Let us pray for rain.
The Sunday after Ronde Van Vlaanderen brings us to Paris-Roubaix. The Holiest of Holies. There are no bergs to ride over, instead, accelerate to maximum speed to be in the top 20 to start each cobbled section, bring power up to flank to float over broken treacherous farm path crown, gutter or ditch or all three at the same time as required. Recover once back on the tarmac. Repeat 26 more times.
This Sunday’s edition of Paris-Roubaix will have Velominati moaning, staring through half empty bottles of Chimay, burning candles to Saint Ludo of Dierckxsens (the patron saint of Flemish V), begging for a sign. The winner won’t be a first timer to this race, he needs experience on these stones, he will also require equally experienced teammates who can hang tough close to Roubaix. He must be massively fit. He must be tough as nails. Andy Schleck will not be out here on Sunday, not because he is not tough (OK, he is not tough enough for this) but racing on such terrible cobbled farm tracks is a skill only a certain subset of professionals develop. All around tough bastard Bernard Hinault, aka The Badger, thought it was an insane lottery, unworthy of his attention but he did ride it twice and won in 1981. In 2011 you could do worse than roll up to the start on your 1980 steel Merckx ride as today’s bikes, used just for this one race, have a lot of old-school about them: 27mm profile tires, huge inner chain rings, 3-cross laced wheels, longer rake front forks, longer chainstays. These bikes go back into storage when this race is over. Insane bikes, riders, fans and of course, throw in some bad weather and we have a real race.
Finally Fabian Cancellara has shown himself to be human, a really strong human. Tomeke Boonen is showing signs of past greatness. Garmin-Cervelo has been hammered from all quarters, they are under pressure and Thor has always said this is the race he wants to win. Gilbert is fit, ready and Belgian (news flash, he may be ready but not to race P-R, coward). Chavanel is fit, ready and French. Could Ballan be the new Moser? No. Not ever. Team Sky, with nary a Belgian still has a shot with a Spaniard, an Englishman and a Welshman.
The spinning wheels of Fortuna could play havoc on the best laid bets like it did in 2001. Dutchmen Servais Knaven won it all. Knaven, with teammate Johan Museeuw was part of a select group closing in on Roubaix. Being the dutiful domestique he attacked to force Museeuw’s adversaries to chase but no one could. He was a tough guy and rode away with a beautiful victory.
Let us pray for rain.
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Thor should be over the moon that his ride helped Van Summeren to the win. Like all the lead out riders that pulled him to wins were. But he won't be. He had no strategy to win - only one to beat Fabian - and he blew that too.
Cancellara is too strong for his own good. His only tactic is to blast a gap because no one will ride with him.
Van Summeren winning has taken a LOT of heat off Hushovd's negativity today. He pretty much did a Boonen in RvV '11 - attacked Fabs with one of his team mates up the road. Not cool.
That Thor then sat in on Fabs to the point where the big fella finally called it quits is beside the point really. Ballan was obviously never going to take a turn. He is Italian. Nuff said. Hushovd I thought was cut from sterner cloth. Let down.
But great result from the tall streak of Belgian lip! Allegedly he also (successfully) proposed to his long-time girlfriend Jasmine today too. What an IDIOT! How is he EVER going to match a day that good ever again???
@Hawkeye
YES! Excellent observation and perhaps the nucleus of a rule like...
Never propose to your girlfriend straight after winning a Monument because even though she might love you with crap all in your teeth, you're probably not thinking straight on account of the effort and cobbles rattling your brain and she'll probably bitch about 'that fucking bike' before the Giro comes around...
But did you expect Thor to help pull Cancellara up to his own Garmin teammate? Thor rode perfectly for his team and did an awesome job. If anything, he should be garnering more praise for not being selfish and riding for his team, no?
Van Summeren's wheel with 5k to go. BAD.ASS.
@RedRanger@Buck Rogers
It's more than just hype...Maillot Jaune, twice on the podium at Roubaix already...Het Volk...The man has, until this Spring (remember the white bibs at MSR) been all class. Also very reasonable and well spoken.
You can argue he had a rider up the road when Faboo sat up, and it's true, but it was a sacrificial lamb. Van Petegem himself said in the interview that Johan's orders were to wait for Hushovd until the Carrfore secteur and after that he was aloud to ride for himself. When Faboo sat up, the plan was still to deliver Hushovd to the line. He should have ridden.
For a second there, I thought I saw him shake his fist at the team car. I could be imagining things, but I think perhaps he wanted to ride but was following team orders. It does smell a lot like JV, although to be fair, PVP was calling the shots today and he was a CLASSIC poker player.
Wasn't there, don't know. Van Summeren has a well deserved win. Awesome.
@Buck Rogers
Seemed to me Thor had an opportunity to ride well before Johan went up the road. You know, when the team cars pulled up and Fabian was all like, WTF is up with these pussies, JV? Sure, it made sense for him to sit after JVS took off but it didn't seem like the race was going that way until the last 12k or whatever it was. He gets props for covering Faboos accelerations but that's how to keep from losing races, not how to win them.
@Marko
Well put, completely agree.
Man, that tire. I heard him say it, and thought, "Nah...he must be saying he FELT like he had a flat tire."
There's your argument for riding tubs, eh? Can't do THAT on a clincher.
How about Boonen? I'd sure like to know what happened to his bike in the Trouee, and then what the FUCK happened to his TWO men, Stegemans and Tankink and that they disappeared before he was brought back.
Boonen in particular and Quickstep in general suffered some serious bad luck today. After a run where they had incredible luck, they kind of paid back flush in one big shot. This race. I felt empty when Boonen retired...as someone already said, only 365 days to go.
I have to say, I'm back to the Moped. After everything and all his strength, he proved himself to be the one ride with enough of the V coursing through his veins to still make a race of it.