Mar 27 2011: Gent - Wevelgem 210km

[roundabout]

Oh man, thanks for the fotos. I've missed DZ's choice of attire the when they were posted in the news section.

 

[Granville57]

Oh man, thanks for the fotos. I've missed DZ's choice of attire the when they were posted in the news section.

In all fairness, I just snipped that one out. I knew that Z-man wasn't riding today but I forgot that Heinrich wasn't on the line (I just woke up!). I fear I'll have plenty of opportunities to drop in "reminders" to both of them in the coming weeks.

 

[Cobblestoned]

I wouldn't say now:
Cancellara - Boonen 1 : 1

1,25:1 for Fabian is more realistic because what he did was more impressive.

But also impressive that Boonen beat sprinters that usually are faster than him. That was some good timing and work, and Boonen even did something during race.
In 8/10 sprints he just stops pedaling and watches them going past.
Of course such courses suit Tom better than normal flatstages, but that was a strong sprint anyway.
But then again that sprint would surely have ended different if Cav had been still up there with some THCs.

I think Ronde and Roubaix will end up in a big Cancellara-watching and -wheelsucking, with a lucky third, or lucky 10th or whatever.
Like at the worlds 2010, when cuddles won, or that ugly Valverde-watching when Ballan won.

Of course, when they give Cancellara 2m, and act as stupid as last year, then he is gone and will never be seen again.

 

[sublimit]

Ronde will be good, Sky need to keep upright and get further up -- 2 big races ruined by crashes now and their riders coming off.
Garmin need to suck wheel and suss a gameplan that doesnt involve chasing teamates down.

 

[beer_thirty]

oh and one last thing. atm boonen still is the best cobble rider of this generation and you shouldn't count him off that easy



yes and? if there is something cycling isn't its predictable. does he looks like the strongest rider? yes does the strongest rider always win? no

Unfortunately, cycling, like all other sports, is kind of a 'What have you done for me lately?' arrangement. Fabian drilled him last year, and this year looks to be relatively even stronger. I've been a longtime Boonen fan and at the start of this year was really hoping the rest last fall would see him coming back stronger than ever. His 2009 Roubaix ride was one of my favorite ever PR moments..

..but, so far I think anyone would agree that we've seen nothing yet this spring to suggest that he is close to even touching Cancellara.

Yep, cycling is VERY unpredictable. Flats, crashes, rain, etc. And again, what we saw yesterday was a guy coming back from THREE 'unpredictables' to ride straight through the field. Admittedly, not the strongest field ever, but it was still impressive. You are right, the strongest rider doesn't always win, but I think it is the nature of races like RVV and Roubaix, that all other things being equal far more often than not it IS the strongest.

I'd say the biggest question mark here by far for Fabian is, has he hit his form too early? Or is this really just a whole different level he's reached? That for me is the interesting piece

We shall see!

 

[Echoes]

Another great show of cyclists' brightness.

What have the likes of Nuyens, Sieberg, the BMC's, Voeckler now reached again?

Make Sagan lose?


A race is raced for the win. If you wanna catch breakaways, you have to be 100% sure of your sprinter. None of the top3 had domestiques riding for them.

Sagan could have caught a prestigious victory in style without those morons.

The first non-sprint in both Sanremo and Wevelgem is again not for this year ! [Edit: OK happened in 2003 and 2006]

Nuyens used to be one of my favourite riders, now he's one of my least favourite. This is worse than Poz' dirty trick to Gilbert in Sanremo.

 

[hatcher]

Why would they want Sagan to win?

 

[El Pistolero]

Another great show of cyclists' brightness.

What have the likes of Nuyens, Sieberg, the BMC's, Voeckler now reached again?

Make Sagan lose?


A race is raced for the win. If you wanna catch breakaways, you have to be 100% sure of your sprinter. None of the top3 had domestiques riding for them.

Sagan could have caught a prestigious victory in style without those morons.

The first non-sprint in both Sanremo and Wevelgem is again not for this year ! [Edit: OK happened in 2003 and 2006]

Nuyens used to be one of my favourite riders, now he's one of my least favourite. This is worse than Poz' dirty trick to Gilbert in Sanremo.

No way Sagan would've won. Couldn't even follow Stannard anymore.

Why wouldn't Sieberg and Gilbert chase? They were counting on Greipel. Greipel was actually going pretty fast, but once again positioned badly(his fault)

Didn't understand why Voeckler was chasing though.

 

[killswitch]

Didn't understand why Voeckler was chasing though.

+1. Also why Cav had help from a Topsport rider.

 

[The Sheep]

+1. Also why Cav had help from a Topsport rider.

Help? That guy was dead

 

[Dutchsmurf]

What have the likes of Nuyens, Sieberg, the BMC's, Voeckler now reached again? Make Sagan lose?
A race is raced for the win

You answered your own question. If they didn't chase, they would be 100% sure they wouldn't win. If you catch the break you at least have some kind of chance. 1% chance to win is still more than 0%. I don't get why people are upset riders that attack get chased.

 

[mr. tibbs]

So it looks like, ONCE AGAIN, the hardening of the pre-season paid off as planned.

Granville, these posts are hilarious! I look forward to them after every race that Garmin doesn't win. Keep up the good work. (You should start quoting the original post where you announced your intentions.)

 

[Granville57]

Granville, these posts are hilarious! I look forward to them after every race that Garmin doesn't win. Keep up the good work. (You should start quoting the original post where you announced your intentions.)

I had no idea they'd keeping me this busy with it!

 

[Granville57]

From CN feed

1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
3 Tyler Farrar (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
4 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma - Lotto
5 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Omega Pharma - Lotto
6 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step
7 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) HTC-Highroad
8 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing Team
9 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
10 Baden Cooke (Aus) Saxo Bank Sunguard

Turns out it was more like this:

1. Tom Boonen (Bel), Quick Step, 4:36:13
2. Daniele Bennati (Ita), Leopard-Trek
3. Tyler Farrar (Usa), Garmin-Cervélo
4. André Greipel (Ger), Omega Pharma-Lotto
5. Lloyd Mondory (Fra), Ag2r La Mondiale
6. Mitchell Docker (Aus), Skil-Shimano
7. Bernhard Eisel (Aut), HTC-Highroad
8. Kristof Goddaert (Bel), Ag2r La Mondiale
9. Lars Boom (Ned), Rabobank Cycling Team
10. Baden Cooke (Aus), Saxobank-Sungard

 

[Astana1]

Garmin sucks. They wouldn't deliver even they were sponsored by Domino's.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

You'll talk different when Haussler wins Flanders and Hushovd wins PR!!!

Wait..that only ever happens in Pro Cycling Manager 2010

 

[maltiv]

You'll talk different when Haussler wins Flanders and Hushovd wins PR!!!

Wait..that only ever happens in Pro Cycling Manager 2010

In that case you must play a version which doesn't include Cancellara, because he's unbeatable in that game...

 

[Frosty]

Didn't understand why Voeckler was chasing though.

Seb Chav was their highest placed finisher. Looking back he came 6th in KBK so maybe they fancied his chances of a high-placed finish?

 

[Astana1]

JV is a character in a Wes Anderson movie not a legit manager. That camp in the Caymans was a master stroke.

 

[Christian]

Bennati seems to be the only rider from his team who finished.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

In that case you must play a version which doesn't include Cancellara, because he's unbeatable in that game...

I have 10 years of playing experience...
I even owned Contador in the Tour with Stijn Devolder
The game is too easy (even on extreme)

Anyway, back on topic. Summary: break, break cought, nothing happens on kemmelberg. Group with Sagan escapes. Stannard makes bid for glory, gets caught, Boonen wins sprint.

Also Boonen didn't look good to me on the climbs, he won't win Flanders, I don't think he can improve that much in one week.
Might be good for Roubaix though.

Other notable things. Sagan can sprint up cobbled hills as well as asphalted ones, but how will he handle a 250km+ race?
Gilbert looked really strong today. He might be the only one to challenge Cancellara.
Not convinced by Hushovd on hills. Might do a good PR though, but RVV looks too hard for him to win.
Pozzato was invisible.
Ballan also didn't look that good today, suprisingly.
Rabobank invisible in cobbled races lately. Will do nothing next week.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

Sure Garmin didn't win, but I wouldn't lump this in with failures as we've already seen them: Farrar hung better than other sprinters, and he was "only" third because of his capabilities, not team organization.

Like D_T pointed out, we have some better indications for separating out the RVV hilly types from the PR types, but Canellara is a wrench in everybody's plans, and I'm really looking forward to watching it play out. Sagan got out of that slump/injury thing whatever it was, and will be interesting to watch, and Big George always puts a smile on my face around this time.

Too bad we have to wade through a weeks worth of predictions and discussion to get there, though

 

[Four Winds]

Re the crash at the finish line

The photographer was actually behind the painted white line so he wasn't anywhere he shouldn't have been. Offredo looked like he had his head down and locked the back wheel. Both riders were up soon after - and the camera man looked fine too .

Give the togs a break. I wouldn't fancy buying all those cycling mags if they were all print and adverts?!

 

[The Hitch]

I'd say the biggest question mark here by far for Fabian is, has he hit his form too early? Or is this really just a whole different level he's reached? That for me is the interesting piece

We shall see!

Dude.

Did you see Cancellara last year at E3. IMO that was even more impressive. No chains, no undergearing, no hills. He just dropped, at will, the second and third best cobbled specialists in the world, in the last 1k, on pan flat, and made about 15 seconds on them in the space of 800m before sitting up to celebrate.

And we all know what happened next.

Hes only hit form too early if he wants to carry the form to AGR.

 

[Anonymous]

big gallery of race photos just gone up
http://teamskyfans.com/Race Galleries/2011/Gent Wevelgem/index.html