Ronde Van Vlaanderen 2012

[Red Rick]

Good win for Boonen, Cancellara wouldn't have made a big difference, although he might have dropped everyone on the Kwaremont and soloed to victory, or there would've been 4 riders at the top of the Patersberg.

What about the rumours of a broken pelvis, is that true, that would just suck big time, they could give Martin the gold TT medal immediately

 

[thehog]

lol, lol, lol!

Laugh all you want but Boonen is the winner and Fabs a DNF. That's the story.

Can't argue with the scoreboard

 

[DominicDecoco]

You're making excuses. You know it.

Ahhh! I've figured you out. I just looked at the date.

 

[jens_attacks]

ok first of all,sorry for cance and langeveld.shiit happens though

the race was pretty great,i loved it,ballan and pozzato showed class and they were very close to drop tommeke on paterberg.i didn't cheer for him but no doubt he is a deserving winner.

about the route,let's go back to the old one,my opinion.maybe i didn't see well but to me also the spectators seemed fewer by a lot compared to the last years.it was a sad image in the last km.

 

[maltiv]

Boonen will end up with E3, G-W, RVV and P-R this season. Unbelievable. May be his best season yet, which is quite an achievement...

I don't see anyone being able to beat him in P-R with Cancellara out and Hushovd having ****ty form. Only bad luck (punctures, crashes etc) can defeat him.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Milano San Remo 2008.

But the Tour of Flanders is totally different. He needed to drop the others on the last muur and solo to victory. (See Bartoli)

Even if he had taken a chance in the last kilometers, Ballan would have gone after him, and Boonen would still have won. He was right to have banked on the sprint, however futile, it was his only chance.

I agree that Boonen would have still won probably. But I disagree that he was right on banking solely on the sprint. He had Top 3 banked already, trying to get away from Boonen atleast once before the sprint, for example in direct response to one of Ballans efforts is also a fair chance to actually take the victory, and a much better one than to sprint against Boonen. He could've still done it, and he would always beat Ballan in a sprint.
The way he rode he secured second over third but never made a real go for the win. Even if this had completly failed it would've been a Top 3 spot, but with the flavour of really having raced for it attached to it.

 

[El Pistolero]

By the way Hitch, I haven't been hating on Pozzato since he won in Beghelli last year. Check my posts if you don't believe me

 

[Red Rick]

It really was his own fault.... not a freak accident. With that I judge he should have stayed upright like Boonen managed to.

That actually looks like he's deciding to take a nap. Screw you guy's i'm going home

 

[Gloin22]

1 - Tom Boonen (BEL) - Omega Pharma - Quick-Step - (6:04:33)
2 - Filippo Pozzato (ITA) - Farnese Vini - (+0)
3 - Alessandro Ballan (ITA) - BMC Racing - (+1)
4 - Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) - BMC Racing - (+38)
5 - Peter Sagan (SVK) - Liquigas - (+38)
6 - Niki Terpstra (NED) - Omega Pharma - Quick-Step - (+38)
7 - Luca Paolini (ITA) - Katyusha - (+38)
8 - Thomas Voeckler (FRA) - Europcar - (+38)
9 - Matti Breschel (DEN) - Rabobank - (+38)
10 - Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) - Omega Pharma - Quick-Step - (+38)
11 - Grégory Rast (SUI) - RadioShack - (+38)
12 - Óscar Freire (ESP) - Katyusha - (+38)
13 - Fabio Sabatini (ITA) - Liquigas - (+38)
14 - Björn Leukemans (BEL) - Vacansoleil - (+38)
15 - Alexander Kristoff (NOR) - Katyusha - (+38)
16 - Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA) - FDJ - (+38)
17 - Xavier Florencio (ESP) - Katyusha - (+38)
18 - Karsten Kroon (NED) - Saxo Bank - (+38)
19 - Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) - Team Sky - (+38)
20 - Juan Antonio Flecha - Team Sky - (+38)
21 - Hayden Roulston (NZL) - RadioShack - (+38)
22 - Elia Favilli (ITA) - Farnese Vini - (+38)
23 - Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ) - Astana - (+38)
24 - Tony Gallopin (FRA) - RadioShack - (+38)
25 - Maarten Wynants (BEL) - Rabobank - (+38)
26 - Sébastien Turgot (FRA) - Europcar - (+38)
27 - Vincent Jérôme (FRA) - Europcar - (+38)
28 - Michael Schär (SUI) - BMC Racing - (+38)
29 - Marco Marcato (ITA) - Vacansoleil - (+38)
30 - Heinrich Haussler (AUS) - Garmin - (+38)
31 - Jens Keukeleire (BEL) - GreenEdge - (+38)
32 - Steve Chainel (FRA) - FDJ - (+38)
33 - Lloyd Mondory (FRA) - AG2R - (+38)
34 - Danilo Hondo (GER) - Lampre - (+38)
35 - Egidijus Juodvalkis (LTU) - Landbouwkrediet - (+38)

 

[theyoungest]

Good race. Would have liked to see Pozzato and Ballan take a few more meters on the Paterberg and take it all the way to the finish, but hey, that's racing. The strongest doesn't always win. Next week is for Pippo.

The new course is okay, I'm not completely blown away by it (yet). The huge group behind shows that maybe it's just as easy/hard as the old course.

 

[Richeypen]

That actually looks like he's deciding to take a nap. Screw you guy's i'm going home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_qMagfZtv8

 

[thehog]

Ahhh! I've figured you out. I just looked at the date.

Thats it. Cancellara having a crap team was all a dream.

 

[dlwssonic]

Boonen will end up with E3, G-W, RVV and P-R this season. Unbelievable. May be his best season yet, which is quite an achievement...

I don't see anyone being able to beat him in P-R with Cancellara out and Hushovd having ****ty form. Only bad luck (punctures, crashes etc) can defeat him.

Its not that easy, he will have to face a strong Ballan and Pippo. Hushovd form is pretty normal for this time of the year. He sucked at RVV always and is coming back from that fever. He will always be motivated for PR.

 

[Red Rick]

Here's the video. Only RSL riders on the deck.

He rode over a bottle last week as well did he not?

I have to say its terrible for him. I hope he comes back later in the year and takes the Olympic road race.

http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/vide...012/MG_RVV12_belangrijkste_momenten/1.1261257

I wouldn't mind Cancellara winning the RR

 

[theyoungest]

Boonen will end up with E3, G-W, RVV and P-R this season. Unbelievable. May be his best season yet, which is quite an achievement...

I don't see anyone being able to beat him in P-R with Cancellara out and Hushovd having ****ty form. Only bad luck (punctures, crashes etc) can defeat him.

What? The only place where Boonen was stronger than Pozzato and Ballan was in the final sprint. I think certainly Pippo might be able to drop him.

 

[El Pistolero]

Good race. Would have liked to see Pozzato and Ballan take a few more meters on the Paterberg and take it all the way to the finish, but hey, that's racing. The strongest doesn't always win. Next week is for Pippo.

The new course is okay, I'm not completely blown away by it (yet). The huge group behind shows that maybe it's just as easy/hard as the old course.

Roubaix suits Boonen more than Vlaanderen. But I was pleasantly surprised by Pippo's racing style, true champion. I didn't want him to win of course, but he rode great.

I don't get why people are moaning about the course though. 2009 was ****ing boring as hell with the shadow on Boonen's wheel all the time and Devolder profiting from that... Hated that edition. If Cancellara didn't crash today it would have been more interesting, that's a fact. Sucks for Cancellara, I'll be rooting for him to win something big this season, he deserves it.

 

[skidmark]

CQ just put up full results - good god, Devolder DNFd, it may be true that he's even worse than last year... retirement on the horizon?

 

[Gloin22]

CQ just put up full results - good god, Devolder DNFd, it may be true that he's even worse than last year... retirement on the horizon?

He did crash you know

 

[maltiv]

What? The only place where Boonen was stronger than Pozzato and Ballan was in the final sprint. I think certainly Pippo might be able to drop him.

They did look stronger, but I think the advantage pips to Boonen's favour when it's completely flat. I hope Pozzato will be able to beat him but I just can't see him dropping Boonen.

 

[Kwibus]

Race was good but for me it is overshadowed and defined by what happened at 62k to go.

Yeh, until the last passage of the Kwaremont I was too gutted about Cancellara crashing out and a bit later Langeveld as well. Langeveld isn't Cancellara, but I'm dutch so obviously supporting him and imo he looked really good last weeks and he was peaking for this race.

Still it was a nice race with 3 class riders at the finish, but people crashing is unfortunately something that belongs to cycling and specially in the nervous cobbled classics.

 

[roundabout]

What? The only place where Boonen was stronger than Pozzato and Ballan was in the final sprint. I think certainly Pippo might be able to drop him.

On the flat in Roubaix, no.

 

[Red Rick]

Roubaix suits Boonen more than Vlaanderen. But I was pleasantly surprised by Pippo's racing style, true champion. I didn't want him to win of course, but he rode great.

I don't get why people are moaning about the course though. 2009 was ****ing boring as hell with the shadow on Boonen's wheel all the time and Devolder profiting from that... Hated that edition. If Cancellara didn't crash today it would have been more interesting, that's a fact.

Do you think he has a chance for the World, he can get over the Cauberg, he's proven that and I don't think the course is harder than the AGR

 

[dlwssonic]

Do you think he has a chance for the World, he can get over the Cauberg, he's proven that and I don't think the course is harder than the AGR

no chance.......

 

[Kwibus]

They did look stronger, but I think the advantage pips to Boonen's favour when it's completely flat. I hope Pozzato will be able to beat him but I just can't see him dropping Boonen.

Like Boonen allready said, the wind was his ally the last 10k.
It was pretty much impossible to try to get away.

 

[LugHugger]

P-R screwed then

Nonsense. There are plenty of great cobble riders fit for next Sunday. If anything, it removes the predictability of Fabians tactics and his competitions response to them.