Ronde picks
- Thread starter Bro Deal
- Start date
The CSC website indicated that Stuey is riding in a support role for Fabian both at Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. He is still not completely back from that nasty crash at the Tour last year.Wilchemy said:No O'Grady on the start list (according to cyclingnews.com). Anyone know what the go is there?Thought he'd be a handy man for Cancellara to have working for him.
I was also suprised to not see Fabian as the first CSC rider across. It's Arveson instead.
I will enjoy watching it on Versus, in replay, this afternoon.
Quite a solo ride from Devolder! I was happy to see him win in front of his "home crowd". This is my favourite way of winning: solo for the last 5-20Ks with the bunch chasing.
Boonen did look strong on the climbs though so I'm a bit dissapointed he just sat back and watched the show. Some nice riding from the Astana rider in the last 20Ks (Vaitkus/Rast? Even the commentators had a problem deciding )
Boonen did look strong on the climbs though so I'm a bit dissapointed he just sat back and watched the show. Some nice riding from the Astana rider in the last 20Ks (Vaitkus/Rast? Even the commentators had a problem deciding
)
What a fantastic race! Devolder rode almost like a super-man, great victory for him, the kamikaze!
QS really beat CSC today...
Anthony talking about Vaitkus all the time was very annoying since we all could see that it was not Vaitkus. Apparently it was Rast, great ride from him.
Rabo was impressive too today, they have some serious talents in that squad!!
QS really beat CSC today...
Anthony talking about Vaitkus all the time was very annoying since we all could see that it was not Vaitkus. Apparently it was Rast, great ride from him.
Rabo was impressive too today, they have some serious talents in that squad!!
BTW, here is a video of the crash I talked about in my previous post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QTAJnDduVA. The rider is Ángel Gómez, and apparently broke his leg and elbow/shoulder. Scary crash.
I thought Boonen looked like the clear strongman of the race. Cancellara was not good, no other favorites were impressive. Boonen probably could have driven a good group away on the Muur de Gramont or Bosberg if he wasn't constrained by the situation.RdBiker said:Quite a solo ride from Devolder! I was happy to see him win in front of his "home crowd". This is my favourite way of winning: solo for the last 5-20Ks with the bunch chasing.
Boonen did look strong on the climbs though so I'm a bit dissapointed he just sat back and watched the show. Some nice riding from the Astana rider in the last 20Ks (Vaitkus/Rast? Even the commentators had a problem deciding
Devolder did a lot work for a long time but never looked overly strong and profitted from the lack of any organized chase after Geraardsbergen.
I agree.Wayne666 said:
Devolder would've been caught if there were an organised chace.
Chapeu to him anyway, he was the work horse today, and the victory for the kamikaze was well deserved.
At one point at 4 or 5 km to finish, it looked like Devolder was losing steam, and the gap between him and Flecha was dropping down to 9 sec making it plausible that he would be caught. I guess Flecha himself couldn't keep up the tempo. Also, Devolder seemed to be near/at the front of the peloton for much of the race before he escaped.Aquamarinos said:
exatly. He worked for Boonen, so his victory was even more surprising and impressing.TheDarkLord said:
OUCH!!! He never saw it coming.TheDarkLord said:
In other news: George looks like he may do well in Roubaix
Some discussions point to motorcycle drafting assistance to Devolder when Flecha got too close... I have not yet seen the race - can anyone confirm that the cameras cut away from Devolder when Flecha got close and all of the sudden the gap opened up?TheDarkLord said:
Looks like CyclingTV have had it withdrawn from Youtube in the last 20 mins. TFF may have been the last person in the world to view it on Youtube.TheDarkLord said:
LOL. Keep on searching. I found it youtube with a Romanian commentary on the Eurosport feed. It will be back on in a while...Crankyfeet said:
They clearly showed Devolder getting a bit tired, and then yeah, they cut to Flecha. But I don't remember if they continued to show Devolder after that or whether they didn't show him for a while.Powerful Pete said:
I don't understand what cycling tv has to do with that video. The video posted was a recording from Eurosport. They don't own coverage from Eurosport, do they?Crankyfeet said:
Well I saw quite a few riders riding near motorcycles but just for a few seconds at a time.
You'd think that the motorcycle drivers would be very very careful about not letting riders benefit from them - especially when they are passing the riders. It's quite simple: you see a rider drafting your motorcycle -> just speed up and loose him. A few seconds of drafting won't give the rider any noticable benefit.
Speaking of which: did you see a motorcycle passing the Astana rider a bit too close(Rast maybe) and then Rast giving the guy international hand signs? Reminds me of our local group rides...
You'd think that the motorcycle drivers would be very very careful about not letting riders benefit from them - especially when they are passing the riders. It's quite simple: you see a rider drafting your motorcycle -> just speed up and loose him. A few seconds of drafting won't give the rider any noticable benefit.
Speaking of which: did you see a motorcycle passing the Astana rider a bit too close(Rast maybe) and then Rast giving the guy international hand signs?
Reminds me of our local group rides...
Well, the Ronde has a bit of a reputation for helping out certain riders with motorcycle drafting, or so some argue (I recall some arguing about it following Boonen's first victory, but I could be wrong).RdBiker said:
No, but they do have the exclusive rights to coverage and highlights in North America, so they seem to have been very diligent about complaining to youtube about people posting any footage of "their" races to Youtube. Even if the commentary is in Romanian...TheDarkLord said:
(in fact, on another site, there was a cycling tv rep this morning posting helping people access the cycling tv feed ... and when someone posted "just watch it on the Eurosport feed" this c.tv rep posted something like "please let us know if you can watch on Eurosport from the US, because they're supposed to block it and we need to know so we can deal with that". I'm thinking - it takes me 20-30 minutes before I can actually even log in to your site, sometimes it crashes, and you want me to report my potential alternate source of live footage so you can block it? not likely
)addendum - so look here for the crash, just don't tell c.tv
I'm not so convinced. He had a nice finish because he was able to catch back up to the group as many other did, and sprinted well. He showed himself in a doomed early move in the finale but it was a tactical attack, not one of strength. He was well distanced by the strongmen on the Muur de Gramont and Bosberg.thoughtforfood said:
Cancellara looks off the boil and Boonen looked very good, which should make him the big favorite for Roubaix. Hincapie will probably have to ride very smart to finish on the podium in Roubaix and he has a history of doing just the opposite.
Similar threads
