95th Ronde van Vlaanderen - April 3 2011

[The_Grand_Depart]

Karma is a b!tch

I'm just gonna say... I think it's kinda great how Canc & his crew left Bjarne high and dry for LEopard treck. Then, lo and behold, some new guy on saxo goes and wins Tour of Flanders!!!!

 

[luckyboy]

What exactly happened to Pozzato?
Eurosport website says +1.24 (DNF), cq says he was +1.24, CN doesn't list him.

 

[The Hitch]

What exactly happened to Pozzato?
Eurosport website says +1.24 (DNF), cq says he was +1.24, CN doesn't list him.

I think when El Pistolero said he wasnt going to throw beer at Canc, he was telling a white lie

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.

If Cancellara faded as greatly as the clock suggested, then Chavannel should have passed Canc with ease.

Seriously, the clock was going down as if Cancellara had come to a total stop.

 

[For The World]

If Cancellara faded as greatly as the clock suggested, then Chavannel should have passed Canc with ease.

Seriously, the clock was going down as if Cancellara had come to a total stop.

Which is why I said that bonking (or cramps as it turns out) will slow you down unbelievably quickly, especially going up something like the Muur.

 

[The Hitch]

Which is why I said that bonking (or cramps as it turns out) will slow you down unbelievably quickly, especially going up something like the Muur.

But then how comes he managed to get back to brilliance the second the peloton caught him. The time went from 50 to 0 in about 70 seconds, but when they caught him he stayed with them. In fact at first he continued to cycle at the front.

You could be right, but the way i saw the timer go down and looking at Canc and Chavanel the way they were going up, i thought immediately that it was a timing error. If he had cracked so badly, how comes he managed get a high pace once the peloton caught him?

 

[luckyboy]

Also if he was slowing down by that amount surely Sylvain would've gone on ahead unless he had orders not to

 

[M Sport]

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.

I agree. At the time in the race when they showed the gap stuck on 55 seconds for about a four or five minute period I was sure from the wide angle shots that the group had closed considerably.

A great race though. Like I said yesterday, BMC proved to be the strongest team. Alas Ballan didn't get up but he gave it a good go.

@Boonen ... what the hell was he thinking? School boy mistake.

@vaughters shame on you. You proved last night your arguments for radios are a sham.

Good win Nuyens. And good on Rhis for sticking it up Leotard.

 

[leftover pie]

enjoyed the race thoroughly though really wanted chavanel to win.

so close, he'd be gutted.

 

[peloton]

Impossible to read all the pages, but I must say this was one of best races I've seen for awhile, and unlike Cancellara, I like a surprise winner!

BMC was impressive, the only team willing to chase along them was Vacansoleil,
Garvelo, on paper the super team fell flat again today.


I don't like Riis, but seeing the joy after the race,
it made me smile too.

 

[FabulousCandelabra]

Why did Boonen attack his teamate Chavanel when Chav had over a minute gap??? Quickstep IDIOTS! Boonen does this time and time again.. he thinks he is "testing" Fabian but he is really just showing everyone what we already know, that Boonen is the weaker rider, and the dumber rider. Why didn't he play it safe and simply mark Fabian??? Hey lets use up tons of energy with macho man tactics! Ooops I'm tired, bye bye fabu.

Gilbert went too soon on the last climb (bosberg?)! He can't hold out in a solo TT against that group... he should have quit sooner..

Chavanel messed up his sprint and lost it for Quickstep!

 

[Granville57]

Friggin dodgy sprint. I didn't like that one bit.

I didn't like the sprint. Chavanel was going good, but Nuyens was swearving a lot.

EDIT: It was Cancellara who blocked Chavanel. But I guess it wasn't his fault; he was trying to follow Nuyens wheel.

Nuyens was OK, Cancellara was sweving into Chavanel. That's what threw him off.

I think Chavanel had that sprint, he had to adjust his line too much

In that overhead replay it looked like Canc was driving for the barriers more than the finish line!

With all the talk of strategy and tactics, I can't believe the final sprint hasn't gained any traction for discussion!

I brought this up in The Clinic but it's much more suited here. Watch this clip and tell me Chavanel didn't almost end up in the barriers. In hindsight, maybe if he had gone to the left around Fabian, when they opened up, he may been able to catch Nuyens before the line.
But didn't Fabian go WAY off his own line? WTF?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRR2rtvpaqQ

 

[katkotom]

great race till the very end...bad luck for our boy Peter Sagan - broke his frame and had to wait some 4 minutes for the team car

 

[Cerberus]

Also if he was slowing down by that amount surely Sylvain would've gone on ahead unless he had orders not to

Not certain, Chavanel, might have thought that Cancellara was trying to get him to the front so he could lunch a better attack.

 

[ingsve]

I just watched the coverage from Versus and I can't help but feel sorry for anyone who is stuck with that coverage. Sherwen and Ligget really are worthless as commentators. They have no clue what's going on.

 

[auscyclefan94]

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.

he lost a minute in a km. he wasn't going that slow anyway. he would of had to stop.

I think when El Pistolero said he wasnt going to throw beer at Canc, he was telling a white lie





If Cancellara faded as greatly as the clock suggested, then Chavannel should have passed Canc with ease.

Seriously, the clock was going down as if Cancellara had come to a total stop.

this^

 

[Jamsque]

110 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad 0:15:28

Wow, he actually finished, and he wasn't even in the last group on the road. Cav seems to have a lot of respect for these races.

 

[auscyclefan94]

flanders is trending in australia! who says cycling is not popular in australia? interested to see ratings for rvv

 

[Cimber]

.
But didn't Fabian go WAY off his own line? WTF?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRR2rtvpaqQ

Imo Fabian just tries to get in Nuyens´ sliptream, but really Chav should have gone left. But hey, everytime there is a sprint you can always analyse it and find mistakes.

 

[Spider1964]

Imo Fabian just tries to get in Nuyens´ sliptream, but really Chav should have gone left. But hey, everytime there is a sprint you can always analyse it at find mistakes.

+1 to this

 

[Roland Rat]

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.

True, but in the classics it's not often you have an uber-favourite like Cancellara to try to neutralise. They way I see it is that it could have been a brilliant tactical move. Send Chavenal up the road and try to get Boonen & Cancellara to join him, or worse case scenario Cancellara bridges solo and Chavenal sits on to the finish. Maybe the reason Boonen attacked was that he had to force Cancellara's hand there, because Chavenal was tiring out front on his own or because if a larger group made the junction then the numbers wouldn't be as good for QS. If Boonen could have clung on to Cancellara's wheel, we may well be talking about a QS 1-2 right now. If Cancellara didn't have cramps we could be talking about Chavenal winning right now. I personally think they set it up well, it's just that first Boonen (possibly expected) and then Cancellara (not at all expected) didn't have the legs for the QS plan to work out.

Of course, I may be giving QS too much credit, but I don't agree that we can sit here and slate QS, and call Boonen a "3rd cat" etc, without knowing what QS were trying to do. Which we will probably never know.

Edit - anyway, isn't this exactly what QS did with Devolder in '08 and '09? It's just that then no-one bridged to him, and maybe Devolder was stronger then than Chavenal yesterday.

 

[webvan]

What a race! Chavanel shouldn't have lost that one, must not be very happy with QS orders tonight. First being told not to relay Canc., then seeing Boonen almost bridge in the end, turned back one time too many, and then messing up his sprint. Now of course Canc. might have dropped him like he dropped Boonen last year. Didn't expect to ever see Chavanel at that level.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Team Car compilation. Lots in dutch though

http://www.sporza.be/permalink/1.995931

 

[Jamsque]

Team Car compilation. Lots in dutch though

http://www.sporza.be/permalink/1.995931

Lots of crashing too. Looks like JV got rear-ended.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

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.

no acf is right, it was an error.
they showed spartacus, he was lacking a bit of the kick he had earlier, but wasn't going at the racte of losing 35 seconds in about 10
forsure the battle against bmc tired him out tho, and it is possible he kept a similar pace to them until he couldn't. But yeah, the drastic drop it time was ridiculous.

 

[Cimber]

Team Car compilation. Lots in dutch though

http://www.sporza.be/permalink/1.995931

Lol @ Tristan Hoffman: "I know how to stop Cancellara. We get a sniper". Wasnt it more or less what Boonen said last year after the race? "What should I do? Shoot the man?"