Milan - San Remo *spoiler*
Comments
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Freire by a country mile. Anonymous so far this season, then amazing when it counts.
Dull edition again."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Boonen expended a lot of nervous energy over the day...we sensed he wanted to add San Remo
Oscar looked calm and rode smart and hid all day..
Bennati didn't have it
well done Oscar"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0 -
:x
I hesitated for ages between Freire and Bennati for PTP.
Great sprint, though. Probably only Cav at his best could have matched him for speed there.0 -
Looks like the last 1km was done at 50km/h...suuuuuuuper slow. And where were the 3km, 2km, 1km fliers?! There were only a handful of people in that group that would win in a sprint and the others were happy to sit in...what is there to lose - do or die, go and blow, at least Nibali and Pozzato went for it.
Nice job Friere. Cav will be happy - he said that if he doesn't win he wants Friere to win.
Not my favourite race by any stretch.Contador is the Greatest0 -
im a bit disappointed by cancellara .. very good over the poggio and on the descent, and then he does nothing**************************************************
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emadden wrote:im a bit disappointed by cancellara .. very good over the poggio and on the descent, and then he does nothing
Definitely. Maybe if Breschel hadn't been in the first 5 he would have hammered the descent.Contador is the Greatest0 -
emadden wrote:im a bit disappointed by cancellara .. very good over the poggio and on the descent, and then he does nothing
Think he was somewhat hamstrung by having Breschel in that small group that went away near the top.
Garzelli will be asking himself wtf he was doing on the Poggio. Was Paolini even in that group?0 -
1 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
4 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox
5 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
Modolo did well to get in front of a ton of other great riders.Contador is the Greatest0 -
Can say from a partisan Boonen fan perspective, it was bloody nerve wracking!
Boonen was well placed, but, alas, did not have the speed. Couldn't had ridden it much better - got fractionally boxed in in the sprint but I doubt it would have mattered.
Thoroughly enjoyed it, but, ja, I'm a Boonen fan...
Finish involved a lot of swearing on my part mind.0 -
Matt Rendell just tweeted that Biggles-Holden was dropped at the foot of the Poggio.Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0
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I thought it was a fascinating race personally. OK so there weren't the massive attacks, but after 295 km and being hammered by Garzelli up the Poggio, who would even have the LEGS to attack a group going that fast?
Flecha had to put in a massive dig just to stay on Boonen's wheel, so it's understandable how Freire could hold them all off. According to Sean Kelly when telling his MSR 1992 story, he invented that trick of bluffing in Tirreno...0 -
Can't help but feel gutted for Boonen though.0
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Great win for Freire... experience counts.
I don't agree at all with the dull race/snoozefest comments. This is what Milan-San Remo is, tactical racing where all the excitement is in the details. Every position at every moment of the finale counts.0 -
Rick Chasey wrote:Can say from a partisan Boonen fan perspective, it was bloody nerve wracking!
Boonen was well placed, but, alas, did not have the speed. Couldn't had ridden it much better - got fractionally boxed in in the sprint but I doubt it would have mattered.
Thoroughly enjoyed it, but, ja, I'm a Boonen fan...
Finish involved a lot of swearing on my part mind.
I enjoyed it too. Would have been nice to see some attacks on the Cipressa and Poggio, but the sprint was pretty exciting. Who would have picked Oscar? And he seems a really nice guy to me, I remember seeing him wait at Liege a few years ago when someone wanted to take his photo and their camera wasn't working.
OK, what's next, Flanders? Suppose everyone's gonna moan about that too
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In conclusion...
(a) International Eurosport sucks
(b) Milano-San Remo is the new Paris Tours sprint fest despite the course modifications
(c) Poggio was lifeless
(d) None of the "non-sprinters" in the large lead group were willing to give it a go with 3, 2 and 1km to go, including cancellara
(e) Happy for Freire... he killed off the rest.
(f) I need to see a therapist to help me get over the trauma of seeing the Pozzato Shoe Porn Fetish Sidi Ad... and may consider watching feeds in future so as to avoid seeing the ad **************************************************
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lol @TeamTheShack are overly excited about Geoffrey Lequatre's 14th place0
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greasedscotsman wrote:OK, what's next, Flanders? Suppose everyone's gonna moan about that too
Depends if everyone spends the race watching Boonen's arse while Stijn Devolder rides up the road...0 -
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'Rick Chasey wrote:emadden wrote:(f) I need to see a therapist to help me get over the trauma of seeing the Pozzato Shoe Porn Fetish Sidi Ad... and may consider watching feeds in future so as to avoid seeing the ad
Haha, why?!
He's a good looking chap.
Rather him than Smiffy.
Maybe if he got a pair of implants hahahaha **************************************************
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3 victories for Freire in MSR - proud of him as a Spaniard
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Commuting / Winter rides - Jamis Renegade Expert
Pootling / Offroad - All-City Macho Man Disc
Fast rides Cannondale SuperSix Ultegra0 -
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0
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I found the race to be intriguing.
Some interesting tactics played out there, esp by Garzelli.
And for those who found it a snoozefest, what did you want?
It was a 7 hour race in trying conditions. I'm glad there were no 'super human' performances on the Poggio.
Cancellera couldn't attack, Gilbert couldn't get a gap etc etc etc
Maybe the reason some of these riders couldn't attack was not because they couldn't be stuffed doing so, but, because they were stuffed.
Let's not demand more of the riders than they can "humanly" deliver.
That's my rant over. It's now 3.20 am, and I have to get up in less than 3 hours.
Good night! 0 -
afx237vi wrote:Depends if everyone spends the race watching Boonen's ars* while Stijn Devolder rides up the road...
There's a pretty good chance that will happen. Maybe you'd better plan something else for the 4th April 0 -
A good race, the whole point of it is to watch the tension slowly build, that's the beauty of it all. The course is not selective so even the fiercest attacks on the Poggio are hard to pull off as the hill is something even the most infrequent weekend rider can spin up. The race only tends to split up when there's a big crosswind but today was calm.0
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Fascinating tactics? It had sprint finish by the usual suspects written all over it, as soon as everybody left Garzelli to ride tempo up the Poggio.
Just because it's a classic doesn't some how make it exciting.
We had far better last week.
The little GP Samyn, a while back, was far more tactically intriguing."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Kléber wrote:A good race, the whole point of it is to watch the tension slowly build, that's the beauty of it all. The course is not selective so even the fiercest attacks on the Poggio are hard to pull off as the hill is something even the most infrequent weekend rider can spin up. The race only tends to split up when there's a big crosswind but today was calm.
Tell that to Cavendish and Hagen
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greasedscotsman wrote:[
I enjoyed it too. Would have been nice to see some attacks on the Cipressa and Poggio, but the sprint was pretty exciting. Who would have picked Oscar? /quote]
Me - I picked him on the other thread - the pre race discussion one. He's won it twice before, can climb, sprint and rarely rides a tactically inept race.
it's a hard life if you don't weaken.0
