Ronde van Vlaanderen *spoilers*

frenchfighter

AP Photos

pat1cp

Bloody he'll, he won on the granny!!! :?

(darn I phone predictive)

Monty Dog

Yup, that 'skiing' trip to St Moritz has done wonders for Cancellara

phreak

I'm only really getting into the classics this season but saw today that Cancellara covered the 260km or so in just over 6 hours :shock:

That sounds insanely quick for such a long distance at around 40km/hr. Is that normal for a classic?

rick_chasey

phreak wrote:

I'm only really getting into the classics this season but saw today that Cancellara covered the 260km or so in just over 6 hours :shock:

That sounds insanely quick for such a long distance at around 40km/hr. Is that normal for a classic?

Yes.

Rain slows it down a lot, especially in Flanders and Roubaix.

Flanders because of all the corners, the extra decelerations and subsequent accelerations, and, of course, wet cobbles are always a nightmare.

crimsondynamo

I don't know that much about gambling, but I had a look at Ladbrokes before the race to see what the odds were. Can anyone explain why they suspended all bets on Matti Bretchell before the race? You could bet on anyone but him.

iainf72

all show no go wrote:

A perfect result for SaxoBank.

Were they the fellows on the black jerseys with the white panel on the back?

iainf72

Just having a look at the team composition of the winner and first group of riders.

Q.S : 4
Sky : 3
Saxo : 2
Lotto : 2
Garmin : 2
BMC : 2 (or 3 if you count Ballan which finished slightly behind the first group)
Vacansoleil : 2
Katusha : 2
HTC : 2

Considering how Q.S appeared like they weren't as good as previous years they certainly had enough guys up near the front of the race.

iainf72

A most excellent FAIL

http://www.examiner.com/x-1155-Cycling- ... trong-27th?

greasedscotsman

iainf72 wrote:

Just having a look at the team composition of the winner and first group of riders.

Q.S : 4
Sky : 3
Saxo : 2
Lotto : 2
Garmin : 2
BMC : 2 (or 3 if you count Ballan which finished slightly behind the first group)
Vacansoleil : 2
Katusha : 2
HTC : 2

Considering how Q.S appeared like they weren't as good as previous years they certainly had enough guys up near the front of the race.

Aren't you forgetting...

Team Radioshack: 1

Anyway, not sure what your point is, QS may have had riders up there at the finish, but if all they were doing was hanging on then there not much use. Stuart O'Grady didn't even finish the race and made more of a contribution than some of the QS team.

iainf72

greasedscotsman wrote:

Anyway, not sure what your point is, QS may have had riders up there at the finish, but if all they were doing was hanging on then there not much use. Stuart O'Grady didn't even finish the race and made more of a contribution than some of the QS team.

I just meant if it came back together, they would've been in a very good position. Although, all they really had to do was sit there and do no work as Tom was up the road...

crimsondynamo

A most excellent FAIL

The americans are partisan alright, but show me a country which isn't.

BTW those pippo pozzato adverts for SIDI made me feel slightly nauseous.

iainf72

crimsondynamo wrote:

A most excellent FAIL

The americans are partisan alright, but show me a country which isn't.

When did Fabian win his other Flanders titles ?

afx237vi

crimsondynamo wrote:

A most excellent FAIL

The americans are partisan alright, but show me a country which isn't.

BTW those pippo pozzato adverts for SIDI made me feel slightly nauseous.

I think Iain was referring to the fact that Cancellara hasn't won 3 editions of the Ronde, and nor is he 31 years old. Also "the 262-kilometer journey that featured multiple cobblestoned seconds and 15 climbs".

What's a cobblestone second when it's at home?

greasedscotsman

iainf72 wrote:

I just meant if it came back together, they would've been in a very good position. Although, all they really had to do was sit there and do no work as Tom was up the road...

OK, fair enough, but then I think there were also plenty of other riders in that group stronger than the 3 QS you refer to. Don't think as a team they were anywhere near as strong as they were last year. But maybe they will come back with avengence at Roubaix next weekend?

crimsondynamo

Ah yes silly me. Headlining a 5th and a 27th was what jumped out. A bit like the Aberdeen paper the Press & Journal which (according to legend) announced the sinking of the Titanic with the headline "North-east man lost at sea".

rick_chasey

iainf72 wrote:

greasedscotsman wrote:

Anyway, not sure what your point is, QS may have had riders up there at the finish, but if all they were doing was hanging on then there not much use. Stuart O'Grady didn't even finish the race and made more of a contribution than some of the QS team.

I just meant if it came back together, they would've been in a very good position. Although, all they really had to do was sit there and do no work as Tom was up the road...

I don't think anyone on Quick-Step would have been unhappy with Boonen upfront in a pair with Canc. That was the only pair that could likely get away, and a man-on-man sprint after 260km is always good for Boonen.

Unfortunately for QS, when Canc gets that kind of form on that kind of parcours, he's unstoppable.

If he holds that form for Roubaix the rest are fighting for second.

Cancellara is genuinely the biggest talent of his generation as far as I'm concerned.

People in 20 years time will be going on on forums about the days when they saw the human motorcycle in action, and how riders aren't what they used to be.

He said himself he gets a little maniacle when he targets a race.

So far he got 3 of the 4 (missed out at Mendrisio, but what a way to miss out!).

He targeted Flanders, got the winter wrong last year, but slam dunked this one.

rick_chasey

For those who speak Dutch, some choice phrases which were uttered during the 100% total Sporza coverage of de Ronde.

http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrenn ... RVV_quotes

donrhummy

Watching Fabian just simply ride away from Boonen was amazing! And once he crested the Mur de Gramont, you knew he wasn't going to be caught - it was a TT from there. Very, very impressive! But what sets it apart is that he had a huge mechanical issue which normally means you're finished in this race.

Pross

Caught up with the race on Sky+ last night, Canc was truly awesome and that's not a word I use lightly. The initial break when Sky looked to be controlling things so well and then his ride away from Boonen didn't even look like intentional attacks, it was just as if he was putting down his normal power and no-one else could match it :shock:

I think he must rate as the best rider I've witnessed.

paulcuthbert

Pross wrote:

I think he must rate as the best rider I've witnessed.

+1

Cumulonimbus

Interesting article/interview on Millar

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/millar- ... eakthrough

frenchfighter

Cumulonimbus wrote:

Interesting article/interview on Millar

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/millar- ... eakthrough

Thanks. Millar is an admirable man, full of quality words.

frenchfighter

I don’t want to sound pretentious because I'm being totally honest. But I do think I could have gone with Cancellara and Boonen when they attacked on the Molenberg during the Tour of Flanders. I was as strong if not stronger on the climbs than both of them in E3 Harelbeke. And the fact that Flanders was really hard meant it would have actually been easy for me to stay at the front because there wouldn't have been be as much crazy fighting for position before the climbs.

From Pozzato's blog!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/filipp ... or-roubaix

calvjones

Ever modest.

frenchfighter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97MmSiBp1lM

Matti in English after the race