Three days of de Panne - 29th to 31st March

[El Pistolero]

The favorites already knew that. Thats why Cancellara, Boonen, etcetera aren't here

Hoste and Devolder are always guys to take into account at the Ronde. They shouldn't have been there.

And why did Terpstra even ride the time trial. Pointless.

And I'm referring to the organizers of this race that called Boonen practically stupid to skip the Panne.

 

[Lanark]

Those guys are all good riders, but none of them was going to win De Ronde even if they had stayed upright.

Maybe not, but nobody expected Devolder and Hoste to perform as well as they did in the past, you never really know with those guys in whate shape they are. Tersptra was after Chavanel Boonen's most important domestique, that's a big negative for Quick-Step.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Westra: "My feeling was good, even super. I thought I was going really hard. But appearently Rosseler was even stronger. Nothing I could do about that. I'm absolutely gutted"

 

[The Sheep]

Hoste and Devolder are always guys to take into account at the Ronde. They shouldn't have been there.

And why did Terpstra even ride the time trial. Pointless.

And I'm referring to the organizers of this race that called Boonen practically stupid to skip the Panne.

Terpstra probably didn't take any risks but you can't do **** against the wind taking you out like that.

 

[El Pistolero]

Terpstra probably didn't take any risks but you can't do **** against the wind taking you out like that.

Not saying it's his fault, but with winds like on the Belgian coast it's always a risk.

And there were some heavy winds here today.

 

[El Pistolero]

By the way, last year not a single Belgian win in Flemish races.

This season:

Dwars door Vlaanderen, Gent-Wevelgem and de driedaagse van de Panne.

Of course the race that matters the most still has to come, but already an improvement from last year!

 

[More Strides than Rides]

A little late to the game, but I do like seeing RS win. They ride smart, you cannot deny that. Aggression is only worth a colored number, sometimes. Wins earn the money, points, and glory.

This isn't a knock on those on or off the podium. I'm more trying to separate the reality from what seems like an idealist vision of racing on here.

 

[Flamin]

Westra would have been a deserved winner. He coloured this race more than anyone. But not being able to keep his legs quiet sometimes (maybe because he felt too good), might have cost him the overall win.

However, it's good to see Rosseler showing glimpses of his class again. Our next classics big gun, Van Keirsbulck, was impressive too.

 

[theyoungest]

A little late to the game, but I do like seeing RS win. They ride smart, you cannot deny that. Aggression is only worth a colored number, sometimes. Wins earn the money, points, and glory.

This isn't a knock on those on or off the podium. I'm more trying to separate the reality from what seems like an idealist vision of racing on here.

An idealist vision of racing = actual racing. Bruyneel's riders never race, they just ride happily along, waiting for the time trial.

 

[El Pistolero]

An idealist vision of racing = actual racing. Bruyneel's riders never race, they just ride happily along, waiting for the time trial.

That's because they mostly sign time trial specialists that can keep up in the mountains.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I never hated Armstrong before his comeback though. He attacked when he needed to and won mountain stages when he needed to.

But Bruyneel is really negative

 

[The Hitch]

Yes.

The whole time i was pointing out that Kwiatkowski was in a good position, i bet most of you thought "meh".

But now hes got a podium.

Whose laughing now

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yes.

The whole time i was pointing out that Kwiatkowski was in a good position, i bet most of you thought "meh".

But now hes got a podium.

Whose laughing now

Nah, saw the 3daagse W-VL result. Expected him to be up there. Podium is a suprise though.

You really think he'd beat Chavanel, Grabsch and be on par with Westra??

 

[boomcie]

Yes.

The whole time i was pointing out that Kwiatkowski was in a good position, i bet most of you thought "meh".

But now hes got a podium.

Whose laughing now

Also nah. I had five names in mind before the time trial: Westra, Rosseler, Grabsch, Gusev and Kwiatovski. In that order. So not the greatest of surprises, but he does show great promise.

 

[Mellow Velo]

The whole time i was pointing out that Kwiatkowski was in a good position, i bet most of you thought "meh".

But now hes got a podium.

Whose laughing now

Let's see..........the guys who have him in their CQ team?

It's all well and good to say the Shack ride smart, but if the rest of the peloton adopted the same tactics, watching paint dry would soon become a more successful spectator sport.
I hope to God, this wasn't what JV was referring to, cos I can't see many here wanting to follow this type of "racing".
Is there a new market for Dull, out there?

 

[The Hitch]

Nah, saw the 3daagse W-VL result. Expected him to be up there. Podium is a suprise though.

You really think he'd beat Chavanel, Grabsch and be on par with Westra??

No, i expected him to win overall.

Just kidding, but yes podium was my expectation.

Well he didnt beat Westra. But the others yes. He podiumed in the tt at that other 3 days race (west flanders i think) and Radioshack owned that tt so i expected something similar here.

Let's see..........the guys who have him in their CQ team?

Not Kwiatkowski, but when i saw Grivko, come over the line i marked out big time.

I never thought i would find so much excitement watching someone cross the line in a 3 days of depanne tt.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

No, i expected him to win overall.

Just kidding, but yes podium was my expectation.

Well he didnt beat Westra. But the others yes. He podiumed in the tt at that other 3 days race (west flanders i think) and Radioshack owned that tt so i expected something similar here.

But the field in W-VL was nowhere near that of De Panne.... you can't extrapolate those results to this race

 

[jens_attacks]

An idealist vision of racing = actual racing. Bruyneel's riders never race, they just ride happily along, waiting for the time trial.

i don't know what to say,i really hope guys you watched the first stage.at 68 km to go kwiatkowski attacked,muraviev attacked at 64 to go,greipel followed.rosseler was in the mix too but didn't work with chavanel because muraviev was on the front.so actually radioshack did race very aggresively.you picked the wrong race i guess to attack radioshack.
but i know you all hate armstrong and bruyneel from the guts so it's ok.let's just hate some rosselers and kwiatkowskis too.life is good.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

An idealist vision of racing = actual racing. Bruyneel's riders never race, they just ride happily along, waiting for the time trial.

I understand your point. Exciting is often only so because it defies the logic of the competition: pulling your goalie, fake punts, what have you.

But, just to be snot, RadioShack has been much more active this year, you can give them some credit. Easiest example is from two days ago. Many more wins than last year at this time. I think it was just Rosseler's win by this time a year ago?

 

[The Hitch]

But the field in W-VL was nowhere near that of De Panne.... you can't extrapolate those results to this race

Ok, i didnt expect him to beat Grabsch, though Chavanel yes because Chavanels been pushing it all 3 days and i dont think hes on peak yet.

I didnt expect him to beat Westra overall though i thought he could beat him marginally in the tt. In the end he didnt but hes only young so its ok.

 

[Cobblestoned]

What a sad day for CN some forumites again.
Its even sad for them that Team is still there, despite their daily predicitons.
Now, after all predictions failed, there is just that hope that they won't find a new sponsor or have a contract extension.
From RS will be gone early in 2010, over, just little example, RS will be gone before 2010 season ends - to the last hope now, that they won't find a sponsor for 2012 ! lol
RS won again, while they of course never race and just do everything wrong, a team can do wrong.

Winning Teamclassification - wrong
Winning one day race - wrong + boring racing
Winning stage - wrong + boring race
Winning stageraces - wrong + TT should be forbidden
Winning TTs - wrong
or
If too much winning - off to the clinic regularly, lol

 

[theyoungest]

Ok, i didnt expect him to beat Grabsch, though Chavanel yes because Chavanels been pushing it all 3 days and i dont think hes on peak yet.

I didnt expect him to beat Westra overall though i thought he could beat him marginally in the tt. In the end he didnt but hes only young so its ok.

Westra is a stronger time trialist than Grabsch and has been for a few years now, so I don't really understand this.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

An idealist vision of racing = actual racing. Bruyneel's riders never race, they just ride happily along, waiting for the time trial.

But the paradoxis that you can't wheelsuck in an ITT.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Yes.

The whole time i was pointing out that Kwiatkowski was in a good position, i bet most of you thought "meh".

But now hes got a podium.

Whose laughing now

I was soooo looking forward to this guy competing on high level, always watching startlists if he is there.
People praised him - now he showed again and is improving day by day.

Good performance out there in de Panne for this young man.

 

[The Hitch]

This is starting to get ridiculous. I know Johan Bruyneel likes to be brazen as hell about how he gets results but come the **** on.

What are you inferring?