Simple, he wasn't one of the best in Flanders. More like Bettini. You guys just think Boogerd was good at something. If what you say is true, Bettini would have won Vlaanderen at least once in his career. Or podium... Because we all know Bettini >>> Boogerd.
Ryo Hazuki said:
ok then point to me exactly,where boonen drops(!) cancellara
Cancellara is in the group and can't follow Boonen. Ergo he's getting dropped.
The Hitch said:
You said only canc and phinney " have any potential in roubaix".
So g has no.potential in roubaix? He won the u23 version came 2nd in the tdf stage and was ****ing awessome.in flanders last year, but hey no.potential in roubaix if you say so.
btw you do realize he missed this year because he had a more important goal.to focus on. And last year he crashed a bunch of.times but hey, only boonen is allowed.to use bad luck as an excuse for 2011 right?
I ask you again, what the hell has Geraint ever done during a one day classic? He's only been good in one race during a classic. And he wasn't "****ing awesome", he was just good. So was Staf Scheirlinckx.
If Geraint Thomas has any potential at Roubaix he has never shown it hence I did not include him. Come back next year.
Boonen got second in the U23 version of LBL. Does this mean he has potential for LBL? Strange argument you have there. How many people who won Roubaix for espoirs have gone on to win the real thing by the way?
2nd in a Tour stage. Yeah, that's good. But it was on the easy pavé sectors of Roubaix and 95% of the peloton got eliminated early on because of crashes. Further more, Cancellara was slaving for Andy Schleck and not riding for him self and Boonen wasn't there. Ballan had his bad year and Pippo wasn't there either.
Afrank said:
Time trialing is more than just lots of training on a TT bike, being aero, and knowing the route. You have to have the strength and mentality to keep yourself going at a hard pace (close to, at, or even above your max) over a given distance. And this is the part of time trialing that will help a rider when they go solo in a cobbled race.
Did you even read my post?
"Correct mind set, Tony Martin is afraid of going over cobbles at suicide pace."
Just because you have the correct mind set for a time trial doesn't mean you have what it takes to ride over the cobbles at "suicide pace". Most of the riders that won Roubaix solo aren't time trial specialists. O'Grady, Vansummeren, Boonen, Museeuw, etc
Ryo Hazuki said:
we all saw how wlel andy schleck rode on cobbles

so yeah the whole cobble thing is very much overrated and this is often said by riders as well. tour of flanders for instance is 100% race of placing yourself before the climbs and a bit of hilly skills with large chances of injury.
that's why they have such low level of racing fields
Peter Sagan, Philippe Gilbert, Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Greg van Avermaet, Bjorn Leukemans, Sylvain Chavanel, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Matthew Goss, Filippo Pozzato, Alessandro Ballan, Thor Hushovd, Stijn Devolder, Nick Nuyens, Niki Terpstra, Thomas Voeckler, Maxim Iglinsky, etc ride the Ronde van Vlaanderen pretty much every year with a few exceptions. How is that a low level of racing field? Because your little buddy Henao isn't riding? Yeah, that'll make a difference.
And which riders are you talking about that say cobbles are overrated?
