Milan-San Remo 2014 *SPOILERS*

frenchfighter

Good comments here from real racers. No wonder Nibali is up there with my favourites and that Martinelli was so happy working with Contador.

Nibali:
“I had spoken with a lot of guys in the peloton, especially with [Peter] Sagan. He told me that he wanted to attack on the Cipressa but when I went myself, I saw that none of the riders who wanted to make the race hard on the Cipressa were following me,” Nibali said through chattering teeth as he sat on the steps of his team bus afterwards.

Nibali would later take to Twitter to bemoan the lack of aggression from his fellow non-sprinters, asking “where are the riders with the balls [tactfully represented by a pair of emoticons] of once upon a time?” before quickly stressing that his were words of encouragement rather than of criticism. He was diplomatic on the pavement of the Via Roma, however, when asked whether his rivals had been lacking the courage or the condition to track his move.

“Maybe it was a lack of courage, a lack of legs or maybe because of the cold, I wouldn’t know,” he said. “There were a lot of sprinters still there on the Poggio, like Cavendish, so I don’t know what happened behind. The word in the bunch was to try and make San Remo a lot more difficult in the finale because there wasn’t Le Manie or the Pompeiana this year.

“I think I did a good race and it would have been pointless for me to wait for the sprint. Maybe if I’d known it would be like that, I could have waited for the Poggio but it was very difficult. I was waiting for an ally and I turned around a few times to see if anyone was coming but there was nothing.”

“Maybe it would have been different if someone had come with me, especially Cancellara. After his various placings here over the years, I think he’ll be thinking about that again,” Nibali said, adding: “But it’s not that he threw away an opportunity, because he still took a fine second place and only Kristoff could beat him. It was still a great performance.”

“I think cycling is changing and people are only riding for places now, they’re not riding to win,” Martinelli said. “By not responding to an attack from Vincenzo, people who have finished second and third without winning Milan-San Remo – and who haven’t won it again this year even though they have the legs to do so – have shown that they don’t understand very much.”

Asked to name names, Martinelli said that he was “talking in general” and placing the lion’s share of the blame on the instructions the riders were receiving from their directeurs sportifs: “The problem is the guys driving in the team cars telling them to ride that way.”

“I believed I could do it because Martinelli was updating me on the radio and told me that I had 50 seconds, which was a decent gap,” Nibali said. “But it was hard to manage it and that’s normal after 270km: it’s difficult to have the legs to stay away.”

“I’m happy with how we rode today because we did what we wanted to do,” Martinelli said. “And to gain 50 seconds shows that Vincenzo was going very well. The pity is that there’s only one Nibali.”

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/nibali- ... n-san-remo

Yellow Peril

ddraver wrote:

Very probably. Seems like OPQS didnt get their kit right this year. Stybar (winter rider) and Cav (IoM rider) must have made their own arrangements over and above what the kit man proffered them

that weather was a bit of an Aussie nightmare. Cav is Cav and I'm sure he suffers but gets on with it. Stybar is so tough I suspect that he lives in a fridge and keeps the ice tray in his undies.

rick_chasey

Nibs has a point.

rick_chasey

Paul 8v wrote:

Strange as this year the conditions wee better than last year (Still not good though) Do you think people just gave up because it was futile by that point if you weren't in the front group? Kind of the same thing that happened at the world championships last year.

Doubt it was much warmer. Main difference was no snow to slip on, so no 2hr warming up in the bus.

Being wet on the bike is always bloody cold.

snowley

Nibs defo has a point.

The only way for a rider like him to of won yesterday would of been a break towards the end and all it would have needed was a small group and a fast decent....

Macaloon

Nibs: That's why it looked like a Voeckler local ladies favourite TV move. A race principal makes a move and nobody reacted. At all. If Cancellara, Sagan, Stybar, Paolini etc had jumped, I suggest they would have attracted company.

That said, a top GC guy 'making the race' is commendable. But what's he doing in San Remo when his peer group is in Catalunya, if not flying the flag for his team?

frenchfighter

Macaloon wrote:

Nibs: That's why it looked like a Voeckler local ladies favourite TV move. A race principal makes a move and nobody reacted. At all. If Cancellara, Sagan, Stybar, Paolini etc had jumped, I suggest they would have attracted company.

That said, a top GC guy 'making the race' is commendable. But what's he doing in San Remo when his peer group is in Catalunya, if not flying the flag for his team?

Because he is Italian. Because he has a third and an eighth place in MSR before. Because he loves to race. Because his GC form is not there at the moment. Because he wants to be in top form for the Ardennes, long one day races.

His palmares speak for themselves.

Cancellara said he made a mistake but was happy with the result. I think he would have gone with Nibali if he could replay it.

Richmond Racer

frenchfighter wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Nibs: That's why it looked like a Voeckler local ladies favourite TV move. A race principal makes a move and nobody reacted. At all. If Cancellara, Sagan, Stybar, Paolini etc had jumped, I suggest they would have attracted company.

That said, a top GC guy 'making the race' is commendable. But what's he doing in San Remo when his peer group is in Catalunya, if not flying the flag for his team?

Because he is Italian. Because he has a third and an eighth place in MSR before. Because he loves to race. Because his GC form is not there at the moment. Because he wants to be in top form for the Ardennes, long one day races.

His palmares speak for themselves.

Cancellara said he made a mistake but was happy with the result. I think he would have gone with Nibali if he could replay it.

^Frenchie has it

Macaloon

Richmond Racer wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

His palmares speak for themselves.

Cancellara said he made a mistake but was happy with the result. I think he would have gone with Nibali if he could replay it.

^Frenchie has it

The more romantics in cycling the better.

philbar72

iainf72 wrote:

Cal_Stewart wrote:

Am I the only one who enjoys Sagan not winning. I just enjoy it, think he's the new EBH

Sagan : 4'th and 2n'd in Milan San Remo
5'th and 2nd in Tour of Flanders
2nd E3
1st G-W

Biggles : 1st G-W when it was less than 200KM. On a Wednesday.
9'th EG

Pretty safe to say they're on different levels in the classics so far.

And generally just different riders. Sky have detrained or retrained EBH into a domestique. Sagan is a different rider to him now. 3 years ago it was EBH winning 2 tour stages and breaking away. That seems a long time ago.

mike6

Re what Macaloon said.......What could be more romantic than riders battling over 300k in the rain? A blast from the past surely, but it was "Romantic" FF that dissed the winner and the race in a an earlier post, so make your mind up.

mroli

Paul 8v wrote:

Strange as this year the conditions wee better than last year (Still not good though) Do you think people just gave up because it was futile by that point if you weren't in the front group?

Someone said it was worse (chavanel?), because it rained the whole way through so you got cold and stayed cold, with the only break in the rain being when it snowed. Also, last year, everyone got on the buses, got some clean dry kit on and started again...

ocdupalais

Martinelli saying that guys like Cancellara and Gilbert "don't understand very much" is preposterous (he must have been referring to those guys rather than Cav, Ciolek, Swift, etc who only really had one card to play).

His claims that riders were dissuaded from bridging to Nibali by their DS's in the cars is interesting, though: even when Nibs was at about 45 secs, on't telly, he never looked the real deal. But if you're a rider behind, you'd never know that without race radios. The only way a contender could be sure that a rider like Nibali isn't bluffing is by going with him. That might mean that everyone in the lead group reacts and the attack is nullified...but the pressure might have split the lead group, along with setting it up for someone else to try their luck.

Get rid of the radios.

above_the_cows

I'm still enjoying yesterday's race while sat at my desk on a Monday morning. I'm still replaying the last 20k or so in my head and it sets my heart a flutter. It took me ages to get to sleep last night as I was still on an adrenaline high some 7 hours later.For me these are the signs of a good race.

salsiccia1

OCDuPalais wrote:

Martinelli saying that guys like Cancellara and Gilbert "don't understand very much" is preposterous (he must have been referring to those guys rather than Cav, Ciolek, Swift, etc who only really had one card to play).

His claims that riders were dissuaded from bridging to Nibali by their DS's in the cars is interesting, though: even when Nibs was at about 45 secs, on't telly, he never looked the real deal. But if you're a rider behind, you'd never know that without race radios. The only way a contender could be sure that a rider like Nibali isn't bluffing is by going with him. That might mean that everyone in the lead group reacts and the attack is nullified...but the pressure might have split the lead group, along with setting it up for someone else to try their luck.

Get rid of the radios.

Agree with all of that.

ddraver

Hmm, I think there is a bit of "mehh no one came with me and towed me to the line so I could outsprint them" about some of the responses. Trek clearly had something going on with Rast, Sagan didnt have anything left at the end. Not many predicted the sprinters would get over the lumps etc...

Nibbles' best chance was a long breakaway - not so many of the other people in the final group

DeVlaeminck

If there were more Nibalis we wouldn't need more hills in the finale of MSR. I've seen more action in 3/4 races than we got in 300k yesterday. I know Frenchie is playing it up a bit when he says 3rd rate sprinters shouldn't be winning monuments but he has a point - the list of recent winners is pretty weak and as a spectacle it's probably not even the best Italian one day race now.

Richmond Racer

philbar72 wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Cal_Stewart wrote:

Am I the only one who enjoys Sagan not winning. I just enjoy it, think he's the new EBH

Sagan : 4'th and 2n'd in Milan San Remo
5'th and 2nd in Tour of Flanders
2nd E3
1st G-W

Biggles : 1st G-W when it was less than 200KM. On a Wednesday.
9'th EG

Pretty safe to say they're on different levels in the classics so far.

And generally just different riders. Sky have detrained or retrained EBH into a domestique. Sagan is a different rider to him now. 3 years ago it was EBH winning 2 tour stages and breaking away. That seems a long time ago.

Yet despite apparently 'detraining' or 'retraining' EBH as a domestique, he still won Plouay in very impressive style in '12, and silver in the Worlds same year - as well as a number few other races same year? Last year was a very poor year, but already this year he's got his best result on the cobbles since winning GW in '09.

Its an interesting view that Sky have somehow changed him and held him back. Sagan is the stronger all-round rider - and that stands when comparing him to the EBH 2011 model as much as EBH 2014.

EBH's contract is up this year. Be interesting to see what happens if he moves to another team. Maybe he'll get results that make everyone huff and puff that Sky were holding him back - but its equally possible that he won't.

frenchfighter

RR, was EBH working for Ben in the finale? Swift said he felt really good so may have had a chat with EBH and EBH then rode for him. Swift looked to be handling himself fine on the Poggio for instance but EBH was only 34secs back presumably after having done some work. Decent race by him all in I'd say. Much better than Hushovd - he should be a performer in these conditions like his Norwegian counterparts.

Macaloon

Ciolek, Cavendish, Cristoff, Cancellara.... All C-listers except twitchy Swifty. I think that's what FF's saying :P

gsvbagpuss

And Sagan does have time on his side - Fab and Tomecke will be fading in a season or two. He's got to be a good favourite for Flanders and P-R once they go, despite the rise of people like Stybar etc.

EBH - he was 50-1 before this race, that's pretty painful for someone with his billing

Richmond Racer

frenchfighter wrote:

RR, was EBH working for Ben in the finale? Swift said he felt really good so may have had a chat with EBH and EBH then rode for him. Swift looked to be handling himself fine on the Poggio for instance but EBH was only 34secs back presumably after having done some work. Decent race by him all in I'd say. Much better than Hushovd - he should be a performer in these conditions like his Norwegian counterparts.

Yes he was. Sky put up both EBH and Swift as leaders going into the race, and the team protected them both. The arrangement was that Swift and EBH would talk before the finale and agree who would go for it according to how good each was feeling and how the race was playing out. EBH agreed with Swift to support him going for it. Puccio was there to help both/either of them.

Paul 8v

mroli wrote:

Paul 8v wrote:

Strange as this year the conditions wee better than last year (Still not good though) Do you think people just gave up because it was futile by that point if you weren't in the front group?

Someone said it was worse (chavanel?), because it rained the whole way through so you got cold and stayed cold, with the only break in the rain being when it snowed. Also, last year, everyone got on the buses, got some clean dry kit on and started again...

Yeah it didn't look pleasant. My post was referenced more towards those riders I saw bailing out in a group. did they just think "I've got no chance here" and gave up to avoid freezing to death

milton50

GSVBagpuss wrote:

And Sagan does have time on his side - Fab and Tomecke will be fading in a season or two. He's got to be a good favourite for Flanders and P-R once they go, despite the rise of people like Stybar etc.

For Flanders, yes. For Roubaix I'm not so sure. In 2010 he couldn't finish and in 2011 he finished quite a way off the pace. The last two years he didn't even take part.

There have been some suggestions that he is going to become more of a cobbled classics rider and start to refocus away from the Ardennes-like classics. If that is true then this year could be a good indicator of whether he is going to be a serious Roubaix contender going forward.

It may be that he is just one of those riders that struggles with the PR pave. It would surprise me though.

Yellow Peril

It seems to be all about confidedence for Swift. He must know know that he can cut it on the day. Hopefully he'll be going head to head with big guns on a more regular basis. He should now be looking at Sagan and believe that he can put one over on him.

Turfle

Honestly i think it's just a matter of health with Swift. A healthy Swift can't beat the top sprinters in a bunch sprint, but he can get over hills and mountains as good as the likes of Meersman, Modolo, Matthews and those types.

Coach H

Cold this, cold that & cold the other. All the interviews are full of it.

Yes its cold and miserable in the rain..................................so keep your leg warmers on and your full fingered gloves while you are at it. In fact why not go the whole hog and wear something a bit warmer than a casquette under your helmet. I am sure these Castelli Nano-Flex long sleeve jerseys and merino base layers weigh a bit more, particularly when soaked, but staying warm seems to be the issue.

I don't get it. They are cold by the time they hit the Poggio so what do they all do? Strip off. Bonkers

adr82

Coach H wrote:

I don't get it. They are cold by the time they hit the Poggio so what do they all do? Strip off. Bonkers

They were just worried about FF laying into them for not looking cool with all their rain gear on!

ddraver

Paul 8v wrote:

mroli wrote:

Paul 8v wrote:

Strange as this year the conditions wee better than last year (Still not good though) Do you think people just gave up because it was futile by that point if you weren't in the front group?

Someone said it was worse (chavanel?), because it rained the whole way through so you got cold and stayed cold, with the only break in the rain being when it snowed. Also, last year, everyone got on the buses, got some clean dry kit on and started again...

Yeah it didn't look pleasant. My post was referenced more towards those riders I saw bailing out in a group. did they just think "I've got no chance here" and gave up to avoid freezing to death

Think it's pretty common. If you re off the back of the main group there's no point riding over the bumps, just ride along the sea wall back to the bus in San Remo

No_Ta_Doctor

Macaloon wrote:

Ciolek, Cavendish, Cristoff, Cancellara.... All C-listers except twitchy Swifty. I think that's what FF's saying :P

Just thinking that Swift has by far the best aero profile in that pic. The others might be putting out more power, but they look ragged in comparison, he's very neat.

Style marks awarded.