Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, 27 Feb 2011

[boomcie]

He's only done one race so far this year in Oman prior to today and he said he felt a lot better today and was happy with his ride given the time of the season. I certainly don't think he looked poor today either. He wasn't the one that looked the strongest by any means but he was active and steadily in the group with the other main monument favourites.

I also think he looked quite solid.

 

[palmerq]

I'm going to go for boonen to win, not a very brave guess at all... but I saw on cyclingnews quickstep or maybe it was boonen said they wanted to win one of the races this weekend and they didnt have the best performance today so I think they will go hard to win this one and Boonen seems to be in pretty good condition so tom for the win, but it is hard to predict these races.. I think flecha killed himself today and won't be able to do much.

 

[Roland Rat]

Reckon it'll be a Boonen v EBH v Farrar sprint and Boonen will take it. Boring prediction but there you go.

 

[skidmark]

Hushovd has done absolutely nothing this season yet and looked poor in Het Volk.

Seeing as his big career target is a cobbles race, not too far away now, might it be that the rainbow jersey curse is about to strike again?

I'm not sure what you would have expected him to do in the 1 race he took part in (Oman), in which it was not his goal to place, so doing 'absolutely nothing' is not really much more than he could have hoped.

And I disagree that he looked 'poor' in Het Volk, I mean he followed Boonen's pseudo-attack, tested the legs, and then sat up in the group with the big guns, so he doesn't look any poorer than Boonen, EBH, etc, and better than someone like Pozatto who did absolutely nothing and didn't even finish.

Just a bit premature to be calling it a curse, IMO.

 

[The Hitch]

I'm not sure what you would have expected him to do in the 1 race he took part in (Oman), in which it was not his goal to place, so doing 'absolutely nothing' is not really much more than he could have hoped.

And I disagree that he looked 'poor' in Het Volk, I mean he followed Boonen's pseudo-attack, tested the legs, and then sat up in the group with the big guns, so he doesn't look any poorer than Boonen, EBH, etc, and better than someone like Pozatto who did absolutely nothing and didn't even finish.

Just a bit premature to be calling it a curse, IMO.

He's only done one race so far this year in Oman prior to today and he said he felt a lot better today and was happy with his ride given the time of the season. I certainly don't think he looked poor today either. He wasn't the one that looked the strongest by any means but he was active and steadily in the group with the other main monument favourites.

The point is all of his PR competitors have shown form already. haussler and Boonen at Qatar. EBH and Can at Oman. Flecha today.

Him and Pippo remain with no results so far.

Im not saying it is a curse already, just throwing the point out there.

 

[El Pistolero]

There's an unwritten rule in the peloton. If you win in Gent you won't stand on the highest spot of the podium in Meerbeke.
This is a phyrric victory for the Dutch if you ask me.
I was rooting for Flecha, but oh well.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

There's an unwritten rule in the peloton. If you win in Gent you won't stand on the highest spot of the podium in Meerbeke.
This is a phyrric victory for the Dutch if you ask me.
I was rooting for Flecha, but oh well.

Langeveld will be mourning that Ronde he was otherwise guarenteed then...

He can do SFA for the rest of the year and this will rank as one of his better seasons already - as it happens I think he'll show solidly for the rest of the spring, but I don't think anyone's kidding themselves here - he won today because people didn't take his threat seriously, and didn't care enough about the race to fight when the threat became seriously.

Bloody great ride nontheless.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

Tomorrow's rider to narrowly beat someone from Sky will be Hushovd; who will edge out EBH. In third a little while later, someone who isn't Belgian.

 

[auscyclefan94]

what is the predicted finish time?

 

[mewmewmew13]

I was going to stick my neck out and choose Hushovd...his face didn't look too grim today and he will be wanting to put his stamp down...otherwise maybe LBoom. ...I think it might be a crap shoot..some bad luck and flats thrown in

 

[ingsve]

Tomorrow's rider to narrowly beat someone from Sky will be Hushovd; who will edge out EBH. In third a little while later, someone who isn't Belgian.

Hushovd isn't riding tomorrow, it will be Farrar's turn instead.

 

[kirill-loko]

I was going to stick my neck out and choose Hushovd...his face didn't look too grim today and he will be wanting to put his stamp down...otherwise maybe LBoom. ...I think it might be a crap shoot..some bad luck and flats thrown in

tmrw Hushovd will be replaced by Tyler who also has nice chances i think. and Lars has done a lot of work today and probably will accumulate energy for some other major classics and obviously KBK is not among them. so from Rabo maybe Wynants will be on top with other dark horses such as Rollin, Weylandt, Traksel, Roulston, maybe Goddaert or say Stannard. However main favorites are Farrar, EBH, Boonen.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

There's an unwritten rule in the peloton. If you win in Gent you won't stand on the highest spot of the podium in Meerbeke.
This is a phyrric victory for the Dutch if you ask me.
I was rooting for Flecha, but oh well.

So? Langeveld has never even ridden top 5 in Flanders, why make that your goal, go for a 7th place, and then have that as only result?
25 riders try to win flanders and make it their main goal, and in reality only Cancellara, Boonen or very maybe Haussler has a chance, the others fail anyway.
Take what you can. Omloop het Volk/Nieuwsblad is a beautiful race with a long history. Calling it a phyrric victory for the Dutch is respectless.

But hey, you're always sour when a dutch guy wins on Belgian ground. Why the hostility? We Dutch don't even see Belgians as rivals in sport (that role is preserved for the germans)

 

[El Pistolero]

So? Langeveld has never even ridden top 5 in Flanders, why make that your goal, go for a 7th place, and then have that as only result?
25 riders try to win flanders and make it their main goal, and in reality only Cancellara, Boonen or very maybe Haussler has a chance, the others fail anyway.
Take what you can. Omloop het Volk/Nieuwsblad is a beautiful race with a long history. Calling it a phyrric victory for the Dutch is respectless.

But hey, you're always sour when a dutch guy wins on Belgian ground. Why the hostility? We Dutch don't even see Belgians as rivals in sport (that role is preserved for the germans)

It was in response to Hitch saying that this could be a bad sign for Hushovd because he didn't peak at the Omloop. He doesn't need to peak at the Omloop, but when the Ronde is about to start. If he peaked at the Omloop then there would be a huge problem for him.

Calling it a phyrric victory isn't respectless, Pyrrus is one of the most respected generals in history with only one real flaw(never finishing what he started and always starting new wars)

And they said the same about Philippe Gilbert in 2006 and 2008 what you're saying now of Langeveld.

Just sayin'

There was zero hostility in my post. They're not even my own words, but those of Fabian Cancellara. Well, the first bit of my post.

Small boys don't win the Omloop anymore. If Boonen or Gilbert would have won the Omloop I would have also called it a phyrric victory. Just look at the list of past winners. Try and find someone who has the potential of winning the ronde or P-R? All of them have that potential. How many of them won the Omloop and the ronde or P-R in the same year? None.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I also think he looked quite solid.

yeah Thor looks fine.
He looked as good as the likes of Boonen and Gilbert anyway.

Just because he didn't choose to be active in any of the sprints at oman hardly makes him looking out of shape.

I like him for p-r

 

[Sasquatch]

Leigh Howard

though, Feillu seems to be in some sort of form.

Will Clarke as an outsider.

 

[theyoungest]

Langeveld will be mourning that Ronde he was otherwise guarenteed then...

He can do SFA for the rest of the year and this will rank as one of his better seasons already - as it happens I think he'll show solidly for the rest of the spring, but I don't think anyone's kidding themselves here - he won today because people didn't take his threat seriously, and didn't care enough about the race to fight when the threat became seriously.

Bloody great ride nontheless.

I've seen a number of riders mention Langeveld as their favourite for the Omloop. Leukemans, Chavanel, there were more. So to say that he wasn't perceived as a threat, that's not quite true.

 

[Big Mig]

Museeuw won both Het Volk and Paris-Roubaix in 2000. Anyway back to KBK Tyler Farrar FTW.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I'm not convinced about Farrar yet. I think he can win at GT stage here and there, but a classic? We'll see.

 

[mewmewmew13]

I'm not convinced about Farrar yet. I think he can win at GT stage here and there, but a classic? We'll see.

I was actually just thinking that same thing today...I wonder if he would be 'tough enough' in the mud, grit, cold etc....as some of the other classics 'hard men'. These races seem to call for a different blend of instincts, skills, not to mention sheer determination than pure road racing. It will be interesting to see how he fares, but I wish him good luck.
cheers

 

[kurtinsc]

I'm not convinced about Farrar yet. I think he can win at GT stage here and there, but a classic? We'll see.

Well, he's actually shown the potential.

He was 3rd in Omloop het Volk last year, 5th in RVV and won Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen.

I think he needs the races to develop in a certain way, with a largish group of 15-20 making it to the line together... but he's strong enough to make a 15-20 man group in these kinds of classics. Just perhaps not a 5-8 man selection yet.

 

[joy118118]

what is the weather like in Kuurne now?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Well, he's actually shown the potential.

He was 3rd in Omloop het Volk last year, 5th in RVV and won Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen.

I think he needs the races to develop in a certain way, with a largish group of 15-20 making it to the line together... but he's strong enough to make a 15-20 man group in these kinds of classics. Just perhaps not a 5-8 man selection yet.

Omloop was from a bunch sprint, RVV was from a group sprint and scheldeprijs was from a bunch sprint. Sky are looking pretty strong so they will look to split the field!

 

[kurtinsc]

Omloop was from a bunch sprint, RVV was from a group sprint and scheldeprijs was from a bunch sprint. Sky are looking pretty strong so they will look to split the field!

I believe I qualified what I said well enough.

Omloop had a group of 18 behind Flecha, RVV was a group of 29 behind the 4 leaders, Scheldeprijs was a big group.

He is strong enough to make some selections of riders where 15 or more make it. I don't know if he's strong enough to make more selective groups then that.

But you CAN win a classic like that. the Omloop last year would have been him vs Haussler in the sprint had Flecha not been able to stay away by 20 seconds.

I'm not saying he's Tom Boonen... but I do think he's shown some talent in the lesser classics. I don't think him winning one would be any more suprising then Edvald Boasson Hagen or Bernard Eisel for example.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Well, he's actually shown the potential.

He was 3rd in Omloop het Volk last year, 5th in RVV and won Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen.

I think he needs the races to develop in a certain way, with a largish group of 15-20 making it to the line together... but he's strong enough to make a 15-20 man group in these kinds of classics. Just perhaps not a 5-8 man selection yet.

I tend to agree. I have not seen him create the decision. If the group is smaller than 10, I doubt he will be there. It's K-B-K though, so I anticipate a finishing group of 25-30. Perhaps the weather will change that though. With 25, Farrar has a great shot.