[boneman]

Equipment failure is part of Roubaix and it sucks for George, a rider I've followed over the years and who was as well placed as he will ever be to win. Talked to him briefly at the last Pru Tour in London, 1999, a really nice person. Well, he will have another go I'm sure.

Let's talk about Fabian Cancellara who is the sort of powerhouse made for Roubaix. I was in Lisbon for the 2001 World's, his first year as a pro. Standing by the start gate watching the Men's TT. Some guy next to me is getting all excited and talking to me in German. I finally catch on that it's Fabian's father and that his son if about to start. He's pointing towards his t shirt and there's a picture of Fabian. Sure enough, Fabian comes down the ramp and his dad's going nuts.

I'm sitting in front of my computer at 11pm Shanghai time last night, reduced to following P-R on the net, but thinking how happy his dad must be now.

From Mapei, to Fassa to CSC. The DS of each of those teams knows talent and this man can can ride the flats. It's a big day for Swiss racing. Jeez, Federer, the America's Cup, P-R, not a bad haul.

 

[il sogno]

Equipment failure is part of Roubaix and it sucks for George, a rider I've followed over the years and who was as well placed as he will ever be to win. Talked to him briefly at the last Pru Tour in London, 1999, a really nice person. Well, he will have another go I'm sure.

Let's talk about Fabian Cancellara who is the sort of powerhouse made for Roubaix. I was in Lisbon for the 2001 World's, his first year as a pro. Standing by the start gate watching the Men's TT. Some guy next to me is getting all excited and talking to me in German. I finally catch on that it's Fabian's father and that his son if about to start. He's pointing towards his t shirt and there's a picture of Fabian. Sure enough, Fabian comes down the ramp and his dad's going nuts.

I'm sitting in front of my computer at 11pm Shanghai time last night, reduced to following P-R on the net, but thinking how happy his dad must be now.

From Mapei, to Fassa to CSC. The DS of each of those teams knows talent and this man can can ride the flats. It's a big day for Swiss racing. Jeez, Federer, the America's Cup, P-R, not a bad haul.

Cancellara's great. He was one of the guys I thought would win P-R. Congrats to him for a great ride. The strongest man did win.

 

[Mapei]

Paris Roubaix is a crazy race, and this year's edition held to tradition. It's chaotic and scruffy. It's the black sheep of the cycling calendar. All Hail the Crazy Queen of the Classics and its newest conqueror!

 

[euro-trash]

Cancellara and Flecha don't get the credit they deserve. I'm glad one of them won.

It's a shame most of the discussion is about George. I feel for him yesterday, but people don't get it. He's like the Cubs, he's never going to do it. He's had 12 tries and has only managed one podium, and that was because he never tried to win the race.

 

[Fignon's Barber]

Cancellara time trialed the last 18km, and gained time on the three man group (pvp,hoste,gusev) working together. that is impressive.

 

[Rolando]

Congratulations

Yes the strongest guy won the race and nothing or nobody else matters. George or no George. Train or no train. The dude was going to win this one. He followed the advice of everyone on this board: Don't let it come down to a sprint with TB or else you will surely lose. He did it. He showed everyone how to beat the man. Bravo Cancellara

 

[magnolialover]

Once again...

Yes the strongest guy won the race and nothing or nobody else matters. George or no George. Train or no train. The dude was going to win this one. He followed the advice of everyone on this board: Don't let it come down to a sprint with TB or else you will surely lose. He did it. He showed everyone how to beat the man. Bravo Cancellara

Once again, Paris Roubaix proves to us all that you don't just need to be super fit and on top of your game to win this race, you also need lady luck riding alongside with you. Whether it be untimely punctures, equipment failure, or trains rolling across your path, things can and do go wrong during this race, and Mr. Murphy pops up anytime he has a chance to during the almost 300km of this Queen of the Classics. They don't call it The Hell of the North for nothing after all.

Cancellara rode a wonderful race. Was at the right place, at the right time, and simply put his head down and TTed away from the rest of the remaining pack. Which was likely to happen since he does a rather good time trial when he does get to ride them. He's strong against the clock and the wind when riding solo, and that's what you need to be during PR if you're going it alone towards the end. Regardless of the train impeding some of the riders, they were not going to catch Cancellara. Hoste and PVP made it through the crossing before the train came by, and they couldn't catch him. Boonen was definitely not going to catch him. When Cancellara started to ride away, Boonen et all couldn't close the gap, he looked smoked. But, the man has been winning bike races since February, so it does make sense. He had to be the favorite coming in, but Sunday was not his day. He looked like he was hurting though after the final selection had been made. It looked to me like he got isolated, and did too much work to make the split stick, but that's the gamble you take. Hincapie was in a great position until his equipment failure. He had 2 strong teammates with him, when nobody else had the numbers. He had them. They could have 1-2ed the others very easily, but it wasn't to be, the old luck thing again of course. I was again impressed by Flecha's ride. He was drilling it. I wish that he wasn't riding for Rabobank, as they won't utilize his talent properly. They'll defer to the dutchmen on their team once again, which is a shame, because they have Flecha. Maybe Flecha and Freire can break something off though, as they're both super strong Spanish guys who love the one day racing (rare for a Spainard of course). Or maybe Rabo will just realize that winning races for them is not going to be from the likes of Boogerd and Dekker (the elder), and they'll start riding for their Spanish stars. They should.

PR this year, unpredictable as always. Great race to watch, and I'm very happy for Cancellara, and what is without a doubt the biggest win of his career thus far. We might be seeing more from him I hope.

 

[Bianchigirl]

Cancellara was great and would have taken that win whatever happened - he was clearly the strongest rider there, and the one with the best head - he rode strongly, having the balls to attack, and he rode smartly, having astutely assessed his rivals in the final group.

 

[atpjunkie]

yes a great ride by Fabian

and gutsy by Flecha (considering he was isolated) I expected more fireworks from Davitamon as they had 2 riders left, and from Discovery but Hincapies mechanical kinda killed that. Was good to see Gusev recover and attack.

Though Tom, Tom, great tosee you deal the crushing blow on Arenberg but you isolated yourself, not the best tactical race for QS. Tom got isolated and all the attack counters got him.

 

[rocco]

and gutsy by Flecha (considering he was isolated) I expected more fireworks from Davitamon as they had 2 riders left, and from Discovery but Hincapies mechanical kinda killed that. Was good to see Gusev recover and attack.

Though Tom, Tom, great tosee you deal the crushing blow on Arenberg but you isolated yourself, not the best tactical race for QS. Tom got isolated and all the attack counters got him.

I think Portal, Gussev and Flecha did the gutsiest performances. I think Flecha and Boonen didn't have their game plans right and they worked too hard. We know Cance was one of the strongest if not the strongest but I think Hincapie was one of the strongest too.

 

[il sogno]

He followed the advice of everyone on this board: Don't let it come down to a sprint with TB or else you will surely lose. He did it. He showed everyone how to beat the man. Bravo Cancellara

Exactly. He used his strength (time trialing) to pull away from everybody else. No way was Cancellara going to go into that velodrome in a bunch with Boonen.

 

[nwilkes]

Exactly. He used his strength (time trialing) to pull away from everybody else. No way was Cancellara going to go into that velodrome in a bunch with Boonen.

I remember last year's PR when Flecha and Cancellara were both in the lead group at the same time (it was a small group) and I swore one of them would take it, then FC puntured. Flecha played it pretty well this time, it is just that his moves were marked well and nobody had the legs/desire to help him bridge. It didn't seem like the group ganged up on TB so much as the pace was just ridiculous with Flecha and Cancellara pushing it.



Gusev's ride was hardcore - he does need the Eki-mullet to earn my respect though. I see him on the podium of that race in the next three years.

 

[Francis Cebedo]

Cancellara also seemed like the key figure in the forming of the key break in the forest of Arenberg. Cancellera went off the front and Boonen and Hincapie were forced to chase. This move resulted in the final selection of 14 riders. This was the move that isolated Boonen from his highly-touted team.

At 49k to go, Cancellara and Flecha made some nice attacks. This softened up the group, I'm sure.This is about the time Hincapie's bike broke.

Now on the key break, Gusev crashes, gets up, chases and dangles off the front. Cancellara closes the gap and takes off. He drags Gusev for a while and then just rides away for the win. How confident do you have to be to that 19k away? That's simply an unbelievable performance!

francois

p.s. Just got back from Sea Otter and just saw the coverage, sorry.

 

[nwilkes]

Cancellara also seemed like the key figure in the forming of the key break in the forest of Arenberg. Cancellera went off the front and Boonen and Hincapie were forced to chase. This move resulted in the final selection of 14 riders. This was the move that isolated Boonen from his highly-touted team.

At 49k to go, Cancellara and Flecha made some nice attacks. This softened up the group, I'm sure.This is about the time Hincapie's bike broke.

Now on the key break, Gusev crashes, gets up, chases and dangles of the front. Cancellara closes the gap and takes off. He drags Gusev for a while and then just rides away for the win. How confident do you have to be to that 19k away? That's simply an unbelievalle performance!

francois

p.s. Just got back from Sea Otter and just saw the coverage, sorry.

what was really cool was that the week prior all teams were talking about boonen, but iseem to recall CSC talking up Cancellara in the few statements they made. The team had alot of faith in this guy and made sure he didn't burn his legs in Flander's. Disco gets props for getting three guys in a break, but CSC only needed two to bust the race in twain. I am still stoked about this race.