National Champs (not UK) 2014 *Spoilers"

frenchfighter

Wow the break may just nick this. How amazing would that be. OPQS giving their all but gap still there with 2km to go.

frenchfighter

1km and 10secs.

frenchfighter

The Bel champs is a massive 250km.

Turfle

Debusschere wins the Belgian bunch sprint

above_the_cows

Jens Debusschere wins the Belgian champs.

Turfle

Very strong sprint from him. Seemed to be a few complaining, but I can't figure out why.

frenchfighter

Disaster for cycling fans globally. OPQS shut it down for a sprint. But then Lotto rider Debusschere takes it.

Total shame on those riders. 250km and ends in a sprint. So much for Belgium racing prowess. Could'nt give two shi ts about that winner. Oh well I guess we will see the Belgium jersey riding the grupetto and collecting bottles for a year. I hate it when a lightweight wins these Nats.

Debusschere, Jans, Boonen, Lampaert, Van Staeyen.

above_the_cows

He was strong, took it up and led from the front.

above_the_cows

OPQS if they'd wanted to win would have been better working in the break and have Steegmans take the sprint.

Oh well, that's cycling, the catch was made with only 500m to go.

RichN95.

Peter Sagan wins in Slovakia. You have to wonder why they bother.

BelgianBeerGeek

frenchfighter wrote:

Disaster for cycling fans globally. OPQS shut it down for a sprint. But then Lotto rider Debusschere takes it.

Total shame on those riders. 250km and ends in a sprint. So much for Belgium racing prowess. Could'nt give two shi ts about that winner. Oh well I guess we will see the Belgium jersey riding the grupetto and collecting bottles for a year. I hate it when a lightweight wins these Nats.

Debusschere, Jans, Boonen, Lampaert, Van Staeyen.

I get the feeling you don't approve. Regardless of how it was played by other teams and how they might have ballsed up the winner took his chance and won. That's life. Good for him.
A really ungracious comment. Unless you had money on it, then bad luck.

frenchfighter

Would you like to see the Nat jersey represented for any country, let alone cycling hotbed Belgium? I sure do. Get really excited. I wont get excited when this Deb guy will be riding small races and doing bottle duty.

Tbh even if Boonen won I would have hated on him...250km race full of Belgium racers which ends in a sprint is a total failure. As it stands he won the sprint well and rained on OPQS boring plan of a sprint.

rick_chasey

frenchfighter wrote:

Would you like to see the Nat jersey represented for any country, let alone cycling hotbed Belgium? I sure do. Get really excited. I wont get excited when this Deb guy will be riding small races and doing bottle duty.

Tbh even if Boonen won I would have hated on him...250km race full of Belgium racers which ends in a sprint is a total failure. As it stands he won the sprint well and rained on OPQS boring plan of a sprint.

Woah, careful mate.

rick_chasey

gsk82 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Ah gee Valverde gifted it.

Why gsk82?

If you're going to gift someone a victory, dont roll in behind applauding. He might as well cross the line shouting "im the best, I let him win, look at me, im a great guy". The victory has no credibility.

Credibility is overrated in professional sport.

tailwindhome

http://inrng.com/2014/06/2014-national- ... s-summary/

frenchfighter

@albertocontador · 2h
Enhorabuena chicos!Congrats boys! @MichaelValgren @MichaelMorkov @tinkoff_saxo


This is the boy that made a mark on the 4 Days of D. One to look out for. Racer.

above_the_cows

^ Blimey he looks more like a rugby player than a cyclist.

frenchfighter

“This is absolutely phenomenal. The final 50 kilometers were really intense and when I bridged across, I was fortunate to be able to stay behind in the wheel of Rasmus Guldhammer and reaching the front group I went the other way in a roundabout securing no one could take my wheel. From then on, I knew that Mortensen was chasing alone while Matti and Nicki stayed behind and I quickly develop a decent gap. I was actually pretty exhausted in the finale after having worked side by side with Chris Anker Sørensen but I must be in pretty good shape since I was able to maintain the gap. My first race in the national jersey will probably be San Sebastian or Tour of Denmark and of course, I’m looking to it,” said an excited Michael Valgren.

Lots of Tinkys in there.

1 Michael Valgren Andersen – Tinkoff – Saxo 04.25,58
2 Michael Carbel Svendgaard – CULT Energy Vital Water 04.26,48
3 Michael Mørkøv – Tinkoff-Saxo
4 Rasmus Guldhammer Poulsen – Team TREFOR – Blue Water
5 Martin Mortensen – CULT Energy Vital Water
6 Daniel Foder – Team TREFOR – Blue Water
7 Matti Breschel – Tinkoff-Saxo
8 Alexander Kamp – Christina Watches-KUMA
9 Nicki Sørensen – Tinkoff – Saxo
10 Kasper Klostergaard – Riwal Cycling Team
11 Emil Nygaard Vinjebo – CULT Energy Vital Water 04.26,54
12 Magnus Cort Nielsen – CULT Energy Vital Water 04.27,32
13 Morten Øllegaard – Riwal Cycling Team
14 Sebastian Lander – BMC Racing Team
15 Nicolaj Steen – Horsens Amatør Cykleklub
16 Jesper Hansen – Tinkoff-Saxo
17 Chris Anker Sørensen – Tinkoff-Saxo
18 Martin Toft Madsen – Bornholm Pro Cycling 04.27,35
19 Martin Grøn – Riwal Cycling Team 04.29,00
20 Nikola Aistrup – Riwal Cycling Team 04.29,00

frenchfighter

FJS

5th year in a row Rabobank/Blanco/Belkin don't manage to win the title at home

Infighting in Belgium in OPQS. Boonen angry at team management for giving poor information about time gaps. Steegmans (understandably) angry at rest of the team for chasing a break he was in

frenchfighter

Frank Schleck won the Lux RR.

frenchfighter

Ryan Mullen @ryanmullen9 · 15m
National U23 TT champion, National U23 road race champion and National Elite road race champion.

I'm having a beer... Or 10.

dolan_driver

frenchfighter wrote:

Congratulations Mullen. Hope that boy gets a ride in a good team.

I thought An Post was a good team! They just aren't a World Tour team or Saxo-Tinkoff or whatever they are called. They put three riders into the front group at the Irish Nationals today, drove it on and got the win. Not too shabby at all. Ryan Mullen is only 19 so a team like An Post is the perfect place for him to progress further before moving up to Pro Continental or WT team if that's where he is destined to go in the future.



I had the pleasure of speaking briefly with Dan Martin today and wish him good luck for the rest of his season. He joked that he was happy to get around today's race without falling off!


All photos are courtesy of Dolan Driver Photography (purveyor of the poorest quality race photos! ).

DD.

TMR

Nibali - http://youtu.be/qQe92zg3X54

TMR

frenchfighter wrote:

Frank Schleck won the Lux RR.

How much competition did he have? Serious question with slight comedic undertones...

gattocattivo

And did Andy manage to finish in the top 50?

alan_a

Am I right in thinking Trek now have the most Nat Champs Jerseys with 3?


Lotto, OGE & AG2R on 2 a piece.

dsoutar

Above The Cows wrote:

He was strong, took it up and led from the front.

Exactly. Get in.

Nice to see some of these pros get shafted. No-one has a right to expect a win; you have to earn the jersey

frenchfighter

Mr Mullen is only 19. Wow, what a boss. I suppose you are right if he is that young - his current team is fine.

frenchfighter

TMR wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Frank Schleck won the Lux RR.

How much competition did he have? Serious question with slight comedic undertones...

Well not much but sounds like he went full gas
"That was a hard one! I liked it! I am always motivated for this race," Andy Schleck said after the race. "I had 310 average watts, and that's more than a Classic. I was very active, I felt really good. We knew that we had to make the race, and actually everything went as planned. We wanted to decimate the field and then try have one of the four of us win."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/frank-s ... race-title



Yes Frank looks like an idiot in the photo and his tattoo makes him more of an idiot.