March 19: Milan - San Remo 2011 298km

[cycladianpirate]

Aah Well. At least Nibbles gave me a run for my tenner.

Goss is proving to be a very classy act.

 

[Parrulo]

*jumps in front of libertine and takes the bullets for him*

ACF most of your posts are out of line so . . .

do i have to go get the post were you call cavendish a "scumbag" a few pages ago?

p.s. i do think this was a good win for goss tho. althought it was predictable as soon as we saw him in the first group going down the poggio. gilbert's attack was bad timed imo. greipel killed himself for gilbert and he attacks on a straight line?

prolly it would have been better for him to go with nibali when nibali attacked the first time. the 2 together could prolly stay away

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

At the end of a race like today, yup. Anyone who gets a stage like today earned it. Anyone who featured did well.

I guess I just love the sport.

Totally agree.
The racing was brilliant, best msr in a long time.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I understand disliking HTC, but nothing about Goss's win can be belittled, excellent stuff.

Well, other than the fact that the only time you saw a HTC rider contribute, or at the front, was the last 5 metres of a 300km race.
Leopard did the minimum, too.
Chapeau to BMC, Katusha and FDJ, I say.
These guys made the race.

.............................
...............................
What time are Rabobus due to finish?
Good to have them back!

 

[kjetilraknerud]

Haussler must be the biggest disappointment here. Garmin had a lot of riders in group 2, but obviously had confidence in him since they didn't chase. And he's not even in the final...

 

[hfer07]

Beautiful race-Goss killed everyone in the sprint & really deserved the win. Very happy to see Nibali & Scarponi putting such excitement in the last Kms. I'd say this is one of the best M-SR in years.

 

[Bala Verde]

I wonder whether Gilbert could have done better if he had not launched that last ditch attack in the ultimate 3k... He probably didn't feel confident enough to take on Goss in the sprint, after having worked so hard on Poggio. Nibali and Scarponi were great too, and BMC's teamwork worked pretty well, the 1-2 van Avermaet and Ballan.

Cancelara surpised as well with a pretty strong sprint in the last K...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

why is it a problem he wins regardless?
This was a tough win.

HTC trains are annoying, but this was great. How can you be dissapointed at anyone winning like this.

I'm not disappointed in the race. The race was much better than the last few editions.

I'm disappointed that a team I can't stand got the win. It's a great race with a result that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. A bit like, say, stage 10 of the 2009 Giro, which was great racing, but I can't stand di Luca so his winning made me annoyed.

I wouldn't have been so apoplectic if the race had been poor because I'd have been more apathetic.

 

[Jamsque]

Cancellara kicked past gilbert, just something to keep in mind for upcomming races.

Sky bummed out, but Garmin might be the bigger dissappointment. Was today one of Vaughter's assummed scenarios?

Agreed, Garmin were the huge favourites going in to this and had a terrible race (partly due to bad luck but still).

HTC did not repeat their mistake of only taking one leader to MSR and they have reaped the reward. Goss could have a great chance at the Worlds this year.

 

[Benotti69]

Yes it is. We are a minority sport that fights hard to get recognition, yet from some areas we have pointless, pathetic *****y in-fighting.

especially as the first thing Canc did was to pull Goss back and congratulate him. but some fans cant be helped and their stupidity gets the better of them.

Great MSR, some really great performances and not just the winner. For me ride of the day goes to Scarponi

 

[eljimberino]

All this banging on about the Italians being most exciting, watch Gilbert again...

Dude does a huge attack, regroups and still gets 3rd.

 

[auscyclefan94]

1st exciting MSR i have ever seen.

 

[Ferminal]

Couldn't help jumping around the room when he won, CQ points, some good bets (18 and 21) and a lot of faith invested in Goss (haven't been afraid to talk him up here). Expected him to win G-W and even though I had him as a top3 favourite here, to win without getting carried to the line is just super impressive.

What an amazing race... started watching properly about 45km to go and was absolutely glued.

They handed that to Harley on a plate, no one attacking in the last two corners bunched it up nicely for him. But a fantastic ride nonetheless and fully deserved as he was happy to watch and chase Gilbert and Cancellara before, not a "wheelsuckers' victory as you may have expected - practically everyone in the group worked. I must admit I was shocked when I saw Goss hanging on over the Poggio.

Ride of the day is a tough one, between Scarponi, Chainel, Van Avermaet and our Winner. I liked what Scarponi did in T-A and was becoming a fan, but now he's going to be the one I support most in the Giro, such class bridging the gap... to finish in the top5 (edit: 6th) after all that. Chainel, his massive pulls opened up the gap, and made those final 15km even more exciting, tried and tried and tried, and took it up to some much bigger names. Van Avermaet, well he had to go, and if O'Grady and the Canc weren't there together maybe he could have stayed away.

Phenomenal race, will have to watch again very soon.

 

[Tuarts]

Aussie anthem \o/

 

[The Hitch]

Cancellara beats Gilbert. Take that el pickle

 

[thehog]

Boring day of racing. We need radios back.

 

[Cobblestoned]

I am always amazed by posts that reveal how much anger people carry about for riders and teams.

This person might have missed Goss's impressive performance at that easy stage there in P-N, while whining about P-N.
lol
Winner comes from P-N this year. Rain today....and next 7 days because HTC won.
Of course winners do everything wrong.

 

[maltiv]

Think that's the first time I've seen Cancellara sprinting while actually standing. When he was so strong in the sprint I don't understand why he didn't try an attack...

 

[sublimit]

Yea, because you NEVER see irrational hatred amongst fans of other sport.

I give Goss credit for a brilliant ride.

I do also follow other sports.

There are people I like and people I dislike in those sports too.

Tired and emotional.. grow up.

 

[auscyclefan94]

*jumps in front of libertine and takes the bullets for him*

ACF most of your posts are out of line so . . .

do i have to go get the post were you call cavendish a "scumbag" a few pages ago?

p.s. i do think this was a good win for goss tho. althought it was predictable as soon as we saw him in the first group going down the poggio. gilbert's attack was bad timed imo. greipel killed himself for gilbert and he attacks on a straight line?

prolly it would have been better for him to go with nibali when nibali attacked the first time. the 2 together could prolly stay away

I have good reason to call him that as a lot of others do as well. you are a vry average poster as well who doesn't mind to chuck in a baseless insult. Your back onto the ignore list then.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, other than the fact that the only time you saw a HTC rider contribute, or at the front, was the last 5 metres of a 300km race.
Leopard did the minimum, too.
Chapeau to BMC, Katusha and FDJ, I say.
These guys made the race.

.............................
...............................
What time are Rabobus due to finish?
Good to have them back!

Ditto, although to be fair to HTC they only appeared to have one rider in the front group.

Leopard I thought were terrible today, five riders in the lead group and did no work until the final 10k. They didnt deserve to win.

Well done to lotto, bmc and katusha for at least trying to animate the race.

Sky, well sky made a complete and utter mess of it. Big time. Most dissapointing race so far from them without question.

 

[pmcg76]

Best edition of this race I have seen in ages, maybe as far back as Kelly in 92.

I fancied Goss from the bottom of the Poggio and definitely when they closed Gilbert down. Goss managed to hide the entire way but he was by himself of course with no team-mates so only natural.

Bravo to Goss, Van Avermaet, Offredo, Nibali, Scarponi & Chainel for their efforts in this race.

 

[boardhanger]

And well done winning the first race day ever on the Specialized McLaren Venge!

It was all about the bike!!!

 

[Jamsque]

Well, other than the fact that the only time you saw a HTC rider contribute, or at the front, was the last 5 metres of a 300km race.

What? Goss may not have attacked all over the place but he worked his *** off on the hills and chased down Gilbert and Spartacus when they tried to get away in the final 3000 metres.

Goss has earned a nickname, and from now on I shall call him Harley Davidson.

 

[roundabout]

Which reminds me, i almost got Pozzatto finishing position right about an hour ago