Milan-San Remo 2012 (March 17th); warning, contains unmasked spoiler information

dave2pvd

corny wrote: »

Simon Gerrrans as an outsider

Good call!

Sr. Assumpta

Awh, poor Fab.....

Hail 2 Da Thief

Gutted to see Fab pipped to 2nd yet again!

Inquitus

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

Gutted to see Fab pipped to 2nd yet again!

I think he might have to get used to it, sadly. There's always going to be a Gilbert, Boonen or Gerrans in his wheel.

Stokolan

Had €25 on Cancellara maybe next time.

goldencleric

corny wrote: »

Anything can happen but Cavs form is good enough and is team strong enough to make this another facile win. Simon Gerrrans as an outsider though.

Great shout!

Dammit had money on Pozzato at 80-1 each way. I cannot and will not stop placing bets on that man to win something, as stupid as that may be.

Beasty

goldencleric wrote: »

Great shout!

Dammit had money on Pozzato at 80-1 each way. I cannot and will not stop placing bets on that man to win something, as stupid as that may be.

Just double your stake every time - you may end up a millionaire (equally you could end up bankrupt!)

sy

Great race. Strongest man won.

cycletheroad

cycletheroad wrote: »

I would fancy Nibali to win.......he has superior descending skills if his their at the end, considering his recent form.........33/1 with paddy power is generous odds. get yer money on:D

Had 10 ew on Nibali, so happy with result. Cav was a big surprise, have my doubts about him doing nine rounds of box hill in the olympic road race to get in the medals.

funnights74

sy wrote: »

Great race. Strongest man won.

Best sprinter won, unless Cancellara figuires out a way of out doing these guys who hang on after he instigates the initial breaks he will be finishing second many more times.
Today was a re-run of last years Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix where he finished second on both occasions.

cycletheroad

funnights74 wrote: »

sy wrote: »

Great race. Strongest man won.

Best sprinter won, unless Cancellara figuires out a way of out doing these guys who hang on after he instigates the initial breaks he will be finishing second many more times.
Today was a re-run of last years Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix where he finished second on both occasions.

But it was Nibali who instigated the winning move and brought Gerrans with him then cancellara came up. If Cancellara had went first I think he may have won it then.

TheBlaaMan

Feckin wheel-suckin' Aussie......

Spartacus is going to have to rethink things, he only succeeded in pulling Gerrans to the line, and Gerrans took only one brief turn on the front in 3km.......maybe he should have done as he did in P-R last year and sat up. He's not going to win a sprint in those conditions.......

He is still the most exciting guy in the peleton (IMO) and I was really willing him on for a repeat of his victory in the Strade Bianche.

Morrisseeee

Came back from the race in Carrick today and caught the last 20km. Good win for Gerrans as he profited from the Cancellara move. I'm just wondering did Sagan not try too hard to catch the front 3 as Nibbles was there. I suspect he's nailed on to win this race soon tho !

Taylor Phinney's 'spin' on Strava.

furiousox

Looked like a bad crash at the last corner, who went down?

buffalo

furiousox wrote: »

Looked like a bad crash at the last corner, who went down?

Quickstep's Trentin - http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/11394/Bad-luck-for-Boonen-and-Trentin-in-Milan-Sanremo.aspx

sy

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Feckin wheel-suckin' Aussie......

Gerrans covered the move by Nibali (easily) Cancellara tried his best to drop Gerrans on the descent and at the bottom of the Poggio. He got 20m at one stage but Gerrans covered it. Its what happens in bike racing if you are the better sprinter. Sit on the stong man as much as you can then jump. It may seem unfair (I was rootin for Cancellara by the way ) but thats racing and Gerrans rode the perfect finish. He had the head and legs to do it on the day. Not nice finishing 2nd 2 years on the trot but Cancelllara should have made his move earlier to get that 15/20 second gap necessary at the bottom of the Poggio. He will have his day in April (I hope)

Good to see Pozzato coming back to form and Sagan looked impressive as expected. Haussler and Boonen were disappointing

Link
Gerrans

“Without question Fabian was the strongest, I can’t deny him that. He was going like a motorbike,” Gerrans admitted in the post-race press conference. “Really, he followed Nibali and myself on the Poggio and then he drove it across the top. He’s one of the best descenders in the peloton and he drove it down the descent. I was losing the wheel coming out of the corners each time.”
My position was to follow the breakaways,” Gerrans said. “Obviously I wasn’t as strong as Fabian, I’d be the first to admit that. But it’s not always the strongest guy who wins the race. You have to play a little smart and be there.”

C-Shore

cycletheroad wrote: »

I would fancy Nibali to win.......he has superior descending skills if his their at the end, considering his recent form.........33/1 with paddy power is generous odds. get yer money on:D

Boyle Sports gave him at 66/1 during the week, so I was happy! He went to 16/1 at about the 50km mark in running.

It was frustrating watching him sit on Cancellara's wheel on the way in, but I reckon he was too tired to even try, so fair play to him hanging on. A win would have been nicer for the €5 e/w

It was a great race right to the finish, feel awful for Van Avermaet though, so close!

corny

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Feckin wheel-suckin' Aussie......

Spartacus is going to have to rethink things, he only succeeded in pulling Gerrans to the line, and Gerrans took only one brief turn on the front in 3km.......maybe he should have done as he did in P-R last year and sat up. He's not going to win a sprint in those conditions.......

He is still the most exciting guy in the peleton (IMO) and I was really willing him on for a repeat of his victory in the Strade Bianche.

He is brilliant for bike racing but to be fair the opposition aren't stupid. They know if they contribute Spartacus might do what he did at Harelbeke last year and just ride off on the flat.

Cancellara attacked them at the bottom of the Poggio and couldn't distance them. They didn't owe him anything after that.

MrCreosote

“Without question Fabian was the strongest, I can’t deny him that. He was going like a motorbike,” Gerrans admitted in the post-race press conference.

They're not starting up that old rumour again, I hope?!

650Ginge

Lumen wrote: »

Good luck to anyone trying to drop Cavendish. Even on his own he can go up hills when he has a reason to.

Didn't seem to strong on the hills yesterday. I am always surprised at the form of cav, he can be like a storm trooper one day lamb the next.

morana

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Came back from the race in Carrick today and caught the last 20km. Good win for Gerrans as he profited from the Cancellara move. I'm just wondering did Sagan not try too hard to catch the front 3 as Nibbles was there. I suspect he's nailed on to win this race soon tho !

Taylor Phinney's 'spin' on Strava.

have to agree with the Sagan saga. He should have tried to get up to them or help katusha. Nibali wouldnt win an A4 sprint so why would you not put your best hope up there.

TheBlaaMan

650Ginge wrote: »

Didn't seem to strong on the hills yesterday. I am always surprised at the form of cav, he can be like a storm trooper one day lamb the next.

He's even unsure himself....

"Mark Cavendish ‏ @MarkCavendish So yesterdays race gets filed in my #worstdaysofmycareer list. Something was VERY wrong. No explanation, but I let down an incredible group."

TheBlaaMan

Some great (hi res) pics of yesterdays action on the cyclingfans.com website.
http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/4133



Also, Taylor Phinney's Garmin stats from MSR are on Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/5329389

Ridden by Taylor Phinney at 09:43am on Saturday, 03/17/2012

Distance 305km
Elevation 4,012m
Moving Time 07:36:59
Calories 10,087
Max Speed 78.0km/h
Avg Speed 40.1km/h

Some serious climbing (VAM) stats in there !


.

Keelo51

http://kealansbikeshed.blogspot.com/2012/03/spartacus-and-king.html

chakattack

I wanted Spartacus to win but Gerrans played it smart and as first over the line deserves the win - that's bike racing.

Keelo51

Cancellara's a legend without doubt, but no one has mentioned Gerrans tactical nous in the timing of his finishing kick. How many riders would have been able to hold their nerve and pick the perfect moment to go with the bunch closing so fast. Either way, good to see the sprinters teams were unable to control it and the race resembled something which we were used to seeing in the past.

TheBlaaMan

Further evidence of a cleaner peleton...maybe.

An Italian blog has reviewed almost all of the videos of the last twenty editions of MSR looking specifically a the the ascent times for the Poggio: 3700 meters by 136 meters in altitude and 3.7 percent average gradient (the maximum is 8 per cent) and found that over the 20 years the average ascent time has risen by a (fairly significant) 70 seconds.

With thanks for Google translation...

From 1994 to 2012 the times on the Poggio climb worsened by 70 seconds.

1 - Up to 1995/1996 the Poggio climb was in the earliest times ranging between 5'25 "(which is the record) and 5'50".
2 - Around 2000 on the hill they went up in six minutes flat.
3 - This year, as much as last year and in 2010, Poggio has been scaled to 6'36 "

Yet these two decades

A - the weight of the bike is dropped at least three pounds.
B - the components (electronic gear, wheels ...) has improved enormously.
C - The training techniques and nutrition have evolved a lot.


From here:
http://cyclingpro.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/perche-dal-1994-al-2012-dei-tempi-di-scalata-del-poggio-alla-sanremo-sono-peggiorati-di-70-secondi-cerchiamo-uno-scienziato-che-sveli-il-mistero/

The blog ends with an appeal for a sports scientist to further analyse these stats and provide further explanations of the cause of the increase.

Keelo51

Food for thought alright.
we dont have to let truth get in the way of a good story though.;).

Billycake

A link to an analysis of Gerrans SRM data for the race. Some great hi def photos too. Anybody seen anything on Cancellara's numbers?
Makes interesting reading when read in conjunction with the posts about A4 race speed up on boards at the moment. Gerrans was able put out that wattage in the sprint after 298kms of racing!!!

http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2012/03/gerros-milan-san-remo-power-analysis/