95th Ronde van Vlaanderen - April 3 2011

[The Sheep]

No one wants to ride them back

 

[Moondance]

Uh-oh... The Canc is hurting for some water (or maybe even some gels or something).

With 30kms to go that might become a problem. On the other hand the bunch has lost all momentum.

 

[Publicus]

Gap just went from 37" to 34"

edit: lol back to 38"

It's out to 50" now

 

[Polyarmour]

nobody is chasing, unbelievable

 

[jaylew]

Where are the workers?

 

[Anonymous]

Against the field? I doubt it.

And that is exactly what is happening. I'd quit pontificating about this. Every time you say he can't, he does. I think you are jinxing us...

 

[luckyboy]

The peloton is full of idiots

Yeah this is really annoying.

 

[craig1985]

I suppose Chavanel could argue that he has Boonen in the chase group so he can't work.

 

[Tom T.]

Disgusting the big group cannot get organized to chase. Great bike riders, small, tiny brains.

 

[Jamsque]

The gap is shooting up. The peloton isn't working together, they are making this easy for Spartacus. He can rest a bit, get his legs right, and blow Chav away whenever he wants.

 

[Ildabaoth]

Gilbert has pulled the peloton back!

Chavanel won't pull for Spartacus, but just sitting on his wheel actually helps him. You get a tiny bit of aerodynamic advantage having someone on your wheel.

This isn't Nascar. The aerodynamic drag by having someone behind is negligible in cycling, because the speed isn't huge and the volume of dragged air is quite low. And the morale hit for having someone sucking your wheel isn't good.

 

[Teddler]

Why does a group of 30 refuse to work? Surely winning is better than staying fresh for 2nd, bloody dropkicks in the peloton.

 

[bicing]

Who was going to throw a beer on Fabian at the Muur again?

You can't throw a beer at him, he's too fast.

Even if the beer miraculously hit him and he'd fall off his bike, he would be able to stop, drink what's left, get back on his bike and still win easily.

 

[Anonymous]

same as roubaix, cancellara goes off and the rest argue amongst themselves over who is going to chase. Do they not have a brain cell between them.

 

[luckyboy]

Nearly a minute now

 

[rghysens]

race is over

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

BMC with 4 man

 

[Granville57]

Garmin Fail

And water is wet.

 

[federalski]

Here comes the cavalry, finally...

 

[For The World]

Gosh... the main group is full of morons. Seriously - he's one guy (with a passenger). I think Spartacus is great, and I'd love to see Gilbert win, but how is it that they haven't formed a coherent chase group? This is just boggling my mind.

Poor Chavanel. Boonen basically removed any chance he had. A 1 minute lead and growing, and then ****! Gone! Idiot.

 

[superconfex]

Super G pulling again

 

[thrawn]

So Thomas & BMC are working on the peloton. WTF are Garmin?

Edit: 7 BMC riders. Impressive.

 

[boomcie]

This is sheit.

 

[Cobblestones]

It's at 1 minute now.

 

[Jamsque]

Wow, BMC with a surprising amount of strength. Won't make a difference anyway.

Holy crap, they have SIX GUYS.