2013 Milan-San Remo, 17 March (298km)

[cineteq]

Evan's website confirms as of yesterday that he is not riding MSR. Cadel advised that he was having some family time at home before heading off for the Criterium International.

I think it's time for Cadel to be a full-time family man.

 

[movingtarget]

I think Gilbert will be there at the end. He looked good on the last road sage in P-N.

Difficult to see how to beat Sagan though. Unless a lot of teams work for a bunch sprint, and Cav or Greipel get to the finish very fresh. Even then Sagan could still win.

Gilbert couldn't out sprint Chavanel at Paris Nice although he misjudged it badly or his team did. Hit the front too far out.

 

[virenque216]

sunday

I dont think that any one mentioned the weather for sunday, if you look at a site ilmeteo.it and check out the forecast for sunday it looks awfully cold and even snow forecast in parts between milan and liguria coast, that may play a huge part in the outcome of the race, which can mean that tougher the condition and tricky descents the better for Sagan although he said that he has not recovered yet fully and still has a cough which worsened a bit after stage 6 tirreno

 

[El Pistolero]

Gilbert couldn't out sprint Chavanel at Paris Nice although he misjudged it badly or his team did. Hit the front too far out.

He started to sprint for 300 meters out. If he had one more team-mate with him, he would've won it. But Chava just placed himself incredibly well in that sprint and after all his hard work in previous stages I'm glad he was able to win one.

Don't forget Haussler, Rojas, Bozic, Dumoulin, etc were also in the top ten that day. All known to have quite some speed after a hard stage.

 

[virenque216]

http://www.ilmeteo.it/meteo/Alessandria

 

[movingtarget]

I think it's time for Cadel to be a full-time family man.

I had a feeling he would ride in 2014 but I think this will be it. His wife also wants him to retire. Menchov and Basso can't be far off doing the same. Horner is waiting until he turns 50 maybe.

 

[del1962]

If there a number of sprinters at the end even without Cav/Greipel then Sagan is may not win bunch sprint

 

[movingtarget]

He started to sprint for 300 meters out. If he had one more team-mate with him, he would've won it. But Chava just placed himself incredibly well in that sprint and after all his hard work in previous stages I'm glad he was able to win one.

Don't forget Haussler, Rojas, Bozic, Dumoulin, etc were also in the top ten that day. All known to have quite some speed.

He needed Oss to do what he did at the finish not with 1km to go. Still very smart ride from Chavanel.

 

[Wilba60]

thanks.

re Gerrans. He should be on the list as outsider, but he appears to be struggling a bit. Can he get in top shape?

I don't think Gerrans is struggling, he is in similar form to last year. Not too much has been said about his lung problem that forced him out of Paris-Nice but if he is recovered from that he will be just as dangerous as last year. Remember his ride up Willunga back in Januaray....course suits him very well. I think OGE will go in with the same plan as last year with the Gerrans/Goss combo and if Gerrans is not 100% they might call on Langeveld. Impey is also in fantastic form and could be a surprise packet if they let him loose.

Riders
Baden Cooke Daryl Impey Jens Keukeleire Matthew Goss Sebastian Langeveld Simon Gerrans Stuart O'Grady Svein Tuft

 

[Parrulo]

I think it's a fine distance. Sagan could very well solo from the Poggio.

nah 1 man solo is almost impossible, you saw how even cancellara had to give everything to keep a 3 seconds gap on the peloton and that was with a crash on the poggio descent and sagan isn't better on a long effort on the flat then cancellara.

they should get the finish back to the via roma which iirc is closer then the current finish.

i also think another climb along the way to put some more hurt on the legs and make it easier to create differences on the poggio would be cool. MSR is a race for the attackers and right now the sprinters have it too easy to reach the finish.

 

[movingtarget]

thanks.

re Gerrans. He should be on the list as outsider, but he appears to be struggling a bit. Can he get in top shape?

Gerrans was not good in the Sun Tour. Won the Willunga stage at TDU but has had some illness. Asthma related I think. Last time I saw him interviewed, about a week ago he was downplaying his chances.

 

[Netserk]

nah 1 man solo is almost impossible, you saw how even cancellara had to give everything to keep a 3 seconds gap on the peloton and that was with a crash on the poggio descent and sagan isn't better on a long effort on the flat then cancellara.

they should get the finish back to the via roma which iirc is closer then the current finish.

i also think another climb along the way to put some more hurt on the legs and make it easier to create differences on the poggio would be cool. MSR is a race for the attackers and right now the sprinters have it too easy to reach the finish.

IMO it has the right balance now. I still want Boonen to win it one day

I could very well see Pippo, Sagan and Nibali ride and stay away on the Poggio.

 

[jens_attacks]

nibali to attack on la cipressa

sky to bring him back on poggio and absolutely launch thomas to the orbit. only sagan can follow him and maybe pippo pozzato.

 

[Lanark]

nah 1 man solo is almost impossible, you saw how even cancellara had to give everything to keep a 3 seconds gap on the peloton and that was with a crash on the poggio descent and sagan isn't better on a long effort on the flat then cancellara.

they should get the finish back to the via roma which iirc is closer then the current finish.

I believe the Via Rome was 400 meter than the current finish, but it was a much more straight road so I think a solo has as much a chance now as it did before.

We have been quite lucky the last couple of years, with only 2 bunch sprints in the last 5 editions. Hopefully this trend will continue, this year is a pretty good chance with no sprinter really in fantastic shape.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Snipped..

Riders
Baden Cooke Daryl Impey Jens Keukeleire Matthew Goss Sebastian Langeveld Simon Gerrans Stuart O'Grady Svein Tuft

Goss looked strong in T-A as well.

Gerrans was not good in the Sun Tour. Won the Willunga stage at TDU but has had some illness. Asthma related I think. Last time I saw him interviewed, about a week ago he was downplaying his chances.

Hopefully he can recover fully. It would be good to see the defending champ being in the mix.

 

[SafeBet]

http://www.ilmeteo.it/meteo/Alessandria

Yep.
It looks like there's gonna be horrible weather. And you know sharks are accustomed to water

 

[gruppeto993]

Im still convinced that sagan will win with cancellara pulling. Once sagan gets awaay on the poggio then cancellara and nibali will catch him om the descent. Even if sagan escapes with nibali then canc will catch them on the descent. To stay away on the final flat sagan and nibali cant do it alone with a peleton coming from bwhind. So canc will pull and sagan will win!

 

[maltiv]

Let's take a look at G's best results in one day classics:

M-SR: 60th
G-W: 124th
RVV: 10th
E3: 50th
P-R: 64th
Worlds: 81th

In conclusion, there's little doubt that this guy is a big favourite!

 

[theyoungest]

Let's take a look at G's best results in one day classics:

M-SR: 60th
G-W: 124th
RVV: 10th
E3: 50th
P-R: 64th
Worlds: 81th

In conclusion, there's little doubt that this guy is a big favourite!

Shall I give you Froome's results before the Vuelta 2011?

Geraint Thomas will pull a Corkscrew on the Poggio and leave everyone scrambling in his wake.

 

[Old School]

Boonen!

I know, I know.

 

[movingtarget]

Shall I give you Froome's results before the Vuelta 2011?

Geraint Thomas will pull a Corkscrew on the Poggio and leave everyone scrambling in his wake.

Didn't he do a good ride in the Het Volk ? Plus most of the other results were when he was working for Mr Cavendish.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

1 Sagan
2 Gilbert
3 Slagter

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

1 Sagan
2 Gilbert
3 Slagter

If it were 150km, sure thing. but after 300km I'm not so sure.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

If it were 150km, sure thing. but after 300km I'm not so sure.

its msr, not the amstel gold race or lbl
should be able to handle 290km of flat and 10km of hills

 

[Der Effe]

its msr, not the amstel gold race or lbl
should be able to handle 290km of flat and 10km of hills

Wasn't he pretty bad in the Tirreno?