2014 - 98th Ronde van Vlaanderen, 259km, Sunday 6th April (1.UWT)

[The Hitch]

But have it your way. Canc is GOAT, GOAT I TELL YOU!!!!

WTF, where did I say Canc was GOAT

 

[spanky wanderlust]

kristoff!

what a ride! fighting solo over the final kms to try to get back on and finishing fifth all alone.

he's the hidden hero here. impressive.

 

[jaylew]

I have RtL in 2nd place

Yeah, almost went RtL/and Justice tied for 2nd.

Great ride from Kristoff. I've underrated him. And it has to be said, a strong and surprising ride from Wiggins

 

[kingjr]

Great race 9/10. Would have been a 10 if Kristoff had made it to the front. What an athlete.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Man I liked this race

 

[HSNHSN]

Is there any news yet about the terrible Vansummeren crash? How's he and, in particular, how's the woman? It didn't look good at all at the moment.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

arguing that cancellara is 'overrated', 5 minutes after his flandrian masterclass in awesomeness on a bicycle, is a tough sell.

people like him more than boonen on this forum, and maybe that's not been always entirely objective. but today it sure looks like cance is better. if he doubles up next week, boonen fans are going to be on their back heels in the argument for sure.

 

[SKSemtex]

What a race. What a winner. I used to "hate" him. But he is f...g excellent. Strong and smart. I like Netserk, but it is above time he change his signature.
I visited two munuments in two weeks. In both of them Sagan did not delivered as much as was expected, so I was quite sad on the finale, but this time I do not regret a single minute and EURO here. People were amazing, very friendly and helpful, atmosphere in Oude Kwaremont fantastic, beer excellent. It is impossible to compere this weekend to one from Italy.
I hope I will return next year.

 

[Arnout]

Is there any news yet about the terrible Vansummeren crash? How's he and, in particular, how's the woman? It didn't look good at all at the moment.

Woman was critical in hospital at approximately 5pm CET (2.5 hours ago), didn't hear new things after that. Vansummeren wasn't as badly injured.

 

[T-Nielsen]

Woman was critical in hospital at approximately 5pm CET (2.5 hours ago), didn't hear new things after that. Vansummeren wasn't as badly injured.

She has been put in a medical coma and has underwent brainsurgery.

 

[cocteau_ireland]

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/picture.php?albumid=293&pictureid=1392\uc0\u8236 } At least GVA has reduced his score from 36 to 34!

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Great ride Spartacus!
Vanmarcke shows that he is capable of following Cancellara on the cobbles, PR will be great!

and a honorable mention to Kristoff, being like 50 meters behind, when they decided to work togheter again at the front

 

[mr. tibbs]

I wonder...can we finally close the who is stronger Boonen or Cancellara debate. I'd say the answers pretty clear.

We at least know who was stronger at this year's Flanders.

EDIT: What are the details behind JVS's crash?

 

[DenisMenchov]

Poor Sep, left short once again. Hope he wins PR next Sunday.

 

[jsem94]

She has been put in a medical coma and has underwent brainsurgery.

Let us all hope for the best. I can't stop thinking about it. It's more important than who won all things considered. That was just a bike race, this is about life and death.

 

[DenisMenchov]

At least Vansummeren is good, and if I saw correctly there was also a child. Thank God he didn't hit it.

 

[cocteau_ireland]

Let us all hope for the best. I can't stop thinking about it. It's more important than who won all things considered. That was just a bike race, this is about life and death.

It was not nice to view,lying with her feet bare. Her shoes across the road. Horrible.

 

[spalco]

We at least know who was stronger at this year's Flanders.

EDIT: What are the details behind JVS's crash?

Someone posted a video earlier somewhere in this thread (too lazy to look it up myself, and I don't really want to see it again anyway).
A woman and a man were standing on a sort of traffic isle in the middle of the road with more road furniture behind them and the race going by them on both sides. Then suddenly a cyclist crashes right into the woman at full speed.

Even without the people standing there Vansummeren would have made a major crash there, and while they probably shouldn't have been there, the woman in no way caused the crash imo.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Here's the crash:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8tBa4Uc5OA

And the report:

http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/videozone_ENG/140406_summeren

 

[del1962]

Sagan on his way to break Merckx's monuments record all right.

Carlton was telling us this will be called the Sagan era

Anyway great race, much better than last years, the strongest rider won though wanted Sepp to win at the end.

 

[Kwibus]

Man I liked this race

Nice pic. Impressive by Vanmarcke that he actually tried to drop Cancellara on the Paterberg!

p.s. In the back you can see Kristoff leading the bunch. He dropped them all there. So impressive.

 

[Kwibus]

The Cancellara is overrated discussion really is cringeworthy. I mean he can't be overrated anymore so just give it up.

Unless people start telling he could win a GT...

Cancellara and Boonen are specialists on the same ground, but have different weapons. If they arrive at the finish together we all know that Boonen will win so Cancellara usually has to drop everyone to win.

The fact that Cancellara has to drop everyone tends to make his performances more impressive. I think that's the reason a lot of people rate him above Boonen. I certainly can understand that, but Boonen still has more wins though.

Last few years Cancellaras sprint seems to get better though, but it's not a sprint that allows him to beat sprinters like Boonen ofcourse.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Watching the Belgium broadcast with the podium players. Van Avermaet looks pi**ed, Vanmarcke looks pleased, and Cancellara is humble. Both GvA and SV have great talent, and hopefully great palmarès forthcoming. I suspect both will learn much from today's great RVV.

You bet GvA is mad. GvA played the last KM as good as anyone could in a four-up sprint. This is at least the second time in a monument he's been beat by Cancellara.

I didn't read too far back, but OPQS played very interesting games this time.

 

[Kwibus]

I'm really becoming a van Avermaet fan.
Always aggresive, never giving up, rarely wins. Pure underdog. How can I not like him? Really hope that one day the stars allign for him and he wins a really big one.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

I'm really becoming a van Avermaet fan.
Always aggresive, never giving up, rarely wins. Pure underdog. How can I not like him? Really hope that one day the stars allign for him and he wins a really big one.

Greg is a stupid soab, thats why I love him too. Too bad he got outsprinted today, this was HIS chance.