Re: Re:
Yet Cancellara, a non-climber, was able to almost win them both.Cannibal72 said:El Pistolero said:No excuse. A great classics-rider should be able to ride over hills. WC-routes never have high mountains, so all-rounders should be able to fight for victory in most years.
Last year it had cobbles btw.
One section with easy cobbles doesn't make for a cobbled race... And Boonen is no longer on his old level anymore anyway, but he still won plenty of big races when he was. The 2005 WC was hilly enough to drop all sprinters except Boonen. He was also top ten in the 2006 WC. The Ronde van Vlaanderen also has plenty of short hills, which suit Boonen perfectly. Roubaix and the Ronde are fundamentally different races, despite both featuring cobbles. Only the great can win both: Boonen and Cancellara. Then there's Gent-Wevelgem which has a couple of cobbled hills, but it can still be won by sprinters. Not many riders have the talent to win both Gent-Wevelgem, the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix. No current cyclist but Boonen has done it. And he's record holder in ALL these races.
A great classics-rider should be able to get over cobbles as well, yet Valverde sucks at it, as we saw during the Tour in 2014. Firenze was basically a climber's race and the Olympics is as well this year. So you're wrong on that as well.
Also Mendrisio and Beijing.