Quick Step : Classics conundrum?

Two top cyclists

But if I understand well, its become a bunch sprint every year, with Pettacchi even putting pressure on the organisers to keep the same course/finish as last time out (via his threats not to start the Giro). The hills don't knock the stuffing out of the sprinters like they used to - must be all that go faster juice kncoking about

So who's the best in a straight sprint, after some punishing hills? My money would be slightly on Boonen (vs Bettini). Bettini might be given free rein in the last 50KM lets say. And if it doesnt work, they'll put Boonen up there.

Based on last year's race and form I'd put my money on Pettacchi again.

limerickman said:

With Milan-San Remo fast approaching, it will be interesting to see the interaction between QS's one day specialist riders, Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini.

Milan-San Remo is in mid-March.
Bettini will be home territory gunning for victory.
Tom Boonen - the wonderboy - has targetted Milan-San Remo as an objective.
Follow this on to the other one day classics and we could have a very interesting situation developing.

Any thoughts?

yes an interesting predicament, two proven world class classics competitors. I imagine they will split the help. Bettini will make an early move on the hill and try to stay clear for the remaining flats. While Boonen will stay with Petacchi and try to out sprint him.

limerickman said:

With Milan-San Remo fast approaching, it will be interesting to see the interaction between QS's one day specialist riders, Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini.

Milan-San Remo is in mid-March.
Bettini will be home territory gunning for victory.
Tom Boonen - the wonderboy - has targetted Milan-San Remo as an objective.
Follow this on to the other one day classics and we could have a very interesting situation developing.

Any thoughts?

limerickman said:

With Milan-San Remo fast approaching, it will be interesting to see the interaction between QS's one day specialist riders, Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini.

Milan-San Remo is in mid-March.
Bettini will be home territory gunning for victory.
Tom Boonen - the wonderboy - has targetted Milan-San Remo as an objective.
Follow this on to the other one day classics and we could have a very interesting situation developing.

Any thoughts?

Interesting situation, especially in regard to MSR.

Boonen apparently said this:

"For San Remo and Flanders, Paolo Bettini and I both want the leadership, but I don't want to share mine in Flanders," he said. "In Flanders it's impossible to ride with two leaders. I mean, it is possible, but I wouldn't like it. And as last year's winner and world champion, it's my right to ask that priority. I wouldn't mind Bettini riding Flanders, but it'll have to be as a domestique."

velonews.com9375.0.htmlOpen ↗

Just another thought. Except for MSR, which Bettini, as an Italian, should target, will we see a division of labor like last season, with Boonen focusing on the Norhtern classics and Bettini coming on strong in the late season classics? It certainly would mean, like last year, a dominant Quick.Step team throughout the whole season.

limerickman said:

With Milan-San Remo fast approaching, it will be interesting to see the interaction between QS's one day specialist riders, Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini.

Milan-San Remo is in mid-March.
Bettini will be home territory gunning for victory.
Tom Boonen - the wonderboy - has targetted Milan-San Remo as an objective.
Follow this on to the other one day classics and we could have a very interesting situation developing.

Any thoughts?

A couple of days ago i would have written, Boonen and than Boonen and after that Boonen and if he crashes, is injured and half dead Bettini might get the green light to give it a try... BUT Bettini's win in the Mallorca Challenge was impressive... So i guess Boonen will stay with Petacchi and Bettini wil attack again and again. But it is also possible that Petacchi stays with Boonen and Zabel will go with Bettini (yes the official plan is that Milram sends Petacchi and Zabel..). MSR could be an intresting fight between Milram and Quickstep....

Other Favourites: Stuart O'Grady (CSC), Mirko Celestino (the third Milram man), Di Luca (is he realy just concentrating on the Giro this year...), Daniele Bennati (Lampre, yes!), Freire (??? it took a long time for him to come back after his injury....)

ilpirata said:

yes an interesting predicament, two proven world class classics competitors. I imagine they will split the help. Bettini will make an early move on the hill and try to stay clear for the remaining flats. While Boonen will stay with Petacchi and try to out sprint him.

No disrespect to Petacchi, but I think Boonen on his day is half a yard (metre!)
faster than Alessandro.
That's not to say Petacchi cannot repeat his superb win at MSR.

Maybe they'll mark each other out of contention!

Paolo will be hunting for a win on home turf though.

cyclingheroes said:

A couple of days ago i would have written, Boonen and than Boonen and after that Boonen and if he crashes, is injured and half dead Bettini might get the green light to give it a try... BUT Bettini's win in the Mallorca Challenge was impressive... So i guess Boonen will stay with Petacchi and Bettini wil attack again and again. But it is also possible that Petacchi stays with Boonen and Zabel will go with Bettini (yes the official plan is that Milram sends Petacchi and Zabel..). MSR could be an intresting fight between Milram and Quickstep....

Other Favourites: Stuart O'Grady (CSC), Mirko Celestino (the third Milram man), Di Luca (is he realy just concentrating on the Giro this year...), Daniele Bennati (Lampre, yes!), Freire (??? it took a long time for him to come back after his injury....)

I'll go with that : Milram V Quick Step : but you mention one of my other favourite riders, Freire.
The more one looks at it, it gets harder to call who might be in contention.

DeLuca as you say, is bound to be in the shakeup (another Italian on home soil).
Bennati is another strong man.

wicklow200 said:

Bettini might be given free rein in the last 50KM lets say. And if it doesnt work, they'll put Boonen up there.

That is how I see it too. Tough for the Belgian team in an Italian race with two such great riders!

patch70 said:

That is how I see it too. Tough for the Belgian team in an Italian race with two such great riders!

I think the Quick Step conundrum is how to keep people from reaching the obvious conclusion about Boonen. I mean I went to his website and looked at his progression from 2001-2005. Unbelievable. Literally.

But why should we be surprised? He is, as he himself hath said, following in the footsteps of his hero, Johan Museuuw, now one of the most notorious dopers in the peloton, clearly caught out with vials, doctors books, telephone conversations etc documenting his involvement with EPO, HGH etc etc.
And what stance does the clean as a whistle Quick Step Team do?

Hire him as a public relations director...!!! what a laugh!!!
They had to because he was supposed to be an assistant DS and ride in the car, but cant because of his ban from being formally involved with cycling. So they give him a non job for a job and pay him a half million euros a year and them some fools name a race after him.

So great PR move from quick Step.

Same as Virenque--also a Quick Step rider should be noted.

Such hypocrisy, Virenque also a notorious doper, embraced by the public. Nauseating really.

bobke said:

I think the Quick Step conundrum is how to keep people from reaching the obvious conclusion about Boonen. I mean I went to his website and looked at his progression from 2001-2005. Unbelievable. Literally.

But why should we be surprised? He is, as he himself hath said, following in the footsteps of his hero, Johan Museuuw, now one of the most notorious dopers in the peloton, clearly caught out with vials, doctors books, telephone conversations etc documenting his involvement with EPO, HGH etc etc.
And what stance does the clean as a whistle Quick Step Team do?

Hire him as a public relations director...!!! what a laugh!!!
They had to because he was supposed to be an assistant DS and ride in the car, but cant because of his ban from being formally involved with cycling. So they give him a non job for a job and pay him a half million euros a year and them some fools name a race after him.

So great PR move from quick Step.

Same as Virenque--also a Quick Step rider should be noted.

Such hypocrisy, Virenque also a notorious doper, embraced by the public. Nauseating really.

For what it's worth, I was very uneasy seeing Museeuw in the team car during 2005.

(We get to see behind the scenes footage of races here in Europe : Eurosport do some good reporting. One scene has Museeuw lecturing the team on how to ride a particular one day route, Ican't recall which one).

Museeuw is being investigated by the Belgian authorities and charges are pending (as far as I recall).

But on this occasion, I agree with you Bobke : there is an inherent contradiction in hiring a banned rider (Museeuw) as part of any team.

limerickman said:

For what it's worth, I was very uneasy seeing Museeuw in the team car during 2005.

(We get to see behind the scenes footage of races here in Europe : Eurosport do some good reporting. One scene has Museeuw lecturing the team on how to ride a particular one day route, Ican't recall which one).

Museeuw is being investigated by the Belgian authorities and charges are pending (as far as I recall).

But on this occasion, I agree with you Bobke : there is an inherent contradiction in hiring a banned rider (Museeuw) as part of any team.

That's correct the charges against museeuw are pending. They even named a race to Museeuw (3 days of West-Vlaanderen - classic Johan Museeuw, it's in the UCI Pro Continental Europe tour). I find it rather strange that the UCI gave the race a license, but than again i don't have (and never had) the feeling that the UCI is doing wjat they can in the fight against doping. His relation with Quickstep is well.... I reme,ber the hypocritical words of Levevre when Marc Lotz was caught (EPO) last year, he wants to have a clean team and so on. At the same time he gave Museeuw a job...

cyclingheroes said:

That's correct the charges against museeuw are pending. They even named a race to Museeuw (3 days of West-Vlaanderen - classic Johan Museeuw, it's in the UCI Pro Continental Europe tour). I find it rather strange that the UCI gave the race a license, but than again i don't have (and never had) the feeling that the UCI is doing wjat they can in the fight against doping. His relation with Quickstep is well.... I reme,ber the hypocritical words of Levevre when Marc Lotz was caught (EPO) last year, he wants to have a clean team and so on. At the same time he gave Museeuw a job...

Yeah, as far as I know they've got the transcripts of Museeuw talking to a Belgian vetinary surgeon about procuring doping products.

I am disppointed by lefevere.

bobke said:

I think the Quick Step conundrum is how to keep people from reaching the obvious conclusion about Boonen. I mean I went to his website and looked at his progression from 2001-2005. Unbelievable. Literally.

Well I am not sure there is anybody in the top levels of professional cycling who is not doping. Does Boonen dope more than the rest? I agree with you that a team should dissociate itself from scandal, whenever possible. Museew however , is still quite popular in Belgium. Which means that people do not view doping in absolute terms, and in other words, believe it is part of the sport. Or otherwise they are just loyal to their own.

ilpirata said:

Well I am not sure there is anybody in the top levels of professional cycling who is not doping. Does Boonen dope more than the rest? I agree with you that a team should dissociate itself from scandal, whenever possible. Museew however , is still quite popular in Belgium. Which means that people do not view doping in absolute terms, and in other words, believe it is part of the sport. Or otherwise they are just loyal to their own.

I have no idea whether Boonen dopes, I was just stirring the pot.

I just think of the time when Museeuw was in, I mean created the leading break in Paris Roubaix and simply rode Hincapie and the boy Boonen off his wheels.
Oh well.

After today when 9 cross country skieers show up at the Olympics with Hematocrits too high and are prevented from competing...I dont know what the cutoff is in that sport...but then the American team coach (2 of the skiers were Amercian) says he is sure that his skiers arent doping...then they quote a hematologist from Baylor Medical College (my alma mater) saying that many regular folks living in Denver wouldnt pass the Hct cutoff...

and THEN the coach adds that when high Hemtocrit levels are found everyong assumes like Tyler H and Lance A that they are doping!! ouch and har har

If an Olympic X country ski coach has this misinformation comparing Lance to Tyler to his skiers well who the hell knows whats going on-certainly not him. Altitude tents? Arenesp.

Geez this is sickening. The weird thing is of course, one of Lance's lawsuits now settled involved the bike mechaninc/boy Friday who told Lance Museeuw had just been arraigned and quoted Lance as saying"everyone does it..."

12 skiiers tested for excess hemoglobin values, not hct. All 12 got a 5 day competition ban before they retest.

Bjørn P.Dal said:

12 skiiers tested for excess hemoglobin values, not hct. All 12 got a 5 day competition ban before they retest.

...and all long distance cross-country skiiers...... hmmmmmm........

Bjørn P.Dal said:

12 skiiers tested for excess hemoglobin values, not hct. All 12 got a 5 day competition ban before they retest.

Except for disease states and anemias hemoglobin and hematocrit are equivalent measures. Hb roughlyX3= Hct
Geez.

whiteboytrash said:

...and all long distance cross-country skiiers...... hmmmmmm........

Yes, whats your point?
They are obviously going to be in altitude tents and staying at altitude more than the figure skaters, right?
What IS the cutoff figure BTW?

bobke said:

Geez this is sickening. The weird thing is of course, one of Lance's lawsuits now settled involved the bike mechaninc/boy Friday who told Lance Museeuw had just been arraigned and quoted Lance as saying"everyone does it..."

Let's be clear and unambiguous, Bobke.

Armstrong wrote two books in which he claimed that he was clean and that he had never ever doped at all, ever.