Paris - Roubaix Predictions

jdt101

Any thoughts on who will win the above. I'm going for Cancellara, but hard to see Boonen being beaten especially after last weeks race.

ba

hmmm. Boonen, Cancellara or Haussler. Ballan has been very quiet.

michaelm

If not Boonen then Filippo Pozzato - not that I have any real idea of what I'm talking about, it's just that in a poll in a Belgian newspaper before last week's Tour of Flanders he was second favourite to Boonen.

CheGuedara

I'm in with the Boonen camp too, but it's a great race for throwing up surprises

DirkVoodoo

Boonen was marked quite heavily (was it Pozatto) during Flanders, can we expect the same again?

Where are the wonderful El Tonto previews, they are my window to racing, I don't know who is on form or best suited to paris-roubaix!!!

Chips Lovell

Dude, I'm on holidays.

Anyway, Boonen is my man this week. Cancellera's been injured for a long time so I doubt if he'd have the form. Ballan has a virus.

TinyExplosions

Boonen for me, though I think Hincapie can do it too....

In actuality, I'm predicting a breakaway win for some outsider, who that will be could be anyone!

ba

it will most likely be a small group that ride the final kilometres as the roads are very narrow and don't permit big bunch finishes.

Zipp101

I really hope either Hoste or Flecha.Both underated and sound.
ie. not Boonen.

sy

Juan Antonio Flecha for me as he has to make it eventually:pac: He has been very close in the last 4 years and I think he is planning his season around this one (who isn't). He seemed to be coming into good form last weekend in Flanders and Rabobank need a big win soon.

Roubaix can be a cruel race even if you are the strongest rider, crashes punctures etc Sundays forecast is good and Tom Boonen will start as a big favourite (his Quick Step Team which I think is the strongest I have seen for the spring classics in many many years, could potentially finish 1,2.3 like Museeuw's Mapei team in 1996 but very unlikely) . He looked very strong in Flanders but Pozzato had him scared. As for Pozzato, he has the talent and the form but the cobbles and dust might be a little rough for his toy boy image . I sometimes wonder what lies between his ears! In saying that he is one of my favourite cyclists.

Cancellara hasn't enough racing in his legs, Devolder is capable of anything and Haussler is still hungry but learning fast.(How many is that !)
Come on Big George.
Can't wait for Sunday. Anybody know what kind of odds are they giving for a Flanders Roubaix double?

Sorry for going off thread but did anybody notice that a certain Edvald Boasson Hagen won Gent Wevelgem this week. First came across him last year in the Tour of Britain where he won some impressive stages. This guy is 21:eek: and what a talent for the classics over the next 10 years!! Thor Hushovd
(another possible on Sunday) will have serious competition for best Norwegian cyclist in the coming years

bcmf

With Mapei Quick Step having such a strong team they can send 1of a number of men up the road and it will have an effect on the peloton.I would expect attack after attack from them just simply to wear the others out.
Boonen for me.

TinyExplosions

sy wrote: »

Sorry for going off thread but did anybody notice that a certain Edvald Boasson Hagen won Gent Wevelgem this week. First came across him last year in the Tour of Britain where he won some impressive stages. This guy is 21:eek: and what a talent for the classics over the next 10 years!! Thor Hushovd
(another possible on Sunday) will have serious competition for best Norwegian cyclist in the coming years

Very happy to see him win, there was an article in one of the mags about him the other month, came across as a personable chap

Chips Lovell

Zipp101 wrote: »

I really hope either Hoste or Flecha.Both underated and sound.
ie. not Boonen.

Flecha, fair enough. But Hoste is a total prima donna.

sy

el tonto wrote: »

... But Hoste is a total prima donna.

+1 on that. He was like a headless chicken last Sunday

By the way how is the training going in Spain!

Chips Lovell

sy wrote: »

By the way how is the training going in Spain!

Good. Getting out most days. And the legs are starting to feel good for the first time in a couple of months.

niceonetom

Joe Bastardi says: chance of rain.

for once i'm glad to hear it.

Caroline_ie

... i will be missing it family dinner ... then again i only see my family once a year... actually wait ... Paris Roubais is only once a year ... dammit!!!!!!!!!!

niceonetom

That was fecking brilliant.

Not a surprise result, but a surprising finish nonetheless. I've never routed for Boonen before - I just don't find him that compelling, but he was a monster today and he deserved the luck he had because he was the man doing the work up front for so much of it. Serious guts shown in the last 20k too. No one seems to mention it, but the dude can really handle a bike too.

TinyExplosions

Fantastic race actually, loved it

Chips Lovell

Yes, Boonen was brilliant. He was the only one of the 'final five' to avoid the crashes near the end, but there is a skill to avoiding crashes too and it ain't just blind luck. He had his own crash and a puncture earlier in the race. He was magnificent once he got away and looked so strong. But you're right, he handles his bike so well. He pulled out his advantage a bit in the closing pavé sections and was also cornering way better than Pozzato, who after looking like the strongest guy in the race for a long time really seemed tired by the end. Feel very sorry for Flecha, the guy has no look. Hushovd's crash was the dumbest.

c0rk3r

Was going to put €10 e/w on Thor but the bookies was closed(25-1 or 20-1). Shame he crashed with 14km to go. Would of made an exciting finish

Funkyzeit

Not a spoiler.
Tbh honest the motorbike crash took kinda dampened my enthusiasm despite otherwise being a brilliant race. 3 seriously injured out of eleven. Hope they all recover.

Ghost Rider

Yeah - it's a rotten thing to happen any time, but especially in the middle of such a great sporting event.

Funkyzeit wrote: »

Not a spoiler.
Tbh honest the motorbike crash took kinda damped my enthusiasm despite otherwise being a brilliant race. 3 seriously injured out of eleven. Hope they all recover.

Home:Ballyhoura

I wouldn't have been surprised if they had announced the death of someone in that accident at the end of the race. It really looked horrific at the time. Those motorcyclists have a very difficult job at times, especially today. Did you see the cameramen who were hanging off the back of the bikes with the camera centimeters from the cobbles? Scary stuff, but it made for great pictures. Fair play to them for doing it for over 6 hours (I hope they had shifts or something in operation), it must be very tiring. Don't mind the cyclists, that was easy stuff. Only about 35,000 revolutions of the pedals over seriously rough cobbles, I could do that in my sleep! Fair play to all who took part today, it made for a fantastic spectacle. Much better then any rugby match any day. Full stop. I hope ye enjoyed it just as much as I did!

Funkyzeit

Latest from Reuters:

ROUBAIX, France (Reuters) - Sixteen spectators were injured, four of them seriously, when an official motorcycle ran into the crowd during the Paris-Roubaix cycling classic race Sunday, firemen said.

The accident took place in Orchies, some 60km from the finish line when the rider, carrying a timing official, lost control of his bike at the end of a cobbled sector.

Four of the 16, including a four-year-old girl, were "seriously injured."

A woman lost consciousness and suffered a head trauma, race organisers said, adding that three of the injured were flown to hospitals in northern France by helicopter.

Firemen said many of the injured were members of the same family.

(Reporting by Pierre Savary, writing by Julien Pretot, editing by Justin Palmer)

bcmf

****.Put the race into perspective.

petethedrummer

Suprised it doesn't happen more often the way some people seem to carry on at these races.

Also a girl ran across the road in front of Boonen as he was on his break. Inches from taking him down.

Home:Ballyhoura

petethedrummer wrote: »

Suprised it doesn't happen more often the way some people seem to carry on at these races.

Also a girl ran across the road in front of Boonen as he was on his break. Inches from taking him down.

I saw that too, crazy stuff! Some of these people don't realise the speed that they are capable of doing. I was absolutely amazed to see it myself on TV, I didn't think it would be possible to do 50+ km/h over those cobbled sections! Wow, what real talent they have in the area of bike control also. Some the the motorbikes had trouble keeping up in some places with their big suspension forks (not to mention their big engines! ). Again, what a race it really was. I'd nearly watch it again if I had it recorded!!

Whoops!! I just remembered Eurosport are showing highlights in 5 minutes time. Guess what I'll be doing for the next hour. I'll actually try it while on the turbo trainer, should be some good motivation (if I can even concentrate enough to spin those pedals!). Sure we'll see what happens anyway! Good luck, I'm off now to get set up in front of the tele!