If anyone other than a disco teammate had gone, and Boonen followed, then George would have had to go also, preferably with some teammates. I think before the race, many people were saying that they key to winning was to have teammates help you get to the end of the race. From that perspective it was smart to let Boonen go with Hoste, Boonen gets tired, and George has a teammate up the road to help out in the finale. No one would have expected Hoste and Boonen to get away. All the reasons you give for George to follow hold true for everyone else, they all missed the move and should have brought the break back.

I still think that if George had followed Boonen immediately, he would have been screwed also. Boonen would have sat on and the pack might have been more inclined to chase them down.

I think Hoste said that he sat up initially, but was told to go ahead when the gap stuck. George may have had to follow Boonen, but he also couldn't chase down a teammate. He got screwed because of the way it played out, with the other teams 'giving up', and letting Boonen get away.

No worries, that won't happen I think. With the parts, everything is up to the level he needs. He is really psyched for this weekend, it will be interesting to see what he can do. I always liked him, but I never realized he was so powerful. Flecha would have been a nice addition, it would have been quite a team with a healthy o'Grady, Flecha, Cancellara, Michaelsen and Kroon.

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

If Hincapie had made the break with Hoste and Boonen, then Quick Step itself would have brought back the break. No way would Boonen have done any work in that breakaway, and no way would Hoste and Hincapie drag Boonen to the finish. They'd have worked to drop him (and I'll bet that Hoste and Hincapie could have done it), and QS wouldn't allow that to happen.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

That would've been an ueber-studly northern classics team on par with Quick-Step and Disco. Good fantasy team for Cyclingnews' contest.

I'll be watching Quadzilla to make sure he doesn't break his chain! Wishing your guys "no bad luck" this weekend.

Ted

George has the form he needs: Third at Flanders, Fifth at Gent-Wevelgem. He's a different rider now that he's won a Tour stage - more confident. I think this is his weekend. I really, really hope so.

It would be the greatest story at P-R since Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle won in 1992 after 10 years of trying...and then he went on to repeat in 1993.

Bring it, Big George!

Forget it, if Tornado Tom is OK (no crashes, no flats at bad moments), he will win. PR is a race where the strongest has the biggest chance to win, because the team element is not so important. It is more an honest individual race and the strongest individual at this moment is by far TB.

Btw, If Hincapie would have chased Hoste and Boonen at Flanders, Bettini would have won most probably.

Hincapie deserves to win, but so do Dekker, Zabel, Hoste, Van Peteghem, Ballan, Cancellara, Flecha, Hushovd, Wesemann, Guesdon, etc.

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Fuck a duck and try to fly

I can dream, can't I? I have to say, nice to see the Maillot Arc En Ciel at the head of affairs when it matters this week.

I'd like to see Wesemann or O'Grady win it. Hard men.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

Sure you can dream, the race still has to be raced, right ?

Btw, did you notice they have almost the same body construction (is this english?) ?

GH : 6'33" for 175 lbs

TB : 6'30 for 176 lbs

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Fuck a duck and try to fly

The whole SPA thing looks more like a marketing stunt from Trek without real use in P-R, at least not by the podium finisher by Hincapie. Look at the bike Hincapie rode in last years P-R, it had no SPA, but was just a normal Trek and it wasn't a spare bike because it has his race number plate on the frame. There's no number plates on the spare bikes.


Hincapie's standard Trek race bike in P-R 2005

After the race Hincpapie's normal Trek was swapped with the "P-R edition" with SPA, so he could walk with this bike to the podium and journalist could take pictures of this special "Paris-Roubaix" bike as if Hincapie actaully rode it in the race and write an article about Trek. The bike Hincapie swapped to for the walk to the podium ha SPA and was even covered with mud and all to make it look authentic, and now with two bidons instead of just one as shown in the sprint above and also without his race number plate which was on the race bike which was just a normal Trek without SPA.


Hincapie's "podium bike" with SPA. Photo taken at the podium after P-R 2005.

Whoops...

Did you happen to notice that the picture you are citing as "evidence" actually does appear to have the SPA shock on it?

It's partially obscured by the brake caliper.

The SPA bikes have a wishbone stay - standard frames don't.

Here's an SPA/standard bike right next to each other: which one looks more like Hincapie's bike to you?







.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

He's not racing.

Are you playing? How are you doing?

Actually theres no black part at the wishbone in the pic.

And Wishbone seatstays is not something Trek has just made for the P-R bike, Trek has made several standard bikes with wishbone, for example Trek 5500, 5200, 5000 etc. It would probably have been too expensive anyway to make wishbone seastays just for P-R. In fact the SPA bike is just a standard production Trek 5000 bike with some of the wishbone cut out: http://www.cyclingnews.com/...atures/hincapie_bike

The bike with the black SPA Hincapie took to the podium is not the bike he rode in P-R.

But actually It seems Hincapie did ride with SPA, but definately not the black one as he took to the podium.
Here's some pics of the bike Hincapie raced in P-R:




http://www.tdwsport.com/...1734.jpg&thumb=0

http://www.tdwsport.com/...1747.jpg&thumb=0

Regarding bike set up, P-R sets the bar for one off innovations. In 1992 & 1993 Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle won with full front fork suspension, rock-shox style. I'm guessing it was Gan team mate Greg Lemond, who was likewise equipped, who came up with the idea.

The victory apparently wasn't enough for it to catch on however.

I can't remember if Duclos-Lassalle was able to switch bikes or rode the "funny" bike onto the velodrome for the win.

Nah, I thought about it, and never got the time last week to actually read through all the rules and do it. Hell, I still need to do my taxes!

"Actually theres no black part at the wishbone in the pic.

And Wishbone seatstays is not something Trek has just made for the P-R bike, Trek has made several standard bikes with wishbone, for example Trek 5500, 5200, 5000 etc. It would probably have been too expensive anyway to make wishbone seastays just for P-R. In fact the SPA bike is just a standard production Trek 5000 bike with some of the wishbone cut out: http://www.cyclingnews.com/...atures/hincapie_bike

The bike with the black SPA Hincapie took to the podium is not the bike he rode in P-R.

But actually It seems Hincapie did ride with SPA, but definately not the black one as he took to the podium.
Here's some pics of the bike Hincapie raced in P-R: "



- Oh, c'mon...

You can say it - "Whoops... I was wrong..." :0)





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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/