Ah, Paris-Roubaix. There is no finer example of bike-racing spectacle. Fabian Cancellara proved once again that the secret to victory is to keep your head up, attack once, and finish alone. Most news reports state that the CSC rider “dropped” Vlad Gusev to make good his escape, but this implies the Swiss rider made specific…
Vasco, Sarthe Results, Wevelgem Tomorow, Roubaix LIVE
So I watched Pais Vasco live today, streaming from Eurosport. It was a nasty little race course, with a profile resembling the EKG of a cardiac spasm. Debate seems to be raging over whether there were 12 or 13 categorized climbs, but either way, no fun. Sammy Sanchez took a very classy win, dropping the…
More Flanders, Valverde Vins in Vasco, Grillo Gana in Gallia
Tom Boonen won Flanders again, and there is ample criticism (read Angelique Van Petegem’s comments at the bottom) directed at pretty much anyone not affiliated with Team Quick.Step. Dirk Demol has offered a few excuses (scroll down) but it’s unconvincing; if no mortals dare to challenge the dominance of LeFevere’s squad next weekend, I’m hoping…
How Not to Try to Win Tour of Flanders – Rant
Discovery DS Dirk Demol is not a stupid man. “One thing is sure,” he told Eurosport yesterday, “The longer that everybody waits to make the race hard, the better for Boonen”. It’s sound logic, as the best way to upset a heavy favorite is to make things not go smoothly and predictably. What I don’t…
The Real April 1 News, Final Flanders Forecasts
So April 1! Bon Anniversaire to Paolo Bettini and GMail. As you might expect, fake news was everywyhere today. I’m a little disappointed in VeloNews for their attempt, which I guess they and Cyclingnews each got from Hed; maybe this was supposed to be part of the gag, I suppose, but it was funnier the…
WADA Raids Quick.Step, Flanders Course Changed, Other Odd News
In Belgium this morning, WADA stormtroopers raided the Quick.Step team bus just after dawn, on a tip that World Champion Tom Boonen had been using cocaine to boost the power and confidence of his sprinting ability. “We believe Boonen became addicted to blow after his wild night in Madrid last Fall”, stated WADA Chief Dick…
Wired to Wuss Out – Rant
Remember the 2003 Tour? When an IMAX film crew (search “Hamilton”) followed Tyler Hamilton around? Well, Cyclingnews finally got a review of the finished product out. Though I wouldn’t put too much stock in their evaluation of the piece (they’re running ads for the feature on their homepage – though they did have the good…
Dumoulin Defeats Protesters, Flanders Picks & Previews
So for those of you who’ve been under a rock for the past week, there’ve been some protests in France over a new job law, designed to decrease youth unemployment by making young workers easier to fire. Young folks are upset about this, I guess (not to further any stereotypes about the French being lazy,…
Hoste Takes DaPanne, Boonen Cheats Aging Process?
Discovery Channel seems like a normal team, most of the time. Even back in the Lance days, they’d go about their business in a nice, ordinary fashion, getting into breaks, taking pulls, occasionally winning, mostly not, and just, you know, fitting in with the other guys. But every so often, like at the Tour, or…
Eisel Makes Good at DaPanne, Injury Report
So I guess maybe yesterday’s sprint just wasn’t hard enough for Bernhard Eisel, as he managed to beat 30 other guys in today’s finish (and by good margin, too). But since yesterday, today, and the remaining Day of Pain, are just an appetizer for the Ronde this weekend, the real impact of today’s stage was…