Rate the 2017 Paris-Roubaix

[May0maniac]

Re:

Probably 7. Really good race until the last 30 or so, everyone who have been watching cycling this season knew GvA was going to smoke those wannabees in the velodrome, so it took the excitement out for me. Did you guys see how he closed Stybar on the hill? Mean.

Before that hill I thought that Stybar still had a chance and that Greg could have done a bit too much work, but when he closed that move down like it was nothing it was pretty obvious.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I have the feeling Greg somehow gets better after taking hard pulls in the finale. I was absolutely sure he was gonna win, Greg is the kind of guy that rides so well within himself and just has that extra gear(s) in races like this. Chapeau, Greg!

 

[Saint Unix]

Gave it a 7 which is pretty poor by Roubaix standards. The very nature of the parcours makes it extremely difficult to score lower than a 6 when measured up against other races. When measured up against previous editions it fares far worse. Probably a 3 or a 4. I'm going to sound overly negative in my criticism, but I did still enjoy the race.

Negatives:
Both of Sagan's punctures ruined a very interesting development in the race and in the end it became far less exciting for it. Had he avoided a puncture when he broke away with Bodnar, Oss and Stuyven it would have blown the race up similarly to last year.
Arenberg and Carrefour also saw no action, which is always a shame.
Boonen was also too heavily marked, which is understandable given the circumstances, but it meant that he had no chance to affect the race and also that there was a crowd of cowards shadowing him and refusing to create their own race.
Very little action in the final kilometers. Boonen's group rode too passively and never looked like they wanted to try to catch the break and the riders in Van Avermaet's group were happy just to suck his wheel in the end. All we got was a lacklustre attempt from Stybar.

Positives:
The biggest positive for me was that the most deserving rider in the final break won it in the end. The first two thirds of the race were also very good and looked to build up to an explosive finale, which made it all the more disappointing when it didn't happen.

 

[Netserk]

A shame we didn't get to see Greg, Moscon and Stuyven ride away. I really hope Tommeke was boxed in, because he should have been on that immediately. That was really where he lost the race.

 

[RedheadDane]

9.

Full gas from the get-go, with no break being allowed to sail away up the road with several minutes. As Birdsong would say: "You'd think they'd stolen their bikes."
And a well-deserved winner. Well... I'd say it's hard to be a non-deserved winner of a race like Paris-Roubaix. You only win if you're in the finale, you're only in the finale if you're strong enough to be there.

The only - very personal minus - was that it sorta interfered with my plans of watching the start at home, then - when everything slowed down a little, and a break got significantly past the one-minute mark - ride down to my parents and watch the finale (and have cake!)
Slowed down? Significantly past the one-minute mark? Pffff...
So, unfortunately I missed a good chunk of the action. Racing against the race is just never gonna work for me.

1. I'm significantly slower than the pros.

2. I actually have to follow the traffic rules.

 

[hfer07]

8 to me because of GVA win. I noticed too much hesitation from the favorites to make it a hard race despite the high speed - only some sudden accelerations that meant nothing but to reduce the group- nothing drastic at all. yet again I would have liked to watch Sagan battling it out to the end, but it appears this isn't his season at all. happy for GVA -worthy winner- great ride by his teammate Oss, great ride by Stybar, great ride by Moscon & a great farewell to the great Tom.

 

[movingtarget]

I give it a 7. Not close to last year but still pretty good.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

A shame we didn't get to see Greg, Moscon and Stuyven ride away. I really hope Tommeke was boxed in, because he should have been on that immediately. That was really where he lost the race.

GVA wins in either scenario.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

6. Finale sucked, same as last week. Worthy winners, though.

 

[SKSemtex]

I gave it 7 as it is hard to rate lower. I can not say I was not glued to the Sofa seat from 100 km mark to the end.
PR is such an amazing race, but it could be so much better if we have at least 2-3 guys who needed this race to be hard as much as possible.

Sep Wanmarcke was the guy missed the most yesterday.

 

[Andro]

6/10

Last 30 km were a bit of a bore.

 

[jsem94]

Great race. Gave it an 8. Some poorly times mechanicals probably made it worse, could have been more exciting with Naesen not having such bad luck, Sagan's extremely costly punctures etc. Sagan especially because of the way he often dictates a race.

 

[mikii4567]

I'm also going 7, for the same reason as most people - interesting middle section, boring finale. Preferred RVV tbh.

Had Stybar waited for Boonen though...

 

[stefank]

7. Worth staying up for (until about 1 am here), but not as good as last year.

 

[Põhja Konn]

7. With meaningful action starting way before Arenberg, it for some time felt like another 10/10 race like last year, but the end kind of petered out. Sagans to ill-timed punctures were the major contributing factor, as he looked like the only big favourite who was willing to throw caution to the wind. In the end I was really happy GVA beat Stybar, mainly because the latter clearly overdid the wheelsucking act during the last 10k. Boonen was by that time out of it as he was too far back and marked by a superior sprinter and as such was not really an excuse for Stybar to do what he did.

 

[KGB]

3. for me.Much better was Strade B..Missing there Cancellara and Vanmarcke.Was expected more from Boonen.Only stayed watching because I am addictive.

 

[barmaher]

I thought it was a good race. I would have liked to see what would have happened if Sagan's attack 70km out hadn't been hampered by bad luck, but that is cycling.I found the finale very interesting, with Stybar refusing to co-operate and it was pretty cool when Stuyven and Moscon came back to the trio in front.

Not an epic Roubaix, but decent enough. 7/10

 

[vedrafjord]

Having slept on it, I think I was being a bit harsh yesterday. Imagine if yesterday was a Tour stage?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I gave it a 9. I found it very entertaining with action from even before Arenberg. It's definitely in the top 20% of races.

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

A shame we didn't get to see Greg, Moscon and Stuyven ride away. I really hope Tommeke was boxed in, because he should have been on that immediately. That was really where he lost the race.

GVA wins in either scenario.

With Stybar up the road and Tommeke on his wheel with no obligation to chase nor attack?

 

[IndianCyclist]

7 but it was really close to being a sprint like San Remo. The horror of it

 

[TommyGun]

Re:

Having slept on it, I think I was being a bit harsh yesterday. Imagine if yesterday was a Tour stage?

Of course, if it was a Tour stage, I would have given it a 9 or a 10 as well ! But, the way I understood the poll is that you rate the race with respect to other editions, hence the 3 I gave. Honestly, no one will remember this edition in 5 or 10 years.

 

[Flamin]

Kind of like in 2014, which also had a great middle part (Boonen attacking with 60k to go) but the finale was a bit of a letdown.

 

[the delgados]

10 cobbles out of 10.
Why?
Because it's Paris-Roubaix!

 

[TMP402]

I watched it with my non-cycling fan father, and in trying to explain to him what was going on for most of the last 100km, it became painfully obvious how predictable it was. I went for a 6: it was "time" for GVA to join the monuments club, there was the Boonen factor, Greipel getting a top-10, etc, but I can't imagine the next generation will think of it as a great edition.