Are we set for the best season for years.....

Moomaloid

Well despite my awful experience with Poor'osports live streaming today, it was quite obviously a super exciting edition of Flanders.

With a great Paris Nice and Milan San Remo, as well as the superb track world champs, are we set for the most exciting, closely fought season on races for some time...

Could this be the ultimate turnaround for the sport? Lets hope so!!

iainf72

Moomaloid wrote:

Could this be the ultimate turnaround for the sport? Lets hope so!!

Why would you think it was a turn around?

Do you think a rider marking breaks all day and then managing to outride everyone is a positive sign?

Not sure about this season - We've got Di Luca winning races in Italy but he could be banned next week. We've got anti-doping passports, oh no we haven't, oh yes we have etc.

LangerDan

Much of the spectacle in this years racing has been down to the weather. Torrential rain at the start of Paris Nice, cross winds in the early one-day classics, rain and sleet today that had riders pulling out at the first feed.

micron

but also we have seen breaks succeeding because there are no really strong teams to control and close down every break like we've had in the recent past. The mix of riders winning - like Chavanel - and the way riders are winning is making it a great season so far

LangerDan

micron wrote:

but also we have seen breaks succeeding because there are no really strong teams to control and close down every break like we've had in the recent past. The mix of riders winning - like Chavanel - and the way riders are winning is making it a great season so far

The same riders are generally in the race winning moves as last couple of years - Gilbert, Boonen, Cancellara, Voight, Rebellin, Ricco. (In fact the performances from lower down the ranks have been coming more from the likes of Skil Shimano than Slipstream) So either the guys that have been winning for the past few years have always been clean or nothing has really changed. It will be in the longer stage races that you'll see if we have turned a corner - if riders are getting very fatigued after 2 weeks, then things are improving.

PS - There was never any concerns about Chavanel's physical ability to win races - his problem was that all his race plans were one buttock short of half-arsed.