Paris - Roubaix, April 13th 2014 **Warning: contains unmasked spoilers**

Chips Lovell

Soon...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1QXKjc1nLY

pelevin

I remember during last year's TdF after Sagan's lead in the Points battle was getting bigger & bigger & he was asked who was the biggest threat & his response was "Crash". Seems to me, despite strengths of likes of Vanmarcke, crash or puncture is the biggest threat to Cancellara in this race.

Darkglasses

Some are more comfortable than others..

07Lapierre

pelevin wrote: »

I remember during last year's TdF after Sagan's lead in the Points battle was getting bigger & bigger & he was asked who was the biggest threat & his response was "Crash". Seems to me, despite strengths of likes of Vanmarcke, crash or puncture is the biggest threat to everyone Cancellara in this race.

Its the Grand National of Cycle racing.

Darkglasses

Question - does anybody here think Sir Bradley even has a chance of top 10 on Sunday?

happytramp

If he avoids crashes, punctures and is lucky in his positioning then why not, he's got a good engine. That said, to the best of my knowledge he's never done anything before to suggest he's good over cobbles.

Edit - There's probably a question mark about his ability to respond top big accelerations, so it'll be hard actually.

Darkglasses

happytramp wrote: »

If he avoids crashes, punctures and is lucky in his positioning then why not, he's got a good engine. That said, to the best of my knowledge he's never done anything before to suggest he's good over cobbles

According the GCN his best finish is 25th in 2009. I never thought of him as a particularly robust rider, when I first heard about him going for this I thought it was a bit bizarre. Doesn't have the build or anything resembling the experience of how to win a major classic. It's a particularly strong field this year too, there's a slew of Belgians who you'd assume would be nailed on for top 10.

I just don't get why he's set his sights on this one..

pelevin

07Lapierre wrote: »

Its the Grand National of Cycle racing.

Everyone can suffer misfortune, but if misfortune was taken out of the equation for all, then it seems to me Cancellara would very likely win. I wouldn't say the same for any other rider. Rather than a crash or puncture, I would say the biggest threat to every other rider is Cancellara.

MPFG

My favourite race

I think Wiggo will acquit himself well....One thing about him...he usually works hard when he has his sights on a goal

I think Tom Boonen will pull it off

happytramp

The one thing I like about Wiggins is that he is a huge cycling nerd. Like Jamie Carragher from LFC he's obsessed with the history of his sport. After the Tour, Paris-Roubaix is arguably the race most steeped in history/lore and is held in absurdly high esteem by fans and riders alike. Sure only last night Lemond said he'd swap one of his world championship wins to have won it

I'd stake the farm that Wiggins is focusing on it so that when he looks back on his career he won't regret never having given it a real shot.

NBar

watching last years on Eurosport now:)

Mycroft H

L'enfer du Nord!

duffer247

Bit new to this so forgive my ignorance, apart from the cobbles, how would a successful Tour rider like Wiggins not be best suited for this kinda race?

manwithaplan

To win a grand tour, you have to be good at climbing and time trialling. Wiggins was always good at time trialling and he took the opportunity of a very strong team and a relatively flat course, combined with near starvation, to get him into a position where he could win.

Paris Roubaix is a different kettle of fish altogether. It's far less controlled than a grand tour so you can only rely on your team to a limited extent. Once you hit those narrow cobbled sections, you have the wheel in front of you and nothing else. If someone lets a wheel go in front of you, it's dog rough going around and closing the gap. So you need to be near enough the front, which is not at all easy. A good time triallist like Wiggins does have a chance to compete but you also need huge endurance (it's very long), a good change of pace to deal with the critical attacks late on and good bike handling skills to manage the cobbles. Wiggins is suspect on the latter two counts in particular.

manwithaplan

By the way, it's the greatest bike race in the world, bar none.

Craig06

Stybar possibly for this. Excellent skills and should have done it last year

Raam

Craig06 wrote: »

Stybar possibly for this. Excellent skills and should have done it last year

Currently watching last year's race. I'm hoping he doesn't crash in the replay.

Raam

Raam wrote: »

Currently watching last year's race. I'm hoping he doesn't crash in the replay.

Just seen the incident. I forgot that it wasn't a crash and that he used the most awesome skillz to stay on the bike. An unbelievable bike handler.

Watch for incident at 1.50.

dastardly00

duffer247 wrote: »

Bit new to this so forgive my ignorance, apart from the cobbles, how would a successful Tour rider like Wiggins not be best suited for this kinda race?

It's a good question.

To win 'The Hell of the North' you need to be a tough cyclist, and have big cojones. The likes of Spartacus, Boonen and Sean Kelly have big cojones. Wiggins...... doesn't really.

That's my answer anyway

Darkglasses

dastardly00 wrote: »

It's a good question.

To win 'The Hell of the North' you need to be a tough cyclist, and have big cojones. The likes of Spartacus, Boonen and Sean Kelly have big cojones. Wiggins...... doesn't really.

That's my answer anyway

That's pretty much my feelings too. I know he's a 19 year pro with a TDF win, but Roubaix brings a number of challenges which he so far has shown no indication of being able to deal with and get the win. He can't handle a bike on cobbles like Boonen, Cancellara or Van Marcke. He can't take the physical beating like the others. He most certainly can't take bad weather like Cancellara. He doesn't have the kick that they have. He did do reasonably well at Tour of Flanders, but in Paris-Roubaix they take away his strong suit - the climbs.

Wishbone Ash

Weather forecast- looks like it will be dry.

Darkglasses

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Weather forecast- looks like it will be dry.

Is Roubaix secretly the driest place on earth? It never bloody rains!

Wishbone Ash

Darkglasses wrote: »

Is Roubaix secretly the driest place on earth? It never bloody rains!

Greg disagrees!

Darkglasses

Not often enough!

Lusk_Doyle

Darkglasses wrote: »

That's pretty much my feelings too. I know he's a 19 year pro with a TDF win, but Roubaix brings a number of challenges which he so far has shown no indication of being able to deal with and get the win. He can't handle a bike on cobbles like Boonen, Cancellara or Van Marcke. He can't take the physical beating like the others. He most certainly can't take bad weather like Cancellara. He doesn't have the kick that they have. He did do reasonably well at Tour of Flanders, but in Paris-Roubaix they take away his strong suit - the climbs.

Actually I'd say that his strongest suit is his team's ability to control races. Can't do that in this race.

bcmf

Can someone post the video from last year ( or the year before) that has the view from the back of the race and the broomwagon.

Raam

bcmf wrote: »

Can someone post the video from last year ( or the year before) that has the view from the back of the race and the broomwagon.

You can.

bcmf

If I can find it in my the next few mins then I still won't be able cause I don't know how to link from my phone.

Edit: I give up. Gotta go out and meet up with 'The Milf if Fingal' for the usual shenanigans around the byeways of North County

Darkglasses

bcmf wrote: »

Can someone post the video from last year ( or the year before) that has the view from the back of the race and the broomwagon.

Found it here - http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/04/the-back-of-hell-from-the-broom-wagon/

Well worth a watch if anybody's not seen it before. A film-maker stayed in the broomwagon for the race, which sweeps up the riders who don't finish the race through injury or exhaustion.

MPFG

That film on the Broomwagon at Paris - Roubaix is very sad....bus of broken dreams

Didn't Chris Juul Jensen do a blog on his first participation in the race last year that showed how hard it was.....I agree every rider should ride it once
Micahel Morkov of Tinkoff Saxo left Tour of Basque country yesterday and is riding PR tomorrow ....tough

Of course Sean Kelly would ride Tour of Flanders, Tour of Basque Country & Paris Roubaix one after the other

As for Wiggo...I think he doesn't get enough credit for his achievements...Not a pure climber like Quintana , not even a road racer and rather than be derided for this he should be applauded for winning the Tour ...after all it is easier to win something if you are naturally good at it

And I think he will do well tomorrow as he is tough ....tough of mind

Lusk_Doyle

MPFG wrote: »

That film on the Broomwagon at Paris - Roubaix is very sad....bus of broken dreams

Didn't Chris Juul Jensen do a blog on his first participation in the race last year that showed how hard it was.....I agree every rider should ride it once
Micahel Morkov of Tinkoff Saxo left Tour of Basque country yesterday and is riding PR tomorrow ....tough

Of course Sean Kelly would ride Tour of Flanders, Tour of Basque Country & Paris Roubaix one after the other

As for Wiggo...I think he doesn't get enough credit for his achievements...Not a pure climber like Quintana , not even a road racer and rather than be derided for this he should be applauded for winning the Tour ...after all it is easier to win something if you are naturally good at it

And I think he will do well tomorrow as he is tough ....tough of mind

I don't think that he is being derided here and the discussion is not about the TDF. It's about his ability to win PR. A totally different animal.

MPFG

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

I don't think that he is being derided here and the discussion is not about the TDF. It's about his ability to win PR. A totally different animal.

Actually you will find the question was why a Tout De France winner cannot do well/win Paris - Roubaix...so the Tour de France has a legitimate role to play in the discussion

And there is always a derisive tone (among many) when Wiggo achievements are discussed on here and on Twitter

Raam

MPFG wrote: »

And there is always a derisive tone (among many) when Wiggo achievements are discussed on here and on Twitter

Not by me anyway, I think Wiggo is class.

Brian?

MPFG wrote: »

And I think he will do well tomorrow as he is tough ....tough of mind

He's far too easily thrown off by inclement conditions. Remember last years Giro when he was descending like a granny after a crash? No one who's ever won Paris-Roubaix has descended like that.

He's a phenomenally dedicated cyclist and a great time triallest, but he's not mentally strong in the way great classics riders are.

This isn't exactly a controversial opinion either, I know most current and former pros agree with it.

sheepfield

My 3-against-the-field for tomorrow:
1) Terpstra 2) Cancellara 3) Phinney.

I have a feeling that like some previous years, the leading characters cud mark each other out of it and a proven classics rider like Terpstra could do a Knaven/O'Grady on it and solo away. It truly is a fascinating and exhilarating bike race and the list of possible winners is huge. A few outsiders I would like to see do well are Damien "Bag of Spanners" Gaudin and Mattieu "Lanky" Ladagnous, who no doubt will put in some heroic yet pointless attacks before running out of French petrol; while Lars Bak is off the leash at Lotto-Belisol and Matt Hayman for Orica-GreenEdge is very experienced and are both a good bet to make it to Carrefour de L'Arbre somewhere near the business end.
As for Wiggo, I am a great admirer of him; I really want him to be there and if he gets through Mons-en-Pevele with 50km to go and has made the selection, I will be shouting for him, if nothing else but to remind the skeptics of his undoubted class. Not sure it will happen though....

Lusk_Doyle

If any Sky rider is going to be close to being in the mix at the selection time 50 odd kms out or whenever it is, it's got to be EBH. Wiggins IS grand tour class just not PR class.

happytramp

So Greg Lemond was the last Tour winner to race Roubaix, that's weird.

DominoDub

Nice retro 1988 video doc to get you in the mood for "The Hell of the North"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQsJK81rZ4E

petethedrummer

Greg Van Av-er-maet tra la la la la.
Greg Van Av-er-maet traaaahhh la la la la la.

Pinch Flat

Snip - no illegal streams talk

Darkglasses

Sorry pinchflat - no discussion of illegal streams. Try Eurosport player

Darkglasses

I'm really stumped. Can't decide whether to switch over to Liverpool - City game at half 1 and miss the bulk of the racing. Not fair.


There is a breakaway of 8 riders currently, with a gap of 9'10. Andreas Schillinger (Net app), David Boucher (FDJ), Kenny Dehaes (Lotto), Clement Koretzky (Bretagne), Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne), Tim de Troyer (Accent), John Murphy (UHC) and Michael Kolar (Tinkoff-Saxo). 50km gone

Dr. Bre

has to be Spartacus again. be nice to see a new winner

godtabh

Darkglasses wrote: »

I'm really stumped. Can't decide whether to switch over to Liverpool - City game at half 1 and miss the bulk of the racing. Not fair.


There is a breakaway of 8 riders currently, with a gap of 9'10. Andreas Schillinger (Net app), David Boucher (FDJ), Kenny Dehaes (Lotto), Clement Koretzky (Bretagne), Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne), Tim de Troyer (Accent), John Murphy (UHC) and Michael Kolar (Tinkoff-Saxo). 50km gone

Where are you watching it? I dont see it on the sports channels?

Darkglasses

godtabh wrote: »

Where are you watching it? I dont see it on the sports channels?

Nope I got that off twitter.

DominoDub

Fun quote from Wiggins

Wiggins was typical Wiggins in an interview with reporters this week: "If you could just drop out of a helicopter with 40k to go on Cancellara's wheel and then see if you could hold it when he goes, that's an ideal scenario. But there's 220k before that of little French guys coming underneath you, chopping you, calling you a w and all this. That's the reality of it."

Pinch Flat

Eurosport have a good live ticker feed. Looks like the race is streamed with a delayed feed on the legal European channels.

Lyaiera

I have Eurosport player but it's not turning up there for me. Not supposed to start until 12 on the streams I have.

MPFG

Lyaiera wrote: »

I have Eurosport player but it's not turning up there for me. Not supposed to start until 12 on the streams I have.

http://live.cyclingnews.com/

DominoDub

Update @ 144km -

Tom Boonen, the four-time winner, has picked up a puncture in the Saint-Python section. That's something that doesn't happen often - in fact, it's the first time it's ever happened to Boonen. To win Roubaix, you need luck, strength and skill. If you do puncture, you want to do it here, not later.

Darkglasses

And we're live!!

But first, an Italian is going to ask Greg Lemond and JA Flecha some questions..