2015 Paris - Roubaix, 12th April 1.UWT, 253.5 Km

[Pulp]

Would not bet on this event on bet365, Horrendous odds compared to betfair.. Kristoff: 5 vs 6,8, Vanmarcke 12 vs 14,5. Boom 12 vs 17.. Don`t know if the odds is higher on bet365 compared to betfair.. Not at first glance. Wiggins much the same though.. 8,5 vs 9.. Strangley low in both markets.

 

[Jagartrott]

Re: Re:

It's going to be completely dry and sunny with temperatures above 15C...

The question is how heavyly it rained today. If there was really strong rain the cobbles are maybe a little bit wet.

The Trouée d'Arenberg may be still humid, because it's in between the trees.
It's also the first section when there is some kind of selection being made, so many, many riders will try to get through first there. I predict hell.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Re: Re:

I predict hell.

Hell? In the north?

 

[DirtyWorks]

Re: Re:

Did Wiggo attacked once in any race he has been? How is he supposed to win PR? Maybe the wonder rear suspension bikes will help him ride everybody off his wheel.

That's easier said than done for most though. If there was one race where I could believe Wiggo winning something besides a TT, this would be the race.... under excellent conditions... Tomorrow seems like excellent conditions.

The pave should be **very** fast as long as there isn't much standing water. And very fast for everyone as the dust should be almost non-existent.

Anyone have the wind forecast? We might get lucky and get some decent winds.

Decent tail/crosswind from southwest or west.

Let's hope they are up by the start!!! It's what we need to force the weak out and start the test early.

FYI: the ~10K run into the Arenberg sector is actually harder than Arenberg itself. Unfortunately, the last few years they don't quite get that across on the tele. The slight downhill makes it very dramatic.

 

[hfer07]

kristoff to do the double

 

[Dedelou]

a dry Roubaix ride. dust in the air, hard ground when the hip hits the shoulders. Tomorrow is Hell for all and for me Any winnner besides Wiggins will make it a glorious Race

 

[elfed68]

Not sure the forum will survive,but Sir can do this.Hopefully someone from Sky told him that he needs to attack at some point

That's the massive problem, he's not the attacking type, prove me wrong Wiggo!!!!

 

[Moviefan1203]

Is there anywhere to watch this in the United States? I know neither NBC Sports or Universal Sports are carrying it on TV.

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Is there anywhere to watch this in the United States? I know neither NBC Sports or Universal Sports are carrying it on TV.

Go to Steephill.tv click the Roubaix page and near the bottom there are links to free streams. You can usually find one that is pretty good quality.

 

[Escarabajo]

I want to see a forum meltdown. LOL. Wigo FTW!

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

I want to see a forum meltdown. LOL. Wigo FTW!

Can you imagine if Porte won the Giro and Froome won the Tour as well. I think in weather terms it is called a Super Cell. Porte remains the less likely but the other two are not unlikely. Wiggins rode well last year and has prepared better this year for Roubaix.

 

[indianfanboy]

So much hype about Wiggo...in the media he has already won the race lol
He is not even in my top five riders to win coz he can be easily ousprinted,dont think he can destroy others in the cobbles and i think Terpstra has a bigger engine for this race than him at the moment(considering the cobbles)
Wiggins will be hoping it will come to a scenario like last year where Terpstra got away and he can do it this year

 

[indianfanboy]

Re: Re:

I want to see a forum meltdown. LOL. Wigo FTW!

Can you imagine if Porte won the Giro and Froome won the Tour as well. I think in weather terms it is called a Super Cell. Porte remains the less likely but the other two are not unlikely. Wiggins rode well last year and has prepared better this year for Roubaix.

i would die of watching the Eurosport commentators praise team Sky

 

[Volderke]

Ohh god, he was slowed to 5km/h, how was he supposed to chase them down when all of them were almost on their limits?
You should try some racing,then you may understand

I have done a fair amount of racing, but it's sad when you have to take this personal. But hey, what do you know in Prague without any decent coverage of the race, while I can ride those cobbles any day and watch the race live in HD?

Because you only have youtube to analyse previous races, I do recommend you to actually watch the race...

this was last year on Carrefour de l'arbre:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... sVc#t=8116
Vanmarcke upping the pace and Cancellara / Stybar just suffering. Terpstra was not even able to follow Vanmarcke.

this was the year before on the same place:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... yuQ#t=6618

If you care to analyse, you see Vanmarcke is the best cobbles rider of the last 2 years.
Cancellara is happy to follow.
Stybar is happy to follow, but if he is slowed down (to approx. 20/h), he looses it. He doesn't have the big engine.
Terpstra is more than happy to follow, because he could simply not follow! Don't forget that...
Same with Kristoff. They can only win with some tactic games in the lead group, e.g. if guys like Vanmarcke stop riding in the front.

Admitted Vanmarcke is showing signs of early form this year and going downhill from GW on. And Terpstra / Kristoff look stronger this year than last year. But what you fail to see is that there is a higher level of cobble riders than those 2. They consist of 3-4 guys: Stijn Vandenbergh, Sep Vanmarcke, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara. Unfortunately, 2 of them are out, Vandenbergh is pushed in a helper's role and Vanmarcke is not the greatest of shapes. So this race will always be one with an open and degraded field... And Vanmarcke still the favorite.
So please stop calling Vanmarcke a whiner when you clearly don't know too much of the sport, reading your comments.

And I see no one mentions Devolder? The guy can ride cobbles and he can TT. If he is in the mix, he will be dangerous...

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Ohh god, he was slowed to 5km/h, how was he supposed to chase them down when all of them were almost on their limits?
You should try some racing,then you may understand

I have done a fair amount of racing, but it's sad when you have to take this personal. But hey, what do you know in Prague without any decent coverage of the race, while I can ride those cobbles any day and watch the race live in HD?

Because you only have youtube to analyse previous races, I do recommend you to actually watch the race...

this was last year on Carrefour de l'arbre:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... sVc#t=8116
Vanmarcke upping the pace and Cancellara / Stybar just suffering. Terpstra was not even able to follow Vanmarcke.

this was the year before on the same place:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... yuQ#t=6618

If you care to analyse, you see Vanmarcke is the best cobbles rider of the last 2 years.
Cancellara is happy to follow.
Stybar is happy to follow, but if he is slowed down (to approx. 20/h), he looses it. He doesn't have the big engine.
Terpstra is more than happy to follow, because he could simply not follow! Don't forget that...
Same with Kristoff. They can only win with some tactic games in the lead group, e.g. if guys like Vanmarcke stop riding in the front.

Admitted Vanmarcke is showing signs of early form this year and going downhill from GW on. And Terpstra / Kristoff look stronger this year than last year. But what you fail to see is that there is a higher level of cobble riders than those 2. They consist of 3-4 guys: Stijn Vandenbergh, Sep Vanmarcke, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara. Unfortunately, 2 of them are out, Vandenbergh is pushed in a helper's role and Vanmarcke is not the greatest of shapes. So this race will always be one with an open and degraded field... And Vanmarcke still the favorite.
So please stop calling Vanmarcke a whiner when you clearly don't know too much of the sport, reading your comments.

And I see no one mentions Devolder? The guy can ride cobbles and he can TT. If he is in the mix, he will be dangerous...

Not true. In 2013, everybody was racing against Fabian. Yet he closed down every single move because his team was ****. He was by far the strongest that year

 

[jaylew]

My take:

*****Terpstra, Kristoff
****Stybar, GVA, Sagan
***Vanmarcke, Degenkolb, Thomas
**Vandenbergh, Boom, Roelandts, Greipel
*Devolder, Pozzato, Oss, Paolini, Debusschere, Stannard, Wiggins

Hate to say it, but barring bad luck (entirely possible), I think Kristoff will be hard to beat.

Most pressure on 3 guys who really need a breakthrough - GVA, Sep, and Sagan

Don't buy: Wiggins, Démare (hasn't won a race all year)

Not sold on Boom as a top condender yet.

 

[Flamin]

Degenkolb is the guy for me. Good luck dropping him.

This Kristoff hype, on cobbles, I don't believe in it at all.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

The Wiggins hype has reached stratospheric levels. The sooner he's out of the race tomorrow, the better.

He made it into the lead group, last year (???) before Terpstra left.

When he's done well, he's basically paced his way back into a lead group. He'd need to launch a blistering attack AND have a teammate with him to defend while in a lead group. These things I just don't see happening. Sky's team strategy and on-road team tactics are just terrible for these races.

This coming from someone who put Wiggo's chances near zero on the last P-R, so....

Did Wiggo attacked once in any race he has been? How is he supposed to win PR? Maybe the wonder rear suspension bikes will help him ride everybody off his wheel.

Uh, he attacked in last year's Paris-Roubaix

The day is finally here! Hopefully Wiggins will end his road race career with a Paris-Roubaix under his belt! Realistically, Kristoff will probably destroy all life.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

I hope mine and Hugo Koblet's avatar win, but as not to jinks him i'm going with Bradley on this one. Go Wiggo

Go Styby

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Oh! Also they started 8 minutes ago.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Lol the Wiggo hype. You can simply sense a fall at 80km and him DNF-ing incoming

 

[Yingge]

Given that the CN Live Coverage Clock is once again 1 hour ahead (most recent entry is 11:53 CEST), we should see the report of the Wiggins DNF there first.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Interesting. Pozzato claims he was ill last weekend and has much better legs now.

 

[SeriousSam]

Cobble riding specialists Wiggins and Kristoff going to ride away and do the last 100km together, Wiggins will then win the sprint at the velodrome.

 

[Kwibus]

Tailwind is very high chances for attackers and I certainly hope to see aggresive racing from the favourites early on. Attacks can stick with the tailwind and nobody has a chance to recover from the cobbles. Domestiques riding in the last 50k has often been useless.