Flanders Pick

[Howard Kveck]

In article <[email protected]>,
Alexander Lackner <[email protected]> wrote:

> [email protected] schrieb:
> >
> > Put me down for Devolder
>
>
> My semi-educated guess is Alessandro "Gewiss" Ballan.

Devolder is a good choice (as is Allan Davis, if you were going with Disco boys)
and Ballan has been riding well this year but my sedimental pick is going to be
Michael Boogerd.

--
tanx,
Howard

Never take a tenant with a monkey.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

 

[Ewoud Dronkert]

Howard Kveck wrote:
> my sedimental pick is going to be Michael Boogerd.

(Because he's such a down-to-earth guy..?)
It would be something. Unfortunately, I can't see it happening. He is
definitely very strong, but not Boonen 05 or Gewiss 94 strong. He'll
always have someone else up there with him on the finishing straight.
With Armstrong gone, he is now certain to lose any sprint.


--
E. Dronkert

 

[Howard Kveck]

In article <[email protected]>,
Ewoud Dronkert <[email protected]> wrote:

> Howard Kveck wrote:
> > my sedimental pick is going to be Michael Boogerd.
>
> (Because he's such a down-to-earth guy..?)

Very good...

> It would be something. Unfortunately, I can't see it happening. He is
> definitely very strong, but not Boonen 05 or Gewiss 94 strong. He'll
> always have someone else up there with him on the finishing straight.
> With Armstrong gone, he is now certain to lose any sprint.

Oh, I know that he isn't likely to actually win the race, but I want him to win
it. I wonder if Liquigas is going to throw everything behind Pozzato (likely to be
heavily marked) or if Paolini is strong enough. My more realistic choice is Boonen
or Stuart O'Grady. I'll say StewyO.

--
tanx,
Howard

Never take a tenant with a monkey.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

 

[[email protected]]

On Apr 7, 2:14 pm, Howard Kveck <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Ewoud Dronkert <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Howard Kveck wrote:
> > > my sedimental pick is going to be Michael Boogerd.
>
> > (Because he's such a down-to-earth guy..?)
>
> Very good...
>
> > It would be something. Unfortunately, I can't see it happening. He is
> > definitely very strong, but not Boonen 05 or Gewiss 94 strong. He'll
> > always have someone else up there with him on the finishing straight.
> > With Armstrong gone, he is now certain to lose any sprint.
>
> Oh, I know that he isn't likely to actually win the race, but I want him to win
> it. I wonder if Liquigas is going to throw everything behind Pozzato (likely to be
> heavily marked) or if Paolini is strong enough. My more realistic choice is Boonen
> or Stuart O'Grady. I'll say StewyO.
>

Well, if we're going to limit it to being realistic about
people who are actually on strong teams and favorites in
the sprint, that really cuts down the whole fun of picking
random dark horses (Nuyens, Gilbert, Tyler Farrar).

O'Grady has been riding well. I'd like to see him get that
one huge result.

 

[Howard Kveck]

In article <[email protected]>,
"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Apr 7, 2:14 pm, Howard Kveck <[email protected]> wrote:
> > In article <[email protected]>,
> > Ewoud Dronkert <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > Howard Kveck wrote:
> > > > my sedimental pick is going to be Michael Boogerd.
> >
> > > (Because he's such a down-to-earth guy..?)
> >
> > Very good...
> >
> > > It would be something. Unfortunately, I can't see it happening. He is
> > > definitely very strong, but not Boonen 05 or Gewiss 94 strong. He'll
> > > always have someone else up there with him on the finishing straight.
> > > With Armstrong gone, he is now certain to lose any sprint.
> >
> > Oh, I know that he isn't likely to actually win the race, but I want him
> > to win it. I wonder if Liquigas is going to throw everything behind Pozzato
> > (likely to be heavily marked) or if Paolini is strong enough. My more realistic
> > choice is Boonen or Stuart O'Grady. I'll say StewyO.
> >
>
> Well, if we're going to limit it to being realistic about
> people who are actually on strong teams and favorites in
> the sprint, that really cuts down the whole fun of picking
> random dark horses (Nuyens, Gilbert, Tyler Farrar).

Making the picks only from realistic choices does sort of take away from the fun
of it. As far as Nuyens goes, I sort of considered him but dismissed him because of
him being on Cofidis - I don't think they can win a race like this. But he did
pretty well today in seventh. Funny that Boogard did better than my "realistic pick
of O'Grady.

> O'Grady has been riding well. I'd like to see him get that
> one huge result.

Yeah, that'd be good. He's been close enough times in the last year or so.

--
tanx,
Howard

Never take a tenant with a monkey.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

 

[Andre]

On Apr 6, 8:53 am, Alexander Lackner
<[email protected]> wrote:
> [email protected] schrieb:
>
>
>
> > Put me down for Devolder
>
> My semi-educated guess is Alessandro "Gewiss" Ballan.

Congratulations on your pick.

Andre

 

[Alexander Lackner]

Andre schrieb:
> On Apr 6, 8:53 am, Alexander Lackner
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> [email protected] schrieb:
>>
>>
>>
>>> Put me down for Devolder
>> My semi-educated guess is Alessandro "Gewiss" Ballan.
>
> Congratulations on your pick.
>
> Andre
>

thanks. As picks winner, I get to armchair-coach:
Cancellara rode incredibly, yet made one tiny albeit costly mistake-
when he hooked up with the escapees around 30k from the finish, he was
going to ride past them (his shadow Steegmans looked a little spent from
following him up to that point and dropped to the back of that group at
first). Yet somehow Cancellara seemed to reconsider, preferring to seek
the cooperation of the group, when it looked like he could have disposed
of them all. No way Steegmans or any of the top group would have gotten
back on his wheel the way he was going, and with 40 or so seconds in
hand on the Muur I think he would have made it.
Then again, Cancellara could have been really spent himself at that
point, OR (who knows) made a short-term decision to sacrifice his Ronde
prospects for a double next sunday.

 

[Kurgan Gringioni]

On Apr 9, 2:52 pm, Alexander Lackner
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Andre schrieb:
>
> > On Apr 6, 8:53 am, Alexander Lackner
> > <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> [email protected] schrieb:
>
> >>> Put me down for Devolder
> >> My semi-educated guess is Alessandro "Gewiss" Ballan.
>
> > Congratulations on your pick.
>
> > Andre
>
> thanks. As picks winner, I get to armchair-coach:
> Cancellara rode incredibly, yet made one tiny albeit costly mistake-
> when he hooked up with the escapees around 30k from the finish, he was
> going to ride past them (his shadow Steegmans looked a little spent from
> following him up to that point and dropped to the back of that group at
> first).


<snip>


Dumbass -

>From my armchair position it seems that he went too early given his
lack of capable allies.

Congrats on your correct prediction. I'll bet that you didn't put any
money down on it. Sucker!


thanks,

K. Gringioni.

 

[Alexander Lackner]

Kurgan Gringioni schrieb:

>> Cancellara rode incredibly, yet made one tiny albeit costly mistake-
>> when he hooked up with the escapees around 30k from the finish, he was
>> going to ride past them (his shadow Steegmans looked a little spent from
>> following him up to that point and dropped to the back of that group at
>> first).
>
>
> <snip>
>
>
> Dumbass -
>
>>From my armchair position it seems that he went too early given his
> lack of capable allies.
_____________________

my point was, he didn't look like he really needed allies, especially
a.) guys who have been away all day and b.) a fellow he knows is not
going to truly work with him, because he has family back in the chasing
bunch.


>
> Congrats on your correct prediction. I'll bet that you didn't put any
> money down on it. Sucker!
______________________
I do it for the glory and the girls. Now if you'll excuse me

greets
Alexander
Vienna

 

[Scott]

On Apr 4, 10:05 pm, "Bret" <[email protected]> wrote:
> My wingnut pick for Flanders is Marcus Burghardt.
>
> Bret

Looks like you jumped the gun by a few days.

Also, it sure looks like Boonen is beatable! Sunday should be quite
interesting.

 

[Bret]

On Apr 11, 2:20 pm, "Scott" <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Apr 4, 10:05 pm, "Bret" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > My wingnut pick for Flanders is Marcus Burghardt.
>
> > Bret
>
> Looks like you jumped the gun by a few days.
>
> Also, it sure looks like Boonen is beatable! Sunday should be quite
> interesting.

Yeah, I was pleased to see him break through with a big win today. It
will be interesting to see if he can do something at Roubaix similar
to what Boonen was doing at that age.

Last Sunday during the cycling.tv coverage of RvV, there was a T-
Mobile rider identified as Burghardt that had crashed on a railroad
crossing and appeared to be badly hurt. Was that a misidentification
or did he really get back on and ride to 13th after that?

Bret

 

[[email protected]]

On Apr 11, 1:33 pm, "Bret" <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Apr 11, 2:20 pm, "Scott" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Looks like you jumped the gun by a few days.
>
> > Also, it sure looks like Boonen is beatable! Sunday should be quite
> > interesting.
>
> Yeah, I was pleased to see him break through with a big win today. It
> will be interesting to see if he can do something at Roubaix similar
> to what Boonen was doing at that age.
>
> Last Sunday during the cycling.tv coverage of RvV, there was a T-
> Mobile rider identified as Burghardt that had crashed on a railroad
> crossing and appeared to be badly hurt. Was that a misidentification
> or did he really get back on and ride to 13th after that?

cyclingnews says that was Lorenzo Bernucci, not Burghardt
(news item titled "Flanders injury update.")

Boonen may not be back to 100% after crashing in Flanders,
nor 100% for Sunday.

In Gent-Wevelgem, it seems like there's always carnage
on the descent of the Kemmelberg. This year's report
twice blames loose waterbottles. Maybe in addition to the
32 spoke wheels, the teams should fit MTB bottle cages
for Gent-Wevelgem rather than those wimpy flexy carbon
things.

Ben

 

[Tom Kunich]

"Bret" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Apr 11, 2:20 pm, "Scott" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On Apr 4, 10:05 pm, "Bret" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> > My wingnut pick for Flanders is Marcus Burghardt.
>>
>> > Bret
>>
>> Looks like you jumped the gun by a few days.
>>
>> Also, it sure looks like Boonen is beatable! Sunday should be quite
>> interesting.
>
> Yeah, I was pleased to see him break through with a big win today. It
> will be interesting to see if he can do something at Roubaix similar
> to what Boonen was doing at that age.

I think that Boonen wasn't going to jepardize his P-R by riding too hard
today. He went to his agreed upon limit and when everyone else went further
he simply rolled off. Smart move to my mind.

But if I were a betting man I'd think really hard about Roger Hammond on
Sunday.

 

[Scott]

On Apr 11, 7:01 pm, "Tom Kunich" <cyclintom@yahoo. com> wrote:
> "Bret" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:[email protected]...
>
> > On Apr 11, 2:20 pm, "Scott" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> On Apr 4, 10:05 pm, "Bret" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >> > My wingnut pick for Flanders is Marcus Burghardt.
>
> >> > Bret
>
> >> Looks like you jumped the gun by a few days.
>
> >> Also, it sure looks like Boonen is beatable! Sunday should be quite
> >> interesting.
>
> > Yeah, I was pleased to see him break through with a big win today. It
> > will be interesting to see if he can do something at Roubaix similar
> > to what Boonen was doing at that age.
>
> I think that Boonen wasn't going to jepardize his P-R by riding too hard
> today. He went to his agreed upon limit and when everyone else went further
> he simply rolled off. Smart move to my mind.
>
> But if I were a betting man I'd think really hard about Roger Hammond on
> Sunday.

You may be on to something with your thoughts on Hammond. He often
shows flashes of brilliance, especially in the tougher, cobbled
races. He's due for a big win, too.

 

[Howard Kveck]

In article <[email protected]>,
"Bret" <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Apr 11, 2:20 pm, "Scott" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Apr 4, 10:05 pm, "Bret" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > My wingnut pick for Flanders is Marcus Burghardt.
> >
> > > Bret
> >
> > Looks like you jumped the gun by a few days.
> >
> > Also, it sure looks like Boonen is beatable! Sunday should be quite
> > interesting.
>
> Yeah, I was pleased to see him break through with a big win today. It
> will be interesting to see if he can do something at Roubaix similar
> to what Boonen was doing at that age.

This was a great win for Burghardt (his first race win) and Hammond's second
place is close to his previous best, a third at P-R (yes, I think third at P-R has
more value than second at G-W). Hammond has been pretty successful at G-W already
though, with finishes of sixth, eighth and tenth. Maybe he'll get the win next year.

--
tanx,
Howard

Never take a tenant with a monkey.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?