nickel999 said:
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!
But even in a Tour stage you do see it happen
after 200km when there are just a few folk left and it's clear who is #1, and it is clear to the rest that they probably aren't second in line either if #1 gets caught back.
Boonen is no rookie. Not sure why he feels that others should feel strongly about getting him back to Cancellara and then
still be totally stuck with those 2 (including a fresher Boonen).
If anything, their only hope might have been to force Boonen to ride himself empty in the chase, and let Cancellara hang out there, alone into the wind. Hoping, praying, that 50km alone at the end of that series of races would be too much for Cancellara, and that he would burn with 20k to go or so. In that case a couple of minutes won't make the difference.
Turns out that half that plan worked peachy for some, if it was a plan. I suspect there was at least 1 rider who wouldn't be on that podium of they had done as Boonen "decreed" is best. And neither of those 2 would have been on the first spot anyway.
It's easy to say that only the first spot matters in PR
if you have been on all podia positions already, and multiple times on top, and you have a chance to get this one too.
When Cancellara went, after 200km, everyone knew what they were riding for, tops. I'm sure that 200km Roubaix does that to you. Just Boonen's bad luck that he was the only one after the split who might have had that #1 spot still in him.