95th Ronde van Vlaanderen - April 3 2011

[Cimber]

I can undestand that people want to have an exiting race like today, but a Cancellara win in the sprint wouldn't have changed anything to the exitement of the race since he was caught 10 km before the finish?.. - that's what I don't undestand.

True, but I think ppl is happy that his initial break-away didnt succeed. And also he was THE favorite, and ppl often like to see someone else that the huge favorite win.

 

[Dedelou]

On Belgium Tv Chav basically said he was told to wait for Boonen and not attack Canc.

Canc said he had cramp on the muur and wasnt attacking anyone at that point, he also said he would have stayed away if chav has cooperated, however he realised he wasnt going to, as boonen was just behind.

So Chav should have attacked on the muur and he may well have stayed away

That is a "should " you must twitter to the Quick Step DS.. You could land yourself a place in the team care for PR

 

[Archibald]

I loved the new feature with the cameras in the team cars, the footage of Riis and cohorts alone would be worth it.

we were p*ssing ourselves on the Muur when they showed that on the big screen. Not so many thought that the Quickstep car footage at the finish was so funny...

 

[Andre.J]

I'm happy for Nuyens. Great show by Boonen and Gilbert,(would have preferred one of them to win, but good to share the wealth), and of course very well done Chavanel.

Andre

 

[ingsve]

It has nothing to do with not taking pulls, but to be content with taking third and thus taking no chances and risks whatsoever, only counting on a sprint and nothing else. I think it is partially due to this that the Garmin riders were completely out of position when they came to the muur

Well, it's not like Garmin are a team that has tons of wins in monuments so that wins is the only thing that matters. Getting 3rd would still be a result they would be happy with while a team that has won lots of monuments wouldn't care much about 3rd. They're not Quick Step.

 

[Barrus]

Well, it's not like Garmin are a team that has tons of wins in monuments so that wins is the only thing that matters. Getting 3rd would still be a result they would be happy with while a team that has won lots of monuments wouldn't care much about 3rd. They're not Quick Step.

I believe with the talent that they have that such an attitude would be detrimental, they have the potential and the talent to win classics and should race for this possibility.

 

[flicker]

I hate to interrupt the festival of hate, but what Vaughter's tweeted does actually fit. Garmin were screwed by that point, with their main Classics riders cooked. Having Farrar hang on and hope for a sprint was a sensible tactical decision. What was he supposed to do? Send his non-existent bunch of fresh contenders to the front?

I don't think a decision to have Farrar ease up reflects badly on Garmin. I do think however that the fact that only Farrar was in a position to even consider pulling on the front at that point in the race pretty clearly demolishes the Classics 'superteam" hype.

I agree, for whatever reason Garmin was cooked. I think that out of respect for the race it is better in this case to have Farrar contest the sprint. No point in interfering with the players.

 

[luckyboy]

we were p*ssing ourselves on the Muur when they showed that on the big screen. Not so many thought that the Quickstep car footage at the finish was so funny...

Didn't see what happened in the QST car.

 

[jaylew]

I believe with the talent that they have that such an attitude would be detrimental, they have the potential and the talent to win classics and should race for this possibility.

Which is what they did. The only chance they had to win (extremely slim at that point) was to sit in and hope for a sprint.

 

[Cobblestones]

Id like to take a moment to make a special, "We were right, you were Wrong" pitch for me and roundabout who said Cancellara would get caught immediately after the attack, against the flurry of "game over" posts


I know it might sound egomaniacal to do this but then, i could have made a thread out of it, and at the time it really did seem like us vs the world.

Anyway here is the hall of fame from the first couple of minutes after the attack.

Against.

Nicely done boys.

Nicely done

You're overreaching. Some of the comments are really questions of the type 'is this it?' etc. My own two comments 'Wow that was exciting' and 'They are not even chasing' were simple observations and correct at the time. Boonen et al. did drop back to wait for the BMC train. And even they didn't make up much time until Cance cramped up before the Muur.

 

[Barrus]

Which is what they did. The only chance they had to win (extremely slim at that point) was to sit in and hope for a sprint.

That's not what was said, they rode for third at best. The team seemed to have bowed down to Canc and already granted either him or Chav the win

 

[jaylew]

JV actually said they were riding for 1st or 3rd.

Lets be honest. Their riders weren't strong enough today. Their only slim hope was to hope BMC pulled it back, somehow Farrar or Thor were able to follow wheels during the last attacks and take it to a sprint. Both were likely to be dropped on the Muur (which happened) and it certainly would have occurred had they worked on the front prior to the climb. BMC had 7 guys, it was on them. Different story if Garmin has any workers left but all they had were their two fast men, who were both obviously struggling when the race got tough.

 

[Flamin]

Museeuw: "But I was behind him when he was in the break with Chavanel and he kept asking for food and bottles and that was a moment I thought to myself that he was in a little bit of trouble."

Most likely the reason he collapsed. Forgot to eat and drink. What a pity. He was almost begging to other teams' carriers for a bottle.

 

[flicker]

That's not what was said, they rode for third at best. The team seemed to have bowed down to Canc and already granted either him or Chav the win

cycling is a team sport Barrus. They had no chance for a podium Vaughters recognized. If they had chased it would have been worse than Pozatto chasing Gilbert in MSR. It would have fouled the true results.

 

[killswitch]

Interesting comments by Museeuw

Asked if he thought Cancellara attacked too soon, Museeuw was quick to respond: "What's too soon if you saw Cancellara last Saturday at E3 when he controlled the race? But I was behind him when he was in the break with Chavanel and he kept asking for food and bottles and that was a moment I thought to myself that he was in a little bit of trouble. He opened up the race though. He made it what it was."

Museeuw's only criticism over race tactics was pointed towards Quick Step, although he did admit the value of hindsight when forging his post-race opinion.

"Maybe you can look at the tactics of Quick Step," he said.

"I would have let Chavanel ride with Cancellara. He was stronger than Boonen and you saw him beat Cancellara in the sprint. After it's easy to say though, I know this. For me Chavanel was the strongest rider in the race so that's why I think they played the wrong tactics. But we don't know what they were saying in the radios. Chavanel isn't the leader of the team but today he was stronger than his leader.”

 

[Cimber]

Video from the Saxo Bank-Sungard car

http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/vide...an_Vlaanderen_2011/MG_RVV11_reacties/1.995646

 

[Roland Rat]

Wow, that's a lot of posts. Just skimmed through the last 30 pages. A couple of things:

1. Re Boonen's attack. The only reason it looks stupid now is because he couldn't hang on to Cancellara's wheel. No-one says it's stupid when teams send a rider up the road in the TdF mountains for the leader to bridge to. If he'd managed that extra 3 metres and got on the wheel, it would have been him and Chavanel vs Cancellara. 2 Quickstep v Cancellara. That would have been a race-winning position for QS, and two podium places.

2. Re JV. He made the right call at that time, if Thor and Farrar started pulling then the race was lost anyway and getting 3rd is better than towing everyone else up and coming home 15th. The big mistake (if it was a mistake) was that neither Thor nor Farrar were in a position to/had the legs to make the selection on the Muur.

 

[Damiano]

Where did Pozzato go??? He didnt finish ...

Actually he did. 38th.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Id like to take a moment to make a special, "We were right, you were Wrong" pitch for me and roundabout who said Cancellara would get caught immediately after the attack, against the flurry of "game over" posts


I know it might sound egomaniacal to do this but then, i could have made a thread out of it, and at the time it really did seem like us vs the world.

Anyway here is the hall of fame from the first couple of minutes after the attack.
Against.
Nicely done boys.

Nicely done

Somehow, I am now happy that I missed some 10 minutes and Cancellara attack.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I have a feeling that when the time was going down super fast near the base of the kapelmurr that it might of been a bit of an error. Cancellara would of have to of been going very slowly for the clock to go down that fast. I think time gap on the screen was incorrect. Yes FC did slow but not to that extent.

 

[red_flanders]

1. Re Boonen's attack. The only reason it looks stupid now is because he couldn't hang on to Cancellara's wheel. No-one says it's stupid when teams send a rider up the road in the TdF mountains for the leader to bridge to. If he'd managed that extra 3 metres and got on the wheel, it would have been him and Chavanel vs Cancellara. 2 Quickstep v Cancellara. That would have been a race-winning position for QS, and two podium places

I see it very differently, I think it was in theory a bad attack because he attacked his teammate. In practice it got Cancellara up the road and wore him out a bit, allowing for Nuyens to win, meaning it was a great attack. Not for QS, but for the race in general.

However, it's definitely not like a rider up the road in the TdF. In that situation, 9 times out of 10 it's a rider up the road who has little chance of winning the (overall) race. In the 1 out of 10 when it is a rider who could win, there is tremendous debate and question about that kind of tactic. You just don't close the race down on a teammate with a great chance to win. Boonen attacked a man in the lead who had an excellent chance to win, and brought the race to his teammate, minimizing their chances to win. Bad tactics IMO.

Good for the race. Bad for QS.

 

[taiwan]

Interesting comments by Museeuw

museew atually touted chavanel before the race.

 

[For The World]

I have a feeling that when the time was going down super fast near the base of the kapelmurr that it might of been a bit of an error. Cancellara would of have to of been going very slowly for the clock to go down that fast. I think time gap on the screen was incorrect. Yes FC did slow but not to that extent.

An error? Have you ever bonked during a race or even just a training ride? That will slow you down unbelievably quickly, and according to Museeuw, that's what happened to Cancellara. You could even see him grasping for bottles from people on the side of the road (not in Leopard Trek colours) because he was that empty. Chavanel was able to take an easy ride and recover a little, and Cancellara did the same when it all came back together.

 

[Jamsque]

I don't think Spartacus bonked, I think he got cramp, which is actually what he said in the post-race interviews.

 

[thirteen]

I don't think Spartacus bonked, I think he got cramp, which is actually what he said in the post-race interviews.

he should remember to eat his bananas