Hincapie?

trg

JTN wrote:
> the woulda-coulda-shoulda with george is just getting old.
> after watching boonen work for him and then GH getting dropped it
> made me change my whole outlook on his PR chances. top5 to top 10
> guy, hell yes. not top 2 though, help or no help.
>
>
> he would do better going for the rolling TDF stages that have a bit
> of an incline to break the group. too bad that wont happen before
> 2005.

Don't agree with you about George just getting old. He's 30. That's when
Museeuw won the first of his 3 P-Rs.

Look at the last 10 winners of P-R and their ages-

Magnus Båcksted 29 (a relative baby)
VAN PETEGEM 33
Johan MUSEEUW 36
Servais KNAVEN 31
Johan MUSEEUW 34
Andrea TAFI 33
Franco BALLERINI 33
Frédéric GUESDON 29
Johan MUSEEUW 30
Franco BALLERINI 30

In George's own (pre P-R) words, he's got a little less juice when it comes
to sprints because he's been working on his climbing, and it shows. Hincapie
is amazing when he becomes the first stege to launch Armstrong up a
mountain. It seems that he always pulls much longer than expected.

I think when Armstrong retires, we'll be able to see whether or not George
has that little extra he seems to be searching for in the classics. After
all, when was the last time Museeuw made preparing for the TdF and then
giving 100% there every day (not just trying for the occasional stage win),
a centerpiece of his season?

SMMB

"JTN" <jtn@usps.com> a écrit dans le message de :
news:107ls7oeiu5dn2b@corp.supernews.com...
> the woulda-coulda-shoulda with george is just getting old.
> after watching boonen work for him and then GH getting dropped it made me
> change my whole outlook on his PR chances.
>

I guess I may be alone in thinking that Boonen rode that part because it was
the *wrong* place to make a move, and thus George would tire, removing a
threat to Johann. Silly me.
--
Bonne route,

Sandy
Paris FR

Boyd Speerschneider

"Jeff Jones" <jeff@cyclingnews-punt-com> wrote in
news:407aff3e$0$1941$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be:

> <shameless brag>
>
> We only did three pre-race interviews:
>
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/200...?id=features/ma
> gnu s_backstedt
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/200...?id=features/ro
> ger _hammond1
>
> alas, Bartoli let us down (but his teammate got second)

Errrr, I thought Tristan Hoffman (CSC not Fasa Bortolo) got second.

> http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/200...?id=features/mi
> che le_bartoli
>
> </shameless brag>
>
> Now we'll be accused of race fixing :-)
>
> Jeff
>

I noticed that also.
I thought you must either have your own personal oracle or just be good at
picking those on blazing form for your interviews

- Boyd S.

Jeff Jones

"Boyd Speerschneider" <bspeerscNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Xns94C9B5E287D78bspeerscNOSPAM@65.32.1.8...
> "Jeff Jones" <jeff@cyclingnews-punt-com> wrote in
> news:407aff3e$0$1941$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be:
>
> > alas, Bartoli let us down (but his teammate got second)
>
> Errrr, I thought Tristan Hoffman (CSC not Fasa Bortolo) got second.
>
He did. Bartoli also rides for CSC.

We get lucky sometimes ;-)

trg

SMMB wrote:
> "JTN" <jtn@usps.com> a écrit dans le message de :
> news:107ls7oeiu5dn2b@corp.supernews.com...
>> the woulda-coulda-shoulda with george is just getting old.
>> after watching boonen work for him and then GH getting dropped it
>> made me change my whole outlook on his PR chances.
>>
>
> I guess I may be alone in thinking that Boonen rode that part because
> it was the *wrong* place to make a move, and thus George would tire,
> removing a threat to Johann. Silly me.

You're not alone. When Boonen announced pre-race that he was working solely
for Museeuw this P-R, I assumed that his break was an effort to drag down a
couple of guys with him. It took Hincapie and Flecha out of the running.
That could explain how such a "dangerous break" could suddenly wind up back
in the group without any of us (including Eurosports, France2, OLN, dutch
tv) seeing it coming, With PVP out of the group having flatted, and most of
the group (not Museeuw of course) trying to keep the 3 man break from
succeeding, Boonen could have stopped doing his share when he figured he
tired out George and Flecha enough to no longer be a threat to Museeuw.
Darned good tactics too. Shame Museeuw flatted

JTN

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, i see. is that because you were prognosing or they were
the only ones you could get???? lolololo


"Jeff Jones" <jeff@cyclingnews-punt-com> wrote in message
news:407b10cc$0$2018$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
>
> "Boyd Speerschneider" <bspeerscNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns94C9B5E287D78bspeerscNOSPAM@65.32.1.8...
> > "Jeff Jones" <jeff@cyclingnews-punt-com> wrote in
> > news:407aff3e$0$1941$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be:
> >
> > > alas, Bartoli let us down (but his teammate got second)
> >
> > Errrr, I thought Tristan Hoffman (CSC not Fasa Bortolo) got second.
> >
> He did. Bartoli also rides for CSC.
>
> We get lucky sometimes ;-)
>
>

JTN

I see your theory. not a bad one. we shall see once lance is off smoking
crack with the crow. hopefully george hangs in there to prove me wrong. not
that he gives a shit.


"trg" <trg@world.REMOVETHIS.std.com> wrote in message
news:407b05e4$0$516$636a15ce@news.free.fr...
> JTN wrote:
> > the woulda-coulda-shoulda with george is just getting old.
> > after watching boonen work for him and then GH getting dropped it
> > made me change my whole outlook on his PR chances. top5 to top 10
> > guy, hell yes. not top 2 though, help or no help.
> >
> >
> > he would do better going for the rolling TDF stages that have a bit
> > of an incline to break the group. too bad that wont happen before
> > 2005.
>
> Don't agree with you about George just getting old. He's 30. That's when
> Museeuw won the first of his 3 P-Rs.
>
> Look at the last 10 winners of P-R and their ages-
>
> Magnus Båcksted 29 (a relative baby)
> VAN PETEGEM 33
> Johan MUSEEUW 36
> Servais KNAVEN 31
> Johan MUSEEUW 34
> Andrea TAFI 33
> Franco BALLERINI 33
> Frédéric GUESDON 29
> Johan MUSEEUW 30
> Franco BALLERINI 30
>
> In George's own (pre P-R) words, he's got a little less juice when it
comes
> to sprints because he's been working on his climbing, and it shows.
Hincapie
> is amazing when he becomes the first stege to launch Armstrong up a
> mountain. It seems that he always pulls much longer than expected.
>
> I think when Armstrong retires, we'll be able to see whether or not George
> has that little extra he seems to be searching for in the classics. After
> all, when was the last time Museeuw made preparing for the TdF and then
> giving 100% there every day (not just trying for the occasional stage
win),
> a centerpiece of his season?
>
>

Tom Kunich

"Jeff Jones" <jeff@cyclingnews-punt-com> wrote in message
news:407af49e$0$1973$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
>
> As for the future, who knows? Certainly no-one in RBR got close to
> predicting the P-R podium.

Yeah, but they'll make up for it by lying about it.

Jeff Jones

"JTN" <jtn@usps.com> wrote in message
news:107m61umcj0b72d@corp.supernews.com...
> ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, i see. is that because you were prognosing or they
were
> the only ones you could get???? lolololo

As I said, we got lucky :-) Be warned, it ain't the first time though.

So if you read between the lines, the George Jihad post was way off base.
There was no pre-Roubaix George interview, ergo...

If you analyse this too much - and I don't recommend it - you'll find that
it collapses sometime around Milan-San Remo.

Jeff

Chris

"Stewart Fleming" <stewart.fleming@paradise.net.nz> wrote in message
news:rsrec.9785$u%1.856475@news02.tsnz.net...
>
>
> Howard Kveck wrote:
>
>
> > Well, it's not the first time Phil's gotten ahead of himself with
> > proclaiming a podium. Or the last...
> >
>
> There's a slightly odd comment on Graham Watson's pages as well about
> the break with Gorgeous George being the race-winning one...(...not to
> mention that guys called George these days shouldn't make comments about
> running out of gas...)

Huh?

>
> Awesome result for Roger Hammond...it seems like he's been around
> forever and he really deserves a podium spot.

Yeah, no kidding. I thought it was a different younger Roger Hammond. I
don't even think he has raced this course all that many times.

Chris

"JTN" <jtn@usps.com> wrote in message
news:107m65bqmupv339@corp.supernews.com...
> I see your theory. not a bad one. we shall see once lance is off smoking
> crack with the crow. hopefully george hangs in there to prove me wrong.
not
> that he gives a shit.

The real problem George has is carrying the hopes of all American cycling
fans in the classics. The guy earns his wages and as pointed out he may
still improve in the future. During his career the average age of winners
have gone up in nearly all of the classics and not just Paris - Roubaix.

>
> "trg" <trg@world.REMOVETHIS.std.com> wrote in message
> news:407b05e4$0$516$636a15ce@news.free.fr...
> > JTN wrote:
> > > the woulda-coulda-shoulda with george is just getting old.
> > > after watching boonen work for him and then GH getting dropped it
> > > made me change my whole outlook on his PR chances. top5 to top 10
> > > guy, hell yes. not top 2 though, help or no help.
> > >
> > >
> > > he would do better going for the rolling TDF stages that have a bit
> > > of an incline to break the group. too bad that wont happen before
> > > 2005.
> >
> > Don't agree with you about George just getting old. He's 30. That's when
> > Museeuw won the first of his 3 P-Rs.
> >
> > Look at the last 10 winners of P-R and their ages-
> >
> > Magnus Båcksted 29 (a relative baby)
> > VAN PETEGEM 33
> > Johan MUSEEUW 36
> > Servais KNAVEN 31
> > Johan MUSEEUW 34
> > Andrea TAFI 33
> > Franco BALLERINI 33
> > Frédéric GUESDON 29
> > Johan MUSEEUW 30
> > Franco BALLERINI 30
> >
> > In George's own (pre P-R) words, he's got a little less juice when it
> comes
> > to sprints because he's been working on his climbing, and it shows.
> Hincapie
> > is amazing when he becomes the first stege to launch Armstrong up a
> > mountain. It seems that he always pulls much longer than expected.

The problem is people do not appreciate his versatility (the fans anyway).
He must WIN something to avoid being a "loser".

> >
> > I think when Armstrong retires, we'll be able to see whether or not
George
> > has that little extra he seems to be searching for in the classics.
After
> > all, when was the last time Museeuw made preparing for the TdF and then
> > giving 100% there every day (not just trying for the occasional stage
> win),
> > a centerpiece of his season?

And even if not, he has had an excellent career.

Other Jeff Jones

Jeff Jones wrote:
> "Boyd Speerschneider" <bspeerscNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns94C9B5E287D78bspeerscNOSPAM@65.32.1.8...
>
>>"Jeff Jones" <jeff@cyclingnews-punt-com> wrote in
>>news:407aff3e$0$1941$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be:
>>
>>
>>>alas, Bartoli let us down (but his teammate got second)
>>
>>Errrr, I thought Tristan Hoffman (CSC not Fasa Bortolo) got second.
>>
>
> He did. Bartoli also rides for CSC.
>
> We get lucky sometimes ;-)

CSC had a fantastic day, with all 5 of its finishers in the top 25.

Compare that with the entire Liberty Seguros team DNF'ing, and one Illes
Balears-Banesto finisher out of 6...

-OJJ

Stewart Fleming

Chris wrote:

> "Stewart Fleming" <stewart.fleming@paradise.net.nz> wrote in message

>>There's a slightly odd comment on Graham Watson's pages as well about
>>the break with Gorgeous George being the race-winning one...(...not to
>>mention that guys called George these days shouldn't make comments about
>>running out of gas...)
>
>
> Huh?

"Huh?" to the first, or to the second part?

> Yeah, no kidding. I thought it was a different younger Roger Hammond. I
> don't even think he has raced this course all that many times.

He's in that sort of middle ground that quite a few British
professionals have found themselves in - good enough to make the bridge
to Euro racing, not burned out by too much long, hard racing so still
competitive in early 30s.

I can't even remember if Hammond would have raced the Paris-Roubaix
parcours as an espoir, let alone a pro.

Robert Chung

SMMB wrote:
>
> I guess I may be alone in thinking that Boonen rode that part because
> it was the *wrong* place to make a move, and thus George would tire,
> removing a threat to Johann. Silly me.

Why do you think it was the *wrong* place to make a move?