Strade Bianche 2013, March 2nd, 188 kms 1.1

[RHRH19861986]

Even with a stronger team, no chance for Cancellara. Moser also had to work so much on his own. Cancellara just managed to beat Saramotins, who was working hard all day.

I think there are signals that Cancellaras supremacy could be over, and it´s not due to the team. This spring, he will still be amongst the best, but at the latest in 2014, the gap will start to increase.

 

[zapata]

Radioshack sponsorship is over this year so he and everyone else is going to leave ...

I really doubt this team will find another sponsor unless Trek can pick up the bill.

Cancellara the strongest
Sagan the fastest
Moser the luckiest

Luckiest? I don't think that's the right word. He was literally awesome today. A great decoy, yes, but definitely one of the strongest also. Very happy for him
(especially since don't particularly care for Sagan).

 

[theyoungest]

Yep, Dekker forfilled my wish of seeing him finish in a good group. He lasted very long. Which is amazing considering his lack of riding in front and awful steering capabilities.

Slagter was just tired if you saw him crawl up the last climb

Yes, Slagter was tired, because he constantly had to ride back up to the leaders on the sterrati. I don't know what the plan was beforehand, but in a classic positioning is everything.

BTW was Dekker the only Garmin rider in that 30 man group? They're having a really poor start to the season.

More like not a single useful braincell.

You can only race smart without teammates if nobody's watching you. Guys like Voeckler or Visconti, nobody cares about them. But everyone follows Cancellara's every move.

 

[postmanhat]

Radioshack for sure has to go back to the drawing board, I don't even know what their tactics were in this race.

Yes, they, Movistar, Astana just seemed a bit overwhelmed by what Cannondale are capable of

 

[Netserk]

Luckiest? I don't think that's the right word. He was literally awesome today. A great decoy, yes, but definitely one of the strongest also. Very happy for him
(especially since don't particularly care for Sagan).

I'd say

Moser the smartest
Sagan the strongest
Canc the dumbest

 

[gruppeto993]

More like not a single useful braincell.

he was completely limited tactic wise. What can someone do if they have a very stronng sprinter and the whole chasing group glued to their wheel? I also don't understand astana's tactics. They had three guys in the top ten but no one could lead a chase?

 

[zapata]

I wish that this race could somewhat be elevated in prestige to almost the level of the top classics because it really deserves to be up there. It's an amazing race. Just imagine the carnage if it happens to rain during this race....

It is already a classic in my mind. It's almost weird to think that it's not a hundred years old.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

It's an amazing race. Just imagine the carnage if it happens to rain during this race....

this happened when they raced the same strade bianche during the 2010 Giro.
Mud Mud Mud

 

[El Pistolero]

Luckiest? I don't think that's the right word. He was literally awesome today. A great decoy, yes, but definitely one of the strongest also. Very happy for him
(especially since don't particularly care for Sagan).

This is a comparable victory to Guido Reybrouck's victory in Paris-Tours(1968).

 

[zapata]

This is a comparable victory to Guido Reybrouck's victory in Paris-Tours.

If you say so. I didn't watch cycling in the sixties.

 

[rhubroma]

honestly cancellara needs to leave this team at the end of the season. He was completely isolated with no one to go with moser. his accelerations show that he was on form and he was basically the whole chasing group's domestique bridging the gap to moser. Sagan's marking is going to be a bit pathetic if all he's going to do is follow cancellara then out sprint him for the rest of the classics.

Now that is truly a dumba$$ statement. Cannondale played the classic move, utilizing both of their aces in optimal fashion, to win the poker game exceptionally well.

And it was no doubt programed. Once Moser was away, Sagan is relegated to the role of stopper, which he did with exceptional class, marking not only Cancellara, but practically whomever attempted to bridge up to the leaders. In other words it was his job to sit on the Swiss’ wheel. Nothing odd, nor even remotely pathetic, about that duh. If anything Cancellara should never have allowed Moser to slip away.

In fact instead of Moser it could have been Cancellara making the move, at which point several riders including Moser and Sagan would probably have stayed with him. At any rate had Moser's move been unsuccessful, there was no stopping Sagan today, because Cancellara was unable to shake him and the Slav is unbeatable in a finish of that type.

Everyone was most keen on marking Sagan and Cancellara today, whereas being so young, Moser, at 22, had somewhat more leeway than those - and fully took advantage of it.

I only "feel bad" for Sagan, since he should be on a team that works entirely for him in these type of races. Yet being an Italian race and also having a Moser in the squadra, he was forced to share leadership responsibilities. Let's hope he takes a northern Classic this time. He's certainly ripe for it. To Cancellara's credit he did put the hammer dawn several times toward the end, though from behind, and people were hurting to stay with him. He should be brilliant at San Remo and his usuall stomping grounds in the north, which means the rivalry with Sagan should be epoch at San Remo and Flanders.

 

[jflemaire]

he was completely limited tactic wise. What can someone do if they have a very stronng sprinter and the whole chasing group glued to their wheel?

Drop them in a climb, and then finish solo, as he did last year. He wasn't strong enough this time to do it.

 

[El Pistolero]

If you say so. I didn't watch cycling in the sixties.

Eddy Merckx handed Guido Reybrouck the victory in 1968.

 

[zapata]

Eddy Merckx handed Guido Reybrouck the victory in 1968.

Of course, but it wouldn't have worked if Moser didn't have the strength to execute it. The plan was probably for Sagan to end up victorious, but he seemed to be happy for plan B to work.

 

[El Pistolero]

Of course, but it wouldn't have worked if Moser didn't have the strength to execute it. The plan was probably for Sagan to end up victorious, but he seemed to be happy for plan B to work.

It wouldn't have worked without Sagan either though.

But Guido Reybrouck won Paris-Tours 3 times, Amstel Gold Race, Belgian Champ, 13 GT stages across all 3 GTs and points jersey in the Vuelta, Zurich-Metzgete, stages in Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, etc

So it's not like I'm comparing him to some random schmuck.

 

[zapata]

It wouldn't have worked without Sagan either though.

But Guido Reybrouck won Paris-Tours 3 times, Amstel Gold Race, Belgian Champ, 13 GT stages across all 3 GTs and points jersey in the Vuelta, Zurich-Metzgete, stages in Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, etc

So it's not like I'm comparing him to some random schmuck.

(By the way, and completely OT, but I think I've heard some quotation about how eddy merckx won every race in the world except Paris-tours? Something along the lines of "between us we have won all the classics - I won PT and eddy won the rest"?)

 

[screaming fist]

Drop them in a climb, and then finish solo, as he did last year. He wasn't strong enough this time to do it.

Which he could because he had a teammate in a strong move beforehand, that the others teams had to chase down.

 

[theyoungest]

If you say so. I didn't watch cycling in the sixties.

It was just after the invention of the bicycle, back when only Belgians knew how to ride it.

 

[El Pistolero]

(By the way, and completely OT, but I think I've heard some quotation about how eddy merckx won every race in the world except Paris-tours? Something along the lines of "between us we have won all the classics - I won PT and eddy won the rest"?)

"Samen met Eddy Merckx won ik alle klassiekers die er te winnen waren. Ik Parijs-Tours en hij al de rest." - Noël Vantyghem, 1972.

"Together with Eddy Merckx I won all the classics that could be won. I won Paris-Tours and he won all the rest."

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Stupid Comment...

Like Sagan can't do it in PR

Of course he could, but he's not riding it this year

 

[hoerpi]

With Gallopin, Rast and maybe Devolder, Cance will have a stronger team than this come the monuments of the north.

 

[zapata]

"Samen met Eddy Merckx won ik alle klassiekers die er te winnen waren. Ik Parijs-Tours en hij al de rest." - Noël Vantyghem, 1972.

"Together with Eddy Merckx I won all the classics that could be won. I won Paris-Tours and he won all the rest."

Ah, that's the one, thank you.

 

[gruppeto993]

Which he could because he had a teammate in a strong move beforehand, that the others teams had to chase down.

exactly. benatti was there last year up the front. all these people saying he wasn't strong enough, he clearly was because he was the one who bridged the chasing group to moser. There was no point in him dragging sagan to the finish. if he did what moser had done then sagan and moser would both be chasing him.
he was simply cancelled out the race and used up so much energy chasing. I'm not saying what sagan did was wrong, its what anyone would do if they had a team mate up the front and he did the job perfectly. I am just saying that in a viwer's perspective, races would start to get too predictable with sagan marking cancellara only to out sprint him in the end.

 

[gruppeto993]

With Gallopin, Rast and maybe Devolder, Cance will have a stronger team than this come the monuments of the north.

the team he had today was very weak and apart from roulston (who was also invisible), I don't think any of them will feature in MSR, RVV or PR.

 

[Netserk]

Fabian is a mental one-trick-pony.