P-R riders that are never there, but should be.

[Nick C.]

Chente García.

Isn't Chente annually in the "early morning break"?

 

[Nick C.]

Vino and Evans are the obvious choices as everyone has already stated. Wiggo put in a decent ride 2 years ago and is talking that he will ride this year, but then he was an unknown quantity and was trying now who knows. Cav would be interesting. Kolobnev seems to be there or thereabouts in most big races. I can't think of the name but didn't one of the young Lovkvist or Gustav larrson win Eroica?? What the hell they both can TT so why not throw their names in the hat.

 

[hrotha]

Isn't Chente annually in the "early morning break"?

Possibly, but I mean he could have tried to give it a real go, not just ride as filler. And he's too old now anyway.

 

[Archibald]

i think one thing that PR requires that cuddles has in abundance is "heart". His attitude when on the bike would be his biggest asset at PR - he just refuses to give up. With big george in his corner and the way BMC is shaping up, it's a race well within his grasp.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah Vino is obviously a million miles superior as a climber to Boonen/Canc and on short hills hes very good, obviously the hills dont favour pure climbers but he also has the required bulk and seated power, add to the fact hes awesome in tts and great over the 250km + range and only an idiot would bet against a fully focussed and top form vino definitely early in his career, hes certainly still in with a shout now. Aus cycling fan im sorry you cant see the sense

Trust me, both could drop Vino on the Muur
--

The Tour stage doesn't mean a lot to be honest. Andy Schleck would get totally raped on Paris-Roubaix or Flanders yet he was in the final group in that Tour stage.

Also a lot of people who ride the cobbled classics weren't at the Tour. Just because you have great bike handling skills doesn't mean you're automatically good at Roubaix. Just look at Sven Nys. I doubt there are more then a handful of cyclists in the peloton that have his bike handling skills yet he'll never win Roubaix.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Are you on crack?

meh with the right training a guy like vino could do well at flanders (to late tho). The cobbles at flanders and the ones they face at p-r are very different. Despite the steep climbs, most riders find P-R so much harder because the cobbles are in such poor condition. It isn't the hell of the north for no reason.

 

[Ferminal]

Trust me, both could drop Vino on the Muur

What about Gilbert?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

let me get this straight, you think Vino even in the form of his life could be the top favourite for Ronde van vlaanderen? I think I have heard it all...

just look at boogerd. one year without specific training or great shape he did tour of flanders and was within the first that race. he was so surprised that next year he wanted to win but was crashed by a museeuw fan I think. boogerd is 178x63 and no way a powerhouse like vino

cobbles and especially flanders is so overratedm it's all about being in the right place at the right time during the race

 

[El Pistolero]

What about Gilbert?

Also, but he didn't mention Gilbert, so I felt no need to include him

 

[El Pistolero]

meh with the right training a guy like vino could do well at flanders (to late tho). The cobbles at flanders and the ones they face at p-r are very different. Despite the steep climbs, most riders find P-R so much harder because the cobbles are in such poor condition. It isn't the hell of the north for no reason.

Actually here in Belgium they have a show called Flandriens and they talk about the 2 cobbled monuments from the 60s till now with footage.

All of them called Flanders harder. 2 names I can remember that said Flanders was harder were Boonen and Merckx. Boonen went on to say Roubaix was easy for him lol.

It's called the hell of the north because of the world war, doesn't have anything to do with the race it self

 

[ingsve]

Vino and Voigt indeed are riders that should've went for it.
I just can't understand they never tried...

Jens Voigt did ride Paris - Roubaix a few times when he was on GAN/Credit Agricole but they always had other riders to ride for (Moncassin, O'Grady, Bäckstedt, Hushovd) so he was never really captain.

 

[mr. tibbs]

I think Vino could win Flanders--but it would require some special circumstances, like with Devolder. If Vino had a big, Boonen-shaped anchor to hold down the other chasers when he attacked... yeah, he could win.

 

[ergmonkey]

Is this thread about star riders who aren't quite suited to Roubaix, or is this thread supposed to be about riders who are suited to Roubaix but never quite get it done?

Here's my incomplete list of guys with seemingly enough sustained power, weight, and kick to actually target Roubaix--and some of them even do!

-Steegmans (ought to get much better)

-Vaitkus (has been good in support on cobbles, should do better)

-Chicchi (great sprint, plenty of bulk, not sure he can hack 250+ kms)

-Greipel (great sprint, great bulk, great short tt, needs to prove he can do 250+ kms)

-Eisel (has done very well on cobbles but could get even better in Roubaix)

-Devolder (his Roubaix performances are not in keeping with his Flanders and tt success; could use a better kick for Roubaix, though)

-Hushovd (yeah, I mean it; even with one podium place, his Roubaix history is not what it should be for a guy with countless sprint victories, a U23 tt world championship, good bike handling skills, plenty of muscle mass, and a decade of riding as a protected team leader)

-Hondo (great sprint, good endurance, very good short tt)

-Bennati (great sprint, under-valued all-rounder, occasionally very good over 250+ kms)

-McEwen (don't think size is his problem; he's fine on cobbles for 200kms, then he craps out; at some point in his two decades as a pro living in Belgium I would have liked to have seen him build up more endurance than this)

-Farrar (has always wanted to be a Classics great; wisely focused on sprints in recent years; hope to see him include more Classics focus again this year)

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Actually here in Belgium they have a show called Flandriens and they talk about the 2 cobbled monuments from the 60s till now with footage.

All of them called Flanders harder. 2 names I can remember that said Flanders was harder were Boonen and Merckx. Boonen went on to say Roubaix was easy for him lol.

It's called the hell of the north because of the world war, doesn't have anything to do with the race it self

well the majority riders opinions i have seen have all said P-R is much harder, the cobbles at flanders are like clouds in comparison to those in france.
I suspect the reason boonen thinks P-R is easy, is because the race at flanders is usually more open and unpredictable (whereas with P-R, it kinda feels like the best always prevail.. aka boonen) , because it is the easier of the two... just look at the bunch.. P-R is always split into pieces, whilst flanders provides quite a few big groups... i.e this years 5th place group was a mass spint.

a quote from Boonen himself kinda illustrating my point
easier to win, doesn't mean easier race, in fact the toughness of p-r is what makes it easier for a guy like boonen.

“Roubaix for me, maybe it sounds strange, but it’s easier to win because it’s a race where it gets easier with a really select group at the end. The door at the back is always open — riders are always getting dropped, getting dropped, getting dropped. And then with 40 Ks you’re looking around and there are maybe 15 or 10 guys left. Flanders is more difficult to win, because it is always possible to change, at any curve, any corner. It’s more my kind of thing.”

http://velonews.competitor.com/2009/04/news/boonen-flanders-harder-to-win-than-roubaix_90195

 

[Eric8-A]

I also agree with McEwen for some of these races. I have no idea why, but I think he'll look good riding and doing good in theses races. But like someone mentioned about Voigt, it also might be too late for Robbie.

I also think Franco Pellizotti should give the cobbles a good try for a some good results

 

[ingsve]

-Hushovd (yeah, I mean it; even with one podium place, his Roubaix history is not what it should be for a guy with countless sprint victories, a U23 tt world championship, good bike handling skills, plenty of muscle mass, and a decade of riding as a protected team leader)

Well, in 10 starts he has been 2-3-9-17-33-43-63 and three abandons which isn't exatly terrible but the problem for Hushovd was most often that Credit Agricole didn't have a cobbles team so he was very often all alone after Arenberg or even earlier and that usually meant that as soon as he had a puncture etc he was gone on top of having to do all work by himself. During his younger years he also focused a lot on training his speed for sprints which didn't help his classics form as much.

 

[simo1733]

Both Evans and Cavendish could be good PR riders.why not?But good like Roger Hammond not good like Cancellara/Boonen

 

[El Pistolero]

Mauricio Soler and Igor Anton. I would really like to see them try.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

Mauricio Soler and Igor Anton. I would really like to see them try.

Or Joaquin Rodriguez, for that matter.

 

[ultimobici]

Both Evans and Cavendish could be good PR riders.why not?But good like Roger Hammond not good like Cancellara/Boonen

In a race like P-R, where luck plays a big part, to be compared to Hammond who has a podium and a fourth place to his name is high praise indeed. Add in that he was playing support to his tema-leader Hushovd this year and in 2004 was riding for a team that was not really in a position to help him early on and you can see a big "What if?".

 

[The Hitch]

Or Joaquin Rodriguez, for that matter.

Purito doesnt have quite the same history of falling over and he tried Arenberg in tdf this year and came 2.25 down, in a group with Basso and Gesink. So hes not that bad.

Christian Vandevelde didnt even reach stage 3 this year Nor in the Giro for that matter. Its probably for the best that he didnt ride those cobbles.

I would add Samuel Dumoilin to the list. Hes the smallest guy in the peloton. Those cobbles are bigger than him. He came in 30 minutes down in Arenberg. Only 3 guys with injuries came in after him.

 

[ergmonkey]

Well, in 10 starts he has been 2-3-9-17-33-43-63 and three abandons which isn't exatly terrible but the problem for Hushovd was most often that Credit Agricole didn't have a cobbles team so he was very often all alone after Arenberg or even earlier and that usually meant that as soon as he had a puncture etc he was gone on top of having to do all work by himself. During his younger years he also focused a lot on training his speed for sprints which didn't help his classics form as much.

Fair enough. I don't think we're really in much disagreement over Hushovd. I didn't put him on my list as a guy who's "never there," but rather as a guy who should have a much better palmares at Paris-Roubaix than he currently does.

I put Hushovd in this group mainly because Paris-Roubaix is the sort of race where certain riders tend to make the final selection of 5-10 riders year-after-year. As a rider with a world-class sprint, excellent short tt strength, and excellent bike handling skills, Hushovd has all of the characteristics of such a rider. But, the reality is that he's only made it into such a super-select final group one time (2009, when he did an excellent race up until he took an uncharacteristically bad line through a corner and crashed--the type of mistake one makes when one is so dead-tired that the brain isn't functioning at full speed); I don't count Hushovd's ride last year as such a performance because the "final selection" consisted of Cancellara riding off the front while guys like Hushovd and Flecha refused to help Boonen chase and form a real select group of leaders.

Hushovd is finally coming around to Roubaix over the past two years, and I hope he keeps getting better. But, I think it's disappointing that so far riders like Leif Hoste and George Hincapie have a much more consistent history of making the lead group at Roubaix.

 

[Kwibus]

Or Joaquin Rodriguez, for that matter.

What about Rujano? Must be the smallest rider I've seen.

edit: Didn't read Hitchs post. Apparently Dmitri Champion is even smaller...

 

[ingsve]

Fair enough. I don't think we're really in much disagreement over Hushovd. I didn't put him on my list as a guy who's "never there," but rather as a guy who should have a much better palmares at Paris-Roubaix than he currently does.

I put Hushovd in this group mainly because Paris-Roubaix is the sort of race where certain riders tend to make the final selection of 5-10 riders year-after-year. As a rider with a world-class sprint, excellent short tt strength, and excellent bike handling skills, Hushovd has all of the characteristics of such a rider. But, the reality is that he's only made it into such a super-select final group one time (2009, when he did an excellent race up until he took an uncharacteristically bad line through a corner and crashed--the type of mistake one makes when one is so dead-tired that the brain isn't functioning at full speed); I don't count Hushovd's ride last year as such a performance because the "final selection" consisted of Cancellara riding off the front while guys like Hushovd and Flecha refused to help Boonen chase and form a real select group of leaders.

Hushovd is finally coming around to Roubaix over the past two years, and I hope he keeps getting better. But, I think it's disappointing that so far riders like Leif Hoste and George Hincapie have a much more consistent history of making the lead group at Roubaix.

Ya, I agree that Hushovd could have had a much diffrent palmares had he made some other choices in his career than he did. Still it's hard to argue with what he has accomplished with the route he did take.

Right now my concern is with EBH and whether he will make the same choices Hushovd did to focus on stages and green jersey at the Tour rather than winning big one day races. I would prefer it if EBH takes the route that Hushovd didn't take and aim at the classics before anything else.

 

[The Hitch]

What about Rujano? Must be the smallest rider I've seen.

edit: Didn't read Hitchs post. Apparently Dmitri Champion is even smaller...

I have no idea why i wrote dmitri Champion. Champion isnt small at all.

What i meant all along was, Samuel Dumoulin.

What a silly mistake.

Dumouilin is the smallest rider in the peloton. Smaller than Rujano by 3 cm.