Flecha making enemies at Paris-Roubaix?

[El Oso]

Last year it was Hoste

"Flecha better not come near me. I'm furious since we are the suckers," Hoste raged.

"Especially since I still had Van Summeren with me and we both had something left. I was good enough to get on the podium, but possibly more than that was within my reach," Hoste claimed.

"Flecha ruins my race first of all when he wasn't pulling and acting stupidly. Then he was able to attack, and in the end it turned out he wasn't even able to steer. If someone like that slips away there's not much you can do but to ride over him; I couldn't avoid him. The fact that we're finishing fourth and fifth boosts the morale, but personally I'm sick of it," Hoste said.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/apr09/apr13news

This year Boonen

"It's better to be with only two or three guys who're going flat out than to be in the situation we were in. When there are two or three rotten apples, that ruins everything. It's like the flu; it spreads very quickly. They immediately rode for second place," said Boonen of his efforts to organise the chase.

When asked who was to blame Boonen referred to Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky). ...

"It was especially Flecha. When I attacked I was confronted with the headwind and with Flecha on my wheel. I can understand you ride tactically if you're riding for the win, but not for second, fifth or twentieth place. That's not important. It's only the first place that matters," he said.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen-rues-lapse-in-concentration-at-roubaix

 

[jaylew]

I doubt it.

Hoste isn't happy unless he's complaining about something anyway.

 

[BikeCentric]

Kind of funny that Boonen is complaining about Flecha jumping on his wheel whenever he attacked. What, does he expect Juan to give him a nice push and a wave goodbye and let him go? LOL. Furthermore one could argue that Boonen should have been rotating smoothly with the other guys and working to bring back Canc, not attacking. And if he gets Flecha on his wheel he should work with him to bring back Canc.

I think Flecha's getting some undue slagging and I'm not a Flecha fan either.

Anyway, Hoste can be discounted because he's always raging about something.

 

[Jamsque]

I can see where Boonen is coming from, but he has to realise that as one of the pre-race favourites he is going to be marked and watched, and that because he is known to be a world-class sprinter people are often going to attack him rather than work with him because they know he can probably beat them in a sprint.

 

[nvpacchi]

@Jayview: right on!!

 

[MacRoadie]

Kind of funny that Boonen is complaining about Flecha jumping on his wheel whenever he attacked. What, does he expect Juan to give him a nice push and a wave goodbye and let him go? LOL. Furthermore one could argue that Boonen should have been rotating smoothly with the other guys and working to bring back Canc, not attacking. And if he gets Flecha on his wheel he should work with him to bring back Canc.

Once Cancellara is gone, Boonen is no longer a marked man as they are all racing for nothing (as Boonen succinctly points out). I'm not so sure Boonen was attacking so much as trying to motivate the chase. If, in fact, you believe that even with Cancellara up the road, the other riders were treating Boonen as a marked man, then possibly Boonen felt the only way to get them moving was to attack himself. Otherwise, the others mark him while Canc keeps piling on time.

I can see where Boonen is coming from, but he has to realise that as one of the pre-race favourites he is going to be marked and watched, and that because he is known to be a world-class sprinter people are often going to attack him rather than work with him because they know he can probably beat them in a sprint.

As I said, at some point the others have to wake up to the fact that "marking Boonen" does no good whatsoever, unless they feel resigned to fighting for second place (and this realization needs to come pretty quick or it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy). At that point, it wouldn't matter if Gregory Bauge was in the group cause getting beat for first loser is meaningless.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

This is one of the reasons I don't really care for Boonen. As far as I'm concerned none of it matters; Boonen was caught sleeping, period. Yes, he was riding Roubaix the way he always has, but he knows Cancellara is in excellent shape and still drifted all the way back to chill for a second. Even before Cancellara went, it was clear who had the legs in that group; more importantly, it was clear who didn't. As soon as Cancellara dropped the hammer, Bonnen should have chased; he would have had a better chance at catching him by himself early in the break (still slim) than trying to organize a group of guys with no legs and/or desire. He shouldn't pass blame onto somebody after a mental lapse on his part.

 

[elapid]

Boonen didn't seem to mind Pozzato sucking his wheel last year at the RVV. Publicly he stated that that was racing and, as one of the pre-race favourites, he had to expect it to some degree. Flecha was nowhere near as bad as Pozzato.

 

[Boeing]

great post. Flecha is a wheel suck all the way no doubt.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

great post. Flecha is a wheel suck all the way no doubt.

Yup, wheel-sucked all the way to finishing 30 seconds ahead of Boonen. Boy he sucks hard.

 

[MacRoadie]

Yup, wheel-sucked all the way to finishing 30 seconds ahead of Boonen. Boy he sucks hard.

Um, that's usually what happens when someone sucks your wheel and does no work...

 

[BroDeal]

Oh, come on, dudes. This will be the most entertaining part of a relatively boring P-R. This is when all the riders fight it out in the press by blaming each other for their own failures, much of it done to deflect criticism from their country's press.

 

[BikeCentric]

Oh, come on, dudes. This will be the most entertaining part of a relatively boring P-R. This is when all the riders fight it out in the press by blaming each other for their own failures, much of it done to deflect criticism from their country's press.

And it is at times like these when we can all wish we had it easy like a sprinter does. All Hushovd has to say is "yeah well I was gonna wheel-suck the whole time anyway because everyone knows I was gonna win any sprint once we got into da 'drome. So it's on them to attack me and/or bring back Canc while I just merrily wheel-suck."

Disclaimer to Thor fans: I am joking and am a Thor fan as well.

 

[Boeing]

Yup, wheel-sucked all the way to finishing 30 seconds ahead of Boonen. Boy he sucks hard.

great post. Flecha is a wheel suck all the way no doubt.

 

[Night Rider]

I can understand you ride tactically if you're riding for the win, but not for second, fifth or twentieth place. That's not important. It's only the first place that matters,"

Pretty much sums it up, at least Boonen gave it a bit of a go, the rest of them just sat around with their fingers up there jack seat hoping he would drag them back on. As soon as Fabian was 30-40 seconds up the road it was like they were all racing for second.

 

[ingsve]

Boonen should just go and comfort himself with a couple of lines and stop crying like a ****ing baby. He should worry about what he himself did wrong and not cry about everyone else.

 

[TRDean]

Pretty much sums it up, at least Boonen gave it a bit of a go, the rest of them just sat around with their fingers up there jack seat hoping he would drag them back on. As soon as Fabian was 30-40 seconds up the road it was like they were all racing for second.

I think that ALL the riders in the race were beaten by Cancellara before the race even started...except Boonen. In listening and reading the post race interviews...I was shocked at how quickly the top men determined they couldn't beat him when he rode away from them. At least half of winning is mental...and the only one there other than Cancellara was Boonen. I will give him credit for that...

 

[eljimberino]

This is definately deflection. Boonen's antics before being dropped were rediculous. At one point he even tapped Spartatcus on the shoulder, like they were on a group ride. Not the display of a rider fully focused on winning.

 

[sublimit]

So It was Flecha's fault that Boonen only came 5th?.. Well done Flecha.

Boonen rode like a junior schoolgirl and should just shut his mouth and prepare for his next race.

 

[pmcg76]

Boonen screwed up and had nobody to blame but himself.

However he is right on one thing and that is it seems like everybody else in the group settled for 2nd place at best when the lead was under 20 seconds and almost 50km to go.

People can spin it whatever they want but settling for 2nd place at that point in a major race is a sad reflection on the other people in the group with Boonen. I cannot remember such negative riding in a major classic for almost 20 years.

If you are a fan of a certain rider or team as a lot on here are, then perhaps thats ok for you but for the rest of us, we want to see a race for the victory, not a stroll for the winner because people are scared they might miss the podium. Its Paris-Roubaix not the Tour.

I dont think anybody has mentioned money changing hands but it is possible, its happened before and was very commom once so I wouldnt rule it out.

 

[nickel999]

Boonen screwed up and had nobody to blame but himself.

However he is right on one thing and that is it seems like everybody else in the group settled for 2nd place at best when the lead was under 20 seconds and almost 50km to go.

People can spin it whatever they want but settling for 2nd place at that point in a major race is a sad reflection on the other people in the group with Boonen. I cannot remember such negative riding in a major classic for almost 20 years.

I agree and while I recognize that a flat Tour de France stage is a different animal then a spring classic. Would you ever see that happen in a Tour stage with 50k to go? No way!

 

[hfer07]

how come Boonen is b!tching at Flecha, and Flecha himself ain't blowing in anger at Hushov for his evident wheel sucking ride?

 

[pedaling squares]

Some of these comments are pretty funny. Boonen was on a club ride; Boonen rode like a schoolgirl. I saw Boonen animating the toughest race in the world, thin out the field, and get beaten by the best rider in the world. He was caught napping, got gapped, and not he nor anyone else can catch Cancellara by himself. Flecha? He rode a good race if you like riding for second place. Why the others didn't work together to bring back Cancellara is beyond me. 19 seconds with 50 km to go? Not much of a gap when at least four of them were strong. I understand why Boonen is frustrated, but that's racing. I don't think Flecha's making enemies in the peloton, comments are made in the heat of the moment by people who were under pressure to win. He's making more enemies out of cycling fans who had to watch that boring last 50km of PR.

 

[nvpacchi]

how come Boonen is b!tching at Flecha, and Flecha himself ain't blowing in anger at Hushov for his evident wheel sucking ride?

In the end (for Flecha) does it really matter if he got 2nd or 3rd. He makes the podium regardless.

 

[Echoes]

But it's still a defeat, regardless. (I hate podiums)