Ronde Van Vlaanderen 2012

[El Pistolero]

After everyone crashed out before the real mountains began yeah... Contador was also not in top shape anymore. Next year and the year after that will be different. I'd be surprised if Voeckler goes for the GC again.

 

[El Pistolero]

you don't need to be a p[uncheur to win classics. just ask vino who won lbl twice and agr

You need a lot of luck if you're not explosive or fast at the finish line(or an incredibly big engine à la Andy Schleck). I take it you know how Vino won AGR right? If it wasn't for Lance Armstrong he would never have won it. His first LBL win was from a break-away(lucky again, how many times does the break survive in LBL?) and well his second also has an asterix behind it, but there he was one of the strongest men in the race anyway.

With all that said, Voeckler is definitely a puncheur though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2c2kbOMZrc

 

[dlwssonic]

phil dropped his teammates too and put 5 minutes on them

Partis de Wanegem-Lede le matin, les BMC avaient accompli les premiers kilomètres en groupe. Puis, juste avant le Taaienberg, Philippe changeait de roue alors que ses équipiers continuaient tranquillement leur route. Remis en selle, le Liégeois revenait facilement sur le groupe dans le Taaienberg et décidait de forcer le rythme. C’était en quelque sorte le tournant de cette sortie. Car Gilbert venait, sans vraiment le vouloir, de lâcher tous les BMC… qu’il n’allait plus revoir de la journée ! Un moment, il demandera bien si ses potes étaient à 2 minutes ou à 5. Comme c’était plutôt 5, il ne se posa plus trop de questions et continua sur sa lancée. La sortie collective venait de virer au solitaire !

http://www.dhnet.be/sports/cyclisme/article/390298/gilbert-cartonne-a-l-entrainement.html

and we got the winner for this ronde it seems

Damn..... Read the whole article Gilbert really sounds good. It seems he is taking the training and race very seriously. I think he is the leader for BMC on sunday despite the earlier performances. He might not be able to win, but barring any disaster or tooth attack. He will be a beast in AGR

 

[Blakeslee]

Just reading an article on Velonews about the course change for this year, I'm a little disappointed in what appears to be motivating the change. Looks like the circuits were put in primarily so the race would pass by the VIP area multiple times and not as much for their impact on the difficulty of the race itself. Haussler's comments were spot on, not having the Muur in the race is akin to not having Roubaix finish in the velodrome. Wish there was a way the organizer could have addressed the sponsorship concerns while still leaving the Muur in the race.

 

[theyoungest]

Just reading an article on Velonews about the course change for this year, I'm a little disappointed in what appears to be motivating the change. Looks like the circuits were put in primarily so the race would pass by the VIP area multiple times and not as much for their impact on the difficulty of the race itself. Haussler's comments were spot on, not having the Muur in the race is akin to not having Roubaix finish in the velodrome. Wish there was a way the organizer could have addressed the sponsorship concerns while still leaving the Muur in the race.

Everyone will have forgotten about the Muur after Sunday. Cycling fans are extremely conservative, but also extremely opportunistic.

 

[Kvinto]

Yeah, Gent-Wevelgem should change its direction including the Muur and everybody will be happy

edit: or E3 should make it really decisive

 

[gustienordic]

After everyone crashed out before the real mountains began yeah... Contador was also not in top shape anymore. Next year and the year after that will be different. I'd be surprised if Voeckler goes for the GC again.

I completely agree on that one... Tommy V will stick with what he does best: attacking. He is an extremely agressive puncheur, and only did GC due to luck.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah, Gent-Wevelgem should change its direction including the Muur and everybody will be happy

edit: or E3 should make it really decisive

E3 Harelbeke

 

[Kvinto]

E3 Harelbeke

Excuse me, but is there any other E3? I thought the full name is E3 Prijs Vlaanderen

 

[Lanark]

Excuse me, but is there any other E3? I thought the full name is E3 Prijs Vlaanderen

Everyone calls it E3 Harelbeke. That race really can't finish anywhere else, it's even named after the motorway that goes through Harelbeke.

That's the problem with De Muur. It's outside the regular hillzone, and alle the important Belgium classics have a predetermined finish locating that's nowhere close to the Muur (Kuurne for KBK, Waregem for Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Harelbeke for E3, Gent-Wevelgem is in a whole other territory). The Omloop has shifted locations (between Gent and Lokeren), but neither is close to Geraardsbergen.

The only way to have the Muur in a prominent race is to start a new race altogether, or have de Ronde van Vlaanderen change it's finish location again. More likely is we won't see the Muur be decisive in any race for a long time

 

[Kvinto]

Everyone calls it E3 Harelbeke. That race really can't finish anywhere else, it's even named after the motorway that goes through Harelbeke.

That's the problem with De Muur. It's outside the regular hillzone, and alle the important Belgium classics have a predetermined finish locating that's nowhere close to the Muur (Kuurne for KBK, Waregem for Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Harelbeke for E3, Gent-Wevelgem is in a whole other territory). The Omloop has shifted locations (between Gent and Lokeren), but neither is close to Geraardsbergen.

The only way to have the Muur in a prominent race is to start a new race altogether, or have de Ronde van Vlaanderen change it's finish location again. More likely is we won't see the Muur be decisive in any race for a long time

Oh well, I missed the Muur's location a bit looking at the map. Thanks

 

[kanari]

At least we will see the Muur in the Eneco tour this year which is nice.

 

[El Pistolero]

Everyone calls it E3 Harelbeke. That race really can't finish anywhere else, it's even named after the motorway that goes through Harelbeke.

That's the problem with De Muur. It's outside the regular hillzone, and alle the important Belgium classics have a predetermined finish locating that's nowhere close to the Muur (Kuurne for KBK, Waregem for Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Harelbeke for E3, Gent-Wevelgem is in a whole other territory). The Omloop has shifted locations (between Gent and Lokeren), but neither is close to Geraardsbergen.

The only way to have the Muur in a prominent race is to start a new race altogether, or have de Ronde van Vlaanderen change it's finish location again. More likely is we won't see the Muur be decisive in any race for a long time

The official name is E3 Harelbeke now. And for the rest of your post, yeah, that was exactly what I meant, I only said it with one word

You're wrong about the Muur not being a decisive point of a race for a long time though. The Eneco Tour will ride over the Muur a couple of times and have a stage finish at the Vesten of the Muur for the next 5 years or something.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Opqs
Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel, Dries Devenyns, Nikolas Maes, Gert Steegmans, Niki Terpstra, Matteo Trentin and Stijn Vandenbergh.

"

I don't exactly know how the race will be," Boonen said. "It's the first time we've raced on the parcours. I can't say if this is better than last year. We will see the last night after the race. For sure it will be a fight — man against man or small group finish. We have a great team, but with a race like that a great team does not guarantee success. We have to be ready to fight each meter and try and get victory at the finish line."

As far as favorites go, Boonen knew the media was curious about his thoughts on Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan).

"I know it's an item talking about me and Fabian," Boonen said. "I never rode a race to beat somebody else by themselves, but to win. For Fabian it will be the same. Between us there is a mutual respect. We are always fighting in such a way. We don't have to forget there are a lot of other riders that can be in the final. Pozzato or Sagan. It's not only a race between me and Fabian but an important race for everybody."

 

[Swede1]

Is OPQS going to use ***** tactics? Send Terpstra/Chavanel up the road and just have boonen sit on Cancellaras wheel without taking any pulls. Or if Cancellara attacks have Boonen just sit on his wheel and claim he is not helping because Chavanel is behind. Hopefully not all 3 Quick Step riders will make the elite selection.

 

[ferryman]

Make as you will of this quote from Boonen. Nothing wrong with putting a youngster in his place now and again

When asked about other rivals aside from Cancellara, the Belgian named his own teammate Sylvain Chavanel and Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vinni – Selle Italia). "Pozzato is good, [Peter] Sagan is not bad. There's a lot of guys in good shape right now.

I know it's out of context but...

 

[Cobber]

OPQS recon of RvV......

http://youtu.be/SHWJqsmzQEE

 

[DominicDecoco]

Make as you will of this quote from Boonen. Nothing wrong with putting a youngster in his place now and again

When asked about other rivals aside from Cancellara, the Belgian named his own teammate Sylvain Chavanel and Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vinni – Selle Italia). "Pozzato is good, [Peter] Sagan is not bad. There's a lot of guys in good shape right now.

I know it's out of context but...

Compared to Boonen and Pozzato, PS is still on the 'not bad'-level

 

[Swede1]

Compared to Boonen and Pozzato, PS is still on the 'not bad'-level

When has Pozzato shown that he is stronger than Sagan so far? Yeah he has more experience so is more likely to do well, but if you are just looking at form then Sagan is certainly very strong.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

 

[DominicDecoco]

When has Pozzato shown that he is stronger than Sagan so far? Yeah he has more experience so is more likely to do well, but if you are just looking at form then Sagan is certainly very strong.

Sagan is definitly better than Pozzato already now. But he just needs the results which undoubtly will come. But lets give the credit to Pozzato while he still has the better results.

 

[mr. tibbs]

When has Pozzato shown that he is stronger than Sagan so far? Yeah he has more experience so is more likely to do well, but if you are just looking at form then Sagan is certainly very strong.

Sagan's done well so far this year, for sure, but I'd argue that Flanders and Roubaix are different races than GW and MSR. I agree with you that Pippo's proven his pedigree on the stones. Hopefully Sagan will do the same over the next couple of races/years, but I won't be awarding him top contender status until he does.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Pozzato won Tirreno when he was 1 year younger than Sagan. Won MSR at a very young age. I disagree that Sagan is already stronger.
Sagan is faster and wins a lot more, but in terms of big wins and going with the best in classics I think Pozzato still has the edge.

 

[DominicDecoco]

Pozzato won Tirreno when he was 1 year younger than Sagan. Won MSR at a very young age. I disagree that Sagan is already stronger.

Not what I meant. Sagan is better than Pozatto today.

 

[DominicDecoco]

Pozzato won Tirreno when he was 1 year younger than Sagan. Won MSR at a very young age. I disagree that Sagan is already stronger.
Sagan is faster and wins a lot more, but in terms of big wins and going with the best in classics I think Pozzato still has the edge.

Not what I meant. Sagan is better than Pozatto today.
Agree. Pozzato has the better results which I think I wrote