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Ian Stannard Thread

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Gloin22 said:
He wasn't that bad on bergs at Omloop..He followed Boonen and Vanmarcke..yes not straight on the wheel but he ain't bad...and anyway he's clearly a contender, no way near any favoruite for it.

If it rains and is cold, he becomes top favoruite straightaway and thats what I hope for :D

Stannard and Boom should hold a joint rain dance the night before Roubaix.
 
Apr 10, 2011
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This is a great picture :) Not a ***** like the rest of them true hard man :D

B_Cauk2XEAMw0hm.jpg
 
Jun 19, 2009
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vedrafjord said:
That's what I said this time last year - I was a year off with his age but more importantly I called him naive - after that I read several interviews from him that seemed to indicate that some of his tactical mistakes were due to Sky orders rather than his own instincts - I'm happy to be proven wrong - obviously Quick Step fecked it up big time today but Stannard also needed discipline, patience, and timing to pull off the win like he did.

...and a little luck. Only way he could have won it was the way he did. Only way Quickstep could screw it up is the way they did. Sometimes justice gets served.
 
Gloin22 said:
He wasn't that bad on bergs at Omloop..He followed Boonen and Vanmarcke..yes not straight on the wheel but he ain't bad...and anyway he's clearly a contender, no way near any favoruite for it.

If it rains and is cold, he becomes top favoruite straightaway and thats what I hope for :D

Ronde has twice the amount of bergs and some are twice as hard, and they come after >200 km of racing, not 150.

If he can ride the finale in Roubaix, that would be a big step forward already.
 
Re: Re:

Netserk said:
oldcrank said:
oldcrank said:
Gloin22 said:
This is a great picture :) Not a ***** like the rest of them true hard man :D

B_Cauk2XEAMw0hm.jpg
It appears he is the only rider that is
aware of UCI Regulation 1.2.064bis.
Everyone but Yogi could have faced elimination
but, hey, that is ''apples and oranges'' I guess. :)
No, not really. The rule has been updated this year iirc.
Yes, really, my friend, as per 12.1.040.14bis
which is referred to in your edit.
 
Re:

Netserk said:
No dangerous situation was created nor is it a significant advantage over other riders.

Note that moments after the picture was taken Stannard joined them in the bike path.
Even if you didn't know that, his body position has a lean as if he's going to cross over on that Cobbles just at the bottom left of the picture.
Gloin22 said:
This is a great picture :) Not a ***** like the rest of them true hard man :D



B_Cauk2XEAMw0hm.jpg
 
Great ride from him today. He's not amazing on the cobbles but looked really strong in the final.

I will always have the feeling that if he'd waited for the sprint he had a big chance to win it. He's really strong in a dead man's sprint. He fired three big bullets before the sprint. Bringing back Vanmarcke and then his two attacks.

The other big regret is that if Rowe hadn't crashed then Sky might have had two riders in that front group for the run in to the velodrome. Just feels like a big chance missed considering the way the race unfolded. Oh well, Roubaix is a race of what ifs like no other.
 
Looking back at it, Stannard really fooked up.

Watch the final 'sprint'. Try telling me one of them was anywhere near full speed. It was basically who had the most left in the tank.

It was clear that Vanmarcke was the strongest on the cobbles thanks to the Mons-en-Pévèle. Therefore, attacking on the Camphin-en-Pévèle was a mistake. He was unable to drop Boonen and EBH as well as Vanmarcke, and after riding on the front for over 1km, he got torched by Vanmarcke's attack on the Carrefour, where he decided to pretend he was weak and hang off the back. BIG MISTAKE. Luckily for him, it didn't cost him, as the four riders co-operated well to bring back Vanmarcke who simply wasn't strong enough to stay away.

Next, fast forward to 5km to go. At this point, you had a strong Boonen who simply wasn't letting anything go. (ie you don't want to be the first man to attack and waste energy). He was riding for the win - 1st or nothing. Therefore he was gonna chase anything down if he could. Then you had Vanmarcke and EBH, who would contribute if needed. Finally, you had Hayman, who was always going to be the least marked of the quintet.

So, Stannard's attack with 5km to go was never gonna work. MISTAKE #2.

Finally, it was clear that if you did attack, the best time to attack was after a Boonen attack, as he was always gonna be the main chaser. If Boonen never attacks, you never attack too, and just wait for the sprint - everyone is going to be tired.

As it happened, when Boonen attacked, Stannard was caught out, and although him and EBH were able to bring it back, with Stannard being there for the final sprint, a) he was too far back because they joined too late, and b) he wasn't quite strong enough, because he wasted too much energy beforehand. I truly believe Stannard would have won that final sprint otherwise, especially given the amount of work Boonen had already done in the day, and that Vanmarcke was always going to commit to a move on the Carrefour, while EBH wasn't strong enough, and let's face it Hayman was in the break for a long time.

However, it must be said that until 20km to go, he rode an absolutely perfect race, letting others do a lot of the work and conserving a lot of energy.
 
Re:

kingjr said:
Easy to say in hindsight, trying to gamble on winning a sprint against Boonen and EBH must seem foolish if you're Ian Stannard.

Exactly. Remember the criticism that Vanmarke got when he went all the way to the Velo with Canc only to get beaten in the sprint. At the time Stannard was 100% right to attack. Hindsight is 20:20