to just 550 points. The next race in the overall league will be the Volta Catalunya starting on Monday, followed by three superclasico, one days races over the next week.