Ronde Van Vlaanderen 2012

[Parrulo]

Boonen is pretty honest to say he wasn't feeling very good today

yup, its not like he could go around saying he was super strong today after he almost got dropped on the patenberg tho

 

[Descender]

The route is a disgrace.

Top 3 raced well, did what they had to do. Congrats to Boonen.

 

[Gloin22]

While I agreed with this before today, I was still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt to some extent, because I think this was the first time in years he got to the classics without a recent injury. But I'd say it's pretty much confirmed now.

EBH isn't good enough on the bergs. Roubaix is the race for him. This race is for Thomas in the future as Sky's leader.

 

[roundabout]

I think the argument that they're trying to make is that if they were a bad classics team, they wouldn't have any riders at the finale, which I think is a fair point (and which I also think you see, but are just trying to aggravate things by playing dumb). Perhaps your point is that you think they don't have a 'classics team' in the sense that they don't know how to ride the roads properly? That seems to tie in with your theory that they caused Fab to crash, right?

That would be even dumber. But with hog you can never now.

 

[goggalor]

While I agreed with this before today, I was still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt to some extent, because I think this was the first time in years he got to the classics without a recent injury. But I'd say it's pretty much confirmed now.

He still did a very good race today.

 

[Swede1]

That was a decent race. I would have liked some more attacks on the cobbled climbs but it was still pretty good. Pozzato was probably the strongest rider in the race. When Boonen was closing down Ballan's attacks Pozzato should have countered with an attack of his own (this is of course hindsight). What happened to Breschel? Did he crash or is he just out of shape?

 

[The Hitch]

He's own fault for not having a classics team as I stated. His own fault for not concentrating in a feed zone. Simple really.

Lol. There were 3 riders from Radioschack there after the last kwaremont.

But what's that got to do wih the crash? Relevance?


There were 3 QS riders - so what?

Figure it out yet?

 

[thehog]

You wrote that he didn't have a team. Blatantly false this year.

No I didn't. I said nothing of the sort. I said he didn't have a "classics" team. It was clearly evident wih what happened at the feed zone. They brought down their man.

You see in a GT at a feed zone the speed reduces significantly. Not so in a Classic. Cancellara didn't have an experienced team. Crashing into him and taking him out of the race was a forced error beyond comprehension.

There needs to be a team inquest.

 

[the pope]

The whole concept of a circuit for the Ronde van Vlaanderen is not appealing to me. A circuit sounds cheapish. We might as well race on Spa Franchorchamps.

Circuits are for Formula 1. There it's good, because of the impact corners have in that sport. Not in cycling though.

².
There are enough interesting hills and cobbles in that region, no need for repetition.

 

[maltiv]

While I agreed with this before today, I was still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt to some extent, because I think this was the first time in years he got to the classics without a recent injury. But I'd say it's pretty much confirmed now.

I'd say completely the opposite, he was amongst the 10-15 strongest guys in the race and was in the small group sprinting for 4th. He was completely cooked in the end, sure, but except from Sagan no other u24 riders were close. Also, we don't know yet what happened in the final sprint, he might have been sprinting with a flat wheel or so...

Vanmarcke didn't even make the EBH group, does he have "no engine" too? Or does such logic only apply to Edvald?

 

[dlwssonic]

Impressed by GVA, he has a good engine. Maybe could be a contender in the future years.

 

[hrotha]

He still did a very good race today.

Well yes, and he can do better in the future. The point is that it's getting impossible to see him as a top contender for these races. There's no shame in that, EBH just still needs to find what he should focus on.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I'd say completely the opposite, he was amongst the 10-15 strongest guys in the race and was in the small group sprinting for 4th. He was completely cooked in the end, sure, but except from Sagan no other u24 riders were close. Also, we don't know yet what happened in the final sprint, he might have been sprinting with a flat wheel or so...

Vanmarcke didn't even make the EBH group, does he have "no engine" too? Or does such logic only apply to Edvald?

meh ebh isnt exactly lighting up these races which so many suggested he might a few years ago. AT this point sagan looks much more promising imo.

btw; i do think he can be a major player in these races tho. I think he'll win this or pr one day.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I'd say completely the opposite, he was amongst the 10-15 strongest guys in the race and was in the small group sprinting for 4th. He was completely cooked in the end, sure, but except from Sagan no other u24 riders were close. Also, we don't know yet what happened in the final sprint, he might have been sprinting with a flat wheel or so...

Vanmarcke didn't even make the EBH group, does he have "no engine" too? Or does such logic only apply to Edvald?

agreed, EBH where one of the strongest today until last 2 km

 

[Libertine Seguros]

That was a decent race. I would have liked some more attacks on the cobbled climbs but it was still pretty good. Pozzato was probably the strongest rider in the race. When Boonen was closing down Ballan's attacks Pozzato should have countered with an attack of his own (this is of course hindsight). What happened to Breschel? Did he crash or is he just out of shape?

Possible that Pozzato didn't have it in him to do so; he did a lot of the riding across to Ballan, and let's not forget it's what, six weeks since he broke his collarbone?

 

[will10]

I'd say completely the opposite, he was amongst the 10-15 strongest guys in the race and was in the small group sprinting for 4th. He was completely cooked in the end, sure, but except from Sagan no other u24 riders were close. Also, we don't know yet what happened in the final sprint, he might have been sprinting with a flat wheel or so...

Vanmarcke didn't even make the EBH group, does he have "no engine" too? Or does such logic only apply to Edvald?

Well, that's what Vaughters is saying - or rather, doesn't have the legs to survive the distance, yet.

 

[hrotha]

Vanmarcke didn't even make the EBH group, does he have "no engine" too? Or does such logic only apply to Edvald?

We've had less opportunities to judge Vanmarcke's true potential on the monuments. He did seem to fade today, so we'll see.

 

[rhubroma]

That was a decent race. I would have liked some more attacks on the cobbled climbs but it was still pretty good. Pozzato was probably the strongest rider in the race. When Boonen was closing down Ballan's attacks Pozzato should have countered with an attack of his own (this is of course hindsight). What happened to Breschel? Did he crash or is he just out of shape?

You know what Pozzato's problem is? He's no Cancellara.

 

[roundabout]

No I didn't. I said nothing of the sort. I said he didn't have a "classics" team. It was clearly evident wih what happened at the feed zone. They brought down their man.

You see in a GT at a feed zone the speed reduces significantly. Not so in a Classic. Cancellara didn't have an experienced team. Crashing into him and taking him out of the race was a forced error beyond comprehension.

There needs to be a team inquest.

That was 1 man. To say that the whole team is inexperienced is stupid.

 

[thehog]

You know what Pozzato's problem is? He's no Cancellara.

Even if Cancellara was in the final 3 making 4 he wouldn't have won.

 

[maltiv]

meh ebh isnt exactly lighting up these races which so many suggested he might a few years ago. AT this point sagan looks much more promising imo.

Of course Sagan is a monster, but that doesn't mean EBH isn't promising as well. The two of them were, by far, the best u25 riders in the race.

I'm wondering what you guys were expecting from him if this was disappointing. After E-3 and G-W I was worried that he wouldn't even be close, but he was clearly very strong today and showed a lot of potential. If he just improves a little bit he'll be right up there.

 

[aphronesis]

No I didn't. I said nothing of the sort. I said he didn't have a "classics" team. It was clearly evident wih what happened at the feed zone. They brought down their man.

You see in a GT at a feed zone the speed reduces significantly. Not so in a Classic. Cancellara didn't have an experienced team. Crashing into him and taking him out of the race was a forced error beyond comprehension.

There needs to be a team inquest.

As "the" classics rider on the team, his speed, logically, wouldn't have been reduced. So did they crash into him or he into them. What are you saying exactly?

 

[Lanark]

Vanmarcke was brilliant in the Omloop, almost impossible to combine with super form is the Ronde.

EBH is a good rider, no doubt, maybe he'll even win here one day (Nuyens wasn't much better), but I don't think he'll ever be of the level of Boonen, Cancellara, or even guys like Ballan, Flecha, Pozzato, and soon Sagan. Same for Van Avermaet, who for the fifth year in a row great things are predicted for next year.

 

[rghysens]

...
It was the worst edition of the Ronde I've ever seen. They played it too much like an Ardennes classic, people seemed too scared of the run-in to force selections early. When the selection came, the race was pretty decent, but we had to wait far longer than expected...

mwaa... 2000, 2004 and 2007 weren't really exciting too.
My favourites: 1995, 2002 and 2005

 

[thehog]

That was 1 man. To say that the whole team is inexperienced is stupid.

Seriously enough my friend. A guy as good as Cancellara deserves an entire team hand picked for the Classics. Period. Handing him RadioShack off-cuts from the Lance years is an embarrassment. Give him the team he deserves to win. I know you agree with me. Enough is enough.