What's your poison this week?

IDO NOT think I have ever had such a wide range of riches to pick from when it comes to deciding what to write about in this little cycling corner of the Independent on Saturday.

I have seven items I could write about this week. For somebody that often (OK, almost always) gets to midday on Friday and is still in a panic that I have not found anything to write about, this is a welcome and rare problem – as welcome and rare as our esteemed President having more than one qualified Finance Minister (but at least none of my stories are Gupta sponsored!).

So, because I am hopeless at making decisions, I am going to give you seven small stories rather than one in-depth story (and it also feeds into the theory that in our Twitter-dominated world people can only concentrate for 140 characters!)

1) Downhill:

Oh, how the weather prevented us know-it-all 29er advocates from rubbing the French dirt into all the small-wheeled believers. Yup, Greg Minnaar and his fellow downhill stars at the first leg of the World Cup last weekend were prevented from showing off their full range of skills in Lourdes last week becucase of the rain which made a mockery of the results – and prevented Greg from showing if he could be competitive on a 29-inch downhill bike. The event was won by a new home-town-nobody, Alexandre Fayolle, who qualified 52nd and was thus one of the earliest riders down the course. The following are the results of the top 10 qualifiers who all rode in the rain on a very slippery track (in order of qualification): Loris Vergier 72nd, Loic Bruni 71st, Luca Shaw 75th, Danny Hart 76th, Aaron Gwin DNF, Greg Minnaar 59th, Troy Brosnan 68th, Rémi Thirion 70th, Bernard Kerr 62nd and Brook Macdonald 63rd. So, of the top ten – the big names and the superstars – Greg was best. Once again I am proved right: 29ers are fastest (well that's my claim).

2) UCI World Cups:

The international action this weekend is the Eliminator World Cup event in Volterra, Italy. No South Africans are taking part, but it seems there is a strong contingent of South Africans travelling to Nove Mesto na Morave for the opening leg of the cross country later this month and the next leg in Germany a week later. A good few of those riders will also be in Mauritius next week for the African Champs.

3) SA XCO Series:

This weekend sees the third round of the SA National XCO Series taking place today in Bloemfontein. It is great to see the strong participation for the Olympic discipline and hopefully this grows. There are riders from eight countries at the event which is exciting. The next event after this is in Pietermaritzburg in June and then SA Champs in July. The top-ranked entrant is Alan Hatherly, followed by Lesotho's Phetetso Monese and then two KZN riders, Stuart Marais and Julian Jessop. Philip Buys would be top ranked but has not entered (yet), possibly because he is doing next week's KAP sani2c – which brings us to ...

4) sani2c

Of course on Tuesday the world's biggest stage race (or so they claim) starts with the Trail, then Adventure a day later and finally the Race (see another brilliantly written story elesewhere on this page).

5) Mid-Illovo Classic:

I don't normally comment on weekend races too much but I happened to speak to a few people who did the Husqvarna Mid-Illovo Classic last weekend and there was an overwhelming theme that came through incredibly strongly from everybody I spoke to: The superb route.

A local farmer in the area, Bruce Smith (father of top rider Derrin) designed the route with the help of other local farmers and by all accounts they have created a small piece of MTB paradise.

For the record, the race was won by Stuart Marais (watch that name, he is making an impression in races this season and has dedicated himself to riding professionally – Olympic rider in 2020?) and the women's race was won by young Tiffany Keep (ditto on the Olympics in 2020).

6) Tour Durban

I know this is roadie stuff, but I was in the lead vehicle at the Tour Durban and even this MTB nut has to admit it was fascinating watching the race unfold from up close. Well done to RoadCover and Clint Hendricks (and of course MTB star Brendon Davids who was the dominant force behind the team's win).

7) The Giro:

And more road stuff, but you cannot ignore three weeks of Grand Tour action in Italy, especially with all the SA riders in action for Di Data. Being able to watch this almost makes being retrenched worthwhile.