The professional cycling thread

[Dr Imran T]

Don't forget we have 'Tour of Flanders' this Sunday chaps

[Don1]

Don't - was flicking past Eurosport re-running the 2014 race, and was getting very excited until I looked at the date....

[mcelliott]

Dowks said:

Trek did it on a road bike for Roubaix also 10 years ago

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/apr05/rou...

Ha, that's not a proper Paris Roubaix bike, but this is...

[Jonnny]

Don1 said:

Don't - was flicking past Eurosport re-running the 2014 race, and was getting very excited until I looked at the date....

Cancellara healed from that broken back quickly.. Oh..

I re-watched it too.

[johnxjsc1985]

Enjoying a Sunday sitting on the sofa watching the TDF thats Flanders.
just seen Tom Boonen interviewed WTF he looks like a skinny old man. I just love the spring classics my Hero Tommy Simpson won this race many many years ago.

[untakenname]

Watching atm on Eurosport, one rider just got punted off at speed by a team car misjudging the corner, can the drivers be done for dangerous/careless driving or does the highway code not apply in races?

[ewenm]

IIRC when a press car knocked a rider into a fence in LeTour, they were arrested. In Flanders today it's been the Shimano service cars in trouble - one rider hit and one FDJ team car hit into one of their riders who had stopped with an issue. Chaos!

Wiggins crashed earlier too with a fairly firm impact on his left side/wrist.

72k to go...

[Dr Imran T]

They're lucky the weather has held out! Certainly brought some riders into contention.

33km to go and I still can't call it.

[Ponk]

Shimano will be keeping a low profile! One incident is bad enough, but two?!

Strange race that, I was expecting a group to form much sooner to be honest. Great win by Kristoff. Etixx are getting stick on Twitter but I don't really see what more Terpstra could have done to be honest. He was never going to out sprint him and clearly didn't have the legs to drop him.

Shame for G but in reality he was so heavily marked he was never going to get away. Sky worked hard to get him that far. Any news on Sir Brad?

[Rich_W]

Ponk said:

Shimano will be keeping a low profile! One incident is bad enough, but two?!

Strange race that, I was expecting a group to form much sooner to be honest. Great win by Kristoff. Etixx are getting stick on Twitter but I don't really see what more Terpstra could have done to be honest. He was never going to out sprint him and clearly didn't have the legs to drop him.

Shame for G but in reality he was so heavily marked he was never going to get away. Sky worked hard to get him that far. Any news on Sir Brad?

Brad was 87th 9m17 back.

I get that this wasn't an important race to him. But I'd have liked to see him nearer the front with 20K to go.

Who knows how he'll get on at Paris Roubaix. If the mood takes him (and I hope it will) I expect he'll be Ok. And unlike the other contenders probably not marked as much.

[Matt_N]

Kristoff is on fire at the moment, he just looks so strong and almost unbeatable at present.

Wiggins, whilst he has the power to be able to win some classics just isn't tough enough IMO. He has the ability to be able to make massive single man breaks a la Tony Martin but never does, I know it's not really his style or conducive to outright wins but he could be more aggressive and nab a few wins.

[Leithen]

If this high pressure stays, it's going to be a dry and dusty battle on the cobbles.

[Highway Star]

Rich_W said:

Who knows how he'll get on at Paris Roubaix. If the mood takes him (and I hope it will) I expect he'll be Ok. And unlike the other contenders probably not marked as much.

I would think he'll be closely marked. He's been saying publicly how he's targeting PR for the win for about 12 months. Any team would be a fool to let him go without close marking.

[anonymous-user]

Apparently Wiggo's fall was quite heavy and he pretty much just rode in from there rather than attack or go with the plan. Hopefully he recovers before Roubaix but then it will be a tough race as lots of people are on form.

Felt sorry for Tepstra, he obviously just didnt have the legs to jump Kristoff and it must be pretty demoralising knowing that to win you have to outsprint the in-form sprinter.... I thought he was going to go with around 1.5 kms to go but he was obvioulsy done for.

[Some Gump]

Jesus, Kristoff is on fire. A sprinter who can suddenly TT and climb? It's a good job Katusha are so squeaky clean as a team, or the raised eyebrows would certainly start...

[Sway]

Hope Wiggo gets his groove on for P-R. I think he is tough enough physically, however sometimes his mental resilience works against him...

As always, a bloody awesome race in the offing!

[Ponk]

Some Gump said:

Jesus, Kristoff is on fire. A sprinter who can suddenly TT and climb? It's a good job Katusha are so squeaky clean as a team, or the raised eyebrows would certainly start...

Griepel was very impressive too. I love it when you see the big sprinters burying themselves for the team. Degenkolb did well too. Kittel seems a one trick pony by comparison, albeit a hell of a trick!

[Alex Langheck]

I'd have given Greipel his weight in beer as well. That was some ride he put in, it was only in the last 15-20km he faded. Don't like to bash Sky, but they were on the front over a 100km+ out, doing all the work. By the time they get to the business end only G and Luke Rowe are still there.
Couldn't believe they let Kristoff and Terpstra go up the road.... and seemingly looked to G to do the chasing. What was looking a really good race just sort of fizzled out....
I'm still not convinced about the current route.

Just hope Roubaix is better.

[Rich_W]

Highway Star said:

Rich_W said:

Who knows how he'll get on at Paris Roubaix. If the mood takes him (and I hope it will) I expect he'll be Ok. And unlike the other contenders probably not marked as much.

I would think he'll be closely marked. He's been saying publicly how he's targeting PR for the win for about 12 months. Any team would be a fool to let him go without close marking.

Yes and No.

If I was Ettixx. I'd be watching Katusha or Lotto or Alpecin more than Sky. If BW had gotten a podium/top 10 at Flanders or Ghent (dnf) he'd be more of a target. For all his publicly stated target. He hasn't gotten any results (recently) to suggest he will be a threat. Granted you can't rule him out. But even if he's on form. The way Sky decided to try and control Flanders was tactically naïve!

[Ponk]

Rich_W said:

Highway Star said:

Rich_W said:

Who knows how he'll get on at Paris Roubaix. If the mood takes him (and I hope it will) I expect he'll be Ok. And unlike the other contenders probably not marked as much.

I would think he'll be closely marked. He's been saying publicly how he's targeting PR for the win for about 12 months. Any team would be a fool to let him go without close marking.

Yes and No.

If I was Ettixx. I'd be watching Katusha or Lotto or Alpecin more than Sky. If BW had gotten a podium/top 10 at Flanders or Ghent (dnf) he'd be more of a target. For all his publicly stated target. He hasn't gotten any results (recently) to suggest he will be a threat. Granted you can't rule him out. But even if he's on form. The way Sky decided to try and control Flanders was tactically naïve!

The "drive the pace until the last 40k" tactic does seem to be their only one. Why not send Stannard up the road, then Brad later if that doesn't work and see what happens. The bunch would have to do some work if nothing else.

I do wonder what's going through Wiggin's head. All this talk and he's not shown any determination in the races so far. Which is a shame as I'd love to see him go out on a high!

Maybe it's all a ploy so G can take Paris Roubaix!