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Billie said:
Pricey_sky said:Billie said:
Sagan had it easy, he only had to bunny hop a wheel that was flat on the road, Rowe had to try and get over a whole person plus bike!
alspacka said:Just finished belatedly watching this and I ermmm... need a lie down.
I was screaming, shrieking like a banshee when Boonen got boxed in.
Surreal race. Brilliant rides all over the place.
And Sagan? HOW!? I'm pretty sure testing would demonstrate that madness to be physiologically impossible.
Fabian Cancellara, I implore you, just one more go.
What a season so far. Ardennes, don't fail us now!
Kwibus said:Best race I've ever seen in my whole life. This was just freaking insane from the start.
Only just finished watching...i watched the start like with the crazy huge breakaway. Then i went out with my family for a nice day. I allready ignored them last sunday and I can't do that every weekend
So i recorded it and started watching from the moment it went live on belgian television. From 120km to go it was edge of the seat racing and I think I fell off a dozen times. The final was absolutely nerve wrecking and with Hayman winning we didn't get a big name winning this insane edition of Roubaix, but the guy was in the break of the day for gods sake and he's been racing these cobbles for years and then in his old days he wins Roubaix.... Beating Boonen in a sprint!!! Just crazy.
I'm on a huge high atm. What an incredible race, just amazing.
What an spring....wow.
Gigs_98 said:I want to cry right now. I watch every freakin race in the whole season and the first big one day race, of the whole year which I miss is described by long time fans like Eshnar as the best Paris Roubaix they have ever seen. Seriously, how high are the odds that I will ever get the chance to see such a PR again.
Oh and btw, the penultimate WT one day race I didnt watch was Gent Wevelgem 2015, no f***ing joke
The Hegelian said:That was seriously awesome.
I feel for the four who missed out, especially Sep and EBH because it was such a golden opportunity for one of them to finally deliver on their huge potential.
But who could begrudge Hayman? Was a brilliant performance - stoic and smart. It wasn't like he got away because OGE had some superstar behind that everyone was watching. Boonen was also brilliant. And I know it's wrong, but it was beautiful to watch Sky fall apart.
Leffe_Bruin said:I still can't believe how awesome this race was. With about 20 km to go I remember thinking I'd rate this race 9/10 and not 10/10 because there we no Dutchies involved in the final but that last 10 Kilometer was just the best thing ever that ever happened in the history of everything ... I mean all those attacks ... all those chases ... the Belgian commentators going wild ... all 5 together in the last lap in the velodrome ... that final sprint ... the look on Hayman's face after winning. My body was literally shaking and I had tears in my eyes because of all the epicness I had just witnessed ... The only words that came out of my mouth were 'WOW!'. This race was easily an 11/10
+1movingtarget said:Kwibus said:Best race I've ever seen in my whole life. This was just freaking insane from the start.
Only just finished watching...i watched the start like with the crazy huge breakaway. Then i went out with my family for a nice day. I allready ignored them last sunday and I can't do that every weekend
So i recorded it and started watching from the moment it went live on belgian television. From 120km to go it was edge of the seat racing and I think I fell off a dozen times. The final was absolutely nerve wrecking and with Hayman winning we didn't get a big name winning this insane edition of Roubaix, but the guy was in the break of the day for gods sake and he's been racing these cobbles for years and then in his old days he wins Roubaix.... Beating Boonen in a sprint!!! Just crazy.
I'm on a huge high atm. What an incredible race, just amazing.
What an spring....wow.
Totally agree. There is something about a veteran winning unexpectedly and doing such a great ride. Boonen seemed to be in good spirits after the race chatting to Hayman but Stannard looked a bit deflated. This has the same feel as Van Summeren's win even though the way it was won was totally different. No cycling fan can be disappointed with that race as it had everything and no one looked better than anyone else in the finale. They all had attacked and been chased down. Great race.
Post of the day!!!Leffe_Bruin said:I still can't believe how awesome this race was. With about 20 km to go I remember thinking I'd rate this race 9/10 and not 10/10 because there we no Dutchies involved in the final but that last 10 Kilometer was just the best thing ever that ever happened in the history of everything ... I mean all those attacks ... all those chases ... the Belgian commentators going wild ... all 5 together in the last lap in the velodrome ... that final sprint ... the look on Hayman's face after winning. My body was literally shaking and I had tears in my eyes because of all the epicness I had just witnessed ... The only words that came out of my mouth were 'WOW!'. This race was easily an 11/10
The moto is to blame!infeXio said:The Viviani-moto incident - riders crashed on the cobbles in Arenberg, the motorcycle subsequently crashed whilst trying to brake and was sliding into Viviani - not exactly sure how much he was hit by it, but the moto is hardly to blame here, as it didn't really drive into him (apart from maybe being too close to the riders to begin with)
https://www.facebook.com/LaGazzettaDelloSport/videos/10153450332690936/?__mref=message_bubble
Kwibus said:The Hegelian said:That was seriously awesome.
I feel for the four who missed out, especially Sep and EBH because it was such a golden opportunity for one of them to finally deliver on their huge potential.
But who could begrudge Hayman? Was a brilliant performance - stoic and smart. It wasn't like he got away because OGE had some superstar behind that everyone was watching. Boonen was also brilliant. And I know it's wrong, but it was beautiful to watch Sky fall apart.
I don't hate on any rider or team, but I don't really like dominating teams. So tbh I don't like Sky in stage races, but I do like the classics squad since they lack a pure winner, but just like Etixx they have a few riders near the top. They rode excellent today, tactically perfect and them with 54 to 52km to go they pretty much lose 3 of their 4 riders upfront due to crashes. Ofcourse it wasn't bad luck and it was part of the race, but tbh they rode a great race. No stupid Sky tactics like they did in the first years, but smart amd strong racing. Stannard is a beast and I'm happy for his podium and Rowe also did great even after he crashed.
Putting everyone in the wind just before mons et pevele was a brilliant move.
The 2 itlaian youngsters also did great.
I dont like their money buying the best team, but their classics squad isnt really a high budget bought team so I appreciate that squad most certainly. I
jmdirt said:The moto is to blame!infeXio said:The Viviani-moto incident - riders crashed on the cobbles in Arenberg, the motorcycle subsequently crashed whilst trying to brake and was sliding into Viviani - not exactly sure how much he was hit by it, but the moto is hardly to blame here, as it didn't really drive into him (apart from maybe being too close to the riders to begin with)
https://www.facebook.com/LaGazzettaDelloSport/videos/10153450332690936/?__mref=message_bubble
Maaaaaaaarten said:rhubroma said:It was a shame Boonen didn't make history. I'd have liked a straight up battle between Sagan and Cancellara, but thus was not to be. The thing that bites me is that Boonen, who under other circumstances would have been a favorite, came through with luck, though not enough to win. Instead someone who will never make history won. Fate is cruel.
Being positioned well and having a strong team isn't luck. Boonen, Vanmarcke and Stannard were in contention because they were positioned well and because they had strong teams that could maintain the gap to Cancellara and Sagan when they had been caught out of position.
Also, Matthew Hayman made history by winning this race. This race will be remembered for many years to come as an exceptionally fine edition of Paris-Roubaix and Matthew Hayman will be remembered for many years to come as the winner of this race and rightly so.
rhubroma said:Maaaaaaaarten said:rhubroma said:It was a shame Boonen didn't make history. I'd have liked a straight up battle between Sagan and Cancellara, but thus was not to be. The thing that bites me is that Boonen, who under other circumstances would have been a favorite, came through with luck, though not enough to win. Instead someone who will never make history won. Fate is cruel.
Being positioned well and having a strong team isn't luck. Boonen, Vanmarcke and Stannard were in contention because they were positioned well and because they had strong teams that could maintain the gap to Cancellara and Sagan when they had been caught out of position.
Also, Matthew Hayman made history by winning this race. This race will be remembered for many years to come as an exceptionally fine edition of Paris-Roubaix and Matthew Hayman will be remembered for many years to come as the winner of this race and rightly so.
rhubroma said:Maaaaaaaarten said:rhubroma said:It was a shame Boonen didn't make history. I'd have liked a straight up battle between Sagan and Cancellara, but thus was not to be. The thing that bites me is that Boonen, who under other circumstances would have been a favorite, came through with luck, though not enough to win. Instead someone who will never make history won. Fate is cruel.
Being positioned well and having a strong team isn't luck. Boonen, Vanmarcke and Stannard were in contention because they were positioned well and because they had strong teams that could maintain the gap to Cancellara and Sagan when they had been caught out of position.
Also, Matthew Hayman made history by winning this race. This race will be remembered for many years to come as an exceptionally fine edition of Paris-Roubaix and Matthew Hayman will be remembered for many years to come as the winner of this race and rightly so.
Boonen was lucky, given his current form, Cancellara and Sagan were delayed by crashes. They weren't badly positioned, just 2/3 of the field got into a wreck.
As it was Hayman becamed the "strong man," which really is telling about the fiasco the race became. People are praising this though as the "best race ever." Verily it was anticlimatic.
BigMac said:rhubroma said:Maaaaaaaarten said:rhubroma said:It was a shame Boonen didn't make history. I'd have liked a straight up battle between Sagan and Cancellara, but thus was not to be. The thing that bites me is that Boonen, who under other circumstances would have been a favorite, came through with luck, though not enough to win. Instead someone who will never make history won. Fate is cruel.
Being positioned well and having a strong team isn't luck. Boonen, Vanmarcke and Stannard were in contention because they were positioned well and because they had strong teams that could maintain the gap to Cancellara and Sagan when they had been caught out of position.
Also, Matthew Hayman made history by winning this race. This race will be remembered for many years to come as an exceptionally fine edition of Paris-Roubaix and Matthew Hayman will be remembered for many years to come as the winner of this race and rightly so.
Boonen was lucky, given his current form, Cancellara and Sagan were delayed by crashes. They weren't badly positioned, just 2/3 of the field got into a wreck.
As it was Hayman becamed the "strong man," which really is telling about the fiasco the race became. People are praising this though as the "best race ever." Verily it was anticlimatic.
So since one of the pre-race favourites didn't win, it automatically becomes a fiasco and is called anticlimatic, regardless of how it was raced? Aight.
Sagan and Cancellara would have had a hard time winning that race even if they got across. The last 5 guys were all super strong, as shown by Cance and Sagan struggling to close the gap even before the crashes.BigMac said:rhubroma said:Maaaaaaaarten said:rhubroma said:It was a shame Boonen didn't make history. I'd have liked a straight up battle between Sagan and Cancellara, but thus was not to be. The thing that bites me is that Boonen, who under other circumstances would have been a favorite, came through with luck, though not enough to win. Instead someone who will never make history won. Fate is cruel.
Being positioned well and having a strong team isn't luck. Boonen, Vanmarcke and Stannard were in contention because they were positioned well and because they had strong teams that could maintain the gap to Cancellara and Sagan when they had been caught out of position.
Also, Matthew Hayman made history by winning this race. This race will be remembered for many years to come as an exceptionally fine edition of Paris-Roubaix and Matthew Hayman will be remembered for many years to come as the winner of this race and rightly so.
Boonen was lucky, given his current form, Cancellara and Sagan were delayed by crashes. They weren't badly positioned, just 2/3 of the field got into a wreck.
As it was Hayman becamed the "strong man," which really is telling about the fiasco the race became. People are praising this though as the "best race ever." Verily it was anticlimatic.
So since one of the pre-race favourites didn't win, it automatically becomes a fiasco and is called anticlimatic, regardless of how it was raced? Aight.
42x16ss said:Sagan and Cancellara would have had a hard time winning that race even if they got across. The last 5 guys were all super strong, as shown by Cance and Sagan struggling to close the gap even before the crashes.BigMac said:rhubroma said:Maaaaaaaarten said:rhubroma said:It was a shame Boonen didn't make history. I'd have liked a straight up battle between Sagan and Cancellara, but thus was not to be. The thing that bites me is that Boonen, who under other circumstances would have been a favorite, came through with luck, though not enough to win. Instead someone who will never make history won. Fate is cruel.
Being positioned well and having a strong team isn't luck. Boonen, Vanmarcke and Stannard were in contention because they were positioned well and because they had strong teams that could maintain the gap to Cancellara and Sagan when they had been caught out of position.
Also, Matthew Hayman made history by winning this race. This race will be remembered for many years to come as an exceptionally fine edition of Paris-Roubaix and Matthew Hayman will be remembered for many years to come as the winner of this race and rightly so.
Boonen was lucky, given his current form, Cancellara and Sagan were delayed by crashes. They weren't badly positioned, just 2/3 of the field got into a wreck.
As it was Hayman becamed the "strong man," which really is telling about the fiasco the race became. People are praising this though as the "best race ever." Verily it was anticlimatic.
So since one of the pre-race favourites didn't win, it automatically becomes a fiasco and is called anticlimatic, regardless of how it was raced? Aight.
And anyone who doesn't take a 15 time finisher at Roubaix, with multiple top 10's while riding as a domestique for a genuine favourite (Flecha) as a serious threat in that situation is an idiot. All of Hayman's breakaway companions throughout the day knew that he was more than good enough to contend in that scenario.