Great race. Great tactics. I'm happy for the Garmin domestique, but almost wish they had lost to really put Thor's weak sauce in the light of day, he did not ride like a WC. Sparty got them w/in 40 seconds w/ Ballan and Thor... a little work and they all would have been in the mix. Loved them sitting up and "talking," I wish that was mic'd.

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Who Dares...Wins!

Ditto.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

Great tactics by Garmin. The other teams have figured out Cancellara's game and without any teammates to work with him in these classics it's going to be hard for him to get wins vs. these 2nds and 3rds he's had this year. Today proved again that cycling is more than just a drag race between strongmen.

What tactics are you referring to? Hushovd was meant to ride across, but after last week Fabian wasn't going to do all the work. My take is Garmin were calling Fabian's bluff that he would ride anyway and when he didn't, they were fortunate JVS was the strongest in the lead. I bet 1k before Fabian sat up Garmin thought Hushovd was there best chance, not JVS.

Thats also the shitty thing about road racing. The best rider/ athlete doesn't always win. Someone can not be feeling that strong the whole race, sit in someones slipstream, and then sneak in a win at the end. That's why I love triathlon. If your not strong that day, your not winning. It's all about the individual.

Those tactics are why cycling is far more spectator friendly than triathlon. No one wants to watch a four hour time trial.

I agree but its just normal tactics if you have a guy up the road, there's nothing great about the tactics today. And as I said, I bet Garmin thought it would come together regardless and wanted to make sure Fabian did all the work.

It's shitty if you're under the impression that cycling is solely an individual sport. It's not. It's a team sport as well. The 'chess match' aspect of bike racing is what makes it exciting. If I want to see a pure athletic test I'll watch a 100m dash, or swimming. Triathlon is too drawn out and boring. ITU seemed to be moving in the right direction with the domestique angle but that seems to have stalled.

Personally I'd rather watch golf than IM and I hate golf.

  Who is the best rider/athlete? I would argue that at Paris-Roubaix, or any 1 day race for that matter, that the best and the smartest will win.

Obviously you've never raced a road bike before or you'd understand what I am talking about. I'm not talking about the professional level, guys get paid to ride for someone else so they don't really care if they win or not because its their job. I'm talking about amateur road bike racing and amateur triathlon.

Don't forget having good luck. In Roubaix races can easily be won and lost on punctures and crashes (ask Boonen). That is why it is one of the most dramatic and well loved races in cycling. Anyone that wins Roubaix is a legit rider. You cannot win that race without putting in a monster effort (even if like this year, people feel the "wrong" person won).


and 46, you sound like a whiny triathlete. Being smart, and knowing how to play and use tactics is a big part of cycling. It's a skill, just like fitness or sprinting speed. And you do realize you posted your comments in a thread about Professional cycling, not amateur sport, right?

Sure he does.

There are considerations other than the highest FTP that determine who the best bike racer is on any given day.

You're saying that you think in amateur bike racing, the strongest guy 'should' win?

I race a road bike every chance I get. The strongest guy can almost always be beaten by great team tactics. That's the great thing about the sport. If I were just into drag racing I'd just go race TT's. But I like the thinking man's game that road racing is.

Whiny triathlete? Aren't we all? Isn't this a triathlon forum? All I was getting at was that I can understand Cancellara's frustration.

At least in the low level bike races, it winning/placing comes down to the following, in order:
1) not being completely wrecked by the end of the race
2) timing (for breaks and sprints)
....

.....


....
100) power

yep.

Oh come on, its not that bad. In almost every amateur race the winner is pretty strong compared to the rest of the guys in his group. Tactics, teamwork, and bike handling come into it also, but strength is a big big part of it.

Styrrell

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Styrrell

Note to triathletes... cycling is a team sport. If you can't understand that concept... don't watch.


Cancellera had no team... only one other L-T rider even finished. End of story.

I understand it's a team sport, and Garmin won the team tactical battle.

But damn, seeing the WC jersey sit up and just refuse to do any work was kind of sad. I understand why he did it, and the fact that his teammate won made it a winning tactic, but it was awkward. Had the Garmin rider not have won it would have seemed pathetic.

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Portside Athletics Blog

Nice assumption, I'll make another and assume you didn't mean that to sound as condescending as it did.

Clearly, Cancellera doesn't have as much understanding of cycling tactics as you either. You might want to contact him and offer him your knowledge.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

x2

Another kilometre of road and Cancellara would have won and then he would have looked very dumb.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

I'm not sure what assumption I'm making?

But he didn't. #losing.

I watched this morning, but watching again now, and Phil Liggett just makes it sound so exciting. Team tactics, Garmin Cervelo played well. Strongman, FC is still the champ. He single handedly put 25+ seconds between himself and Thors group on that last surge 3k from the finish.