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

[Buffalo Soldier]

He was scheduled for the Scheldeprijs next week to be his first race, so indeed a filler.
I suppose he can be useful to Thomas and EBH until about 50k from the finish..

 

[rainman]

He was scheduled for the Scheldeprijs next week to be his first race, so indeed a filler.
I suppose he can be useful to Thomas and EBH until about 50k from the finish..

Only by shouting at the telly in the team bus. Rain forecast remember.

 

[Samson777]

He was scheduled for the Scheldeprijs next week to be his first race, so indeed a filler.
I suppose he can be useful to Thomas and EBH until about 50k from the finish..

Okay, cheers.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Best back to back Sundays in the year. RVV and Paris-Roubaix. Can't wait.

 

[Butterhead]

I think Canc got one more RV left in the old legs, and he got the best lieutenant in Devolder, he can take it one last time.

1. Canc
2. Stybar
3. Vanmarcke
4. Sagan

 

[NUFCrichard]

I don't see anyone that is able to stay with Cancellara being able to outsprint him, so it seems his for the taking.

I think Sagan and Boonen will disappoint, and good old Sir Brad will be useless for Thomas and soft pedal as soon as it gets a bit tough.

 

[Lexman]

Gerrans DNS ...

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Crash! Just inside the 3 km mark.

 

[Netserk]

I don't see anyone that is able to stay with Cancellara being able to outsprint him, so it seems his for the taking.

I think Sagan and Boonen will disappoint, and good old Sir Brad will be useless for Thomas and soft pedal as soon as it gets a bit tough.

Who can stay with him, but not outsprint him?

 

[theyoungest]

The news about the snow during Flanders was an April Fools joke.

NOS Journaal doesn't joke about the Tour of Flanders, maybe they joked about the weather during the weekend but there's still cold and rain predicted.

 

[Netserk]

NOS Journaal doesn't joke about the Tour of Flanders, maybe they joked about the weather during the weekend but there's still cold and rain predicted.

Do you call 15 degrees cold?

 

[barmaher]

Well then they were fooled by a joke. Cold and rain? 18C is the forecast. I have checked the forecast all week, and on no occasion have I seen a forecast with less than 13C for Sunday. Most of the time it is 16C+.

Rain, hopefully?
Cold, certainly not.

 

[ILovecycling]

Who can stay with him, but not outsprint him?

I think he means VM and Terpstra,but still its a weird post.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I've definately seen rain predicted for the weekend. I'm 1about 200km from Flanders tho

 

[dicanio_michael]

I've definately seen rain predicted for the weekend. I'm 1about 200km from Flanders tho

Make some mud and Stybar will be happy

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Who can stay with him, but not outsprint him?

Vanmarcke? Plenty of other guys. But ofc, nobody can stay with him, so who cares

 

[theyoungest]

Well then they were fooled by a joke. Cold and rain? 18C is the forecast. I have checked the forecast all week, and on no occasion have I seen a forecast with less than 13C for Sunday. Most of the time it is 16C+.

Rain, hopefully?
Cold, certainly not.

NOS Journaal is the national tv news of the Netherlands, they weren't fooled by a joke. They had 3 degrees and snow/sleet for Sunday, doesn't have to be the case for Flanders of course.

Gerrans DNS ...

Quite the season it is for the guys who dominated the Tour Down Under. Gerrans, Evans, Porte, Ulissi, Gesink... all gone.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Vanmarcke? Plenty of other guys. But ofc, nobody can stay with him, so who cares

Vanmarcke definitely has a chance at outsprinting him though. Not saying he will, Cancellara has shown to be quite fast himself at times and he beat him last time they rode to the finish together. But it's certainly not a given that Cancellara will just outsprint Vanmarcke, imo.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

NOS Journaal is the national tv news of the Netherlands, they weren't fooled by a joke. They had 3 degrees and snow/sleet for Sunday, doesn't have to be the case for Flanders of course.

http://nos.nl/weer/

They say 17 degrees and rain on their site, though.....

 

[Der Effe]

Thats more of an existential question.

Like why cant you lean against the wall of knowledge.

I laughed out loud, for some reason.

Bring it on boys, best time of the year. The whole year I've been telling people Vanmarcke will win either Paris - Roubaix or de Ronde van Vlaanderen, so don't disappoint please, homeboy!

 

[Kwibus]

NOS Journaal is the national tv news of the Netherlands, they weren't fooled by a joke. They had 3 degrees and snow/sleet for Sunday, doesn't have to be the case for Flanders of course.

Seriously. If it wasn't a joke then they messed up.

I find it hard to believe that NOS made an 1 April joke, but I find it harder to believe they said it would snow and 3 celsius on sunday and that they were serious about it.

 

[Volderke]

Vanmarcke definitely has a chance at outsprinting him though. Not saying he will, Cancellara has shown to be quite fast himself at times and he beat him last time they rode to the finish together. But it's certainly not a given that Cancellara will just outsprint Vanmarcke, imo.

Vanmarcke should have won the sprint in Roubaix, but he had some technicalities:
1. He broke his (high carbon) front wheel at the braking surface, so he opened up his front brake in order not to cause any friction;
2. Cancellara tried to force him to be in first position for the sprint, and because Vanmarcke had his front brake open, he first tried to brake, but then realized it wasn't working and he would come in front anyway, so he had to go to the front, and had to start it from just a bit too far out. (see video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ymzmyClujPs#t=54 )

Just another reason why carbon rims and Roubaix are still no perfect match.

 

[Der Effe]

Weather forecast in Netherlands and Belgium, temperature wise, is almost the same this weekend. 18-20 degrees. Right now the chances of rain are way higher in the Netherlands than in Belgium though, but that could change within a heartbeat.

 

[VeloHuman]

Weather forecast in Netherlands and Belgium, temperature wise, is almost the same this weekend. 18-20 degrees. Right now the chances of rain are way higher in the Netherlands than in Belgium though, but that could change within a heartbeat.

Most of the big favorites do fine in the weather, though over this distance with rain and some cold Sagan probably gets worn down a bit, as we have seen happen before.

 

[Der Effe]

Most of the big favorites do fine in the weather, though over this distance with rain and some cold Sagan probably gets worn down a bit, as we have seen happen before.

Temperatures are in Celsius (64-68 Fahrenheit), I forgot to add.