The season so far

iainf72

I've read a few opinions that the 08 season has been awesome etc and was wondering why people think that?

For example Paris-Nice has been described as the best stage race for years but was it? It was ok and entertaining for sure, but was it really any better than 07?

Paris-Roubaix and Flanders weren't exactly grade A tell you grandchildren about watching it races? Milan-San Remo had a different outcome but when Chinny got to the last 3km in the lead group is was almost obvious he'd win.

Am I just a grumpy old man?

skavanagh.bikeradar

You are a grumpy old man Iain, and a cynic . I'm reserving judgment until the season has matured a bit and the overall pattern (or lack of one) is established. There are a few races between now and the end of May to influence reactions to how things are going in 08 yet!

iainf72

If you look at http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/ they've got a survey on their front page and 76% of the people think the classics were "classic in every sense of the word"

??

Kléber

Sometimes it's hard to please the audience, if an unknown rider stays away, then the public feel robbed and didn't get the chance to see the world's best go head to head. If the world's best go head to head, it's boring and predictable, the same faces.

Anyway, the classics aren't finished. We've still got Fleche Wallonne and L-B-L.

I for one have enjoyed the racing.

timoid.

Its had its moments. I thought PN was better last year and Roubaix and Amstel were by the book, but Flanders was fun. Pip's monster Het Volk performance and Chinny's MSR were a welcome change from the traditional sprint finishes. And at last the world is witnessing Cadel Evans attacks.

I suppose the Brits are happy with Cavendish's "classic" victories and Millar's time trial in California.

Its not been a bad season, but neither will it go down in the annals. I think part of people's pleasure this season is being derived from the collective self-delusion that things are cleaner.

Monty Dog

Depends what you mean by 'classic' - we've rarely seen a single team controlling the pace and dictating a race. I though Devolder's Flanders was a great race - edge of your seat "will-they, or won't they" right up to a few kms to go - the strongest rider won on the day. To say that P-Rx was a dull race was disingeneous - the three best riders go away with 40km to go and realise that the sprinter was also the strongest but were too knackered to do anything about it. Sparticus' M-S-R was also a great effort. Fleche and L-B-L will be interesting with the likes of Cunego, Valverde and Rebellin all in good form.

iainf72

All true Monty but was it any better than last year?

micron

Timoid, if people believe that they are enjoying the season more this year because they perceive that the racing is 'clean' that says quite a lot about how fans want the sport to be, doesn't it?

The racing has been more open this season so far - P-N was good because it was unpredictable unlike last year where the result was inevitable once the great Disco armada got on the front of the race. I guess if this is how you like racing then last year was better.

I have been watching racing quite a long time so in comparison to some of the great races of the past this year does not seem especially 'Classic' but it is nice to see some French riders and some smaller teams finally becoming competitive - that could mean something or nothing but for me it is good to see

iainf72

micron wrote:

Timoid, if people believe that they are enjoying the season more this year because they perceive that the racing is 'clean' that says quite a lot about how fans want the sport to be, doesn't it?

Do you mean they want it to be clean? Or do you mean they just don't want to know and pretend it's clean?

afx237vi

iainf72 wrote:

All true Monty but was it any better than last year?

People don't have that long a memory. I don't anyway... even PN and the ToC seem aaaaages ago. I usually have no trouble remembering winners, but don't ask me if the Ronde 2007 was an exciting race or not. I remember Ballan outsprinting Hoste, but that's it.

Saying that, I have enjoyed a lot of the races so far this year. The semi-classics - Het Volk, Dwaars door Vlaanderen and the E3 Prijs in particular - have been very good. Active, aggressive racing with popular and likeable winners.

The Ronde was good too for the same reason (maybe not so likeable, but still...)

As others have said, P-R wasn't a classic. G-W was dull, dull, dull, and Amstel Gold wasn't great either.

alanmcn1

I think the classics have been excellent so far this season. Top 3 men on the roubaix velodrome, Hoste in Flanders excellent, all the strong guys there on the cauberg. Paris-Nice a nice close race, Chavannel winning.

IMHO, it seems that anyone with good form can win this spring, which is highly encouraging for the sport, and i would go with the earlier comment about cleaner cycling, although maybe more put of hope.

Also, is it just me, or are the spring races getting more coverage and attention this year on a wider scale???? certainly back up a comment in the new procycling suggesting the new heroes of the sport seem to be coming from the one-dayers, Boonen, Gilbert etc

LangerDan

The failure of teams to dominate this year has been as much about poor performances from several of the big-name squads rather than a levelling of the pitch.

CSC are having a poor start to the year by their usual standards - apart from Stueys foray off the front in P-R, it has all been down to Chinny this year, which is a far cry from thier multi-rider dominance in the past.

Rabo want shooting. Other squads would kill for one -day riders like Flecha and Freire and "domestiques" like Dekker and Gesink, yet it always looks like each of them was given a different plan. It seems each of them is trying to maximise their marketing value as if, ooh, Rabobank had tipped them the wink that they were pulling out as sponsor later this year.

QuickStep had been a bit more succesful as a squad that you might imagine this year. The wins in Kuurne Brussels Kuurne, RVV and PR have been down to having strong riders, more than one plan and a willingness to accept that as long as a QuickStep rider wins, thats all that counts.

Its not been a bad spring but when you tally up at the end of the month, I think you'll see that overall the same riders and teams have succeeded again this year as '07 and '06, so either the sport has cleaned up and those particular riders have always been clean or the testing is no more effective than it was any other year.

afx237vi

alanmcn1 wrote:

Also, is it just me, or are the spring races getting more coverage and attention this year on a wider scale???? certainly back up a comment in the new procycling suggesting the new heroes of the sport seem to be coming from the one-dayers, Boonen, Gilbert etc

I think that's an interesting point. The two biggest names in cycling right now are undoubtedly Boonen and Cancellara. Although they are both very visible in the Tour de France, they're both primarily classics riders and their seasons are judged by how well they do in the spring.

Compare and contrast with the grand tour contenders. There are virtually no stars whatsoever - they're either retired or banned. Who is the favourite for the Giro next month? Di Luca? Simoni? Savoldelli? Pretty depressing. And when the most popular rider in the Tour is Cadel Evans, you know you're in trouble.

secretsqirrel

LangerDan wrote:

Its not been a bad spring but when you tally up at the end of the month, I think you'll see that overall the same riders and teams have succeeded again this year as '07 and '06, so either the sport has cleaned up and those particular riders have always been clean or the testing is no more effective than it was any other year.

Or............
They have all cleaned up, but the relative talents of the riders have not been affected i.e. they are on a different level playing field.

iainf72

SecretSqirrel wrote:

Or............
They have all cleaned up, but the relative talents of the riders have not been affected i.e. they are on a different level playing field.

ROFL.

*sigh*

That's why Slipstream generally have performed like a bag of spanners.

Kléber

Slipstream signed a bag of spanners, that's their problem.

sing_for_absolution

You'd include Maaskant with that?

TheHog

LangerDan wrote:

The failure of teams to dominate this year has been as much about poor performances from several of the big-name squads rather than a levelling of the pitch.

CSC are having a poor start to the year by their usual standards - apart from Stueys foray off the front in P-R, it has all been down to Chinny this year, which is a far cry from thier multi-rider dominance in the past.

I don't think they are doing any worse than other years.

Voigt won Criterium International (with Gustav Larson 2nd), Arvesen won E3 and Fränk Schleck just finished 2nd in Amstel. Karsten Kroon and Haedo also have some victories.

They also had two riders in the top 10 in all the biggest classics MSR, RVV, PR and Amstel.

LangerDan

Point taken - I'd forgotten about Captain Muesli and the Criterium International :oops: However they still seem to be less dominant than in the past, though its probably early for either Schleck to be sticking their heads over the parapet.

Moomaloid

I personally think there is a renewed optimism about this season. Granted we'll probably have some sort of scandal as soon as the grand tours start but so far i think the sport has had a fine start to the season. I actually thought Flanders was a great race this year. As said before the top 3 came in in Roubaix which was good to see too.

I think its great that teams are not being able to control and stifle the racing so much. Look at guys like Gilbert, who have had to look after himself in the races so far and are still making a mark.

I'm actually quite excited about the tours this year. So Astana won't be there, we know that now, lets get over it and hope that some other talent will shine through and challenge Cadel. Made me laugh in the new 'Pro Cycling' they've got a 'Missing' section for Andy Schleck... why?? He priorities will have changed for this year, he's gonna be targeting bigger fish.

I do really feel more of a buzz about the season this year. Maybe its just me, and yes i agree, the new leading lights in the sport are the Classics Hard men!

iainf72

Moomaloid wrote:

I do really feel more of a buzz about the season this year. Maybe its just me, and yes i agree, the new leading lights in the sport are the Classics Hard men!

Why do you feel there is more of a buzz? I know you said that teams haven't been able to control a race but if you take a hard look at Paris-Roubaix and Flanders, Quick.Step were pretty much in control. Sure you didn't have a line of robots on the front day after day (Silence-Lotto are saving them for July) but you generally don't early in the season.

Todays race was a good one though - Nice and difficult.

Mind you, I'm finding it difficult to be interested in cycling as much anymore which might account for it.

Moomaloid

Not enough scandals for ya Iain??

I think i remember you saying that you don't ride anymore. I've just got back on my bike. Think that may have helped with my excitement for this season. Mind you i'm literally dying after 6 years with no exercise.

Salsiccia

Moomaloid wrote:

Mind you i'm literally dying after 6 years with no exercise.

I hope not.

Good race today, and I'm looking forward to some more good racing. The Giro looks like it'll be a good'un and there are some good young riders coming through, and a few of the oldies but goodies are looking OK too (take a bow, Cadel). I'm optimistic for the rest of the year.

iainf72

Moomaloid wrote:

Not enough scandals for ya Iain??

heh. No, I'm bored of scandals. But the constant menace under the surface at the moment isn't great. There's loads of marketing but no action. And we've got new riders like Gesink coming through riding for Rabobank - Woo! Big Tour de France favourite is riding for a team who appear to have systematic doping last year (unless that doctor on Silence Lotto was just a rogue)

Sigh.

I guess the bigger issue is aside from yesterday I've not found the races compelling.

Kléber

The racing is entertaining but it's not a theatre production where everyone follows a script designed to have everyone hanging on the edge of their nerves. Ultimately cycling is often about calculating your effort, not flamboyant displays of useless attacks.

Besides, wait for Sunday. I usually find LBL is the most exciting race. It's almost an Alpine stage of the Tour de France, there is as much vertical gain as a mountain stage and it makes for a selective and impressive race.

I've been interested by Evans. People slag him off as boring but he's one of the few Tour contenders we've seen in action. With the Tour ahead, he just looks miles ahead of everyone else, and he's also the sole guy who is performing at the expected level on his team. Cunego could be good but I think he'll be lucky with stage wins in July. Not that being great in April means much for July but it's good to see the Tour contenders in action.

Moomaloid

Think we need to take into account that their is a changing of the guard this season too, and with Astana being banned from many races they are pretty much out of the equation too. It will come Iain i'm sure there are some great races to come.

Can u believe i'm gonna be LBL coz i'm being dragged to a wedding...