Professional Cycling For the Fans - Who is your pick for Paris-Roubaix?

I am going with Hincapie, I think Boonen and Fabian will fight among themselves and George will get away.

I'm going with Spartacus. Fabian seems to be on a mission to win all of the monuments.

cancellara/boonen would be the obvious choices with their experience/wins
but i'll go out on a limb here and pick leif hoste of omega pharma-lotto.
hoste has had more near-wins than anyone in the spring classics (except
maybe hincapie) and frequently seems to pick the right break.

I'm going with Spartacus. Fabian seems to be on a mission to win all of the monuments.

+1. I'll also go with Spartacus.

Flecha all alone.

The line:

Selection
Fabian Cancellara6/4 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
Tom Boonen5/2 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
Matti Breschel10/1 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
Juan Antonio Flecha12/1 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
Thor Hushovd14/1 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
Filippo Pozzato20/1 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
Bernhard Eisel22/1 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
George Hincapie25/1 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
Leif Hoste26/1 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
Stijn Devolder33/1 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))
Tyler Farrar33/1 (http://javascript<b></b>:void(null))

I'm going with Spartacus. Fabian seems to be on a mission to win all of the monuments.

Me too

I'm going with Spartacus. Fabian seems to be on a mission to win all of the monuments.

do you mean all of them in one year? because he has already won PR.


I am going with Hincapie, I think Boonen and Fabian will fight among themselves and George will get away.

yah man, hincapie will drop boonen and fabu.... riiiight. Hincapie for the win, if fabu and boonen get mechanicals and delayed bike changes, all at the same time, but even then, what about thor, flecha, uhhh matti, millar, and a dozen other people who are on the same level as hincapie, with better and worse sprinting abilities.

I guess hincapie winning will be about as unlikely as the president of poland crashing his plane into the katyn forest on the 70th anniversary of the katyn forest massacre, oh wait that just happened today..

hoste has had more near-wins than anyone in the spring classics (except
maybe hincapie) and frequently seems to pick the right break.

it must be tough trying to pick the right break at PR... hrm do i go in this one with the no names at the beginning or should i hang out with fabu and boonen... hmmmmm, riddles riddles... going with the break? or hanging on for dear life to the favorites and hoping to god your bike doesnt explode and then your face on the cobbles the next moment?

Hushovd. He hasn't been very good so far this spring, time to let it all out. Or Boonen. Seems like he's always winning it.

Boonen

I don't want to pick Spartacus, but he's definitely the odds on favorite. My logical pick would be him or Boonen.

I'd love to see Big George get it, so that he can retire (when he decides to do so...) with that monkey off his back. He's my sentimental pick.

The thing with P-R, is *luck*. Luck plays a much larger part in this Classic, than in any other. And that's something that nobody can predict.

Im going with a long shot here Ryder Hesjedal he could place in the top ten and with some luck pull off the win. His career is coming along pretty good . He is one to watch

Juan Antonio Flecha

Yes, I know he's Spanish...

I'm going with a longshot, Martijn Maaskant

Anyone have a stream that is working? All the cyclingfans ones have been cut off or just won't load. Getting pretty frustrated over here!

Whomever is in charge of these broadcasts is on an absolute rampage to shut down streams as soon as they pop up.

Just tuned in... Where's Hincapie?

Hincapie could make it an American hat trick, Farrar Scheldeprijs, Horner Basque.

I don't think so.

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Garmin can't stay upright today.

It seems I finally found a good combo...listening to Eurosport (English) audio stream and watching the Vshare.tv (TDP feed) video feed. Feeds can be found on cyclingfans.com

*** SPOILERS ***
















FC's 50km Time Trial strategy for the end of races is unreal.

FC's strength is unreal.

This guy is making history today. What a ride.

He did this last week.... just, stays in the front group until about 50km or so, and turns on TT mode and leaves everyone behind! NUTS! Think he's a GC contender? Also.... didn't his teammate (their #1 guy for P-R), get all pissed last week about a bike exchange? What happened to him today?

i bet patcrick lefevere is gonna go ape ****.

He did this last week.... just, stays in the front group until about 50km or so, and turns on TT mode and leaves everyone behind! NUTS! Think he's a GC contender? Also.... didn't his teammate (their #1 guy for P-R), get all pissed last week about a bike exchange? What happened to him today?

He's not Tour GC contender. The only tour of note he has won was the Swiss when the "flattened it" to suit him a couple of years ago.

This is bigger than lasat week. Boonen would have wanted this very very badly. You have to go back to the 70's for a three-peat.

He's not Tour GC contender. The only tour of note he has won was the Swiss when the "flattened it" to suit him a couple of years ago.

This is bigger than lasat week. Boonen would have wanted this very very badly. You have to go back to the 70's for a three-peat.

Didn't FC lose some weight for this year? Thought I read that.... I'll tell ya, though, these one dayers, he makes it look easy & almost unfair! ha!

Poor Big George....

man, fabian looks a lot slower now than earlier, and i just caluclated his average over the past 10k at 23.5! how fast was he going earlier?!?! i would love to see his power numbers. or hate to see them. :twitchy:

His power numbers for last week were amazing.

It's like watching a rerun of Flanders! Good luck charm and all..

An amazing display of power. Incredible.

"Fabian is the best all round rider of his generation" Sean Kelly

Wow...what an impressive ride by FC...again!!

"Fabian is the best all round rider of his generation" Sean Kelly

High praise from a very qualified source.

I know Hincapie wanted this too, but was no where to be found in the end (well, the group after Boonen's but still).... I missed the first half of the race, where was BMC in support?

I know Hincapie wanted this too, but was no where to be found in the end (well, the group after Boonen's but still).... I missed the first half of the race, where was BMC in support?

It was painful to see Hincapie fall so short, he had a great race at Flanders, this was a disappointment. Two of BMC's strongest riders, Ballan and Santambrogio were suspended earlier this week (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ballan-and-santambrogio-pulled-from-racing) because of a doping investigation from their Lampre days. I think the Ballan loss was especially painful, he's a very strong rider.

But Cancellera's performance was absolutely amazing to see. I'm shocked as to how easily he's able to drop the strongest riders in the world.

wowowow fabu makes it look sooo damn easy.. it's easy to imagine fabian running a late night TV ad, "if you do these patented Fabu workouts you can drop the rest of the peloton just like me, it's that simple!!" everyone hesitated to put in the effort when he attacked, why??? they knew whoever made the effort to bridge or reel him in would be doomed due to the enormous effort only he can produce and then get away with??? damn!! it must be his chamois cream?? i'm going to buy a case!! or maybe it's his fruit loops medallion??? ima get me one of those!!! it's mind boggling feats like this that make me laugh whenever i hear someone say hincapie is going to win, or hincapie says "there's no reason i cant win, its just luck"

it would've been a lot more exciting if we could have edited out Fabu, since everyone else was pretty much on the same level and we could've seen a fight, rather than a pack of sissy girls.

It was all hope when I picked George, FC was amazing.

It's funny because in an interview days before PR, Boonen was saying "you can't give Cancellara a yard, or he's gone" and then in this PR he was sooo many riders out of position for marking Fabu, wtf Boonen?

I credit Boonen for being the one guy besides Cancellara who appeared to be racing to win. Too many of those guys seemed content to race for 2nd. I know, I know--Cancellara was easily the strongest guy out there, but he was on his own for a long time; if that chase group had organized itself they might have had a slim chance. Instead we saw Boonen pulling for what seemed like a bout 30K while Flecha dragged along behind. Only when victory was completely out of reach did Flecha attack, burning all the matches he'd stashed in a surge for second. I suppose you could call that smart racing, but I think it's kind of tacky. I don't have much respect for guys who race for second when first is still in play.

Yah, in a post race interview Boonen says everyone was instantly content to race for 2nd place, moments after Cancellara launched his attack, lol, sad, made for a boring race. Could have been 100x more exciting.

I couldn't tell from the feed... where was Quickstep in all of this to help Boonen out?

I couldn't tell from the feed... where was Quickstep in all of this to help Boonen out?

Nobody in the lead group had teammates other that JA Fletcha, who might have had one or two of the sky guys there. When Fabian went, Boonen reacted, but he was at the back of the group at the time. (well timed by Cancellara) The rest of them pretty much watched until Boonen put up the chase. But there wasn't much help from Hushovd, Fletcha, Hammond, etc. Hell, it was over 40k out when Fabian took off.

Like Aloysius said, seemed like they were riding for second (except for Boonen).

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I was watching PR @ the bike shop before my ride today and FC had a 3 minute gap with something like 20k to go.

It's not even funny how good he is this year because he is totally destroying guys like Boonen and Flecha, both being on really good form themselves--I can only feel for Boonen who is so close yet so far this year...

Everyone except Boonen was racing for 2nd place. Its understandable Boonen was angry at Flecha. But Let understand Flecha...

HOWEVER lets look at Flecha's option: Help Boonen and Company to bridge only to get smoked by the very same guys he helped :-)

In fact it happened in a little way... Flecha brought along HUshovd,...Hushovd told Flecha he is having cramps already only to sprint away from him in the last 50metres....Flecha knows he can't even beat Phil Ligget in a sprint let alone Hushovd, Boonen, FC etc etc etc...

Everyone except Boonen played their cards well:

Fabby C - for attacking 50 kms while Boonen was feeding at the back after Boonen attacked several times....he knows he can TT his way and is in the form of his 29 year old life...Its the perfect tactic...50kms makes it look like too stupid to join for other less gifted riders...but alas this is SPARTA!!!!!! Buwahahahahaha Spartacus is loaded!!!! plus..all those "training tips" with Riis must be paying dividends...the tapering program is awesome but I digress :-)

Flecha - marked Boonen when Boonen apeared to be trying to bridge...playing for 2nd place yeah...save energy for a free wheel to suck...worked with Boonen but got fooled by the God of Deception este Thunder....still, its good enough for 3rd...not bad...

Hushovd - play for 2nd place, watch Boonen too,..help a few turns in front with Boonen but reserve for the final velodrome sprint, ride anyone who will bridge, looks around and sees that only Boonen is as trong if not stronger in the sprint - Feign cramps, ride Flecha's wheel - then sprint away from Flecha...BOOM BOOM suker punch galore...2nd place it is!

Roger Hammond - make the favourites selection...support Thor by marking Boonen while Flecha brought Thor with him on the final chase....watch a disillusioned Boonen some more...opportunistic..senses he has a chance to get fourth...goes for it on the velodrome....BOOM.......4th place and a better commercial for CERVELO...I can see the marketing slogan now...."Best performing team in Paris Roubaix...and a better bike for YOU!" LOL!

If any of the three I mentioned joined Boonen's chase..any of them would be lucky to just get 3rd place....if at all. Because they will be knackered with a 50km chase and final velodrome sprint....to which I doubt they can beat Boonen and Cancellara....or even someone wheel sucking in the chase like Pozzato or someone else...

Lefevre and Boonen are angry but really they are angry because other riders did not work for their plan!

I know Hincapie wanted this too, but was no where to be found in the end (well, the group after Boonen's but still).... I missed the first half of the race, where was BMC in support?


I couldn't tell from the feed... where was Quickstep in all of this to help Boonen out?

Where was Fabian's support? ;)

Where was Fabian's support? ;)
Yea I think Fabian supported himself quite well. If Boonen wanted to win he should have chased him down {LOL**. Another dominating performance by FC like in the TDF TTT last year when he practically did all the pulling and looked like he was waiting on teamates to keep from dropping them. He's definitely a BEAST!

Didn't FC lose some weight for this year? Thought I read that.... I'll tell ya, though, these one dayers, he makes it look easy & almost unfair! ha!

He is 6'1" and 180 lbs as of PR, surprisingly heavy IMO.

[QUOTE=deadly downtube;10650882]do you mean all of them in one year? because he has already won PR.[QUOTE]

Maybe....