5 monuments - Cancellara or Gilbert?

[The Hitch]

Two things. There is no such thing as bad luck when racing. And, there were still plenty of favorites left in the bunch that came into San Remo. Any winner of Milan-San Remo is a worthy winner.

On the other. Boonen won first monument at 24/25. Cancellara I think was 27.

None of those two will ever win all five. Neither will Goss.

Cancellara had just turned 25. The other protagonist in this poll was 27 (and 3 months since Pisti is counting months too) though He hasnt won any of the other 4 since but we are told his youth is his advantage

And i really cant see Goss winning LBL or Lombardy or RVV. Maybe PR though

But Pistoleros argument is precisely the reason why he might be able too

Yeah winning San Remo after all the sprinters except you got eliminated through bad luck shows you can win 11+ Monuments and all 5 of them... =/

Precisely. He can win after all the other sprinters get eliminated. A good ability to have.

Which reminds me. A shame Piti wasnt there. This would have been an MSR for him no doubt. If he wasnt such a good GT rider i think he could have done 3 of the 5. Maybe even Flanders.

Only Canc has a shot at all 5 though.

 

[Night Rider]

What favorites where there that were sprinters by the way? Boonen was sick as was Petacchi. Just Haussler.

It's probably easier for me to list it this way. Three sprinters with a chance of winning missed the split Freire, Hushovd and Cav. Cav and team had acknowledged his form was shaky which is exactly why Goss was able to ride his own race.

7 of the top 10 favorites were in the split, sure, not all outright sprinters but still favorites none the less including red hot favorite Haussler and Gilbert.

 

[El Pistolero]

Let him first prove him self in LBL and GdL before spouting nonsense.

Can't say I was surprised to see Canc crawling back on his big words last year. Just wonder what the excuse next year will be.

 

[El Pistolero]

It's probably easier for me to list it this way. Three sprinters with a chance of winning missed the split Freire, Hushovd and Cav. Cav and team had acknowledged his form was shaky which is exactly why Goss was able to ride his own race.

7 of the top 10 favorites were in the split, sure, not all outright sprinters but still favorites none the less including red hot favorite Haussler and Gilbert.

Poggio and Cipressa just aren't selective enough to drop sprinters in top form anymore. So as a sprinter he always had a huge advantage. Kudos to him for hanging on though, but this was a rare MSR. He has yet to prove if he can win without something like this year happening. And he has yet to show any potential in the other classics. I'm not saying he can't, but why say he can if he has yet to ride the Ronde, P-R, LBL and GdL?

Ride them first, then start talking. Not before. Same goes for Cancellara. As it is now he has 0 chance of ever winning LBL and GdL.

 

[The Hitch]

How does that indicate the sport has become more global then let's say 5 years ago?

Pippo's win in 2006 was extremely close and lucky. He benefited from having a strong team thus less chase power by the main peloton.

Just because the home rider didn't win any Monuments this year doesn't mean the sport is so much more global while in reality it's still very much European with the exception of the Aussies growing strong.

And Cunego didn't win Lombardia in 2006, but w/e.

LBL hasn't been won by a Belgian since 1999. MSR hasn't been won by an Italian since 2006. Lombardia hasn't been won by an Italian since 2008. Paris-Roubaix hasn't been won by a Frenchman since 1997.

Flanders has been dominated last years by Belgians yes. But mostly because Quickstep had a killer team. Little to do with nationalities.

I fail to see how this is something new really.

We're talking about globalization of the sport. Cancellara was already on the radar in the cobbled classics 5 years ago.

The only thing that has changed is that Quickstep no longer dominates the classics.
Quickstep 2005: Vlaanderen, Roubaix, Lombardia, Worlds
Quickstep 2006: San Remo, Vlaanderen, Lombardia, Worlds

Of course Italy is no longer going to dominate their 2 Monuments. Rebeliin is banned and really old, Ricco is banned, Cippolini, Bettini and Bartoli are retired, Petacchi is growing older and suffered from asthma problems again, Di Luca was banned and just returned, etc
All they have is Cunego, Ballan and Pozatto as far as classics go. Says enough.

Actually the only home race that's been dominated by same nationalities last decade was Lombardia. Now Gilbert has kicked their *** for 2 years in a row there. Even Flanders has been won 6 times last decade by non-belgians(Tchmil is no Belgian )

In the last decade the following amount of Monuments have been won by "foreigners"

MSR: 8 times
RVV: 6 times
P-R: 11 times
LBL: 11 times
GdL: 2 times

11 times in a decade. Wow, i didnt realise they made LBL a bi annual thing

And Belgians dominating PR has nothing to do with Quickstep. They have won twice as many PR's as France. 53 out of something like 115 editions.

And your right about the "whatever". Because you know 2006 Lombardi while not won by Cunego, was still won by an Italian.

But most importantly, you dont seem to understand the idea of a symbolic moment.

I just said that it was symbolic that this was the first year not 1 monument was won by a home rider. And you come back with some babble about how Cancellara lost 2006 and a video to prove that he was there.

I never said that 2010 was the first year foreigners started racing monuments

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah except 2010 wasn't the first year.

It happened quite a few times already. 1965 for example. Or 1979. Or 2000.

Hardly has any symbolic value.

"Crazy...7h20min. Organzier think we are tools...up and down. Preaty cold weather and snow on top.Watching people skiing on climb sassotetto"

True words of someone who'll win Lombardi and LBL someday

 

[The Hitch]

Yeah except 2010 wasn't the first year.

It happened quite a few times already.

If you count Paris Roubaix as a Flemish race (which is what you have said repeatidly btw) or at least count the Belgians from just accross the border as home riders, then yes 2010 was the first year that non of the monuments were won by a home rider.

 

[El Pistolero]

If you count Paris Roubaix as a Flemish race (which is what you have said repeatidly btw) or at least count the Belgians from just accross the border as home riders, then yes 2010 was the first year that non of the monuments were won by a home rider.

1979:
Milan-San Remo:Roger De Vlaeminck ( Belgium)
Ronde van Vlaanderen: Jan Raas ( Netherlands)
Paris-Roubaix: Francesco Moser ( Italy)
Luik-Bastenaken-Luik: Dietrich Thurau ( Germany)
Lombardia: Bernard Hinault ( France)

What's next, Dutch people are Belgian?

When I said Roubaix was Flemish, I was clearly making a joke as it once was a Flemish city in the middle ages where the locals spoke Dutch. Flanders is the only area in the world that historically belongs to "ancient" France, but is independent of modern day France. Big part of Walloons(the part that didn't belong to the county of Flanders) "belonged" to the Holy Roman Empire(German). I can also claim Luik as a German race then lol.

 

[The Hitch]

After today, im not sure if Gilbert can even manage 3 monuments yet alone 5.

 

[luckyboy]

Unless this finish moves closer to a climb. He'll definitely never win Roubaix.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

he is so strong on the climbs.
But after it, it was melb. all over

roubaix is out of the question. The other 4 (-1) are all gettable.

 

[roundabout]

Unless this finish moves closer to a climb. He'll definitely never win Roubaix.

Yes, they should end all monuments uphill or have 3 km descent or less after the climb.

They should also pave San Fermo della Battaglia with cobbles while they're at at.

 

[luckyboy]

They should end every stage of every race uphill.

And add cobbles into the stage.

And hold them all in the rainy season.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

They should end every stage of every race uphill.

And add cobbles into the stage.

And hold them all in the rainy season.

followed by zoncolan

 

[Havetts]

followed by zoncolan

Cobbled Zoncolan*

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Cobbled Zoncolan*

with pits of fire and dragons protecting every bend in the road

too far ?

 

[Havetts]

with pits of fire and dragons protecting every bend in the road

too far ?

Too far, but I could live with that .

 

[Lanark]

Same problem he had last year in the Gold Race (his attack after the Keutenberg), LBL and the Worlds. He can drop everyone on the climbs, but if there are even 3 or 4 good or decent guys behind him, they can easily catch him. He should really change his training schedule, sacrifice some of his explosiveness on the climbs, and improve his endurance.

 

[The Hitch]

Id like to think my pre RVV prediction analysis was correct

And then what.

Gilberts problem is always the bit after the hill. A descent and 5k flat after it and Gilbert will fail like he did as favourite in Geelong.

Fortunately RVV doesnt finish on the Muur van Geraardsbergen, and there is some flat there.

So yes Gilbert can drop Cancellara on this Muur. Problem is the second the Muur is over and Gilbert gets on the flat, Canc will catch him faster than he can say "Ill only ever win Lombardy and maybe Liege"

This is what happened i think. No?

 

[El Pistolero]

Id like to think my pre RVV prediction analysis was correct


This is what happened i think. No?

All I saw live at the Muur was Cancellara cracking really fast

I was a bit surprised he got caught as he had a minute advantage.

I think it's safe to say neither of them will ever win 5 Monuments.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Id like to think my pre RVV prediction analysis was correct


This is what happened i think. No?

you suggested the obvious, would you like a medal sir

Gilbert (like lanark suggest) needs to work on endurance.

 

[Christian]

If Cancellara podiums again in Roubaix, he'll have podiumed in every monument so far this year. Granted it's the three he's won before but still pretty darn impressive

 

[rghysens]

I think it's safe to say neither of them will ever win 5 Monuments.

Different monuments, you mean? It wouldn't surprise if Cancellara gets his 5th monument next week.

 

[The Hitch]

Different monuments, you mean? It wouldn't surprise if Cancellara gets his 5th monument next week.

He means different monuments, though i believe if he focuses on hlls he can manage LBL and GDL

 

[bicing]

If 5 monuments is Gilbert's goal, I think he should keep his training schedule as it is until he wins Liege. That's the one he's been dreaming about since he was a kid. From there, he'll work on his endurance and his flats riding so he could be more suited to MSR and the RVV finish. That said he has won Paris-Tours a couple of times, so he CAN manage to break free on the flat. He's well suited to Liege, and he's desperate to win it. After that he'll evolve himself...