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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I knew Cancellara didn't have a win in him. Knew it in my heart of hearts. When you're a marked man it's awful hard to ride away.
One of the saddest images was seeing Boonen standing there with his bike in the middle of the Arenberg completely helpless. Nothing a little blow won't fix but he must have been completely pissed.
Thor lost that race today because he couldn't be arsed to take a turn on the front, which was stoopid as he had men all the way up the road... Thought Van Summeren awesome... Spartacus too, even though he spat his dummy out at how all the other kids were picking on him... Amazing how he just blew them all away when he went with 4k to go (but let them back again)
Looks like global warming or summat has ended wet spring classics this year, but what a race. Loved it... Really feel for Boonen and Quickstep
You know, it's a tired strategy"”sitting on Cancellara like that, but chapeau to him sitting up and saying to hell with it, and then still taking second. The way he just leaves people behind"”as he did in the final stretch"”is a thing of pure beauty. Incredible to watch him motor away as though everyone else is sitting still.
@Hawkeye
It's funny reading about the "no-ride" tactics last week at the RVV and today at the PR,
but for you only Ballan as an Italian deserves your inappropriate comment.
http://www.slipstreamsports.com/2011/04/10/race-report-van-summeren-delivers-victory-at-paris-roubaix
"Johan was smart to get into that breakaway and we kept telling him to wait for Thor. And when Thor's group didn't reach the front, we gave Johan the chance to attack," said Garmin-Cervélo sport director Jonathan Vaughters.
"We had Thor coming up from behind, so we kept telling the other guys in the break it wasn't up to us to work," Van Summeren said.
"Of course, I was not going to work when I had teammates up the road," Hushovd said.
Don't-work and Wait-and-see finally paid off, I guess.
Sigh. This team is going to implode before 2012.
I was watching the race from 11pm until 2:30am. No-one should have to be surprised by that bright a colour that time of the morning. But have got used to it now. Do I have to start wearing clogs, too?
Guys with oversized sunnies winning...and now too-tall skinny dudes. What is PRO cycling coming to?!
Great race, nothing like waking up at 7:00 on a Sunday to watch the P-R. 365...start the countdown!
Hope all the Followers enjoyed it as well.
Oh, and some of those crashes were pretty bad, looked fucking painful. Chavanel's slide out sure did.
So... Watching Eurosport highlights... At 3.3km to go, when Spartacus puts on that fearsome burst of acceleration that trashes Thor, Flecha et al, I'm sure Sean Yates, commentating, calls him a cunt... Brilliant stuff... As good on replay as live... What a race!
@ben
Great quotes. Just talking to @Marko about this, he remarked that he never thought Cuddles would do the Stripes more honor than Thor.
JV still directs his team with the mentality of a small, upstart team trying to find it's way. Time for him to realize that he is now the director of a big team capable of the biggest wins in the sport. Time to step up and start racing like it.
Love the message behind the team of clean racing and "fair sport" - and it worked for them today - but sucking wheels like this is no more fair play than is doping. That might be an exaggeration, but you get my meaning.
Van Summeren's ride notwithstanding because he rode an incredible race, chasing all the right moves and making the selection when it counted. Chapeau.