The Hell of the North
 

Paris-Roubaix across the cobble stones. The 108th running of the clasic. It's on Versus @ 6 pm Eastern time this Sunday.


The movie:

http://www.masterlinkfilms.com/


US Postal:

http://www.videosurf.com/video/cicli...-2001-64320802


LeMond:

http://www.videosurf.com/video/paris...finish-1342473


http://www.versus.com/cycling/videos...roubaix-promo/

I wonder what will happen to George this time. :(

Thanks for the reminder.

He didn't do to bad in the Flanders race. Maybe he can pull it off this time. I thought last year would be his last for the Paris-Roubaix, but he sure does try, doesn't he.

Already programmed on the DVR. Enjoyed the tasty bits linked. Ah yes, the young Lemond....both his tummy and his mouth were smaller in those days.

It was great to watch this afternnon because it was raining so hard but it was a great race to watch with Cancellara doing so well!

Started off interesting but became a real snoozer. I like the outcome, but not much of a race.

It was certainly less visual than the scenes of huge pile-ups and cyclists+fans laying in water-logged ditches, but rarely is it dominated like Cancellara did. He did the same thing last week when he won the Tour of Flanders. Flanders was a more interesting race this year.

Boonen I believe said of last weeks race that he was dong 55 km and Cancellara was still pulling away from him; "what could I do?"

I'm relieved that Direct TV finally signed with Versus so we can see Cycling Sundays and the Tour DE France in high definition yet.

It was mentioned yesterday that the Tour will include some of the same cobblestone sections this year.

Al

I watched both the Founders and Paris Roubaix. I like Cancellara a lot as a bike racer. Besides being in peak condition, his tactics are superb. In Flounders, he put an acceleration on Boonen that he could not match on a hill on the cobbles. Also, it looked like Cancellara had a lower gear on his cluster since he was seated, spinning much faster than Boonen as he accelerated and gapped him while Boonen was standing trying to match him.

In Paris Roubaix, Cancellara caught Boonen out of position and put on an acceleration and bridged to two other riders. In a cross wind section, he stepped on the gas and dropped those two. Cross winds neutralize any draft advantage. I thought I was on the only one that got caught out of position, gapped and dropped.:cry: Anyway, once a guy like Cancellara gets a gap in this type of race with rough road conditions, it might as well be a couple of miles.

I really like Cancellara's tires. He was using some oversized tubulars made for the race. I could have used them in my TopSport road race that had a lot of rough road.:thumb:

Yep, that's what he said, then yesterday he capped on the other guys he was riding with, saying they were happy riding for second. I find it interesting that Boonen would say that because had he been as strong as "Spartacus" would it not be reasonable that he would have been able to at least keep the gap at 30 some seconds for the last 50 kms? :rolleyes: What he was really saying was he was the equal of Cancellara as long as they could trade off pulls until the finishing straight, where Boonen would probably have had a slight advantage. Tactically, Cancellara rode better races than Boonen the past three weekends, and the man is in the form of his life. Seriously, how does one guy (albeit the current ITT world champ) ride away from 6-7 other guys, from that far out. What an amazing two week stretch. Maybe he'll pick up L-B-L, too. Now that would be pretty cool.


*Scratch, L-B-L, he's not on the roster for it...maybe Amstel Gold next weekend, then..

Seriously, how does one guy (albeit the current ITT world champ) ride away from 6-7 other guys

That was incredible. You just don't see very often a guy just pound away at the front till no one else is left. It was great when the final rider dropped off Cancellara's wheel and that rider shook his fist in the air acknowledging defeat

The terrain of Flounders and Paris Roubaix favors big, powerful men. Did you ever see a skinny guy with spaghetti like arms running a jackhammer on a road crew? The momentum and power of a heavier more powerful rider propels him across the cobbles. I rode the TopSport road race this year and it had a lot of very rough road. The pounding over time to the arms, hands, butt, back, neck shoulders just wears you down. Fabian blew the guys away and gapped them in the crosswind section where drafting is ineffective. That is why the guy shook his fist. Fabian had better tactics. Once he got in the lead, the wind conditions were not conducive to a small group chasing him down.

I don't think George H, is ever going to win that race.

^^^
Don't give up yet, George, he could pull a Duclos and win the next couple years. :)

George is a fantastic lead out man and potential stage winner in Grand Tours. To lead out sprinters, you have to have a lot of fire power. The problem is George is getting a little old to go up against Boonen and Cancellara but one never knows.

Agreed, Rich, big George is a very classy rider and deserves to win P-R. Fortunately, 'most everyone will concede there is more than an insignificant amount of luck that goes into winning P-R, in addition to the skills already mentioned. So with that in mind, we could see a wet and miserable 2011 P-R where Tomeke's steerer cracks and Spartacus rides into a ditch, among other things.. ;)