[Burkni]

24km left, still a minute, but labouring a lot more now and his cadence is a lot lower than it was. Boom or EBH to take this one.

[N.B.O.L.]

Burkni, on 08 April 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

24km left, still a minute, but labouring a lot more now and his cadence is a lot lower than it was. Boom or EBH to take this one.

I don't know. The chase looks to be falling apart.

[N.B.O.L.]

Boom is making a good move solo to try to catch Boonen.

[Strategy]

N.B.O.L., on 08 April 2012 - 01:17 PM, said:

What kind of coverage do you have when they pick up P-R after Arenberg?

Was that directed at me?

[Strategy]

Burkni, on 08 April 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

24km left, still a minute, but labouring a lot more now and his cadence is a lot lower than it was. Boom or EBH to take this one.

EBH? You believe more in that guy than I do (or read too much Norwegian news... they are crazy about him ). Too young, still. Give him two years more, and he may be in the finals.

[N.B.O.L.]

Strategy, on 08 April 2012 - 02:18 PM, said:

Was that directed at me?

No Directed at myself. US coverage started after all the moves were already done, and Boonen had 20 seconds. Well after the Forest.

Hopefully the 3 hour analysis show this evening will show a little bit more.

This post has been edited by N.B.O.L.: 08 April 2012 - 02:26 PM

[Burkni]

Strategy, on 08 April 2012 - 02:20 PM, said:

EBH? You believe more in that guy than I do (or read too much Norwegian news... they are crazy about him ). Too young, still. Give him two years more, and he may be in the finals.

True ... He disappoints me each time at classic length.
Guess my belief in him has to do with his Icelandic heritage

[N.B.O.L.]

They just announced that the extend coverage will include the forest. I guess the fast pace of the race messed up their planning. They've shut down the live coverage 15 minutes sooner than planned.

Enough gripping about the coverage. What a ride by Boonen. Possibly not the smartest ride of P-R, but certainly one of the gutsiest.

[Burkni]

N.B.O.L., on 08 April 2012 - 02:47 PM, said:

Enough gripping about the coverage. What a ride by Boonen. Possibly not the smartest ride of P-R, but certainly one of the gutsiest.

Actually, the more I think about it, the smarter it seems (which would obviously apply to any successful suicide move) but with the numerical superiority of Sky, it made sense to utilise the gap he got just to thin the group down. Wouldn't think he expected it to last from so far out, but he obviously wasn't going to sit up.

[Mark]

Epic performance from Boonen!

Pozzato and Hushovd? Complete non-factors.

[VdB]

TOMMEKE! What a wonderful way to write history! Goddamn that was an impressive ride...he single-handedly destroyed 4 Sky riders over 55+ Km, barely losing a handful of seconds even when they started attacking in the second group! It's funny to see him do it like that, a journalist asked him "when was the last time you won solo from this far out?" and Boonen half-joked since the youth series, adding that he never really HAD to attack from that far out since he can always count on his sprint, so he rarely tries.

Of course, the way he did is almost impossible in "normal" races, but in a war of attrition like Roubaix you can win even against 4 teammates riding together. It was an impulse move, but in some ways it was actually a pretty intelligent decision: Chavanel had just flatted, and Boonen was left with only Terpstra in the front group against a lot (20?) of guys who would just try to get away from it so he attacked to try and shake the deadweight. When he got Pozzato, Ballan and Terpstra with him he got what he wanted but when he saw that Pozzato and Ballan weren't gonna ride in full he tried getting away and, in his words, figured "well I'm hre anyway, might as well ride".

But God, Pozzato and Ballan ####ed up. Looking at each other like amateurs when 2 teammates (!), one of them the big favorite and 3 time winner, ride away from them. Wtf!! Pozzato had been riding a bad race all day, missing a break in the peloton early on, then missing an echelon (instigated by Boonen) and having to close the gap himself, then pokering with Ballan and then crashing on that corner. It's not quite 'the shadow', but not very awe-inspiring either.

Oh and @ Hushovd's pre-race comments 'Boonen fears me in a sprint' given how the race went. Maybe he does Thor, but that ship sailed when he said adios 55 km from the line!

[Strategy]

N.B.O.L., on 08 April 2012 - 02:24 PM, said:

No Directed at myself. US coverage started after all the moves were already done, and Boonen had 20 seconds. Well after the Forest.

Oh - that sucks.

Though, if it helps any, while an epic achievement this felt to me to be one of the more boring P-R in many years. Sky just couldn't get it together, and I have no idea what BMC and Rabobank were up to (both had two riders available for a long part of the chase, but refused to work together with anyone else). Even from 55K out, it never really felt as if anyone was going to catch Tommeke.

Though I can't help but smile every time the teams throwing big piles at money at "dominating" the peloton (BMC, Sky, Radioshack) fail in their attempts to take these monuments.


Is Tom Boonen the greatest Cobbles rider ever? I'd say we're getting pretty close to that point now. Legend.

[Strategy]

Some Danish cheer today as well: Mads Würtz Schmidt (Junior World Champion ITT 2011) won the Paris-Roubaix Espoirs with a great 15km solo ride. Will be really interesting to see this rider develop.

[Burkni]

Epic fail by Sky, which has to be considered one of the more able-bodied TTT teams in the peloton (of course no Wiggo or Froome, but those guys are no slouches)

Strategy, on 08 April 2012 - 02:20 PM, said:

EBH? You believe more in that guy than I do (or read too much Norwegian news... they are crazy about him ). Too young, still. Give him two years more, and he may be in the finals.

So you disagree with "VI EJER SYKLINGSVERDEN" ? (which I think was uttered by the Norwegian commentators after the first (!) of four Norwegian stage wins in last year's TdF)

[crockett]

N.B.O.L., on 08 April 2012 - 02:24 PM, said:

No Directed at myself. US coverage started after all the moves were already done, and Boonen had 20 seconds. Well after the Forest.

Hopefully the 3 hour analysis show this evening will show a little bit more.

I know what you mean! Although it wouldn't have helped their ratings if they started the coverage off with an advisement to wait til the 3 hour highlight show if you want to see how the race really developed.

[buddy]

Boonen's ride was certainly epic. Now what inspired him to do that when he can sprint so well i do not know. He will get kicked out of the sprinters guild for a crazy solo move like that.

For one rider to hold all at bay and take the applause of the crowd whislt being the only one on the track was legendary. Cancellaraesque in fact. I am glad Boonen is back.

Thanks,

Buddy

[The Rake]

Burkni, on 08 April 2012 - 09:44 PM, said:

Epic fail by Sky, which has to be considered one of the more able-bodied TTT teams in the peloton (of course no Wiggo or Froome, but those guys are no slouches)

What I didn't understand was why they were throwing one man at a time in the chase - i.e. first Stannard, then Hayman. Why not actually have them work as a team with through and off. Surely more efficient, and giving them breathers? As it was, it was one man against one man, and then a different man against one man. Also, Rabo had two riders there and they did nothing to help.

Didn't quite understand why Pozzato who initially went with Boonen and Terpstra simply sat up and let him ride away. Perhaps thought Boonen would cook in his own juices prior to the finish

[Strategy]

Burkni, on 08 April 2012 - 09:44 PM, said:

So you disagree with "VI EJER SYKLINGSVERDEN" ? (which I think was uttered by the Norwegian commentators after the first (!) of four Norwegian stage wins in last year's TdF)

To listen to Norwegian commentators, they're the only nation in Scandinavia that has any Cyclists worth a damn.

I'm a huge fan of Edvald, but I do get tired of the way the Norwegian media make him a favorite for every single race he enters. Fortunately he seems to tackle the pressure well, but seriously - the guy is 24. They should give him just a little bit of space and time to develop before making him the new Merckx.

[VdB]

The Rake, on 10 April 2012 - 09:47 AM, said:

What I didn't understand was why they were throwing one man at a time in the chase - i.e. first Stannard, then Hayman. Why not actually have them work as a team with through and off. Surely more efficient, and giving them breathers? As it was, it was one man against one man, and then a different man against one man. Also, Rabo had two riders there and they did nothing to help.

Didn't quite understand why Pozzato who initially went with Boonen and Terpstra simply sat up and let him ride away. Perhaps thought Boonen would cook in his own juices

I think Pozzato was looking at Ballan and vice versa. And that both were thinking "he crazy, we'll catch up later". But yeah, the Sky thing was peculiar. Then again, even with two guys working in tandem, they were obviously too cooked to reel in Boonen anymore. From all 4 Sky guys, only Flêcha seemed capable of gaining even a little on Boonen. That's the beauty of P-R really...once past the 200km mark it's more of a man-against-man battle than anything else. Even 5-6 guys working together would have a hard time keeping a better man in check. Just look at the way Terpstra collapsed only 5 mins after he and Boonen set up their attack. Now I think about it, P-R is basically the only place where flatlanders like you and me could fully capture the feeling a climber gets when an opponent parks on a climb!

I think Boom - who looked really good at the end - felt that getting back to Boonen was a lost cause pretty quickly. Vansummeren was asked if he thought Boonen was crazy to attack from 55km out when he saw him go, and he answered "I'd noticed Tom was looking really really strong. It could have been from 100 km out and they still wouldn't have caught him today".

[VdB]

Just looking at the votes now, and noticed that of all the nominees Vaitkus and Oss both were nowhere to be seen all race. Not so surprised with the former vanishing, but I did expect more of Oss. That man was made to ride on cobbles. As is Van Keirsbulck btw - crying shame the 21-yr old took a dive over the other rider in the main group when he crashed in Wallers. The kid has talent, and I would have liked to see him do well in P-R following the tragic last year in his personal life.