Yes, I know, I have a major thing for Boonen. But come on, wouldn’t you? Look at those guns. Look at that position on the bike. He even makes that ugly Specialized helmet look good. He even makes that ugly Specialized Roubaix look good, come to think of it. And those White Ladies? Kill me now.
Picking the V-Moment of the year is always a tough one, especially in a year when there were so many great moments. In fact, that I’m glad I didn’t get saddled with the Anti-V Moment of the Year Award because it won’t be easy to pick out a loser for that one.
Some of the greatest instants of the season were Johan Vansummeren continuing on after he went through the meat grinder at the Tour. Or Hesjedal hanging tough on the Stelvio to stay close enough to J-Rod to take the win for the first Canuckian Grand Tour at the Giro. Faboo gritting his teeth to finish the Olympic ITT in tears despite a moronic but devastating crash in the Road Race. Gilbert coming back to take a decisive win in the Worlds Road Race after a disastrous season.
Maybe its my man-crush on Boonen, maybe its the fact that we were at the roadside for both events, but two moments stand out as what must have been two of the hardest moments in racing – with the most at stake. One was Boonen riding the Paterberg at the back of the three-man breakaway with Ballan and Potato during the Ronde van Vlaanderen; his gears were jammed and he couldn’t get into his lowest gear on that brutally steep climb. As the group got to the top, Boonen was overgeared and losing ground. Standing in a Flemish field not more than 1000 meteres (as the crow flies) from the Paterberg, I could almost hear his bike cry out in agony as he scraped the bottom of the V-Barrel to hold onto the back of the group.
But that’s not the V-Moment of the year because, in the end, there was only something to be gained by holding on – he had nothing to lose. If he got unhitched from the group, he would have called it training for Roubaix, and gone home feeling good about his chances in the Queen of the Classics.
The V-Moment of the year was instead a moment that wasn’t captured on camera; it was a solitary moment that echoed inside only one man’s heart. It was a moment that must have fluttered through his mind as he came off the secteur of cobbles about 55k from Roubaix, looked around, and noticed that no one was with him. At that moment, he had everything to lose. A wiser man would have sat up and waited for the group, knowing he could conserve his energy and pick his moment later, when the risks were more manageable.
But The V isn’t about sensibility. The V isn’t about planning. The V isn’t about calculation. The V is about making your own luck. The V is about bending the odds to your vvill. The V is about making the race beg you to relent. The 2012 V Moment of the Year was the moment Boonen decided to carry on to Roubaix, alone.
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@G'rilla
Agreed!
@Gianni
(shudders orgasmically) eeerrggghhh yeah that's the spot. I have massive Boonen man love, that's more like it.
Have to agree with Pedale that fisheye lenses don't always improve the image.
@G'rilla
Oh Sweet Baby Jesus if you throw Bonnen into the Keepers Tour you will have to have caddle prods to keep the people from over-running it.
Ahh, goddammit! Make that "Cattle" prods, not "caddle" prods. I was just looking at that old thread "Guilty be Association" or whatever it is called with Cuddles face and his fuckin mutt and somehow crossed wires there! Man, I am too young to be going senile!
@Dan_R
Lord above I hope Wiggins / Sky do not win the Giro next year, it's bad enough listening to the Anglos still going on about 1966.... I'd need to re-migrate back to the Le Vieux Pays again.
What are the opinions on Sky & their tactics during this race? Could they simply not real Boonen in or did they do a poor job of chasing him & using their numbers?
Well I just had my V moment for the year, heading up Greenhill Rd climb (6.5% for 7km) and right at the bottom Rachael Neylan comes past me. Naturally the compunction is to chase, swapped a couple of turns, reduced to wheel sucking about halfway and dropped about three quarter way to finish 50m back. I was utterly on the rivet, I suspect she was not! Still I smashed my best time and probably will spend the rest of the day in the foetal position.
http://app.strava.com/rides/34459603
@Daccordi Rider
Great job, especially considering the company she keeps.
http://www.rachelneylan.com/
@strathlubnaig
As a Yorkshireman living in Scotland, I never bring up 1966 and don't know any Englishmen who do either. In my experience it's the Scots who like to perpetuate the myth that we keep going on about it, as it gives them something to complain about!
@Ron
One of the only things I've learned riding the Roubaix cobbles is: it's impossible to draft. Everyone is trying to get across to the next paved section. When Boonen is the strongest on the cobbles the only chasing can happen on the asphalt parts. And that means everyone has to be finishing the cobbles together so they can form a paceline. And that is very hard to do.
Roubaix is a particular race. Team tactics don't work well once the cobble sections begin. The baddest, strongest rider on the stones can really open up some gaps that are very hard to close on the short asphalt parts.