95th Ronde van Vlaanderen - April 3 2011

[El Pistolero]

Gonna be Boonen

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Rabobank:

Boom, Langeveld, Flens, Wynants, Tjallingi, Leezer, Vermeltfoort and Van Winden.

I think the best they can hope for is a top 10. Langeveld is past his top shape and Boom will struggle with with 220km+ distance. Maybe if they get lucky and have a guy in a group that goes before the favorites, and everyone keeps looking at eachother behind, they might get lucky. But that's it.

Yeah.
Boom has been uninspiring this spring. Doubt were gonna see much from him here. The distances might be too much, hope not.

Langeveld has been quiet since omloop.
Wouldn't be surprised if Tjallingi was the best placed rabo rider... I'm gonna say 14th

 

[ak-zaaf]

I'm mooiste with excitement!

Wat?


Don't know if it came up yet, but you can sign a petition to keep the current parcours here: www.houderondehier.be

 

[El Pistolero]

I'm ready for a change, something like the Koppenberg in the final would be cool.

Ninove is quite a stupid city, so it's not like the finish is decent.

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah.
Boom has been uninspiring this spring. Doubt were gonna see much from him here. The distances might be too much, hope not.

Langeveld has been quiet since omloop.
Wouldn't be surprised if Tjallingi was the best placed rabo rider... I'm gonna say 14th

Boom had a cold last week, during E3 and Gent-Wevelgem. And he still did alright. He reportedly got closest to Cancellara when he attacked in the E3, unfortunately we didn't get to see any of it. Which is too bad, because those are the races he could (potentially) win. The Ronde and Roubaix are simply too long.

Rabo will fail yet again in the Flanders classics, but that's what you get for signing injured riders.

 

[El Pistolero]

Boom had a cold last week, during E3 and Gent-Wevelgem. And he still did alright. He reportedly got closest to Cancellara when he attacked in the E3, unfortunately we didn't get to see any of it. Which is too bad, because those are the races he could (potentially) win. The Ronde and Roubaix are simply too long.

Rabo will fail yet again in the Flanders classics, but that's what you get for signing injured riders.

To be honest, I think Freire could do something at Flanders if he had more motivation and experience(and less injuries).

 

[Lanark]

Boom had a cold last week, during E3 and Gent-Wevelgem. And he still did alright. He reportedly got closest to Cancellara when he attacked in the E3, unfortunately we didn't get to see any of it. Which is too bad, because those are the races he could (potentially) win. The Ronde and Roubaix are simply too long.

Rabo will fail yet again in the Flanders classics, but that's what you get for signing injured riders.

We did, you could see he was the first rider after Cancellara who got on the descent after the Oude Kwaremont, with a small gap on (I think) Leukemans and Hoste. Of course, because Cancellara didn't rest, he had zero chance to get back to him, but then who does?

I think Boom did quite decently this weekend, but I agree that De Ronde will be far too long for him, it would be a big improvement if he can make it till De Muur, but I doubt that.

 

[theyoungest]

We did, you could see he was the first rider after Cancellara who got on the descent after the Oude Kwaremont, with a small gap on (I think) Leukemans and Hoste. Of course, because Cancellara didn't rest, he had zero chance to get back to him, but then who does?

I think Boom did quite decently this weekend, but I agree that De Ronde will be far too long for him, it would be a big improvement if he can make it till De Muur, but I doubt that.

Yeah, but I'd liked to have seen what actually happened on the Oude Kwaremont. Now we'll just have to go by Karl Vannieuwkerke, who couldn't find words to describe what he just saw.

 

[El Pistolero]

Meh, the gap on Boom wasn't that big, so I doubt it was all that impressive. Boom still is a second tier cyclist on them cobbles.

 

[Havetts]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOZCXiaaSpU

You can see at 2:20 Boom coming out of the corner shortly behind Cancellara.

 

[theyoungest]

Meh, the gap on Boom wasn't that big, so I doubt it was all that impressive. Boom still is a second tier cyclist on them cobbles.

The other riders were free to follow Cancellara if they could

Boom is a second or third tier cyclist on cobbles, but there's one thing he does very well: the short power explosion. Not a lot of riders can match that. He just can't do it after 200+ km.

 

[El Pistolero]

The other riders were free to follow Cancellara if they could

I was impressed by what he did after the Kwaremont. But if his acceleration was that impressive he would've opened a larger gap on the kwaremont.
And let's be honest here, a lot of good guys weren't there.

 

[theyoungest]

I was impressed by what he did after the Kwaremont. But if his acceleration was that impressive he would've opened a larger gap on the kwaremont.
And let's be honest here, a lot of good guys weren't there.

Something tells me he'd have ridden those "good guys" to smithereens as well... who do you think could have kept up with him?

 

[Lanark]

Devolder said it was the most impressive thing he had seen in his entire carreer, Leukemans said that if Cancellara is this good in Vlaanderen, there's no way anyone else will win. Let's just stop trying to downplay is demonstration in the E3, there is little room for it.

 

[El Pistolero]

Something tells me he'd have ridden those "good guys" to smithereens as well... who do you think could have kept up with him?

Because some of these guys don't ride for second place in all the races they start.

 

[theyoungest]

Because some of these guys don't ride for second place in all the races they start.

You can't be serious...

 

[Kwibus]

You can't be serious...

Oh please let's not start a discussion with El Pistolero about this.

 

[Granville57]

I want a nasty, disgusting amount of rain...just DEPLORABLE conditions. I want to see unexpected breaks, crashes (not wishing injuries) that catch some of the favorites out because they are held up, dramatic chases, Gilbert hitting the front for no reason, Hincapie being talked about early and then not being able to find him for about the last hour or so, Boonen showing up from seemingly nowhere, a break consisting of well known names all of whom are good, but not good enough to actually pull it out, and everything blowing apart on the muur. I relize that in all of that, Canc will catch whomever is in front at some point (without the help of anyone), drop them, and ride solo to the win, but still, I want it to be messy and nasty while he is doing it. I want to see those pictures of the rider's faces post-race where they look like someone put them on the rack and tortured them for 6 hours. I want to see grime and those clean marks (the only ones on their faces) starting from the corners of their mouths down their chins after they have gulped down a couple of bottles of water. I want to see riders standing next to their bikes with their outstretched arms holding on to their bars and seat, bent completely over, struggling breathe and cope with what they just undertook. Da*m I love the spring classics!

Works for me!

 

[luckyboy]

The Koppenberg cobble theft on CN is the April Fool then.


Also this - Koppenberg, Oude Kwaremont, Muur-Kapelmuur to be paved over.

I actually fell for a story in the newspaper today that Portugal was selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Spain for €160m to ease their financial crisis

 

[ak-zaaf]

The Koppenberg cobble theft on CN is the April Fool then.


Also this - Koppenberg, Oude Kwaremont, Muur-Kapelmuur to be paved over.

“The steps taken by the provincial governments have paved the way for a better future for transportation in East and West Flanders,” said parliamentary representative Dirk DeLeugenaar.


hehehehe =/

 

[luckyboy]

Haha ......

 

[El Pistolero]

Devolder said it was the most impressive thing he had seen in his entire carreer, Leukemans said that if Cancellara is this good in Vlaanderen, there's no way anyone else will win. Let's just stop trying to downplay is demonstration in the E3, there is little room for it.

Ah, the same Devolder who recently said he won the Ronde twice despite having to work for Boonen?

Good one!
Seriously, the guy races 2 days a year. Not hard to impress him I suppose. What Cancellara did was impressive, but it would have been game over for him with all his mechanicals if Boonen, Gilbert, Flecha and all the others were there. Some of you guys seem to be downplaying Gilbert's win at Lombardia because of the so called weak field, but for Cancellara there's no room for it? E3 Prijs had a weak field, that's a fact.

Your comment about these two riders just prove my point that they're totally riding for second place sunday. Losers.

Is Cancellara the top favorite? Yes.
Does the top favorite always win? No.

 

[taiwan]

Voeckler FTW!

just thought I'd "throw that out there".

 

[LugHugger]

Voeckler FTW!

just thought I'd "throw that out there".

IF he was riding and that happened, I think I might cry tears of joy

 

[The Hitch]

That's a good book. Gonna read through some before De Ronde + Roubaix.



I have ridden some of the TdF 07 Prologue route

Did you cycle here from Wales?

Ah, the same Devolder who recently said he won the Ronde twice despite having to work for Boonen?

Good one!
Seriously, the guy races 2 days a year. Not hard to impress him I suppose. What Cancellara did was impressive, but it would have been game over for him with all his mechanicals if Boonen, Gilbert, Flecha and all the others were there. Some of you guys seem to be downplaying Gilbert's win at Lombardia because of the so called weak field, but for Cancellara there's no room for it? E3 Prijs had a weak field, that's a fact.

Your comment about these two riders just prove my point that they're totally riding for second place sunday. Losers.

Is Cancellara the top favorite? Yes.
Does the top favorite always win? No.

Your posts on many occasions use the clause "some of you say... so you cant say...."

Who is "some of you". Some people might have said that Gilbert at Lombardy was unimpressive. I dont remember it though maybe c&ccfan.

please show quotes of people saying this.

And your put down of Devolder is pretty weak. He once said something in the heat of the moment which is likely to be true and so he cant be trusted regarding Cancellara.

Also consider that those who may have said it arent neccesarily the same people who are now saying Cancellaras win was awesome.

You also need to understand the concept of repeating a feat being more impressive than the original success.

E3 2010 ok he had a good dayRVV,Boonens chain slipped, PR, well the bunch didnt work. ANd yet, goes into E3 2011 as the favourite and again rides away from them as if they were u23 riders.

And if you want to compare Cancellara E3 to Gilbert GDL (your choice) well I do think Canc daring people to follow him and flying away from them was more outrageous.