Wegmann looks back at the spring

The sunny and warm weather in Europe has had an effect on the Spring Classics, according to Gerolsteiner's Fabian Wegmann.

"It's crazy, that so many riders are still together in the final kilometre" of the races, he wrote on his website, fabianwegmann.de. "When there is rain, cold or snow, then naturally more riders drop out along the way and the groups at the end of the race are smaller."

In Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Wegmann had to work for captain Davide Rebellin and defend the ProTour leader jersey. "Since we accomplished that, my 29th place finish is rather unimportant. If I didn't have good form, I couldn't ride so well or support my teammates so actively. So I'm satisfied with my race."

Henninger Turm didn't go the way he hoped, either. "I'm the first to say that I'm not one of those riders who bounces back 100% after a one day pause," he wrote.

He would have preferred a quiet day to recover from a stressful Liège, but the team went directly to Frankfurt, Germany, where their hotel was not only in the middle of downtown, but also the site of many race meetings, press conferences and so on. "There was no recovery. I was constantly being spoken to and since I can never say no and always want to be polite ... You know what I mean. With that kind of hubbub, you naturally can't concentrate on the next race."

That showed when it actually came time to ride. "As our team manger Hans Holczer says, it just doesn't work out every time. That's the way it was."

Like others who rode the Classics, Wegmann is now taking a racing break. He will stay home in Freiburg, Germany, for the next week and a half before travelling to France the middle of May with teammates to check out the Tour de France course. He will back in action May 17 with the GP Buchholz, to be followed by the Bayern Rundfahrt.