Well, I didn’t see it happen live, but I hear that the finish of Wednesday’s Fleche-Wallonne (or “Walloon Arrow”, if one is to take Universal Sports or the AP seriously about this sort of thing) was pretty exciting. Tactical considerations aside, I think it’s nice to see a reigning Tour champ active and attempting to…
Author: cosmo
How The Race Was Won – Amstel Gold 2010
I’ve got to admit, after almost a decade, this business of Amstel Gold finishing on the Cauberg is starting to grow on me. A relaxed early tempo gives way to all sorts of fun attacks and just a bit of tactical resilience in the closing kilometers. And while I have a horrible feeling that we…
The (Go) "Jens!" Shirt
UPDATE: Also available: Jens! coffee mug and Jens! beer stein. I was looking at the Amstel Gold start list this morning and noticed that dossard #178 would be worn be a certain indefatigable German on the SaxoBank roster. It reminded me of a few reader requests that came in shortly after I added the “Stop…
And So End The Cobbled Classics
And so end the cobbled classics for another year. Some commentators may have jumped the gun a little bit—especially with a Belgian sweep at Brabantse Pijl yesterday—but the sentiment remains valid: this was a pretty crummy year for the traditional powers Even viewing things along team lines, the season was unusual. Continental squads Topsport Vlaanderen…
How The Race Was Won – Paris-Roubaix 2010
I never want to call Roubaix boring, but this year’s Hell of the North felt uncomfortably similar to a non-2003 Armstrong TdF win. That said, there’s plenty of action to run through, including but not limited to another fantastic Cancellara bike change, two dog incursions, a poorly-timed feed, and more arm flailing than one of…
Paris-RouBingo – The Paris-Roubaix Home Game
“The are no races,” Jacques Anquetil once quipped, “only lotteries.” And nowhere is that more true than this Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. Broken steerer tubes, rogue freight trains, cartwheeling Norwegians—in an increasingly calculated sport, it’s a welcome change to see chance play such a prominent role. So with that in mind, I’ve created Paris-RouBingo, the bingo-style home…
Post-Flanders Drama
Yes! My oh-fer 2010 continues ! After saying that Boonen was on another level this season on the climbs, and would ride clear on the tougher Ronde parcours, it’s Fabian Cancellara who rises to the challenge over the steepest pitch of the Muur and solos away to victory. Much was made of a telling screenshot,…
A Serious Flanders Post on April First
It’s not that I consider myself above the phenomenon best described as “Internet Jackass Day“—I used to participate, back when I wasn’t very good at Photoshop, apparently—but I am up against the friggin’ wall in terms of free time. I’m going to ignore the impact a two-weeks-on, two-weeks-off approach is having on my fitness and…
Celebrating Second Place
Cycling’s a strange discipline. In what other sport would it be perfectly normal to describe a string of second-places in high profile events as “a problem“. In cycling, while three athletes get to ascend the podium, there’s the winner, and then there’s everybody else. It’s almost better for everyone if the win is a “no…
Fixing Tom Boonen
The relationship between Tom Boonen and the E3 Prijs has got to be one of the most complex in cycling. The second-tier classic was one of the Belgian’s first major wins in his wunderkind days, and he had a literal lock on the event for four straight years. But the past two editions have not…