95th Ronde van Vlaanderen - April 3 2011

[theyoungest]

Looks like everyone is getting better -> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cancellara-only-slightly-slower-on-muur-in-2011-tour-of-flanders

Did they measure how fast everyone went up the Muur last year? Otherwise there's no point in this article.

 

[El Pistolero]

Did they measure how fast everyone went up the Muur last year? Otherwise there's no point in this article.

I'm sure they didn't time how fast Cavendish went backwards there.

It's pretty interesting actually. Shows that Gilbert's uphill accelarations really do get better and better every year. Don't know if you have ever ridden on the Muur, but riding the Muur in 1'43" after an already hard race is almost extraterrestrial(as is 1'47" by the way, especially if you just cramped up on the Vesten)

The Cauberg sprint will again be interesting to see(even if he doesn't win, his sprint on the Cauberg will no doubt be the fastest)

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yeah but Gilbert hardly gained even 1 bike length on all the others...
That's kind of suprising wouldn't you think?

Btw, Gilbert isn't going to win the Gold Race this year.

 

[theyoungest]

I'm sure they didn't time how fast Cavendish went backwards there.

It's pretty interesting actually. Shows that Gilbert's uphill accelarations really do get better and better every year. Don't know if you have ever ridden on the Muur, but riding the Muur in 1'43" after an already hard race is almost extraterrestrial(as is 1'47" by the way, especially if you just cramped up on the Vesten)

The Cauberg sprint will again be interesting to see(even if he doesn't win, his sprint on the Cauberg will no doubt be the fastest)

Again, it doesn't mean anything, because you don't know how fast he went up the climb last year.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah but Gilbert hardly gained even 1 bike length on all the others...
That's kind of suprising wouldn't you think?

Btw, Gilbert isn't going to win the Gold Race this year.

Who cares, LBL is all that needs to be won.

It's always harder to set the pace your self then to wheelsuck, so not all that surprising. I'm pretty sure Gilbert is aware of his own capabilities, so his only intention on the Muur was to reel Cancellara back in and and not to try and escape because he can't ride solo in a race like that for 18km with a still big peloton after him.

 

[jens_attacks]

there was a site,french i guess that used to have time ascents of the most of the climbs in giro and tour.can somebody help me?

and yes i think gillbert's time is absolutely great,is it a record?

 

[theyoungest]

Who cares, LBL is all that needs to be won.

It's always harder to set the pace your self then to wheelsuck, so not all that surprising. I'm pretty sure Gilbert is aware of his own capabilities, so his only intention on the Muur was to reel Cancellara back in and and not to try and escape because he can't ride solo in a race like that for 18km with a still big peloton after him.

Lol. First you claim he's getting better and better every year, using the amazing time up the Muur as evidence, and now you're saying he held back?

 

[webvan]

Gilbert does seem to have a bit of a problem staying in front after strong attacks, re : the Worlds, MSR, etc...

@ jens_attacks - I remember a site with climbs but not times, interested too!

 

[c&cfan]

Gilbert does seem to have a bit of a problem staying in front after strong attacks, re : the Worlds, MSR, etc...

@ jens_attacks - I remember a site with climbs but not times, interested too!

lol are you kidding? its really obvious that the guy does not atack. he sprints! then he has nothing left. thats why he can and will only win certain races against certain riders.

he is really good to watch. and to bet against. (exception lombardia against certain tired riders).

 

[El Pistolero]

Lol. First you claim he's getting better and better every year, using the amazing time up the Muur as evidence, and now you're saying he held back?

Not holding back, just not going full out like he did on the Bosberg later on in the race. It was never his intention to get a gap, all he wanted was to reel Chavanel and Cancellara in as you can see for your self. He remained in their wheels after he caught them. If he can already put such a fast time on the Muur with just the intention to get in Cancellara's wheel then yes, that's impressive.

Let's also not forget that it was Gilbert who brought a big part of the peloton back together after his acceleration on the Valkenberg which was apparently pretty impressive as well. He made a mistake for not waiting for Ballan after the Bosberg, but that's just hindsight.

So yeah, what he did on the Valkenberg, Muur and Bosberg was pretty impressive. Bodes well for the Ardennes classics coming up. There he will not have the same problem as in Flanders, 11km flat finish. Obviously Gilbert can't compete on the flat with guys that weight 82kg... That's only normal and I find it some what weird that everybody thinks he sucks soo hard on the flat. I'd like to see any skinny hilly specialists do better. Most of them can't.

 

[The Hitch]

I'm sure they didn't time how fast Cavendish went backwards there.

It's pretty interesting actually. Shows that Gilbert's uphill accelarations really do get better and better every year. Don't know if you have ever ridden on the Muur, but riding the Muur in 1'43" after an already hard race is almost extraterrestrial(as is 1'47" by the way, especially if you just cramped up on the Vesten)

The Cauberg sprint will again be interesting to see(even if he doesn't win, his sprint on the Cauberg will no doubt be the fastest)

Lets remember thought that Cancellara 2010 was in a 2 man break with Boonen for some time before the mur, in which he had done most of the work.


Gilbert 2011 on the other hand had been with the pack until the Muur so was more fresh.

Gilbert does seem to have a bit of a problem staying in front after strong attacks, re : the Worlds, MSR, etc...

@ jens_attacks - I remember a site with climbs but not times, interested too!

LBL where he took 20 seconds out of VinoKolobnev, then cracked completely.

 

[El Pistolero]

Lets remember thought that Cancellara 2010 was in a 2 man break with Boonen for some time before the mur, in which he had done most of the work.


Gilbert 2011 on the other hand had been with the pack until the Muur so was more fresh.





LBL where he took 20 seconds out of VinoKolobnev, then cracked completely.

Gilbert had a flat tire right before Hushovd started his attack that got countered by Boonen and finally by Fabian Cancellara. He was responsible for bringing the peloton back together because of his acceleration on the Valkenberg. While probably fresher than Cancellara, it's not like he did nothing but sucking wheels. I already said what Cancellara did was pretty impressive as well.

I just don't think Cancellara was as strong as last year. It took him forever to actually catch Chavanel. And Chavanel never really looked in difficulty by Fabian. This edition just reminded me a lot of 2007 where he did the exact same thing.

 

[badfishgood]

There HE is again. Cult status.

First post, thought I would join to give a little information on this picture.

The guy is named Henry Van Rossom. Henry and his friends have been at that spot four years in a row. Pretty awesome little tradition they have going on... From left to right starting with the guy wearing the Flanders flag as a cape: Fritz, Charles, PJ, Henry, and Alex. I actually beat these guys to the spot the morning of the race. We had a good laugh about that; hours of drinking, listening to techno and talking about cycling quickly insued after that.

I flew from California to Belgium for the weekend for the race. Barely slept and drank a lot of beer. It was a trip of a lifetime. I'm the guy next to Alex in the Ritte Van Vlaandaren jersey.

 

[The Hitch]

First post, thought I would join to give a little information on this picture.

The guy is named Henry Van Rossom. Henry and his friends have been at that spot four years in a row. Pretty awesome little tradition they have going on... From left to right starting with the guy wearing the Flanders flag as a cape: Fritz, Charles, PJ, Henry, and Alex. I actually beat these guys to the spot the morning of the race. We had a good laugh about that; hours of drinking, listening to techno and talking about cycling quickly insued after that.

I flew from California to Belgium for the weekend for the race. Barely slept and drank a lot of beer. It was a trip of a lifetime. I'm the guy next to Alex in the Ritte Van Vlaandaren jersey.

Sounds great. Must have been fun.

You certainatly look like your having it. Did they speak English then or do you speak Dutch?

I wonder how Henry manages to get that same expression for every photo.

 

[Winterfold]

That Muur times article from CN is quite surprising. To me anyway.

Gilbert really needs to time his attacks/sprints better and start turning his ability into results.

I mean his results are already really really good but if he is quicker up the Muur than Canc was last year then we should see more big wins.

As long as he can do that without becoming conservative racer ie sucker

 

[beer_thirty]

I wonder how Henry manages to get that same expression for every photo.

I believe this is his secret. A true zen master.

 

[red_flanders]

First post, thought I would join to give a little information on this picture.

The guy is named Henry Van Rossom. Henry and his friends have been at that spot four years in a row. Pretty awesome little tradition they have going on... From left to right starting with the guy wearing the Flanders flag as a cape: Fritz, Charles, PJ, Henry, and Alex. I actually beat these guys to the spot the morning of the race. We had a good laugh about that; hours of drinking, listening to techno and talking about cycling quickly insued after that.

I flew from California to Belgium for the weekend for the race. Barely slept and drank a lot of beer. It was a trip of a lifetime. I'm the guy next to Alex in the Ritte Van Vlaandaren jersey.

Sir, I bow to your commitment and general awesomeness.

Oh, and WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

 

[leftover pie]

First post, thought I would join to give a little information on this picture.

The guy is named Henry Van Rossom. Henry and his friends have been at that spot four years in a row. Pretty awesome little tradition they have going on... From left to right starting with the guy wearing the Flanders flag as a cape: Fritz, Charles, PJ, Henry, and Alex. I actually beat these guys to the spot the morning of the race. We had a good laugh about that; hours of drinking, listening to techno and talking about cycling quickly insued after that.

I flew from California to Belgium for the weekend for the race. Barely slept and drank a lot of beer. It was a trip of a lifetime. I'm the guy next to Alex in the Ritte Van Vlaandaren jersey.

so awesome, sounds like a fantastic weekend.

edit: p.s. tell me you've contacted the photographer and are organising yourself a nice big hi res copy of that photo!

 

[El Pistolero]

That Muur times article from CN is quite surprising. To me anyway.

Gilbert really needs to time his attacks/sprints better and start turning his ability into results.

I mean his results are already really really good but if he is quicker up the Muur than Canc was last year then we should see more big wins.

As long as he can do that without becoming conservative racer ie sucker

2 classic wins in 2009 and 2010 isn't bad you know Not a lot of people did better in one day races those seasons.
Canc last 2 seasons= 2 Monumental wins, 2 semi classics
Phil's= 2 Monumental wins, 2 classic wins, and enough semi classics(depends on your definition I guess)

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

you're forgetting the abundance of TT wins and world ITT titles of Cancellara

 

[L'arriviste]

I wonder how Henry manages to get that same expression for every photo.

In 2010, I was just above him at that spot. He must have been there hours before me and I was there four hours before the race.

It's deafening on the Muur from the moment you see the helicopter over Parike, still maybe 10km away.

But when the race arrived quite suddenly as it does, almost catching you offguard after all that time, you could hear Henry quite distinctly. That's the voice that matches the face.

 

[Cobblestoned]

First post, thought I would join to give a little information on this picture.

The guy is named Henry Van Rossom. Henry and his friends have been at that spot four years in a row. Pretty awesome little tradition they have going on... From left to right starting with the guy wearing the Flanders flag as a cape: Fritz, Charles, PJ, Henry, and Alex. I actually beat these guys to the spot the morning of the race. We had a good laugh about that; hours of drinking, listening to techno and talking about cycling quickly insued after that.

I flew from California to Belgium for the weekend for the race. Barely slept and drank a lot of beer. It was a trip of a lifetime. I'm the guy next to Alex in the Ritte Van Vlaandaren jersey.

Sure you had fun - you look like a dream came true ( I think I looked like that when I saw/heard F1 V12 Ferrari first time live). It's a must see, but big respect that you do such a trip to see just that.

No such a big trip for me, and I prefer to go there just every 2nd year or something, because otherwise fascination fades away a little bit.
I think next year I will just go there again to see Henry in action.
Nothing agains you, but all the others there just seem to hard-trying imitators.
You can't do harder than Henry, while that meaty classic Colnago guy is a legend too I think - but no chance.

Whatever, no one can beat Henry's enthusiasm and he even does that...

 

[The Hitch]

In 2010, I was just above him at that spot. He must have been there hours before me and I was there four hours before the race.

It's deafening on the Muur from the moment you see the helicopter over Parike, still maybe 10km away.

But when the race arrived quite suddenly as it does, almost catching you offguard after all that time, you could hear Henry quite distinctly. That's the voice that matches the face.

Ok so in the Cobblestoned photo are you the Angel Madrazo lookalike, the youthfull fella doing a lion impersonation or blocked by Armstrong?


Also, after this, I wonder how many people will try to get the sport next to Henry next time. Its guaranteed to get a big *** photo of you. The fun bit is, you dont know at what time as any of the riders passing could be the ones that will win.

 

[L'arriviste]

Ok so in the Cobblestoned photo are you the Angel Madrazo lookalike, the youthfull fella doing a lion impersonation or blocked by Armstrong?

I'm not in that shot. I'm a bit higher up on the hill behind. It was funny seeing all the race previews on various sites this year and spotting myself again in most of the lead photos. It's one of cycling's most iconic locations I guess, like Alpe d'Huez, the Koppenberg, the Mortirolo, the Mur de Huy, or the Champs-Elysées... etc

 

[Fat Jack Fan]

Ronde: Handshake?

During Sunday's Tour of Flanders there was a moment near the end where Nuyens was leading Chavanel and than Cancellara. Chavanel reaches behind and Cancellara briefly grabs/shakes his hand. To me, at that moment nearing the finish, it looked like some kind of deal had been made. Does anyone have an opinion?