"Luck is a big factor, for sure"

Remember what Phil and Paul say, "you don't need good luck - you can't afford to have any BAD luck to win in Roubaix".

So true. The only race where you can crash twice and have 4 punctures and still kiss the podium girls and a big dirty stone trophy.

This is still my favorite - Fast Freddy. Check out his arm warmer and his chain in la Tranche

I seriously doubt that under those circumstances GH would outsprint TB 2 or 3 times out of 100, unless something extraordinary happened (like a mechanical).

Last year was GH's best chance, but he couldn't attack on the way to Roubaix because Boonen's pace-setting was too hard (remember, they attacked with 80k to go!). GH was even quoted as saying that he originally thought Boonen went too early in the veledrome and that he (GH) thought he could come around him. Instead he was shown a 'clean pair of wheels.'

But you are right, PR does require some luck. But Boonen seems to be like Armstrong, they remove luck from the equation.

So true. The only race where you can crash twice and have 4 punctures and still kiss the podium girls and a big dirty stone trophy.

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And that's why it's the most exciting one day classic there is.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

When it's on Easter Sunday I always got upset as my whole family is watching the golf Master's and I'm jumping out of my skin trying to change the channel to watch P-R. Absolutely love that race. I can already hear Sherwin "these are the true hard men of the peloton".

Saw a photo of some of them using one of those seatpost-with-suspension thingy.

Then there was that fella who had "numb nuts" after the all the cobbling... ouch!

"This year, Discovery have Devolder, Hincapie, Hoste and Van Heeswijk"



But they lost hard man Hammond for the race. That won't be good.



Is Eki on the roster this year?



I want George to pull it off. And I'd like to see him outfox Boonen to do it.

No Max (injury), no Eki (don't know why).

In 2003 (if I'm not mistaken) there was a video on the Tour de France website were they showed the bike preparation to handle the cobbles. Since one of the stages passed in a cobbles zone from the Paris-Roubaix, they did the report.

I've tried to search it but couldn't find, maybe you have better luck!

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The "Pocket Hercules" - jgrat

Technique sets the upper limit to where your fitness will take you...

[reply]Ken,

Indeed, that is one of the classic PR shots of all time.

Amazing.

The big question for Sunday - Can Hincapie get himself in a postion to take big Tom Boonen?

Fleck[/reply]


I would love to see GH win. I want to see it happen last Sunday. I wanted to see it last year and for that matter the last few years. It pains me to say it but Hincapie lasts the killer mind set. He always waits to long to attack. Look at last Sunday. That should have been his attack that broke appart the lead group.

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I think this year is a year for someone like a Frederic Guesdon. Good solid rider that no-one has ever heard of before. No idea why I think that, but that is my prediction. A complete unknown to win.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

"That should have been his attack that broke appart the lead group."

That's a disingenuous statement. Hoste's attack was a plan to break the group, but the plan included a splinter group coming back, NOT Boonen bridging up with those two riding away. Hoste didn't work initially, but when the gap grew, they greenlighted him to ride on with Boonen and gut it out for the win. The original plan was for George to blast off the front of the small group once Hoste was caught. Hoste never came back. George tried to break off the front and bridge up, but was never allowed away from the chasing group. That, according to Demol's statements after the race.

Discovery had tactics that didnt' quite work out. That happens all the time. It's a bit harsh to say George lacks the killer instinct.

[reply]"That should have been his attack that broke appart the lead group."

That's a disingenuous statement. Hoste's attack was a plan to break the group, but the plan included a splinter group coming back, NOT Boonen bridging up with those two riding away. Hoste didn't work initially, but when the gap grew, they greenlighted him to ride on with Boonen and gut it out for the win. The original plan was for George to blast off the front of the small group once Hoste was caught. Hoste never came back. George tried to break off the front and bridge up, but was never allowed away from the chasing group. That, according to Demol's statements after the race.

Discovery had tactics that didnt' quite work out. That happens all the time. It's a bit harsh to say George lacks the killer instinct.[/reply]

Did you hear the GH interview at the finish line? George said that Hoste's attack was a "spur of the moment thing" and that "it was not planned". Hoste grabbed the bull by the horns which is something that George seems to miss. Don't get me wrong I like George a lot and feel that he is a great pro.

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It really depends from rider to rider and from team to team. Some get a completely different bike, there is an interview with the president of Time where he says that Boonen will not ride a VXRS on the cobbles because he wants something stiffer, so he rides a VXR with 200-300g extra carbon in the frame than the stock VXR. Of course that's not really that unusual, most bikes in the pro peloton aren't stock anyway and in Paris-Roubaix that percentage goes up even higher. Alu frames painted to look like carbon, that sort of stuff.

For CSC, they ride two different models. Standard R3s, and R3s with 10mm longer chainstays. We're trying out this new setup with a 10mm longer front center (a longer fork with bigger rake) and 10mm longer rear center, as we're considering to put such a model in regular production. Some riders like it, others don't. I think Michaelsen will ride with it, Cancellara probably won't. I'm really interested to see Cancellara go, that guy is such an animal. He is one of the heaviest riders in the race (except for Backstedt) and he has such enormous power. We're running into the problem that the R3 frame is so stiff in the bottom bracket that he has broken chains and even some of the chainrings are too flexible.

As for tires, there are two camps. There are some riders who ride extremely small, fragile tires, some even put track tires on. They say it is all about feel, and if you ride properly you won't flat. The race has been won several times by riders on track tires. Then there are those who ride with 24mm and 27mm tires. Another change is the gears, there are no climbs in this race so some opt for a 50t small ring (and a 54 or 55t big ring) so you can double-shift throughout the entire range and have very close gear spacing.

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

We're running into the problem that the R3 frame is so stiff in the bottom bracket that he has broken chains and even some of the chainrings are too flexible.


Man, I hope that doesn't happen in Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle or Carrefour de l'Arbre or his race go bye-bye.

I like Cance, and used to really enjoy him and Flecha working together in the classics. Would've been neat to see Flecha sign for CSC and then have those two and Stuey together for Flanders/Roubaix (theoretically given Stuey's injury).

Surely just a matter of swapping out for campy instead?

One of the things I like about my Merckx is that the team has apparently ridden them in PR with few mods, just thicker bar tape etc. Not sure where I read this though.

Just think, if you were a pro who was only racing for the money, how could you convince yourself to even start a race like PR? It's madness like this, and times like when the boys helped Basso grovel up the Stelvio, that makes me think these guys would ride for free if they had to.

swmrdrn....I agree with you (and i've actually met GH and am of course hoping he wins). His instict/instructions were to let Hoste try and break up the race. Boonen's instict was to go with Hoste (Hoste!) and he ended up winning. And why if Boonen bridged did George not take off with him? shouldn't he have been monitoring any attacks on his teammate, especially if it's Boonen?

There have been many comments about GH's will to win, his 'killer instict,' by LA and even George himself. And this quote from cyclingnews says it all:

The strategy for next Sunday? Hincapie's answer is clear and simple: "The same as in RVV: try to create a numerical majority with Discovery Channel and enter the velodrome without Tom Boonen."

George played the smart tactical game, and lost. Hoste accelerated to try to thin the group. When Boonen went with him, it should have doomed their break. George (and Boonen's teammates) were supposed to sit back and have everyone else tow them back up to the break so they could duke it out for the win. If George had gone with Boonen to get on Hoste's wheel, they really would have been doomed. Either he would have towed the whole pack up, or Boonen would have sat on their wheels the rest of the way. George did the right thing, and he lost because the other teams didn't do what they were supposed to.

Boonen played the smart tactical game, and won. To think that George would just let Boonen go and hope that other teams would 'do what they were supposed to do' is ridiculous. Did you ever see Armstrong allow Basso or Ullrich to attack like that (other than when the TdF was out of reach)?

And to think that the pack would've brought them back if George went with them, when they didn't bring them back when it was just Boonen/Hoste (and just 2 men working, not 3) is also assuming too much.

If GH is relying on 'supposed to' then he will have a tough time this weekend.

Boonen played the smart tactical game, and won. To think that George would just let Boonen go and hope that other teams would 'do what they were supposed to do' is ridiculous. Did you ever see Armstrong allow Basso or Ullrich to attack like that (other than when the TdF was out of reach)?

If Boonen had gone alone, then George would have had to follow, but he couldn't/shouldn't chase down his teammates break. Don't you remember Armstrong and Postal letting the large breakaway get 20 minutes since it wasn't their responsibility to chase since he didn't have the yellow jersey? George and Boonen's teammates are supposed to let the other teams do the work.

And to think that the pack would've brought them back if George went with them, when they didn't bring them back when it was just Boonen/Hoste (and just 2 men working, not 3) is also assuming too much.

It still would have only been 2 men working. There is no way that Boonen would do any work in a break with 2 disco riders.

If GH is relying on 'supposed to' then he will have a tough time this weekend.

Boonen and Hoste's move should have been inconsequential, but the other teams dropped the ball by letting them get away. Both of them said that they were surprised that they got away. George and disco made a smart decision. He should have been towed back to the front by a small group, and then been fresh (much fresher than Boonen) for the finale, and had Hoste there to help.

George will need to have a gap on Boonen before the velodrome if he wants to win.

Dave in VA

I think this argument stems from GH's lack of 'killer instinct.' I agree that once Boonen/Hoste got away, he was stuck (unless he wanted the Terrel Owens 'worst teammate' award).

I don't agree that had Booned gone alone, GH would've had to follow. He could've relied on his team (with Hoste sitting up and waiting at that point) to bring Boonen back. Boonen is strong, but an attack that far out wouldn't have worked.

No, it was George's move to let Boonen go that surprised me. And i'm talking that few seconds between when Boonen goes and George's DS gives him instructions to let it happen. Either he felt that 'other teams would bring him back' or he thought the break wouldn't possibly last. In terms of tactics-right or wrong, he missed out on the selection so he was wrong.

I think we both agree that the way the tactics played out after that was really the only way they could've (especially with no teams coming to the front to bring back TB/LH and QS and Disco in supportive roles at that point)...but it's that initial 'reaction' or lack thereof by GH that i'm talking about.

I think that if he wants to get to the veledrom without TB this weekend, he'll definitely have to think 'outside the box.' If he doesn't attack or get away, I don't see any way that QuickStep allows that to happen.

Of course, this could all be moot, it's supposed to rain all day today and tomorrow! So all hell could break lose!

It's too bad LA never went for a race like this. Oh well.

This is definitely my favourite race of the spring classics, one day bike races and perhaps overall race. It's just amazing considering how fast the riders fly over the cobbles (usually around 40kph). As if that isn't enough, then the winner has to use his skinny cycling arms to lift up the trophy ;-)!

I know I'm evil, but I always hope for rain sometime in the week leading up to the race. Makes for a much more dramatic race, and you just know those riders that focus on the spring classics love it too!

Chris

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"I do not hurt on the bike, I punish."

[reply]If Boonen had gone alone, then George would have had to follow, but he couldn't/shouldn't chase down his teammates break. Don't you remember Armstrong and Postal letting the large breakaway get 20 minutes since it wasn't their responsibility to chase since he didn't have the yellow jersey? [/reply]

In the big Tours there is always the next day to make up time. In the classics its all over at the end of the day. Boonen was the man to beat last Sunday and George HAD to follow him up the road... unless of course George wasn't the Disco team leader?

Ron

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Hincapie, Cancellara and Boonen get away from the rest (not taking into account punctures) !

Boonen is too fast on the Velodrome for the sprint, and they can't loose him before that.