The other thing that was dumb was that Terpstra went to the front to start the spring with Stannard on his wheel. He should have stayed on Stannard's wheel and could have used the excuse that Boonen was their leader. In any case, the 3 Etixx riders all somehow rode for themselves and that's ultimately what cost them.

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Both he and Etixx knew the code. None of them expected him to work, just like Sep didn't ask Stybar to take a pull...

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

Patrick Lefevre on the other hand was furious and said Stannard should have done some work as well, because he was the team leader for Sky. A team leader isn't supposed to just sit on the wheel for 40km and if it would have been 3 Sky riders with Boonen as the 4th Boonen wouldn't just sit on the wheel either, per Lefevre.

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There is no "supposed to" other than win the race. Etixx never looked to Sky to help.

He wasn't furious, he was cranky cuz his boys blew it. Stannard raced a great race which included sitting on so the 3 teammates couldn't drop him. Which, because they too were racing, they eventually tried to do. If the chase group catches them, he's arguably in no worse a position, whereas Etixx would then have to deal with GvA, Sep and, possibly, Gilbert.

It all went according to plan until Boonen didn't get away. Really crazy that he didn't wait for the sprint.

Well last time Boonen sprinted for the win at Omloop he lost to Sep so maybe he wanted to play it safe(r) this time by attacking. But in hindsight he should have gone for the sprint instead this time.

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Anyone remember the stage of 2013 Tour where the echelon was formed? Opqs had maybe 3 riders (Cav, Chavanel, cant remember who else), and Sagan was also in the group. They cooperated until the last K and sent Chavanel attacking then. Sagan was forced to chase the move and essentially finds himself on the front with 300m to go.

So the mmqb in me feels like the right time to attack would have been a lot closer to the line, as stannard can't close the gap at a more steady pace as they were running out of space

And why that potentially works is if Boonen gets caught with 400m to go he leads it out and puts Stannard in wind at 250, which should set Terpstra nicely.

Perhaps that's what they would have thought of had they had a race radio? Instead the troops themselves had to improvise?

No one knows... Also reminds me of last year's E3 when it was Terpstra, VdB, Thomas, and Sagan in the final group. Both are Interesting cases for tactics.

Though all this assumes that Stannard wouldnt have attacked on his own and shed one or two opqs riders. The way Vanmarcke won in 2012, when he was in a small group of 2 sky riders and 3 (could be 2) opqs riders was to attack so that only Flecha and Boonen followed. So who knows...

Gilbert went a K too early.

Only got 2 out of 3 right.

Yesterday's forgotten at the Etixx camp.

Who knows what would've happened. Sure, Lefevre isn't happy but the riders didn't seem angry at Stannard, not during and not after the race.

Gotta hand it to Sep, it just wasn't his day with luck but he fought like a lion. His chase changed the entire outcome of the race.

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

Love the way that guy rides. Both days he's doin his thing.

Riders were indeed not angry, in fact Boonen seemed to put the blame on himself during the interview in the Sporza studio. And regarding Lefevre being furious --> check this video - it's in dutch and while it starts off friendly it ends with some rude comments and sarcasm. http://www.nieuwsblad.be/...mf20150228_01554321/

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i didn't get to see KBK today but i see Cav got the win. cool. i want everyone on form. let's get Sagan going too, have some slugfests.

http://sports.yahoo.com/...-165830976--spt.html

amusing to see that even with Cav's win, his team still got called out for not winning yesterday.

i don't think there was a way he'd have gotten away regardless. Way too many helpers from too many sprinter teams.

but this bodes well for him for Milan San Remo as the line from bottom of Poggio is now 1km shorter...

think your wish will be granted at Strade Bianche. I'm looking forward to it. The next 8-9 weeks going up to Liege are truly the best time of the year for a cycling fan.

Agreed! Maybe it's because I am flemish but this part of the season easily beats the grand tours or the world championship.

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did i say Liege? my bad. I meant Luik-Bastenaken-Luik :p

otoh, i like most wereld kampionschap. 2011 in Denmark being the obvious exception

Gilbert went a K too early.

It's always a gamble.

But a great test of the legs before Milan San Remo!

Kudos to Cavendish - showing great poise and maturity that even when the train kind of broke down for him, he still could get the job done.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

No doubt, the next couple months are the best of the year.

you're Flemish? What does this mean? I keep looking for Flem on the map but can't find it.

Boonen, after working hard in pushing the break, then went on to lead out Cav. Great rider, great teammate.

Try spitting harder.

Or alternatively, search for North Belgium.



I sometimes think Stannard actually enjoys riding cobbles...

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On twitter talking about Triathlon, Cycling & Sport Science - @taffytriathlete

LOL. worthy of a caption contest! nice!

It means you are a philistine.


Nice one. I think there's a poem called Phields of Phlanders