109th Paris-Roubaix. The Hell of the North.

[theyoungest]

Lol @ Garmin saying this was a victory of the team, due to great tactics... their tactics made no sense whatsoever, it's Summie who made the best of it and just rode his own race.

Or didn't I see Vanmarcke pulling like a madman to get Hushovd (and Cancellara, and Ballan) to the front group?

 

[sublimit]

What was Garmin's tactics? They had 2 riders work their behinds off for Thor in the chase for the lead group, but he wasn't willing to take a few shifts to bridge a gap of a measly 25 seconds. If his reluctance to do any work was about JvS being in the front group, then why have two team mates drop down to chase for him?

Dont know why they worked you are right. I'm not slagging Garmin this time just Thor for such a defensive and negative ride.

 

[Christian]

Congrats to Van Summeren and Garmin, great ride today.

A strong team doesn't always pay off as we've seen with them in the past, and you can win big races without a strong team as Nuyens did. I don't know if this was all planned from the start but in this case Hushovd's wheel sucking served a greater cause and it all worked out. Chapeau for his ride as well, he must have been in great shape to always stick to Cancellara. It is not every day that a WC gives up his chances of winning the race he covets most - whether it was planned out this way we'll never know.

Cancellara proved again that he is a great champion and fought until the very end. He was the one who animated this race the most, and again gave very calm and well thought out statements immediately after the race. You can't win 'em all, but he has certainly been the strongest rider in this classics season once again.

Unfortunately his team failed to perform, which some said he could have foreseen. On paper he had strong support though: Klemme, O'Grady and Posthuma should have stayed with him longer, or else been in a break up ahead. They have all performed under their normal level, bar O'Grady who was great in MSR and E3. Other than that LEOPARD TREK had some bad fortune: Wagner out and replaced by a neo-pro, Weylandt battered and bruised, Klemme and Posthuma crashed. In these races, so much is down to luck and they just didn't have it this year, or maybe they weren't in top shape (like O'Grady today).

I'm pretty sure Cancellara will not be satisfied with their performance and request stronger support for next year. It'll be interesting to see whom they'll recruit, since Flavio Becca will most likely have no problem with spending an extra few bucks!

 

[nvpacchi]

Not that it matters, but Katusha failed miserably today... Not one rider in the top 72 even

 

[pmcg76]

What was Garmin's tactics? They had 2 riders work their behinds off for Thor in the chase for the lead group, but he wasn't willing to take a few shifts to bridge a gap of a measly 25 seconds. If his reluctance to do any work was about JvS being in the front group, then why have two team mates drop down to chase for him?

I think the tactics were to see if they could get back to the front group where Garmin would have had more numbers but if Van Summeren got away, then Garmin were in a strong position as well, the onus would have been on the others and Hushvod could sit in which is exactly what happened. If the other teams had brought Hushovd back up then you can be sure Cancellara would have gone again and Hushvod was the only one capable of following with maybe Ballan, Thor takes the sprint.

So the idea was either Thor wins or the team wins, I think they played it perfectly.

 

[maltiv]

What was Garmin's tactics? They had 2 riders work their behinds off for Thor in the chase for the lead group, but he wasn't willing to take a few shifts to bridge a gap of a measly 25 seconds. If his reluctance to do any work was about JvS being in the front group, then why have two team mates drop down to chase for him?

Indeed, it didn't really make much sense. Great work by Gabriel Rasch though, ride of the day for me. He barely made the team but he still got into the top 25, which is his best ever result by far. Some people claimed that he didn't even deserve to be a proffesional but today he proved everyone wrong.

 

[auscyclefan94]

i can't wait to see the injury list.

 

[theyoungest]

I'm pretty sure Cancellara will not be satisfied with their performance and request stronger support for next year. It'll be interesting to see whom they'll recruit, since Flavio Becca will most likely have no problem with spending an extra few bucks!

Johan Vansummeren?

 

[Lanark]

Lol @ Garmin saying this was a victory of the team, due to great tactics... their tactics made no sense whatsoever, it's Summie who made the best of it and just rode his own race.

Or didn't I see Vanmarcke pulling like a madman to get Hushovd (and Cancellara, and Ballan) to the front group?

Yeah, is there a cycling equivalent of serendipity, using the wrong tactic, but somehow getting the right result?

Their tactics didn't make any sense. First they let Vanmarcke work in the group Hushovd, Cancellara attacks, Hushovd refuses to work with him, group comes back together, they let Rasch drop from the front, have him work with Vanmarcke for Hushovd, but why? If you trust in Vansummeren, then don't let Vanmarcke and Rasch work, if you don't trust in him, then why not let Hushovd do even a little work (which would be enough) with Cancellara? If it wasn't for Garmin, Cancellara would have finished 3 minutes back instead of 19 seconds.

 

[hrotha]

That was a weird race.

I can't fault Ballan and Hushovd for not cooperating with Cancellara, or Cancellara for being frustrated about that. To be more precise, I think Hushovd and Ballan shouldn't pull, and they didn't, but we all know (90% sure) the reason why they didn't ride wasn't that they had teammates ahead, as demonstrated by Vanmarcke and Rasch later on (I'm pretty sure they did that just to keep Thor happy). They were afraid of Cancellara, but that's what you get for being the biggest favourite. He had been talking about how he was going to destroy everyone, so now he can't complain if everybody treated him as the main threat.

I'm happy for Vansummeren.

 

[boomcie]

Unfortunately his team failed to perform, which some said he could have foreseen. On paper he had strong support though: Klemme, O'Grady and Posthuma should have stayed with him longer, or else been in a break up ahead. They have all performed under their normal level, bar O'Grady who was great in MSR and E3. Other than that LEOPARD TREK had some bad fortune: Wagner out and replaced by a neo-pro, Weylandt battered and bruised, Klemme and Posthuma crashed. In these races, so much is down to luck and they just didn't have it this year, or maybe they weren't in top shape (like O'Grady today).

-1

They are all such great riders. They should have certainly been up there today...

 

[auscyclefan94]

BMC really lost out today...with the position they were in after Arenberg, they really let themselves down.

 

[Anonymous]

I actually hoped Cancellara would win, he was the only one willing to ride. Can imagine him being quite ****ed, if Hushovd did only one turn when they were with the two of them they would've got to that group..

Yea, and then Garmin would not have won P-R. If Thor had ridden, it would have been one of the stupidest tactical moves in the history of cycling. Of course, we would have never known that because Canc would have won easily.

This idea that Thor did something wrong is one of the dumbest things I have seen in quite some time.

 

[Granville57]

At least I can put my photo album away now (until the GTs, maybe).

But first:
Congratulations to Johan Van Summeren!

 

[luckyboy]

BMC really lost out today...with the position they were in after Arenberg, they really let themselves down.

I thought you didn't want Ballan to win

 

[Andre.J]

Great victory for Van Summeren. But there is no real P-R without Boonen. It would have been even a better race had he not fallen.

 

[roundabout]

After e3 and ronde cancellra would have been the favorite regardless of whatever interview.

Glad Vansummeren made it. Looking at the picture he and Garmin were quite lucky in some sense with the flat.

 

[roundabout]

At least I can put my photo album away now (until the GTs, maybe).

[/IMG]

More photos like the middle one, less of the rest.

 

[Sasquatch]

Congrats to Van Summeren and Garmin, great ride today.

A strong team doesn't always pay off as we've seen with them in the past, and you can win big races without a strong team as Nuyens did. I don't know if this was all planned from the start but in this case Hushovd's wheel sucking served a greater cause and it all worked out. Chapeau for his ride as well, he must have been in great shape to always stick to Cancellara. It is not every day that a WC gives up his chances of winning the race he covets most - whether it was planned out this way we'll never know.

Cancellara proved again that he is a great champion and fought until the very end. He was the one who animated this race the most, and again gave very calm and well thought out statements immediately after the race. You can't win 'em all, but he has certainly been the strongest rider in this classics season once again.

Unfortunately his team failed to perform, which some said he could have foreseen. On paper he had strong support though: Klemme, O'Grady and Posthuma should have stayed with him longer, or else been in a break up ahead. They have all performed under their normal level, bar O'Grady who was great in MSR and E3. Other than that LEOPARD TREK had some bad fortune: Wagner out and replaced by a neo-pro, Weylandt battered and bruised, Klemme and Posthuma crashed. In these races, so much is down to luck and they just didn't have it this year, or maybe they weren't in top shape (like O'Grady today).

I'm pretty sure Cancellara will not be satisfied with their performance and request stronger support for next year. It'll be interesting to see whom they'll recruit, since Flavio Becca will most likely have no problem with spending an extra few bucks!

They should try and recruit Mitch Docker and David Veilleux.

Docker has proven himself in classics this year and Veilleux rode an awesome race today.

 

[hatcher]

Hushovd and Ballan definitely didn't do anything wrong, but I also think sitting up was the perfect tactic by Cancellara. His gamble that Garmin badly wanted Hushovd in the front group was a good one. Garmin just got lucky (for want of a better word) that Van Summeren made the final split in the front group.

 

[search]

Leukemans and Boom have returned in the group of favorites. Weird race

so it must be Leukemans who was 13th and not Salvaggi?! Possibly they switched their bikes

 

[Chef_Vodnik]

[...] or maybe they weren't in top shape (like O'Grady today).

I can recall a small notification after Arenberg that O'Grady was struck by a flat tire and had lost contact. I think I saw him in the Boonen group up to the point where there was that big crash. I'm guessing he either got dropped later on or got held up right there.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I thought you didn't want Ballan to win

I decided that I was going to trea it like nothing had happened, because nothing official has happened. Tatically they rode poorly.

 

[Chef_Vodnik]

Great victory for Van Summeren. But there is no real P-R without Boonen. It would have been even a better race had he not fallen.

That's also my opinion - the race would probably have been much harder.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

@Granville57
i have enjoyed the photos and reference to their difficult pre-season . good job