Velominati Super Prestige: Milan-Sanremo 2013
Finally, we have Milan-Sanremo. I hope pedale.forcetta is ready to shoot some pictures, especially black and white because it will be cold and possibly wet. Throw in a little wind and a race of this distance will weed out the less hardy. Recently, but not too recently, this race would be won out of a decent size field sprint. And yet, besides Fabs winning in 2008 it does come down to a sprint finish of some size. That race was setting up for a field sprint when Cancellara bolted and no one could catch him. The solo charge to the finish just doesn’t seem to work here. It is such an interesting race because the finish is unlike any of the other monuments. Moreno Argentin lost the race because he was not as good as descender as Kelly. Getting down the Cipressa and Poggio well is not easy. The descents are tight narrow Italian roads, hairpin turns, madness. Fabs and Sagan are two excellent descenders and Sagan has a killer sprint. NIbali just won Terreno. Thor has recovered. Boonen is back with Cavendish, on the same team! Gilbert is wearing the rainbow jersey. Andy Schleck has pre-dropped out. God Damnit, if you are going to get up at some weird hour of the night to watch a race this year, this is it people.
An American has never won one of cycling’s monuments and Sunday’s race does not seem to be where it is going to happen. Tyler Farrar would have to latch onto a special train and surely Cancellara will not be towing people to the line this year. The odds of Australian riders winning the last two editions were very long but it demonstrates how exciting and unpredictable this race is.
Here is the incomplete start list, it will be updated when available. No Delgados, no whining, the betting window is now open. Get you picks in before the countdown timer goes to zero at midnight Pacific Time. The winner of this event is awarded the MSR comment badge for the remainder of the season.
Here is a little video from last year, interesting more for the behind the scenes action and the amount of bleeped out cursing.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHAKie2XiU0[/youtube]
[vsp_results id=”22700″/]
I might be of been wrong, I think its 130KM to race.
Brutal, therefore fantastic. Too bad they aren’t as insanely dedicated as the racers in 1910.
Of course, it’s easy to say that from the comfort of my chair listening to my coffee brew.
Boonen has quit to save himself for the cobbles.
Sigh.
@motor city
Well there goes my hopeful choice…..
Crapfest.
-Dinan
@ralph
Streaming: http://sports-livez.com/sopcast/sop-3.php (with Yates common tatering)
this site offers up links in most languages to suit your needs, scroll down a bit and you’ll see links to different feeds on the right: http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/7218 (sometimes you just gotta keep opening different links to find the actual race, as a lot of them will pre-empt some races for futball).
wow.
Can I just withdraw in utter shame? Do we get to call this MSR anymore?
As I posted on my FB page, Laurent Fignon is turning in his grave. The best reply, and so is Eugene Christophe.
Goss reportedly out as well.
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK. VSP? What VSP?
Gossy out as well – for a Tassie rider to pull out must be pretty bloody miserable!
@paolo
OK how much did Sagan pay to have 2 of the climbs removed from the race..Grrrr!!!
I am on night shift here offshore and just catching up on things, never saw the early conditions but can only say I am shocked and stunned Boonen never got off the bus. What this will do to the hardman Belgian reputation I am not sure, but now I hear he is whining about the organizers too. Well Tom, plenty of lads did get off the bus, just sayin’
@strathlubnaig
I think there are murmurings about renaming him Swoonen??!
Lotto mounted high tech mudflaps for the conditions:
Quote from Boonen, I think someone needs to have a word with him about Rule #5 he has done untold damage to the Belgian reputation! “I think my decision says enough.This is partly a precaution, but also a statement to the organization. They knew long enough that there was so much snow on the road. What happens now is the fault of the organization’s own fault. Have you ever wanted to bicycle through the snow ridden? There are nicer things than this. I’m completely frozen.”
@strathlubnaig
I
@scaler911
Thanks for the link. Works fine for me here on the East Coast. Better than the one I had being trying to use previously.
-Dinan
@Deakus
Reply to Boonen — “Well, just remind yourself. What would Andy do? Gavia!”
@unversio
For a minute there I thought you mean Andy Schleck. Maybe he asked the wrong Andy…
@Deakus
I’m not at all a fan of the whining but I can see his point. Those conditions look like pure shit. I’d be worried to ride in that as well. Yes, that statement violates Rule #5 but I have slid out numerous times in conditions like that on a solo ride. Add the competition and speed in there? No thank you…
-Dinan
Tom Phone-in, like my staff: “Oh, hey boss, I can’t make it, I have a bit of a cold”
Soft, pathetic…. Disappointing to say the least.
Beginning to look like Team QuitStep.
Being in Perth, Western Aust, where it rarely rains, what is the betts way of keeping your lenses clear when it’s pissing down aka MSR. Wiping with wet gloves just makes it worse. Rainex? I also wear prescriptions so like am quite uncomfortable when I can’t see clearly.
@asyax I wear prescription too, so I’m bound to my glasses. Those with more luck than us can simply remove their glasses altogether – risky in case of debris and mud, but at least vision is better.
Myself, I’ve found that a cycling-cap deep over the glasses does a pretty good job of keeping the rain manageable enough to see through.
Rainex isn’t good for plastic. I take mine off and wack the lower edge against my thigh a couple of times, which clears them better than wiping.
@Dinan
That’s an explanation of why you don’t get paid millions of euros to ride a bike, not an explanation of why someone who is paid millions is not riding his bike.
@ChrisO
+1
@asyax
On the commentary at Tirreno last week when it was pissing down Magnus Backstedt had an interesting observation. He said he found it better to have the glasses on but to be in the spray stream of the rider in front. it sounds counter-intuitive but he reckoned the constant flow of spray helped.
For rain when not in a group ride I find the peak of the cycling cap does a good job of keeping most of the water off. Of course that doesn’t help once they are wet – take Maggie’s advice and find someone to draft I guess.
@Sauterelle
I think his Directeur might also point out the fucking sprinters seem to be able to make it round….why can’t you? Cav has just gone back to remove some clothing……HARD MAN! I think he wants a sun tan!!
@ChrisO “Tom! Tom! Tom! We pay you to freeze!”
@ChrisO
My Molteni cap did a sterling job of keeping the rain out of my eyes today, it also traps water once wet which then warms up (little like a wet suit). I can’t remember who said this (maybe the prophet or the badger) “A wet and frozen cap is better than no cap at all”
Chavenel abandons.
Isn’t there a story about some Belgian rider on his way to the Ronde or Liege in utterly filthy weather – snow and sleet so bad that they can barely see through the car windscreen – when they see a cyclist, barely visible, riding at the side of the road, and it’s Eddy Merckx riding to the race.
These guys want all the races to be the same – I can understand why, so they can plan and train and so on. But one of the great things about the history of the sport is that sometimes all those plans get totally fucked by weather and other things you can’t control.
If they don’t like it then fine, it wasn’t your year, pull out and come back next time, but don’t fucking moan about it.
And if the conditions are dangerous then ride to suit them. At the end of the day the person best able to cope with it all will be the person who wins – that’s what it’s all about.
I completely understand the disappointment over Boonen’s DNF by fans but lets be realistic here. MSR isn’t a goal for Boonen so why take unnecessary risks , yes, he’s paid millions which is precisely why risking his major goals to ride in the snow for a while is not very smart. How many of you have ridden a road bike in conditions like that? It’s next to impossible and if you were looking a few weeks into the future to win Flanders and Roubaix you’d probably think twice as well.
That said, the riders who do well and win will have a legendary tale to tell.
@ChrisO
+ a zillion.
@Marko
It’s not the pulling out Marko, it’s the whining I think people are objecting to.
@Marko At his age (32), he is registering a fail (a void) right before Flanders and Roubaix.
@Deakus
Hampston on the Gavio anyone??? Hinault on LBL? Boonen, say it isn’t so!!!
@ChrisO I second that point. I have no problem with deciding that winning this race isn’t worth the risks, but given the history of the sport and the sort of conditions people have slogged through in the past it hardly seems worth whinging on about. If it’s not safe to do 60kph in the snow, do a speed that is safe. If somebody can keep up that speed over the entire course, then I guess they deserve to win.
Meanwhile, I’m also sitting inside and typing on the Intertubes, not sliding down the Italian countryside.
@starclimber
Nice!
Just PRAYING that Pettachi doesn’t win. Lord help me!
Well, Boonen, Chavanel, and Goss have abandoned. If Sagan and Cavendish join them, I will have picked them all!
@ChrisO
The explanation is complete Anti-V.
On the other hand, for a rider with objectives a few weeks down the road; I’d completely agree with the view that he might choose not to race due to the risk it presents to the events for which he’s structured his whole season.
But fuck. Everyone knows this weather is the shit that writes itself into legend. How can you not want to be a part of that?
@moondance
Chavanel has NOT abandoned, he is still in the race..
Cycling News: Omega Pharma state that Chavanel is still in the race.
@Buck Rogers
The race continues…some riders don’t
Now OPQS says Chavanel is still in…..
@frank
I wonder if he knows, or even cares about, how much he has just fucked with his cycling image? (although if he pulls off a RVV and/or PR win this year everyone will call him a genius). But he will always be the guy that pulled off b/c it was too cold and wet now to me.
@moondance
Before I settled on my ‘what have turned out to be shitty picks’, I had Terpstra and Chava as well as Goss and Boonen, but more annoyingly, I had Cav to win it, not Phone-in. Oh. Well. Time to get on the road. Local weather, 5°C, Sunny, Wind: WNW 28 gust 52 km/h. Perfect.
Nibbles out