(Flat) Classic Season predictions

rick_chasey

It's almost there.

In just over a week, the one day races begin, and naturally, it kicks off with a beauty, het Niuewsblad.( I rate it only behind The Ronde and E3) We then go to Kuurne the next day, before we faff about a bit with MS-R, P-N and T-A, before getting into the Flaamse Wielerweek, before the daddy and mummy, the Ronde and Roubaix.


We've seen some of the hitters in action, some even winning some stages.


So. Prediction please

Top 3 and possibly how the race will pan out if it's worth a mention (an MS-R sprint finish doesn't count!)

Het Nieuwsblad/Kuurne Brussel Kuurne:

Strade Bianchi:

Milan San Remo:

E3:

Ghent Wevelgem:

De Ronde van Vlaanderen:

Paris Roubaix:

inkyfingers

Het Nieuwsblad/Kuurne Brussel Kuurne: J A Flecha to win solo in another grimy edition of Het Nieuwsblad. Griepel to win a sprint in KBK and be pronounced as favourite for MSR.

Strade Bianchi: Gilbert to open his classics account here

Milan San Remo: Cavendish to remind everyone that he's still the boss when it comes to sprinting.

E3: EBH to show that he hasn't forgotten how to ride on the cobblestones, beating Boonen in the final sprint.

Ghent Wevelgem: Cavendish to finally win this, crossing the line screaming "I'm the daddy" and sending Peta Todd into labour with all the excitement.

De Ronde van Vlaanderen: The tougher course will help Phillipe Gilbert to carve another notch onto his classics bedpost.

Paris Roubaix: With the the tougher Ronde course i've got a sneaky feeling that Mr Tom Boonen will rediscover his classics winning legs here and cause Rick Chasey to spontaneously combust with excitement.

rick_chasey

inkyfingers wrote:

Het Nieuwsblad/Kuurne Brussel Kuurne: J A Flecha to win solo in another grimy edition of Het Nieuwsblad. Griepel to win a sprint in KBK and be pronounced as favourite for MSR.

Strade Bianchi: Gilbert to open his classics account here

Milan San Remo: Cavendish to remind everyone that he's still the boss when it comes to sprinting.

E3: EBH to show that he hasn't forgotten how to ride on the cobblestones, beating Boonen in the final sprint.

Ghent Wevelgem: Cavendish to finally win this, crossing the line screaming "I'm the daddy" and sending Peta Todd into labour with all the excitement.

De Ronde van Vlaanderen: The tougher course will help Phillipe Gilbert to carve another notch onto his classics bedpost.

Paris Roubaix: With the the tougher Ronde course i've got a sneaky feeling that Mr Tom Boonen will rediscover his classics winning legs here and cause Rick Chasey to spontaneously combust with excitement.

Seems reasonable, with the exception of E3!!

josame

Lets just save time and typing ... EBH all the way

greasedscotsman

Paris Roubaix: Hushovd. In a sprint from Cancellara and Boonen.

Who cares about the rest!

inkyfingers

Rick Chasey wrote:

inkyfingers wrote:

Het Nieuwsblad/Kuurne Brussel Kuurne: J A Flecha to win solo in another grimy edition of Het Nieuwsblad. Griepel to win a sprint in KBK and be pronounced as favourite for MSR.

Strade Bianchi: Gilbert to open his classics account here

Milan San Remo: Cavendish to remind everyone that he's still the boss when it comes to sprinting.

E3: EBH to show that he hasn't forgotten how to ride on the cobblestones, beating Boonen in the final sprint.

Ghent Wevelgem: Cavendish to finally win this, crossing the line screaming "I'm the daddy" and sending Peta Todd into labour with all the excitement.

De Ronde van Vlaanderen: The tougher course will help Phillipe Gilbert to carve another notch onto his classics bedpost.

Paris Roubaix: With the the tougher Ronde course i've got a sneaky feeling that Mr Tom Boonen will rediscover his classics winning legs here and cause Rick Chasey to spontaneously combust with excitement.

Seems reasonable, with the exception of E3!!

That's the prediction i'm least confident of, the second tier classics like that are always hard to call as you don't know who is there to win and who is saving their legs for bigger things.

finchy

Het Nieuwsblad/Kuurne Brussel Kuurne: Hushovd (HN), Degenkolb (KBK)

Strade Bianchi: Pozzato from a small group

Milan San Remo: Cav. Easily.

E3: Steegmans to get his big one day win

Ghent Wevelgem: Hushovd again

De Ronde van Vlaanderen: Boonen to come back big time

Paris Roubaix: Thomas will take his first major road victory here

rick_chasey

Do we all agree Matt Goss won't be doing anything?

ddraver

Rick Chasey wrote:

Do we all agree Matt Goss won't be doing anything?

No, but I can't decide what he will be doing yet.....

dougzz

Rick Chasey wrote:

Do we all agree Matt Goss won't be doing anything?

He has his own show at Caesars in Las Vegas, can't be all bad can it?

Tusher

(small voice)

I'm hoping Hincapie will do something.

iainf72

Tusher wrote:

(small voice)

I'm hoping Hincapie will do something.

Of course he will.

He'll support Gilbert.

Tusher

(holds head in hands)

Walked right into that one, didn't I?



I'm hoping he wins Paris-Roubaix.


Ok, I know, I know, he might also win the Euromillions Lottery the same day.

inkyfingers

Sadly at Paris-Roubaix he will be working for Hushovd.

I know what you mean though Tusher, i've always had a strange soft spot for Hincapie. I don't know why though, yes he's played the selfless domestique role a lot, but he's also won quite a few races and had the opportunities to win many more so it's not like he's sacrificed his career solely to serve others in the way that somebody like Charly Wegelius or Michael Barry have done.

RichN95.

How the races will be won:

Het Volk - from a small group (max 4)
Milan-San Remo - a group of about 15 coming to the finish
RVV - a solo breakaway win by a smaller name as teams don't adjust to the new course
P-R - either extremely controlled or utter chaos - no inbetween
Strade Bianchi - not won by an Italian
GW & KBK - routine sprinters races
E3 - Sky will win this

Italian wins - 0
Belgian wins - 2
British wins - 1

B3rnieMac

I'd like to see Greipel win MSR. Not gonna happen though..........but then again......

August104

Het Nieuwsblad/Kuurne Brussel Kuurne: Nieuswsblad Boonen to take a sprint finish, Van Avermaet and EBH to complete the top 3, Kuurne Brussel Kuurne Griepel will take another win, Cav and Boonen to complete top 3.
Strade Bianchi: Gilbert will repeat
Milan San Remo: Griepel called the favorite but can't match up against the speed of the world champion, Petacchi for 3rd.
E3: Spartacus will reclaim his power by soloing in for a decisive 3rd win in a row, Boonen and gilbert to compete for the next steps on the podium (no particular order)
Ghent Wevelgem: Will come down to a sprint between Boonen and Hushovd, lesser known rider to get 3rd.
De Ronde van Vlaanderen: After 2 year of crap results Boonen finally gets a classic by soloing away with Cancellara and Hushovd then taking the sprint.
Paris Roubaix: Spartacus strikes again leaving Boonen, Ballan, Hushovd, Van Summeran in his dust. OR, BMC is pushing the pace hard at the front, the contenders (Boonen, Cancellara, maybe Pozzato) are hurting, Hushovd is hurting a little but feeling good about his chances. Marcas Burghardt pulls off his job done to let none other than Big George Hincapie pull through for his turn to dish out some pain. As Hincapie starts to up the pace riders start to fall off, and now Hushovd is really hurting, but Hicapie has never felt better. A slight gap of a few feet appears between him and the other contendors, and that gap starts to get bigger and bigger. Soon Hincapie has over a minute lead on everybody else and is flying. Hincapie solos into the velodrome arms raised high. Cancellara takes second with Hushovd deep in pain taking 3rd.

ddraver

Rick Chasey wrote:

Do we all agree Matt Goss won't be doing anything?

Trouble with Goss is that he's essentially challenging for the same races that Cav and Greipel are. He's not got great form/not shown his hand yet so he's an unknown quantity.

Basically I agree with most of whats above (Cav/Greipel in the sprinty ones, Canc/Boonen/Hushovd in the hard man ones) but i think it should be Cav/Greipel/Goss. I think Kittel could cause a few upsets in some of the less prestigious (if such a thing exists) races too, a la young Cav from a few years back

fungus_the_muffin_man

Will we see Geraint Thomas participate in the spring classics or will he solely be looking at the track this season?

He could be a good outside bet to pull off something good, especially after last years efforts.

RichN95.

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

Will we see Geraint Thomas participate in the spring classics or will he solely be looking at the track this season?

He could be a good outside bet to pull off something good, especially after last years efforts.

He'll be giving them a miss. The track Worlds, which he'll be doing, are the same week as Paris-Roubaix.

inkyfingers

RichN95 wrote:

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

Will we see Geraint Thomas participate in the spring classics or will he solely be looking at the track this season?

He could be a good outside bet to pull off something good, especially after last years efforts.

He'll be giving them a miss. The track Worlds, which he'll be doing, are the same week as Paris-Roubaix.

Whilst I understand his Olympic ambitions it will be a shame to have to wait till 2013 to see how he can follow up his impressive performances in the classics in 2011.

ddraver

^ I know, it's a shame but hey ho...

iainf72

Looks like he's going to pack in the egg and spoon stuff

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/geraint ... 2-olympics

Did he really show much in the cobbled classics last year? Ok, 10'th in Flanders is good, but aside from that?

inkyfingers

Remember that 10th place was after doing a lot of work for J A Flecha. He was also second at Dwars Door Vlaanderen last year and in the 2010 tour he rode rode extremely well to get 2nd behind Hushovd on the cobbled stage. Personally I think he has the necessary assets to do well at the classics (and short stage races), though I think he probably needs more experience to improve his tactical prowess (sometimes I think he probably does more work than he needs to).

I'm glad he's quitting the track after the Olympics. Like Wiggins, he's proved himself in that arena and I don't think in this day and age you can truly excel at both.

I was wondering last night whether Ben Swift is really doing himself any favours trying to do the Omnium on the track. He's good, but not sure he's a true enough all rounder to win gold in that event. Particularly after the progress he made on the road last year, bagging some good wins. I hope he doesn't look back at 2012 as a wasted year.

ddraver

iainf72 wrote:

Looks like he's going to pack in the egg and spoon stuff

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/geraint ... 2-olympics

Did he really show much in the cobbled classics last year? Ok, 10'th in Flanders is good, but aside from that?

In spite of working for others though...

Edit - or what Inky said...

ms_tree

Is this PTP? Have you usurped afx?
I don't want to tax my brain if it's not!

rick_chasey

iainf72 wrote:

Looks like he's going to pack in the egg and spoon stuff

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/geraint ... 2-olympics

Did he really show much in the cobbled classics last year? Ok, 10'th in Flanders is good, but aside from that?

He kept Flanders exciting by burying himself to keep it together and he was the other guy away with Nuyens in Dwars Door Vlaanderen.

So yeah, I'd say he showed enough that he's worth paying attention to for the future.

rick_chasey

Ms Tree wrote:

Is this PTP? Have you usurped afx?
I don't want to tax my brain if it's not!

No no, it's more a way to put your outlandish predictions down (with a bit of flowery description if you fancy) without hurting your PTP.

greasedscotsman

How about Lars Boom to do something this spring. Not sure what though, maybe win one of the semi "(Flat) Classics" or maybe a high placing in one of the big ones!

Is that vague enough?

blim

Het Nieuwsblad: Lars Boom (though history suggests back-to-back Dutch wins are unlikely); Chavanel 2nd & Lars Bak 3rd for a Lars sandwich.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne: Boonen

Strade Bianchi: Gilbert will open his account for the year

Milan San Remo: I'd love to see Boonen win it (it's a huge gap in his palmares), but i think Greipel.

E3: Cancellara; Chavanel 2nd

Ghent Wevelgem: Cavendish

De Ronde van Vlaanderen: Gilbert, having gone away with Boonen and Cancellara on the Paterberg

Paris Roubaix: Boonen will join Roger de Vlaeminck and become 'Meneer Parijs-Roubaix'

rick_chasey

Het Nieuwsblad: Van Avermaert. Sneaks away without much pomp, suddenly at 10km to go everyone realises he's great but won't drag any BMC guys to the finish.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne: Boonen - to make up for being shocking in het volk from a sprint out of a small peloton

Strade Bianchi: Gilbert.

Milan San Remo: Freire. Again.

E3: Boonen - sprint from small group

Ghent Wevelgem: Boonen - like he did last year

De Ronde van Vlaanderen: Cancellara. Blows everyone away with a lap to go.

Paris Roubaix: Boonen, from a sprint of 3 (again)