Flanders Start List

Raam

No Devolder?

http://www.velonews.com/article/90130

Quick Step
1VORSjn
2 BOONEN Tom
3 CHAVANEL Sylvain
4 DE WEERT Kevin
5 HULSMANS Kevin
6 TOSATTO Matteo
7 VAN IMPE Kevin
8 WYNANTS Maarten

Only provisional though

Billy Whizz

Looks like a typo, Devolder is listed on http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/apr09/rvv09/?id=startlist

Raam

Actually that list looks well old/rubbish

Garmin-Slipstream
101 BACKSTEDT Magnus
102 COZZA Steven
103 FARRAR Tyler
104 FRIEDMAN Michael
105 FRISCHKORN William
106 MAASKANT Martijn
107 SUTTON Christopher
108 TUFT Svein

Ballan's still out, right?

Lampre- N.G.C
111 BALLAN Alessandro
112 BANDIERA Marco
113 DA DALTO Mauro
114 LORENZETTO Mirco
115 MORI Manuele
116 RIGHI Daniele
117 SAPA Marcin
118 SPILAK Simon

Chips Lovell

On your way to the bookies?

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

On your way to the bookies?

Not me, I don't bet.

TinyExplosions

Raam wrote: »

Not me, I don't bet.

Wanna bet?

sy

Raam wrote: »

No Devolder?

Unless he lost one of his legs Devolder with be riding and very much in contention for Flanders. For most Belgian pros this is the ultimate race to win. Even more so than the Tour. Quick Step have an impressive team in Boonen Devolder( an animal on the bike) and Chavanel, with any one of them capable of winning. It will be interesting to see if Cervelo can put it up to them in the last 40k. Haussler is still only 25(mind you I thought Cav was too young to last the distance in San Remo!) so not sure if he is just battle hardened enough yet to win one of the toughest races on the calender. He will win this race in the next three or four years. Pozzato seems to have gotten his head together at last and looked impressive in the Three days of De Panne. Team is not as strong as Quick Step or Cervelo but he is a serious talent who finally may become the superstar he has hinted at. Sorry can't put things together as well as el tonto:pac: (keep them coming el t) but I F****** LOVE these next few weeks of racing. Whats your bet Tiny?

TinyExplosions

sy wrote: »

Whats your bet Tiny?

I think I said it in an earlier thread, but I have Hincapie down as a dark horse -I think he can do it if he has a good day

Otherwise, it's between Devolder or Boonen

sy

TinyExplosions wrote: »

..... I have Hincapie down as a dark horse..

Would love to see Big George win a major classic. He has been close a few times but feel he may be past his best.

Raam

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I think I said it in an earlier thread, but I have Hincapie down as a dark horse -I think he can do it if he has a good day

Otherwise, it's between Devolder or Boonen

I'd agree with that. I'll throw Pozatto in there too. We must have mentioned all the favourites a few times by now so surely we can't be wrong?

sy

Raam wrote: »

... We must have mentioned all the favourites a few times by now so surely we can't be wrong?

Want to bet on that Raam:)

Raam

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Wanna bet?

sy wrote: »

Want to bet on that Raam:)

Pair of clowns!

TinyExplosions

sy wrote: »

Would love to see Big George win a major classic. He has been close a few times but feel he may be past his best.

Possibly, though he has a great team now that may work for him. He's a dark horse for Flanders, but I have a good feeling for him in Paris Roubaix this year

Billy Whizz

Boonen is the favourite alright, but as he's already been mentioned I'll go for Leif Hoste or Philippe Gilbert.

bcmf

Any live links to this for those of us who dont have EuroSport or other such fancy channels?

Raam

bcmf wrote: »

Any live links to this for those of us who dont have EuroSport or other such fancy channels?

you might have some luck here: http://www.cyclingfans.com/

zzzzzzzz

bcmf wrote: »

Any live links to this for those of us who dont have EuroSport or other such fancy channels?

Scottreynolds previously mentioned he had an online subscription to eurosport. Just sorted it out today as I can't get digital in my new apartment.

Well worth the €5 a month!!

If you're on a mac you'll need to run parallels or bootcamp to get it working

bcmf

Final 2km here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9w5bhSnZE8

TinyExplosions

Great race, the winner deserved it I think (not mentioning who in order to not spoil it!)

sy

Great race. Quick Step played a blinder and would have looked very silly had they not won. Devolder looked possessed as he hit the top of the Muur! However I think Pozzato made a major error in letting him get across to Chavanel. Yes Boonen had him covered but Pozzato handed Quick Step the victory when he failed to mark Devolders great move. Pozzato looked the strongest rider on the climbs but overall Devolder was more tactfully astute and had a much better team to back him up. Poor Haussler showed his lack of experience as Kelly rightfully pointed out but then his day will come with age;) Looking forward to next week when I hope Tom is a bit more decisive and Pozzato gets his finger out!

Chips Lovell

sy wrote: »

However I think Pozzato made a major error in letting him get across to Chavanel.

Spot on. Pozzato had only one tactic and that was to sit on Boonen's wheel all day, probably in the belief that he wouldn't let a teammate win for the second year in a row. Indeed, nobody at all thought of chasing Devolder. He thoroughly deserved the win. His attack on the Muur was savage.

Anyone else see Cancellara's bike toss?

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

Anyone else see Cancellara's bike toss?

Poor guy... breaking a chain on the Koppenberg can't be much fun, then to see him a bit forlorn wheeling back down it to get to a team car after trudging to the top, chain draped around his neck...

Chips Lovell

Actually, has anybody heard from DirkVoodoo yet? You know he was supposed to be riding sportif version on Saturday.

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

Actually, has anybody heard from DirkVoodoo yet? You know he was supposed to be riding sportif version on Saturday.

He's probably gettin his hair done, so has no access to t'interwebs

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

Spot on. Pozzato had only one tactic and that was to sit on Boonen's wheel all day, probably in the belief that he wouldn't let a teammate win for the second year in a row. Indeed, nobody at all thought of chasing Devolder. He thoroughly deserved the win. His attack on the Muur was savage.

Anyone else see Cancellara's bike toss?

I had turned away from the telly when he did and just saw it in the side of the road with Cancellara looking most displeased. They didn't even do a replay. One for youtube I think.

Junior

I was watching online and the missus shouted was everything ok when I shouted oh jesus f*ck really loud at the crash in the sprint...

TinyExplosions

Junior wrote: »

I was watching online and the missus shouted was everything ok when I shouted oh jesus f*ck really loud at the crash in the sprint...

Anyone badly hurt in that, it looked nasty on the replays alright

Junior

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Anyone badly hurt in that, it looked nasty on the replays alright

Don't think so, as a few minutes later I could see someone walking across the finish with a bike on his shoulder ..

Raam

Junior wrote: »

I was watching online and the missus shouted was everything ok when I shouted oh jesus f*ck really loud at the crash in the sprint...

That was a nasty one to watch. You could see it was going to happen when a few lads started moving towards the barriers at speed.

Funkyzeit

Great race - unreal weather as well
Have to say from start (of coverage anyway) to end Quick Step dominated - always around the breaks and in control at the front. Devolder was like a man possesed going up the Muur - thought he might suffer afterwards but looked supremely strong all the way to the finish.

Well done to the boardsies who tipped the winner (on top of Boonen, Pozzato, Chavenel etc...;))

ROK ON

My first time watching this race (only final 40mins). I dont actually watch a lot of sports on the tv (other than the odd rugby or hurling match).
But christ this was fascinating.

I loved the climbs thru the villages at the end. The tv camera, made the gradients look really steep on some of them.

May start to watch a few more classic s now. If the sportif that Dirk did was on same/similar course then it would be a fantastic (gruelling) day out. Worth doing.

Glad I tuned in.

TinyExplosions

ROK ON wrote: »

Glad I tuned in.

What surprised me was that my Mum enjoyed it a lot... my folks were over cos my Dad wanted to watch the Grand Prix, and I stuck on the end of the race after (I'd recorded it), and me Mum kept saying how it was far more exciting that the boring cars!

bunnygreen

Those gradients are steep.

PachosMa

great race, and fantastic coverage. i wouldn't normally be too pushed on watching an event like that in full, but was surprised at how zoned in i was watching it - found myself leaning forward on the couch, and completely not hearing people talking to me in the room

sy

ROK ON wrote: »

The tv camera, made the gradients look really steep on some of them.

The camera work was excellent throughout the race, however I always feel that it can never do justice to how steep those climbs really are and that's not mentioning the cobbles :eek: It was incredible to see how much distance Pozzato and Boonen could put into the bunch on some of them, they even dropped Devolder!. Love to get a max wattage reading especially near the top of the Koppenberg or the Muur. No wonder poor old Cancellara's chain popped!

ROK ON

sy wrote: »

The camera work was excellent throughout the race, however I always feel that it can never do justice to how steep those climbs really are and that's not mentioning the cobbles :eek: It was incredible to see how much distance Pozzato and Boonen could put into the bunch on some of them, they even dropped Devolder!. Love to get a max wattage reading especially near the top of the Koppenberg or the Muur. No wonder poor old Cancellara's chain popped!

I thought that I heard that the max gradient on one of the climbs was 22%. Is that right. Crazy.

bcmf

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Anyone badly hurt in that, it looked nasty on the replays alright

Hincapie came down.Mentions it on his twitter.
Also on his twitter is a good link to one of the teammates Milan-San Remo.A good read.

sy

Yes the Koppenberg is max 22% and average near 12% and dont forget the cobbles

Koppenberg

ROK ON

sy wrote: »

Yes the Koppenberg is max 22% and average near 12% and dont forget the cobbles

Koppenberg

Mental, pure mental.
Are you allowed to walk on a bike race?

niceonetom

oh, and many of them are using 44 tooth inner rings. Boonen used 41. What a nancy...

TinyExplosions

ROK ON wrote: »

Mental, pure mental.
Are you allowed to walk on a bike race?

Yes, you saw Cancellara doing it yesterday when his train broke, and if the race is wet (which is often is) the cobbles get like glass and a fair few people walk up

ROK ON

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Yes, you saw Cancellara doing it yesterday when his train broke, and if the race is wet (which is often is) the cobbles get like glass and a fair few people walk up

OK, when I saw him walking I presumed it was due to that, and that he was no longer in the race.

Ah sure, if thats the case, when I get knackered during the WW200, I will just dismount and stroll my way up the hills.

sy

ROK ON wrote: »

Ah sure, if thats the case, when I get knackered during the WW200, I will just dismount and stroll my way up the hills.

Don't forget to have a chain to hang around your neck;)

Raam

ROK ON wrote: »

Mental, pure mental.
Are you allowed to walk on a bike race?

Yeah, but you have to finish with your bike.