Gianni Bugno. A late summer worlds winner in 1991 and 1992. Photo Velodenz

If you've been following Corza Clothing's Twitter this week (www.twitter.com/corzaclothing) you'll have noticed we have been enjoying the first few days of the ENECO tour. There has been some good racing over some interesting terrain and its certainly different seeing climbs like the Oude Kwaremont in late summer when the fields are almost ready to harvest rather than having the usual barren late winter/early spring northern European feel.

August is a bit odd when it comes to professional bike racing. Spring and Summer will have given us the big classics and the tours of Italy and France and then all of sudden in August we get, well, not much really. Classica San Sebastian can sometimes be a good race (twice over the Jazekibel, as this year, is a good thing we reckon) but it comes a week after the Tour and these days we have the ENECO tour.

There is a certain logic in having a stage race in cycling's heartlands that use some of the sport's iconic roads and climbs. The terrain is familiar and knowledgeable fans can be assured. Even though it does give commentators plenty of opportunity to come out with phrases like 'mini Tour of Flanders' and 'mini Amstel Gold race' the race seems to be hard fought and interesting. All of the above don't always apply to the Tour of Poland.

Wouldn't it be good though if there was a big race, that really meant something in the cycling world, that could come after the Tour and attract the biggest names in a kind of grudge match? A one day race would be fine by us, we kind of prefer the winner takes all spontaneity of a hard fought one day race anyway.

What's that we hear you say? "There used to be one". There certainly did. The World Championships. The fight for the Arc-en-Ciel. A grudge match of all proportions to attract the post Tour riders who still had form, one day men with an eye on a lucrative year in the rainbow jersey, and all mixed up in national team politics and traditionally held in August. If you had something to prove post Tour, this is where you did it.

As much as we've enjoyed the ENECO tour this week we'd swap it for an August World's anytime. Now, if we were in charge of the UCI...

A good battle!
Whilst not approaching 1989 levels of drama (what could really?) it was great to see two riders battling out the overall up until the last few stages. Bring on next year we say.

Cobbles in the Tour.
Possibly contentious, if Mark Cavendish had fallen and broken a collarbone we'd probably be putting this in the '5 things we weren't so keen on about the Tour De France' section. As it turned out though, lots of drama and it all looked great on the TV. Not sure Franck Schleck would agree though!

Cavendish Stage wins.
5 cracking sprint wins after we had him down as leaving by the first Saturday. Surely Cav's on the road to achieving a 'best sprinter of all time' label?

Jeremy Hunt riding the Tour.
Occasionally seen on the front working for Hushovd, after the Banesto debut you wouldn't have thought that it would be 2010 before Jeremy's Tour debut would you?

The green jersey battle.
The Maillot Vert is consistently proving to be the hard fought competition of the Tour. After last years Cavendish vs Hushovd head to head it was great to watch this year's three way battle including Pettachi. You have to love Hushovd's gritty fighting style that contrasts brilliantly with Cavendish's 'If you can't win, it ain't worth it' philosophy and Pettachi's classic sprinter style. Long may that continue.

Photo courtesy dailym

That Andy Schleck losing his chain incident.
Not only did 'chaingate' lead to one of the most contentious issues of this year's tour but it also robbed everyone watching of a potentially classic battle between Contador and Andy Schleck. Still, better than a positive dope test for one of the big names.

Aleander Vinokourov's stage 13 win in Revel.
If only Vino showed a little bit of remorse. Apparently the boos and whistles at the stage finish drowned out any of the cheers when Vinokourov won in Revel. Unsurprising and certainly goes to show that cycling is a more than just a win or lose sport.

The King of the Mountains podium girls' dresses.
Half umbrella, half dress, totally shocking.

The second stage 'go slow'.
Waiting for Franck Schleck on the descent of the Stockeu was one thing and given the carnage on the wet roads a fair decision. We have to ask though, what was wrong with having a bunch gallop in Spa? OK, the roads were wet but this is bike racing not golf, it was in the final 3k and from the looks of Hushovd et el they were up for it. Not only were we robbed of a sprint for second but you have to feel for the fans by the roadside who just got to see a glorified club run, in the rain. They probably weren't as annoyed as Hushovd not being able to gain green jersey points though.

Cadel Evans's cracked elbow.
The chances of Cadel Evans winning the Tour are looking ever slimmer but this isn't the main reason we were upset about Cadel's cracked elbow. What really disappointed us was that we felt robbed of one of the finest World Champions of recent times showing off his jersey in the Tour. After Evans's fantastic win in Montalcino in the Giro it would have been great to see rides like that from Cadel in the Tour. Let's see what happens in Australia in October.

Photo Courtesy zahikel

Well, that's the Spring classics over for another year. There was some surprise winners, superb races and entertaining performances. The Cancellara/Boonen break was just what Flanders needed after two years of similar racing and it seems only a yesterday we were wondering whether Peter Van Petegem's Cobbled double was a once in a generation performance, well, Cancellara's cobbled week showed that if you have the form and the power...

There are two distinct memories that strike us at Corza post spring classics. One is David Millar's Ronde and the other is Alexandre Vinokourov's  Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Two riders, two drugs bans and two comebacks in their own way. One we love, the other leaves us a little cold. We aren't the biggest David Millar fans at Corza, we can't help thinking what would have happened if the Police hadn't had a word in 2004. Millar's ride in 'The Ronde' was fantastic though. He deserved so much more that his placing towards the back of the first big bunch of finishers. A gutsy attacking ride that was only really outshone in the aggression stakes by Cancellara. Thanks David, it was great to watch and shows what bike racing is missing in these race radio governed days.

Alexandre Vinokourov's winning ride in Liege certainly showed Kolobnev a clean pair of heels in the finalé. But, and in contrast to Millar, you just get feeling that he would be more than happy to sweep the last two years under the carpet. Its not that easy these days though is it? We're glad he got a grilling in the Liege press conference. Apparently Vino was a bit upset about this and 'wrote a letter' - to whom were not sure! It always seems pretty easy to talk the drugs comeback talk about how the 'past is the past' and its now all about 'showing how you can race clean'. It's not that long ago though that we remember Vino talking about how he was the persecuted one with, what appeared to us, a certain sense of bitterness.

For all their similarities and for what ever reasons these two rides evoke completely different feelings, maybe there is a certain degree of patriotism in there, but Millar's ultimately defeated ride in Flanders was a joy and Vinokourov's win in Liege wasn't.

We love having a prediction or two here at Corza and have even got the odd winner correct on occasions but a whole months worth of spring classics predictions in one go? Why not? Er...We don't know all the start lists yet for one...

La Primavera kicks it all off on Saturday the 20th of March and a new look calender sees Ghent Wevelgem on the following weekend starting three weeks of cobbled racing.

A word of warning though. Whilst we like to think of ourselves as having a fair knowledge of bike racing we really wouldn't recommend phoning up Unibet or William Hill armed with this list of predictions.

Milan - San Remo. Winner: Tom Boonen. In a sprint. He's looked good in Tirreno - Adriatico and looks more fired up than anytime since 2006.

Ghent - Wevelgem. Winner: Edvald Boasson Hagen. Now it may be the case that if Sky can split the Milan San Remo field on the Poggio Boasson Hagen could take the spoils in San Remo, either way Commander Brailsford and crew would love a classics win despite their commendable 'success is not a number of wins' philosophy and at Corza we reckon Ghent Wevelgem could be the one.

Tour of Flanders. Winner: Alesandro Ballan. We may well be revising this after the Three Days of De Panne but after his typically cursed arc-en-ciel year in 2009 Ballan look like he could be back to his best with BMC. If he is Ballan has the motivation, strength and knowledge needed to win De Ronde.

Paris Roubaix. Winner: Thor Husovd. A race that always rewards the wise and strong. Hushovd is both a) wise and b) strong. Now, if he hadn't fallen on the Carrefour de l'Arbre last year...