March 19: Milan - San Remo 2011 298km

[El Pistolero]

^lol, flecha took out everyone -boonen and pozzato.



Flecha (especially) and Hoste looked pretty strong that day, Hushovd didn't look that bad at all. Your assumption is not enough.

Doesn't matter anyway, apparently bike handling skills are important in Paris-Roubaix. Go figure.

Boonen went solo in both Monuments. Not a lot of sprinters can say they did that(last time I checked Cancellara was not a sprinter)
Try and find the word attack in my post that started this discussion. Try.

 

[Parrulo]

You don't chase when you're at your limit and when it would only lead to cracking big time yourself. I realize that some guys in here don't race themselves but it shouldn't be too hard to comprehend the fact that the riders don't necessarily race defensively because they are "dishonorable" but because they might just be completely dead. He took a few kilometers to recover and was able to find some extra strength as the line approached.

are you actually saying that every1 cept boonen 50k out on last years P-R were already to tired to chage? and had to wait a few k's to recover? i have seen last years P-R like 4 times(i downloaded the full race) and from my point of view the summary of the race was.

from roughly 60k out maybe 65 boonen starts to attack every now and then. peloton losses a ton of people due to those attacks. during those few k of boonen attacking you see that when he wants/needs canc bridges the gap to boonen rather easily and puts the now group back together. then boonen rests a bit before an couple of important sections by going to the back of the group and eating something. riis sees and tellls canc who attacks. on the first of those important sections he catchs the 3 guys on front ( who included sebastian inault iirc, hoste and leukmens) and on the next sector he drops them and then iit's to the finish.

during that time boonen chases pretty much alone losing time all the way too carefour d'arbe where the fancy ladies like hushov decide its time to race for second now that the main rival is tired. so then do those attacks hushovd sucks flecha wheel till the finish line and then out sprints him for second (reason why flecha claped at the finish)

so ya hushovd is the most honest non wheel sucker ever. . . . righty

just my point of view i was in a hurry so there will be a lot of typos here

anyway i hope boonen to win M-SR he deserves ^_^

 

[zapata]

are you actually saying that every1 cept boonen 50k out on last years P-R were already to tired to chage? and had to wait a few k's to recover? i have seen last years P-R like 4 times(i downloaded the full race) and from my point of view the summary of the race was.

from roughly 60k out maybe 65 boonen starts to attack every now and then. peloton losses a ton of people due to those attacks. during those few k of boonen attacking you see that when he wants/needs canc bridges the gap to boonen rather easily and puts the now group back together. then boonen rests a bit before an couple of important sections by going to the back of the group and eating something. riis sees and tellls canc who attacks. on the first of those important sections he catchs the 3 guys on front ( who included sebastian inault iirc, hoste and leukmens) and on the next sector he drops them and then iit's to the finish.

during that time boonen chases pretty much alone losing time all the way too carefour d'arbe where the fancy ladies like hushov decide its time to race for second now that the main rival is tired. so then do those attacks hushovd sucks flecha wheel till the finish line and then out sprints him for second (reason why flecha claped at the finish)

so ya hushovd is the most honest non wheel sucker ever. . . . righty

just my point of view i was in a hurry so there will be a lot of typos here

anyway i hope boonen to win M-SR he deserves ^_^

Not that it matters, but when hushovd and flecha got away, it was hushovd who initiated it, and flecha followed him.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

And if you're an Aussie you shouldn't write "fücker" with an umlaut. Just sayin', seems like someone who speaks a Germanic language would do.

Aussies speak English, and English is a Germanic language

 

[El Pistolero]

Aussies speak English, and English is a Germanic language

I know, but didn't feel like summing up all the Scandinavian languages and German. Dutch is Germanic too and doesn't use the umlaut like those languages. English has a very big French influence in its words though. A legacy from the Plantagenet family.

I study at the faculty of "letteren en wijsbegeerte", so I come in regular contact with philologists
But ok, I shouldn't have been so lazy

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Mind you, I never said anything about attacking. He doesn't need to attack if he's in small groups with people that can't sprint. When he was with Hushovd in 2009 he was riding at a ferocious pace and Hushovd was about to crack until he crashed(probably out of fatigue, the crash was entirely his own fault)

And Boonen attacked at every edition of P-R he won until only a small group remained. Hushovd doesn't do that.

Anyway some people really can't stand if you criticizes their idol. If I had to react like that on everyone that says something bad about Bertie lol. I would be glad if Thor wins Milan-San Remo this year however, that jersey looks good on him and we need a decent world champion for once

Cadel was awesome last year

 

[zapata]

I'd like to see freire get a fourth, but since he won't, I'd really like someone from italy win, preferably a big upset, winning solo ahead of the sprinters. Paolini, Gavazzi, Modolo, even Dall Antonia or Felline, someone like that.

 

[El Pistolero]

Cadel was awesome last year

Meh, I like to see a world champion who wins a little bit more and bigger races.

Take away his FW and he would have had Pozatto's season.
He was good, but not awesome. Now Bettini(in 2006/7) and Boonen, they were great world champions. Giro di Lombardia 2006 is still one of my favorite moments. So beautiful.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Meh, I like to see a world champion who wins a little bit more and bigger races.

Take away his FW and he would have had Pozatto's season.
He was good, but not awesome. Now Bettini and Boonen, they were great world champions. Giro di Lombardia 2006 is still one of my favorite moments. So beautiful.

He started attacking for once as such, he was awesome

 

[zapata]

About farrar, has he even finished this race once? I'd rate his chances of winning as similar to mcewen (or sutton, who someone mentioned..). Not high. Still, I can picture Garmin finishing 2, 3, and 4. Behind luca paolini.

 

[taiwan]

I think I have my podium

1.Goss
2.Haussler
3.Boonen

But I think Petacchi will be all right on the night too.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

1. Heinrich Haussler

 

[Eric8-A]

I don't care how on form Goss is, he will not win and neither will Cavendish.

I think Hushovd should stick with leading out Haussler in this race. If he does it like he did with Tyler at Tirreno, Haussler will win beautifully. Tyler will probably not finish the race.

 

[taiwan]

I don't care how on form Goss is, he will not win and neither will Cavendish.

I thought I'd stick my neck out a bit. I reckon he can win.

 

[Eric8-A]

I don't see it. Maybe a top 10 or 5. He will best Cavendish though.

I think it would be pretty cool to see both Cancellara and Gilbert on the attack.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

Visconti and Ballan have lately been trying to get some good face time attacking late in races, and will have a go. I think Visconti will try to fly his Italian flag over the poggio, bringing Ballan, Gilbert, Scarponi, and someone from Sky with him in a dramatic descent that stays away until 800 to go. The chase will be behind a few meters, when Thor launches out carrying Haussler with him at the front of a strung out bunch. Haussler takes it in front of Petacchi and Freire. Thor hangs on to finish in the top 5, and everyone speculates how much Garmin will dominate the rest of the classics.

Sprinter's glory, but an exciting last 15 minutes.

Edit: Also, 40% chance of rain for Saturday? Wet conditions were enough to make even Paris-Nice tense. Here's hoping

 

[Winterfold]

Too difficult to call.

I predict a surprise.

(Gilbert attacking on the Poggio and staying away would be a surprise)(well the staying away, he will attack for sure)

 

[Eric8-A]

Too difficult to call.

I predict a surprise.

(Gilbert attacking on the Poggio and staying away would be a surprise)(well the staying away, he will attack for sure)

If Gilbert attacks, he better hope it goes better than the attack he tried at last years Worlds.

 

[Hoekstyn]

Very open race, as always. I'm not sure what Garmin's squad will be but if they Farrar, Hushovd and Haussler they have a great chance of winning. Boonen and Goss should be up there in the sprint, and old slow AleJet and Oscarcito can't be counted out. Cavendish probably can be, unless his form improves a lot during T-A.

Gilbert would be stupid not to have a go from far out, and who knows who else might try. That's why I love Milan - San Remo.

I would like to see Oscar do it one more time.

 

[Eric8-A]

Boonen was my favorite for MSR last year. I even had a dream that he won, so I was really rooting for him. But it was really great to see Oscar Freire come out with the win.

 

[ingsve]

Visconti and Ballan have lately been trying to get some good face time attacking late in races, and will have a go. I think Visconti will try to fly his Italian flag over the poggio, bringing Ballan, Gilbert, Scarponi, and someone from Sky with him in a dramatic descent that stays away until 800 to go. The chase will be behind a few meters, when Thor launches out carrying Haussler with him at the front of a strung out bunch. Haussler takes it in front of Petacchi and Freire. Thor hangs on to finish in the top 5, and everyone speculates how much Garmin will dominate the rest of the classics.

Sprinter's glory, but an exciting last 15 minutes.

Edit: Also, 40% chance of rain for Saturday? Wet conditions were enough to make even Paris-Nice tense. Here's hoping

You don't think Thor or Haussler would be strong enough to follow an attack like that? I'm expecting Thor to probably follow the attacks and be there if they stay away and if they get reeled back in they'll have Haussler there for the sprint. That would be a better use of their team strength I think.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

You don't think Thor or Haussler would be strong enough to follow an attack like that? I'm expecting Thor to probably follow the attacks and be there if they stay away and if they get reeled back in they'll have Haussler there for the sprint. That would be a better use of their team strength I think.

I think they are strong enough, along with many others. But, in my mind they will have the composure and patience of sprinters going into the finale, as opposed to desperation of those sort-of climbers who are dependent on a hill to solidify a move. Its not a big difference, but I don't see the individual favorites (sprinters) being as paranoid to jump on anything that flinches on their own, like they will be in a few weeks.

If those two do go across, most of the other contenders will be with them too, resulting still in a bunch finish.

 

[The Hitch]

, but he'll never dope, he'll never cheat, he'll give credit where credit's due. He'd pound Il Pistolero to dust given half a chance!

Your "im omniscient egomaniac and know who dopes (no one) and who doesnt (Spaniards and people that get caught)" trolling is annoying enough in the clinic, but this is a dope free conversation area and that applies as much to "i know for sure this guy doesnt dope" as it does to "i think this guy does dope".

 

[The Hitch]

Taking into account the fact that Petacchi, Boonen and Greipel are/were ill/injured, imo it should be one of these 6 names: Heinrich Haussler, Thor Hushovd, Tyler Farrar, Matthew Goss, Oscar Freire and Juan Jose Haedo.

I think any of the Garmin guys can be up there in a final sprint on Lungomare I.Calvino, but all will depend on a team tactics. I don't believe in possibility of 3 captains in a 300km race, they can start in Milan with 3 captains, but during the race they should choose 2 of them. The logical choice is Haussler and Hushovd but I don't want to play down Farrar's chances, because if the team will believe he can suffer Cipressa and Poggio they can do what Columbia did in 2009.

I think HTC bosses understand that Cavendish won't win and they must seek some different options. Matthew Goss is one of those sprinters that won't have problems on the Cipressa and Poggio, he is in form, he is a contender despite he has no experience of finishing MSR.

As it was mentioned many times MSR sprint is not about the pure speed. Freire is no longer a sprinter, but he has a fantastic experience, he rode Tirreno exactly like a year ago and... he can do it again.

Juan Jose Haedo is a bit of a dark horse, I think we underrate this guy, his sprinting talent is hidden behind the awful inconstancy of his results but I do believe the saturday may became his Day

The One Jose winning would be christmas come early but i dont see him making it over the climbs.

 

[Roland Rat]

then boonen rests a bit before an couple of important sections by going to the back of the group and eating something. riis sees and tellls canc who attacks.

Sorry, you must be mistaken, this could never have happened as radios are not used for tactical purposes.