Paris-Roubaix 2014 "spoiler"

alihisgreat

emadden wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Phinney and his dad:


What happened to him? Talks a big talk.

I wonder how much Oakley is paying for this ongoing ridiculous product placement... The glasses are horrid. They are clearly trying to plug the cycling* gap after the lance love-fest



* not sure what %age of their business is cycling (probably small)... but every bit helps.

They're 'celebrating' the 30th anniversary of 'Oakley performance eyewear'.

powerbookboy

Dolan Driver wrote:

Boonen made the best attempt of the big favourites to actually win the race. The group was so big probably because Cancellara didn't put in one of his usual afterburner attacks on the pave. If he tore it up, there would have been no group, just ones and twos.

Wiggins drew a lot of adverse comment when he said he was riding Paris-Roubaix and even more so when he spoke of being in the mix during the finale. He delivered big-time and shut quite a few people up. I think that ensures he is bestowed with the honorary Bikeradar title of "Heavyweight".

DD.

I must admit I was expecting Wiggins to be all talk. Historically when he talks himself up he then doesn't deliver. When he keeps his mouth (relatively) shut he does. But that's a really impressive result, considering that's got to the strongest Top 10 in a number of years.

And once again Thomas produces a very strong ride. Weird that he was doing the chasing back of Terpstra though. Surely he's a stronger sprinter than Wiggins, and hence Wiggins should have worked to set Sky up for a podium?

Canc I think left his race on the road last week. Boonen seemed a bit desperate, or maybe knew he didn't have it and was working for others? Sagan once again looked incredibly strong, but maybe tactically stupid? Really pleased for Terpstra though. Buried himself, for once it worked out, good on him.

The_Boy

Incidentally, winning time for last handful of renewals:

2014 - 6h09
2013 - 5h45
2012 - 5h55
2011 - 6h07

Not apropos of anything in particular. Just thought it interesting made interesting reading.

Coach H

Great commentary guys, thanks. This was my only way of following the race. It didn't help get the spuds peeled though.

Are there any terrestrial TV highlights this year?

disgruntledgoat

Best PR for ages that, with a worthy winner too.

My thoughts as I was watching were that Belkin are the dumbest or the laziest team out there. Refusing to ride with Boonen when you've 3 guys in the break including your leader is crazy and only helped the guys behind, one of whom eventually won.

Hushovd, Thomas and Wigginton were all exceptional today also.

powerbookboy

The_Boy wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

So, is this the best cobbled classics season Sky have had thus far? Just to bring up an old chestnut.

By a long way, imo.

I'm sure a proper analysis might reveal that they aren't doing *that* much better based on pure finishing positions, but I'd say the overall strength, danger in numbers and - more crucially - increased tactical awareness makes them an altogether more threatening prospect than in previous seasons.

Makes you wonder how they'd have gone with Stannard in the mix...

frenchfighter

Thanks knedlicky.

Milton50 wrote:

Boonen showed great heart today but I can't understand why he tried a long range effort in the first place, and why he then persisted with burying himself for the next 20km even when it was obvious they didn't have the legs to stay away.

I get the impression Belgiums do not like easy and classless wins. He probably won more hearts today then if he rode wheels all day then got on the podium in a sprint. Could be wrong though. It's not his fault the rest of the field had no balls and the ones that came with him were pretty useless apart from G who wasn't on his best form.

Paul 8v

Coach H wrote:

Great commentary guys, thanks. This was my only way of following the race. It didn't help get the spuds peeled though.

Are there any terrestrial TV highlights this year?

I doubt it unfortunately

The_Boy

Coach H wrote:

Great commentary guys, thanks. This was my only way of following the race. It didn't help get the spuds peeled though.

Are there any terrestrial TV highlights this year?

If not, you'll find something on cyclingtorrents

thomthom

Boonen could talk the talk but couldn't walk the walk today. Had he used 1% of his crying and moaning on peddaling instead he'd won the race with minutes.

disgruntledgoat

frenchfighter wrote:

Boonen came up short this season so far in terms of results. Thought he looked amazing early season

I think the last couple of weeks has probably taken a lot out of him.

frenchfighter

Paris-Roubaix 2014 Results
NED 1 TERPSTRA, Niki (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP) 6:09:01
GER 2 DEGENKOLB, John (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 20
SUI 3 CANCELLARA, Fabian (TREK FACTORY RACING)
BEL 4 VANMARCKE, Sep (BELKIN)
CZE 5 STYBAR, Zdenek (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)
SVK 6 SAGAN, Peter (CANNONDALE)
GBR 7 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY)
NED 8 LANGEVELD, Sebastian (GARMIN SHARP)
GBR 9 WIGGINS, Bradley (SKY)
BEL 10 BOONEN, Tom (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)
GER 11 ARNDT, Nikias (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 26
FRA 12 DEMARE, Arnaud (FDJ.fr) + 47
AUT 13 EISEL, Bernhard (SKY)
FRA 14 TURGOT, Sébastien (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
BEL 15 LEUKEMANS, Björn (WANTY - GROUPE GOBERT)
BEL 16 VANDENBERGH, Stijn (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)
BEL 17 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING)
NED 18 VAN EMDEN, Jos (BELKIN)
NOR 19 HUSHOVD, Thor (BMC RACING) + 1:05
LUX 20 DRUCKER, Jean-Pierre (WANTY - GROUPE GOBERT)
NOR 21 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (SKY)
GER 22 BURGHARDT, Marcus (BMC RACING)
FRA 23 MINARD, Sébastien (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
FRA 24 MARTINEZ, Yannick (EUROPCAR)
BEL 25 KEUKELEIRE, Jens (ORICA GreenEDGE)
NED 26 TANKINK, Bram (BELKIN)
FRA 27 CHAINEL, Steve (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
FRA 28 PETIT, Adrien (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 2:55
AUS 29 DOCKER, Mitchell (ORICA GreenEDGE)
USA 30 PHINNEY, Taylor (BMC RACING)
GBR 31 ROWE, Luke (SKY)
FRA 32 LADAGNOUS, Matthieu (FDJ.fr)
BEL 33 DE VREESE, Laurens (WANTY - GROUPE GOBERT)
SUI 34 SCHÄR, Michael (BMC RACING)
RUS 35 TRUSOV, Nikolay (TINKOFF-SAXO)
SLO 36 KOREN, Kristijan (CANNONDALE)
NED 37 BOOM, Lars (BELKIN) + 2:59
BEL 38 VAN SUMMEREN, Johan (GARMIN SHARP)
BEL 39 WYNANTS, Maarten (BELKIN)
SLO 40 BOZIC, Borut (ASTANA)
AUS 41 HAYMAN, Mathew (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 4:14
POL 42 BODNAR, Maciej (CANNONDALE) + 5:48
FRA 43 PICHOT, Alexandre (EUROPCAR) + 6:42
GER 44 KLUGE, Roger (IAM CYCLING)
FRA 45 JARRIER, Benoit (BRETAGNE - SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT)
BLR 46 HUTAROVICH, Yauheni (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
LTU 47 BAGDONAS, Gediminas (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
FRA 48 FEILLU, Brice (BRETAGNE - SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 6:44
FRA 49 SENECHAL, Florian (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS)
ITA 50 POZZATO, Filippo (LAMPRE - MERIDA)

powerbookboy

frenchfighter wrote:

Thanks knedlicky.

Milton50 wrote:

Boonen showed great heart today but I can't understand why he tried a long range effort in the first place, and why he then persisted with burying himself for the next 20km even when it was obvious they didn't have the legs to stay away.

I get the impression Belgiums do not like easy and classless wins. He probably won more hearts today then if he rode wheels all day then got on the podium in a sprint. Could be wrong though. It's not his fault the rest of the field had no balls and the ones that came with him were pretty useless apart from G who wasn't on his best form.

Would they have cared how he won if got PR No5? There'd have been a national shortage of beer, chips and mayo...

The_Boy

ThomThom wrote:

Boonen could talk the talk but couldn't walk the walk today. Had he used 1% of his crying and moaning on peddaling instead he'd won the race with minutes.

No chance. Imo, he was desperate to get the others working because he wasn't feeling as strong as normal. Seemed to me the plan was to get a strong group working as deep into the race as possible, while the others had to drag Stybar and Terpstra back at which point they would have several cards to play.

Boonen didn't at any point look strong enough to me to go off on his own.

disgruntledgoat

frenchfighter wrote:

Thanks knedlicky.

Milton50 wrote:

Boonen showed great heart today but I can't understand why he tried a long range effort in the first place, and why he then persisted with burying himself for the next 20km even when it was obvious they didn't have the legs to stay away.

I get the impression Belgiums do not like easy and classless wins. He probably won more hearts today then if he rode wheels all day then got on the podium in a sprint. Could be wrong though. It's not his fault the rest of the field had no balls and the ones that came with him were pretty useless apart from G who wasn't on his best form.

The guys I watched with today appreciated a smart ride more I think. They really got onto GVA for having his guys waste themselves so trek didn't have to

The_Boy

Also, Demare came in 12th @ 47 seconds (27 seconds behind the first group). When Madiot was talking last season about switching him to the cobbles I thought it was the desperate move of a man who couldn't find another way of keeping two talented young sprinter happy on the same team*. Happy to be proven wrong.

*Obviously he could have got lucky, but I reckon he knows a thing or two about these things.

Give me more

Boonen didn't win but his teammate did, and while I'm sure he'd have loved #5 for himself the riding he did certainly contributed to the team getting a win today.

I wonder if the talk about Wiggo at the Giro will ramp up after today given Sky's sudden depth problems.

mooro

I liked that race. A fair big of suspense all the way to about 3k out. Most of the big names still in the mix. The main group just looked at each other when terpstra attacked, but that shouldn't detract from a great attack and a fantastic finish.

Slightly spoiled by some childish **** spoiling the football. Never really understand people like that.

Roll on Amstel gold.

frenchfighter

Terpstra's win even more impressive given he did the majority of the work in bridging that group up to Sep et all.

iainf72

powerbookboy wrote:

Canc I think left his race on the road last week. Boonen seemed a bit desperate, or maybe knew he didn't have it and was working for others? Sagan once again looked incredibly strong, but maybe tactically stupid? Really pleased for Terpstra though. Buried himself, for once it worked out, good on him.

Nup - Clever I'd say. On the higher rated cobbled sections, he continuously slipped back. He jumped away just before the last couple and could afford to bleed a bit of time going through them, and then hang on to Chinny / Sep. Smart move IMO.

Once again though, he finished on a team mates bike, which couldn't have helped.

Worth remembering at his age who many wins Chinny and Boonen had in this race. Thats right, a big fat zero :P

disgruntledgoat

Has iain been in to tell us it rubbish yet?

iainf72

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Has iain been in to tell us it rubbish yet?

Average today which people are reading as rubbish

disgruntledgoat

iainf72 wrote:

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Has iain been in to tell us it rubbish yet?

Average today which people are reading as rubbish

Genuine query, what would put it above average for you? I thought that was an excellent race and just wondered what your criteria are

milton50

The_Boy wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

Boonen could talk the talk but couldn't walk the walk today. Had he used 1% of his crying and moaning on peddaling instead he'd won the race with minutes.

No chance. Imo, he was desperate to get the others working because he wasn't feeling as strong as normal. Seemed to me the plan was to get a strong group working as deep into the race as possible, while the others had to drag Stybar and Terpstra back at which point they would have several cards to play.

Boonen didn't at any point look strong enough to me to go off on his own.

But even after putting in a huge amount of effort during the breakaway he still finished only 20 seconds back and with the group of Cancellara, Vanmarcke et al. (ok the reason he latched back onto that group was mainly because the group in front started looking at each other).

He clearly wasn't as strong as in 2012 but if he'd been more intelligent in terms of his energy usage he could have won the race in my opinion. I'm not saying he would have won the race but he would have had a much better chance than trying to force a breakaway 60km out.

BlueDynamo

Second time watching P-R after last year. Very classy top-10 and glad Wiggo backed up his comments like others have said. Kind of disappointed that no one marked Terpstra at the end though. Still not sure I understand the tactic of settling for second when there's a possibility of winning even though you might hand the win to someone else.

Whoever was co-commentator with Carlton is a definite improvement on Sean Kelly. Anybody know who it was?

dolan_driver

[/quote]
Pig is a widely used pejorative for a police officer. I'll continue to use it as long as police forces continue to attract violent thugs and bigots.

Now, back to the racing.[/quote]

We are all well aware of the use of that term. It can reasonably be assumed that you don't actually know John Degenkolb or his character so I'm not sure you have the right to call him a pig or any other variety of animal. Perhaps you have fallen foul of the law but maybe that's your fault, not that of the police.

Your description of Degenkolb is bigoted so you'll have to strike that off your list of reasons to hate a group like the police, given that your guilty of that yourself.

DD.

Turfle

BlueDynamo wrote:

Second time watching P-R after last year. Very classy top-10 and glad Wiggo backed up his comments like others have said. Kind of disappointed that no one marked Terpstra at the end though. Still not sure I understand the tactic of settling for second when there's a possibility of winning.

Whoever was co-commentator with Carlton is a definite improvement on Sean Kelly. Anybody know who it was?

Terpstra just timed it perfectly I think. He went right after the group had chased down the Wiggo attack. 20 seconds of looking at each other and he was gone.

gpreeves

Turfle wrote:

BlueDynamo wrote:

Second time watching P-R after last year. Very classy top-10 and glad Wiggo backed up his comments like others have said. Kind of disappointed that no one marked Terpstra at the end though. Still not sure I understand the tactic of settling for second when there's a possibility of winning.

Whoever was co-commentator with Carlton is a definite improvement on Sean Kelly. Anybody know who it was?

Terpstra just timed it perfectly I think. He went right after the group had chased down the Wiggo attack. 20 seconds of looking at each other and he was gone.

I agree. In general, I think OPQS played their hand far better than they did at Flanders last weekend. They hedged their bets in a much smarter way today, they let Boonen go off with 60km to go, Stybar went with the Canc/Vanmarcke group and then Terpstra timed his attack perfectly towards the end.

I'd also agree with Iain's assessment of Sagan's race too. His best-finishing team mate came in 36th place - he knew he had no team mates to shut down attacks, so his best bet was to be already up the road when they happened.

above_the_cows

Dolan Driver wrote:

...Perhaps you have fallen foul...

DD.

Don't bring the chickens into this!

mooro

Above The Cows wrote:

Dolan Driver wrote:

...Perhaps you have fallen foul...

DD.

Don't bring the chickens into this!

Post of the day!