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

[Netserk]

I do like Metallica. For me:

Master of Puppets
And Justice
Ride the Lightning
Metallica (Black Album)
Kill em All

Load sucked and I never gave anything after that a real shot.

I have RtL in 2nd place

What I mean is that yes I get how strong he is, and how impressive results he has got, but many still overrate him. I've seen several posters claiming him to be a better classics rider than both Bettini and Boonen. Not besides, but clearly over both of them. That is imo overrating him.

 

[Afrank]

So because he is really good, he can't be overrated?

That's absurd.

I know how good he is. He is truly great, one of the legends. Still overrated.

He's not overrated because he isn't hyped up a ton and then doesn't live up to said hype. He's talked about as a favorite to win time trials and one days. And he lives up to that and wins or places high in those time trials and one days.

If people started talking about him like a GT contender and hyping him up to win other hilly races mostly won by climbers, then he would be overrated.

 

[Bushman]

It still is pretty easy to say who was stronger in each year imo.

Canc was stronger in 2010, 2011 and this year.

Boonen was stronger in 2012

It's impossible to known about 2013 as Boonen never really got going that season but it would have been great if he was at his 2012 level. If that were the case imo Canc would have won the Ronde and Boonen Roubaix.

Pre 2010 is not really much of a discussion. . . . Damn Devolder

Cancellara broke his collarbone in RVV...

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

If people started talking about him like a GT contender and hyping him up to win other hilly races mostly won by climbers, then he would be overrated.

You mean like last WC RR?

(Although, he did perform very well in WC and Olympic RR in hilly parcours before)

 

[The Hitch]

Boonen was stronger in 2012

It's impossible to known about 2013 as Boonen never really got going that season but it would have been great if he was at his 2012 level.

I think you have just totally discredited yourself as a poster.

Canc crashes out of 2012. Boonen wins double - Boonen was stronger
Boonen crashes out of 2013. Canc wins double - we don't know.

 

[Netserk]

Here is a poll.
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=19502

This is back from when Boonen had 7 monuments to Cancellara's 4.

You think it will be different now that they are tied on 7 each?

Thanks for linking to that poll. Clear evidence of Canc being overrated.

 

[Christian]

Nets what you must also consider though is that there are many who underrate him. He has been called "one-trick-pony" on this forum for as long as I remember, and everytime he finishes 2nd in an itt to Martin, his career is clearly over. So I would say if there are people who overrate him (though you yourself call him a legend, so what can be higher than a legend?) I'd say it equals out

 

[Parrulo]

I think you have just totally discredited yourself as a poster.

Canc crashes out of 2012. Boonen wins double - Boonen was stronger
Boonen crashes out of 2013. Canc wins double - we don't know.

Oh my, i just discredited myself as a poster. What will i do with my life?

Keep that bs type of stuff for someone that cares.

Canc crashed out in april, Boonen in december.

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

 

[benpounder]

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.

 

[pastronef]

Id say for him in a race completely against his style that's really good.
Brilliant race to watch and congrats to Fabian. His win won me about £1.50...

yes, I always kept an eye on the back of the main group, from helicopter camera and from fix cameras and the climbs, and Wiggo never lost the main group, until the last kwaremont.

 

[Afrank]

You mean like last WC RR?

(Although, he did perform very well in WC and Olympic RR in hilly parcours before)

He was 10th in that road race. That's still up there. Course turned out to be more tilted towards the climber then expected. But 10th on a climbers course isn't bad.

 

[The Hitch]

Yeah, can't really fault Vanmarcke. He doesn't ride with the goal of making Cancellara lose, he rides to win himself. He is extremely strong, not afraid to work, fast, I'm sure he'll wil plenty of big races in the future. Cancellara has been in plenty of situations like Vanmarcke was today, and eventually became stronger and smarter because of it. When Cancellara en Boonen get weaker in the next couple of years (if that hasn't already happened for Boonen), Vanmarcke could become the big man in these races. Certainly in Roubaix.

That's exactly what I am saying

 

[maltiv]

It's really ridiculous how much stronger Kristoff suddenly gets after riding 230 kilometers or so. What an incredible endurance he has!

He's like the complete opposite of Boasson Hagen...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well one thing is for sure, I've never seen anyone in the past few years putting so much hurt on Cancellara on a flat piece of asphalt in a road race.. The moment Vanmarcke closed that gap to GVA/Vandenbergh I think Cancellara was at the breaking point

 

[Afrank]

When you say Cancellara and Boonen are the 2 best classics riders of the past decade or something like, you are being fair.

When you say Cancellara is clearly GOAT like you were just saying, you are overrating him.

I didn't say he was the greatest of all time. I said I rate him as the stronger compared to Boonen. Boonen may beat Cancellara in quantity of classics won, but he also has a wider skill set then Cancellara. And when Cancellara wins, he does it in grand fashion. Not to say Boonen hasn't won races in grand fashion also, but Cancellara's rides impress me more then Boonens.

 

[spalco]

Awesome race. Fantastic race...

Cancellara won and didnt steal anything. Just a very smart tactical race.
Vanmarcke once again showed he is getting better and belonga with the best, a bit more experience and Cancellara wouldnt have played him.
Van avermaet...wow what a race. Would have loved to see him win this one, but it is not meant to be for him. He rode fantastic today though.

I don't even think it's fair to say Vanmarcke was played by Cancellara. Had VanM not chased and the gap opened up, people here would have called him a stupid wheelsucker.

 

[roundabout]

It's really ridiculous how much stronger Kristoff suddenly gets after riding 230 kilometers or so. What an incredible endurance he has!

He's like the complete opposite of Boasson Hagen...

A few years ago endurance was the biggest concern

 

[Parrulo]

Imo Vanmarcke is not so much the future as he is the present.

The guy is a beast and looked as strong as Canc on the bergs and last year in Roubaix. His big win is now only a question of when will happen.

It wouldn't surprise me if it happened next week with the way he is going, he just needs to calm himself down a bit. Yes he is racing for himself but he should use his "lower" status as a card to improve his chances of winning as no one remembers the moral winners.

 

[The Hitch]

He's definitely a huge favorite there.

I disagree. And I'm not saying that as a fan defense - oh Cancellara wont win wah wah wah, so that I don't feel disapointed if he doesn't. I think it's very possible that he does.

But I also think its far less certain than it was in 2010 and 2013 becuase both of those times he crushed everyone in Ronde on pure strenght and rode in solo.

This time round however he could not shake Vanmarke at all. And that will be his main opponent for Roubaix.

Also last year he couldn't shake Vanmarke in Roubaix. So he seems to be losing his strengh and is relying on sprints he is no way certain to win.

And we also need to factor in OPQS. They were appauling today tactically, but lets remember what screwed them over in Roubaix last year were fluke fan crashes. Vandenbergh and Terpstra at the least will be very good for the Roubaix cobbles. Boonen and Stybar I am less sure of, they haven't shown much yet.

So I agree he is the favourite, but its not anywhere near the foregone conclusion.

 

[Bushman]

Cancellara crashed on the Ronde and that ended his cobbled season. But he was having a normal season without any bad luck up to that point.

Boonen spent a good part of his off-season and early season on the hospital over 2 different serious health problems.

Can you spot a difference?

What? Cancellara was looking very strong in Strade Bianchi and MSR 2012.

 

[Bushman]

Oh my, i just discredited myself as a poster. What will i do with my life?

Keep that bs type of stuff for someone that cares.

Canc crashed out in april, Boonen in december.

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

But what the hell does it matter when they crashed out? They didn't get to ride against each other both years, so claiming that one year we know who is stronger, the other year we dont know, is just bias towards one of the riders (in this case Boonen).

 

[Hugo Koblet]

A few years ago endurance was the biggest concern

On Danish TV they said that he does some crazy long training rides.

 

[Descender]

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

 

[Miburo]

Looked the strongest in every race before the ronde. Just like Cancellara looked last year and this year. It usually is a good sign of form.

But ofc for Cancellara fans Cancellara is always stronger every time, their memory also doesn't go further back than 2010.

I'm a Boonen fan lol So ad hominem failed.

Cancellara looked really strong in 2012, when did he look bad in that year before his crash?

 

[The Hitch]

Nets what you must also consider though is that there are many who underrate him. He has been called "one-trick-pony" on this forum for as long as I remember, and everytime he finishes 2nd in an itt to Martin, his career is clearly over.

Pedantic I know, but Cancellara has only ever finished 2nd in a tt to Martin once and that was in 2010