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Ian Stannard Thread

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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.

Not if the race was as hard as it was today. If the race is hard enough, everyone is empty and the sprint is about who's got enough energy left to muster up some kind of pace in the final 200m. Today's edition was a VERY hard race. Of course it's easy to say in hindsight though
 
I wouldn't say Stannard made a mistake today, if he got to the end with Boonen, Sep and Eddy Boss there was next to no chance he would have won and everyone would be criticising him for not attacking. Im happy he tried, he gave it a real shot and it didn't work, but then neither did the other 4 riders attacks as they all arrived into the final 200m together. Im sure if you'd have offered Yogi a podium spot 24 hours ago he'd have happily taken that.

I think if there is to be a British PR winner then it will surely be Rowe, every year he gets stronger and at 26 has plenty of years ahead. It's a shame that the 2 doms crashed and Rowe got KO'd as Sky would have been in a ridiculous position with Rowe added to the final 5. Rowe would have surely attacked allowing Stannard to just follow wheels. Of course that's part of the lottery of these races.
 
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Pricey_sky said:
I wouldn't say Stannard made a mistake today, if he got to the end with Boonen, Sep and Eddy Boss there was next to no chance he would have won and everyone would be criticising him for not attacking. Im happy he tried, he gave it a real shot and it didn't work, but then neither did the other 4 riders attacks as they all arrived into the final 200m together. Im sure if you'd have offered Yogi a podium spot 24 hours ago he'd have happily taken that.

I think if there is to be a British PR winner then it will surely be Rowe, every year he gets stronger and at 26 has plenty of years ahead. It's a shame that the 2 doms crashed and Rowe got KO'd as Sky would have been in a ridiculous position with Rowe added to the final 5. Rowe would have surely attacked allowing Stannard to just follow wheels. Of course that's part of the lottery of these races.

If he got to the end with Boonen Sep and EBH after sitting in the peloton for 200km, then yes, there is no chance he would have won. If he got to the end with those guys after racing hard in a small group for approx 100km over very tough terrain however, it's all about who's got the most energy left, not who's got the greatest top speed. Why is Canc able to beat Sep in the Roubaix velodrome in a sprint? Why is Yogi able to beat GVA in a two-up sprint (when Omloop has much easier parcours than PR let's not forget)?

Yes he would have happily taken a podium before the race, but the win was up for grabs at one point
 
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yaco said:
No problem with Stannards ride. ALL five attacked in the last 10km. Every rider gave themselves a chance.
yep, i am with you
hfer07 said:
Stannard will be the first British rider ever to win P-R. The question is when
definitely. within 3 years.
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.
Stannard was a teams pursuiter, he can unleash 1500 watts no worries if it comes down to a sprint.
EBH has not mixed it up in sprints for about 5 years,

If you remember, Petacchi was not a sprinter in the first 5 years of his career. In 2006 Paris Nice, Hayman was given the sprinters role for Rabobank, he got some podiums, he was the fastest wrt terminal velocity even tho he did not win, and it was not because of slipstream or momentum from behind.

Like EBH, EBH never had the grinta to be a field sprinter, or... he was like Sagan, too dominant in his other abilities so to be a sprinter would constrain his other achievements.
 
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PremierAndrew said:
Why is Canc able to beat Sep in the Roubaix velodrome in a sprint? Why is Yogi able to beat GVA in a two-up sprint (when Omloop has much easier parcours than PR let's not forget)?

agree with you.

devil's advocate on Kwiatkowski, he was a track pursuiter and timetrialist (jnr world champ), and remember, Marcel Kittel was a two time jnr World Champ in the chrono, for two years, if Kittell was less successful and could earn as much as being a classics man/timetrialler, he may be similar to Cancellara
 
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TMP402 said:
hfer07 said:
Stannard will be the first British rider ever to win P-R. The question is when

I don't know man, a crash-free Rowe may have done it this year, and may do it next year - unless we get a defensive race. Which really means, I just hope the absolute 5* favourites like Sagan are caught out again.

Not to diminish Rowe's talent and bright future on the cobbles, but to me the way Stannard handled the tough race with such panache & challenged the others when he was at the verge to be dropped, indicates me that he's much more closer to the tittle, whereas Rowe is yet to get that breakthrough win to widen his confidence and experience. Plus age-wise there is only a 2 year gap between them so...
 
Re:

PremierAndrew said:
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.
After 260kms, a sprint in a race like that, the rule book regarding who "should win goes straight out the window. Watch the finale again, nobody wanted a sprint and in any other race those attacks probably would have stuck - especially Stannard and Vanmarcke's.

The longer and harder a race is the more the natural order goes out the window. Stannard went about things the best way possible for a rider of his qualities, the others were also having great rides and were up to the challenge.
 
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blackcat said:
EBH has not mixed it up in sprints for about 5 years,
.
Yes he has, he just doesn't really win them anymore. He generally still does better than Stannard ever will. Don't see him coming 4th in a sprint on the Champs-Elysées before Cavendish and Sagan.

And Petacchi was more or less a sprinter when he was with Scrigno, he just wasn't very good at it, a bit like EBH is now.
 
Riding Het Volk this weekend is Iron Ian, hopefully he can make it three

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