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Sun 11th April: Paris - Roubaix, 259km

Page 36 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Which team will the winner of Paris Roubaix be on?

  • Another team not listed

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  • Poll closed .
biokemguy said:
Just saw this story:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/riis-reveals-the-secret-of-cancellaras-roubaix-attack

That's cheapens the victory for me more than the thread over in the clinic.
Here I thought Canc was brave and taking a BIG risk by attacking when he did.
Nope just following the boss' orders. :( I'm sure he knows race tactics, but it saddens me how much the radio effected the finale of this race.

He probably would have still won using his own brain (I hope), but maybe the final 50km would have been a bit more exciting. :rolleyes:

Thats what a D/S job is to do.....watch race,follow race and give orders for race............Riis is a pure genius when it comes to Tactics..........
 
Jun 21, 2009
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Thoughtforfood said:
That has nothing to do with "morals." It has to do with sportsmanship, and Flecha showed little to none. Hey, you are judging me from the comfort of your armchair, so you are somehow in a better position? Physician heal thyself.

I presume you ride/rode, race/raced a bike so you remember what it is like.

In a club race someone disappears off the front, you do your turn to try to get them back, and if you can't then you keep on doing swappio because that is the thing to do to maintain some level of respect for yourself with your clubmates. Doesn't stop you from attacking towards the end.

In an open race it is slightly different . So same scenario - someone goes off the front and you try to chase but to no avail, and some gung-ho dude wants to do all the work, then you let him because it is less work for you to do. Eventually he will give up, or not, and you might go back to swappio. Still doesn't stop you from attacking towards the end. You don't necessarily need to be respected by other people from other clubs, you want the prize money, and thinning the bunch out by hook or by crook is one way of doing that.

So to the big boys - most of those guys in PR admitted they were riding for second. So ok looking on the palmares, but not that great. So you ride for your sponsors - which is why pro cycling exists. Hushovd did it, Flecha in a new team did it. Yes wheelsucking does suck, but I am not going to say that I haven't done it because I was knackered, and I wanted to save some strength for the finish. I am a small guy and going into the wind isn't my thing, so I ride to my abilities. If I have nothing to give on the front, I don't give it. I am not about to drag someone to the finish so they jump over the top of me because I am cramping up or I explode, or I never get there because I already bonked 10km ago.

Anyway it may sound a little prosaic - but that's bike racing. If we resigned ourselves to that then this thread would be pretty short. All those guys got to the end in high positions not by mistake or because they were bludgers, because they were the strongest and sometime during that race they individually or collectively dropped the slower weaker riders. It was a fantastic race up to 50km to go then it fizzled out, and everybody did what they needed to get to the end, albeit for second and lower places.

We are all armchair critics (of bike racing and each other) that is why we are on this forum.
 
Finally got a chance to watch it all (Eurosport).

That was after falling asleep watching it Sunday night when it was all together. Woke up with 3km to go and had a serious case of "WTF" seeing Fabian show off his little angel thing, thinking that they were showing a replay of Flanders...

It was a bit dull for my likings after we knew who was going to win. It's just harder to get into a race for 2nd. Seems like one hell of a post-mortem though for anyone who was in the chasing group.
 
theyoungest said:
The CN article about Rabo is badly informed... Again, they wrongly assume that the leaders for Paris-Roubaix were Boom and Posthuma, when in fact they were Boom and Langeveld.

I was also surprised to see Posthuma as a leader. The leader certainly was Langeveld. Even Boom seemed really too unexperienced for that status.

theyoungest said:
They both finished the race (another CN mistake), albeit too late, in Boom's case.

Thanks. That's also what I thought. And I think it would be very unfair to assimilate 'Outside Time Limits' to DNF, mostly in Paris-Roubaix, a race for which it's an honor to finish (and great proof of courage).
 
biokemguy said:
Here I thought Canc was brave and taking a BIG risk by attacking when he did.
Nope just following the boss' orders. :( I'm sure he knows race tactics, but it saddens me how much the radio effected the finale of this race.

I guess it was obvious. It was the moment to attack and Cancellara doesn't have eyes in his back.

I would say that for once, the earphone had some positive effects on the race. :cool:
 
Jan 18, 2010
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Thoughtforfood said:
Who are you? I am pretty sure you don't matter, but I just wanted to make sure. Anyway, I don't think I have had an altercation with you in the past, so no reason to start now. I guess I am an idiot in your eyes. I will tell my ego, I am sure he will be devastated.

yes no reason to start now.

Glad that your ego is intact like i give a ****.
 
There was an interesting article in Nord-Éclair about the Carrefour de l'Arbre:

http://www.nordeclair.fr/Actualite/2010/04/12/au-carrefour-de-l-arbre-c-est-la-fete-de.shtml

First part:

One guy from Lille and one from Dunkirk were very sad because they loved the Flemish fervour. If they knew it was so sad they would have stayed at home. There were no fan-clubs any longer, Devolder's or Boonen's. No camping-cars. They used to watch the finale on the screen but there were no screen anymore. So they missed the finish on the velodrome.

Second part:

A "gendarme" said he preferred the Carrefour de l'Arbre this way, with only cycling lovers. A Belgian who likes calm prefers it that way, as well. The Carrefour de l'Arbre becomes anonymous again. Another Belgian, from Antwerp, says it's no good for the French, beer drinking makes a lot of money "It's no longer a feast, or only for the Police."
 
Jun 16, 2009
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Great quotes from Liggett and Sherwen from PR:

Paul Sherwen: "The Tour de Suisse is a Grand tour that Fabian Cancellata won last year"

"Lance has a psychological advantage on AC because he races on the Cobbles in the Tour of Flanders"

Phil Liggett: (When FC's gap was at 1"01) "This was the gap that LA won the Tdf in 2003"

:rolleyes:
 

flicker

BANNED
Aug 17, 2009
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I liked the versus coverage. If bob paul bob like lance so what. I will support the sponsers because I would like to watch the race on TV.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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Jamsque said:
I was out on Sunday, and by the time I got home and turned the race on with about ~40km to go it was all over bar the shouting, so yeah I would agree that it was a bit boring this year. An amazing achievement, no doubt, but watching Spartacus do a 50km time trial is not exactly thrilling.

+1

I found the race very anti climatic. Last year, i found it a bit dissapointing because of the crash and this year because Cancellara was so dominant.
 
May 14, 2009
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The forest and the attacks of Boonen were entertaining. Matthew Goss' efforts on the front of the breakway were also entertaining.

The initial Cancellera attack was awesome, he rode away with such ease. But yes after he got away i drifted off asleep. To be fair it was after midnight here.

Also on bad Sherwin and Liggett commentary I noted them hyping Hincappie and O'Grady. I love those two but really they werew not contenders.
 
auscyclefan94 said:
Last year, i found it a bit dissapointing because of the crash

Roger De Vlaeminck said that crashes and punctures are not bad luck, it's all a matter of lucidity. A man in form never crashes or punctures.

I think it holds true for last year.:cool:
 
auscyclefan94 said:
"Lance has a psychological advantage on AC because he races on the Cobbles in the Tour of Flanders"

Phil Liggett: (When FC's gap was at 1"01) "This was the gap that LA won the Tdf in 2003"

Did these guys really care about the race they were commenting? :rolleyes:
 
auscyclefan94 said:
Great quotes from Liggett and Sherwen from PR:

Paul Sherwen: "The Tour de Suisse is a Grand tour that Fabian Cancellata won last year"

"Lance has a psychological advantage on AC because he races on the Cobbles in the Tour of Flanders"

Phil Liggett: (When FC's gap was at 1"01) "This was the gap that LA won the Tdf in 2003"

:rolleyes:


Haha. I find it extremely hard to watch the old Giro/Tour etc highlights that they commentate on. Just watched the Giro 94 last night, and even when they don't talk about LA, they manage to get things wrong a lot for professional cycling commentators.
 
Jun 19, 2009
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kurtinsc said:
I didn't see the others closing down Boonen's attacks... I saw Cancellera doing that... with the others on his heels. When Spartacus did his first little dig... Boonen followed and Flecha was on his wheel.

When he went for good... Boonen didn't follow. I feel certain that if he did, the others would have attempted to go with him just like before.

I think the only hope the others had was that Spartacus and Boonen kept going back and forth, chasing each other down... tiring each other out. They weren't going to help either one though... because doing so would be just as much ensuring a loss as letting one go ahead.

That's what I saw before I read the recriminations about Flecha. I think everyone hoped Boonen would chase Canc and they all cut him too much slack. Once he had a minute; no one was going to waste much energy. So much for Canc's superhuman effort. It was a well timed, solid attack and others screwed up.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Oldman said:
That's what I saw before I read the recriminations about Flecha. I think everyone hoped Boonen would chase Canc and they all cut him too much slack. Once he had a minute; no one was going to waste much energy. So much for Canc's superhuman effort. It was a well timed, solid attack and others screwed up.

True

ANd anyway, WTF was Boonen thinking in the Ks before the attack? He kept gettin to the front and putting in 70% attacks...wearing his dumb self out when all he needed to do was pay attention to Spartie (and pray he could hang on from there).
 
Mar 18, 2009
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luckyboy said:
Haha. I find it extremely hard to watch the old Giro/Tour etc highlights that they commentate on. Just watched the Giro 94 last night, and even when they don't talk about LA, they manage to get things wrong a lot for professional cycling commentators.

Same here. Most are just plain dumb, like the 93 Giro DVD where the graphic comes up "Davide Cassani. 1991 Milano - Torino winner" and Liggett comments "The graphic says Cassani won the great classic Milan - San Remo in 91. Indeed he did"

The 2003 Vuelta DVD contains an inordinate number of gems:

3. *Nozal keeps grabbing the radio to talk to his DS*. Liggett: "Nozal is obviously having stomach pain, he keeps clutching at it"
2. "The atmosphere is so electric you can cut the electricity with a knife"
1. "This is the time trial. The race against the truth"

But my favourite is from the 1986 tour:

Liggett, in a grandiose intonation: "Alex, how does it feel to be the first american ever to wear the yellow jersey?"

Alex Stieda, sound very ****ed off: "It feels great to be the first Canadian" *glares at Liggett*

:D
In their defense, when you're old you tend to have trouble remembering recent events, and for most of Ligget and Sherwen's lives, the Tour de Suisse was a Grand Tour.
 
Black-Balled said:
True

ANd anyway, WTF was Boonen thinking in the Ks before the attack? He kept gettin to the front and putting in 70% attacks...wearing his dumb self out when all he needed to do was pay attention to Spartie (and pray he could hang on from there).

That's just how Boonen races Roubaix. It usually works, too. But unfortunately for him, he had a form-of-his-life Cancellara in this race, and, as has been noted, no one else was interested in reacting when he attacked.

Although I bet Boonen is kicking himself for not staying closer to Cancellara. He just couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the fact that he wasn't the strongest man in spring this year, so Cancellara was able to surprise him twice (the Belgian just got overpowered in Flanders).