Paris Roubaix, boyz!

[Headwinds]

I am not picking Tom Boonen, I am putting my bets on Thor Hushovd or Alessandro Ballan

[swalburn]

BOONEN - I picked him last week, and I'll take him again this week. Although, I have a sneaky feeling Hincapie may have something special this weekend after all the criticism he took last week after Flanders.

[William]

Bring on the mud & cow poop. :banana:

Big George will make a showing.


William

[jerk]

vdb will win.
jerk :rolleyes:

[TweeWielen]

Van Petegem.

The geezers have pulled through more than once. Would be a nice way to go out.

[Kevan]

who?

Let's see... a cool hundred done by 2pm, maybe walk the town with the missus, sneak a 30 minute nap, then flop on the floor and watch some bullriding...er, riding. That should be suitable bicyclistnestingdomstuff!

[Dr. Doofus]

leif hoste

(wouldn't that be fun)

[cinelli]

vdb will win.
jerk :rolleyes:

I'll take that bet.

[Argos]

Zabel, Hincapie, Ballan. Not necessarily in that order, though it would be great to see.

[sellsworth]

So what strategies should Discovery (or any other team) use against Boonen? I read that Discovery plans on sending five guys out hard from the start - I guess to weaken Quik-Step in hopes that a break can be made with Boonen. Obviously you don't want to go into the velodrome with Boonen.

[Argos]

The only reason I did not pick Boonen is that is too easy.

[bluesea]

So what strategies should Discovery (or any other team) use against Boonen?


Stay at home.
Pass the mic to GH.
Frame pump.

[Dr. Doofus]

disco doesn't have the horses to overpower quick.step

they can hope for a couple quick.steps to puncture, or to have even numbers in the final break, or for boonen to hit a cow*.










*not punch a cow like mongo...though boonen could probably do that, too.

[BarryG]

disco can hope for boonen to hit a cow
good one . . . color me disco-skeptical

[MartyE]

I'm with Doof,
Leif Hoste he's got something to prove.

I also like Thomas Dekker from Rabo, although this is
probably (most likely) not his race.

marty

[stevep]

boonen
knaven
nuyens

once again the triple for lefevre.

and for the jerk. nico mattan in 4th

[Fixed]

bro here are some names i like
Duclos Lassalle...harve sounds like a winners name .....
the great Zanini....
and dark horse Masahiro Shanagawa
I just like their names
cheers

[spiderlake]

Hammond says he's racing and he's always a favorite of mine. Could make for an interesting race since George, Leif and Roger all have their eyes on the podium.

[jerk]

Hammond says he's racing and he's always a favorite of mine. Could make for an interesting race since George, Leif and Roger all have their eyes on the podium.


yeah, hammond'll have his eyes on it when boonen, and (insert two quick step riders here) are standing on it and drinking the bubbly when they roll across the line five minutes later. have you seen how fat that guy is?

jerk

[spiderlake]

yeah, hammond'll have his eyes on it when boonen, and (insert two quick step riders here) are standing on it and drinking the bubbly when they roll across the line five minutes later. have you seen how fat that guy is?

jerk

Maybe that's why I like him! He's fat like me! : ) C'mon, he was 3rd in '04 and seems to really relish this race. That's gotta count for something, right?

[taz-t]

Knaven if its wet

Boonen if dry.

GH has a flat or other mechanical and miss break, not a factor. Will say he had the best legs ever.

- taz

[1centaur]

"GH has a flat or other mechanical and miss break"

Wouldn't it be great if Vegas had prop bets on cycling like they do on the Superbowl?

Anybody but Boonen.

Anybody but Quick Step

Hincapie's in the top 10 but not the top 3.

Zabel's second :)

Boonen wins 2 up in the stadium

Anybody but a Belgian.


Lots of good conversation fodder in how those bets would shake out.

[e-RICHIE]

a quote (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/apr06/apr08news2) from mr pr himself:
"What about George Hincapie? "Come on, what has that Hincapie proven? What has he won so far? No-one can challenge Boonen, or maybe Van Petegem. He will have to do a good job at hiding, if he still wants to be there in the finale. Van Petegem didn't ride Gent-Wevelgem did he? Understand who can. I'm not getting it."

[Kevan]

sunny tomorrow. The rains arrive Monday.

[saab2000]

a quote (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/apr06/apr08news2) from mr pr himself:
"What about George Hincapie? "Come on, what has that Hincapie proven? What has he won so far? No-one can challenge Boonen, or maybe Van Petegem. He will have to do a good job at hiding, if he still wants to be there in the finale. Van Petegem didn't ride Gent-Wevelgem did he? Understand who can. I'm not getting it."

Mr. P-R could sure ride a bike. But he's a megatool when it comes down to it. Freddy Maertens is my man. That country sure does produce some great, eccentric riders. Planckaert anyone?

[Grant McLean]

I was watching my tape of 2005, and remembered the big renovation
going on the cobbles at the forest. Looks like bob vila was there...

http://www.cyclingtime.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=21984

-g

[yeehawfactor]

Mr. P-R could sure ride a bike. But he's a megatool when it comes down to it. Freddy Maertens is my man. That country sure does produce some great, eccentric riders. Planckaert anyone?

i like planckaert. a lot.

In the lead up to Paris-Roubaix, the Belgian press are using the rich resources Flanders has to get a good idea of what the classic of the north means to the one-day specialists, the true Flandriens. Sven Spoormakers of Het Laatste Nieuws reminisced with Eddy Planckaert about his glory days; about that race in 1990 in which he knew his biggest and last big victory. The day he won Paris-Roubaix, in front of Canadian Steve Bauer whom he beat in a millimetre sprint in the velodrome of Roubaix.

"It was my last chance to win Paris-Roubaix." Eddy Planckaert recalled. "I had dreamed about it the night before. My dream came true. I went, with still hundred kilometres to go. All on my own. My brother Walter - who was my sports director at Panasonic - declared me insane. When I gained two minutes, I waited. Van Hooydonck, Gayant and Bauer and a few others came back. All the other favourites didn't dare to move. Then Bauer attacked on the Carrefour de l'Arbre. He gave it his all and I rode next to him, whistling. Then only Van Hooydonck remained. When we entered the track, Gayant and Wampers joined us. Jean-Marie (Wampers) tried to pull the sprint, but Van Hooydonck went from far. He let Bauer pass underneath and I had to go the whole way around. On the last piece I closed my eyes and stopped breathing. I threw my bike and won."

There wasn't even a centimetre in it Planckaert remembers: "A centimetre; forget it! Five or six millimetres, yeah. Fifteen minutes after the finish I still wasn't sure. Did I win or not? But everybody kept congratulating me. The soigneurs of the team fell in my arms. Post said I had won. I didn't believe them. I hadn't seen it myself because I was sprinting with my eyes closed that last hundred meters."

Winning Paris-Roubaix was the biggest achievement in his career, a stunt Eddy is still very proud of: "It gives my palmares 'cachet'. I won on average eleven races in a season; in Spain, in France, in Italy, here... Races like Omloop Het Volk or the E3-Prijs; who remembers that I won those two times? No-one, do they? Eddy Planckaert, he won Paris-Roubaix. And the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. And some people know that I once won the Green Jersey in the Tour de France.

"You know, more than the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix if the world championships of the classics specialists. Coureurs like myself, they simply had to have Paris-Roubaix on their palmares. If I never won it, I would have been ashamed for eternity," the most colourful offspring of the Planckaerts claims.

"I swore to myself, as a little boy that I would win that race. I was ten years old and stood along the cobbles, with a spare wheel in each hand. My brothers Willy and Walter were riding. The first rider to pass was Eddy Merckx; wearing his rainbow jersey. His face enchanted me then. The grimness it radiated. That I had and would have to be capable of myself. From that moment onwards Paris-Roubaix had something divine."

Planckaert went on to paint a colourful picture of how it must feel to win solo on the track in Roubaix. "It must be an unbelievable feeling to enter that velodrome by yourself. To experience everything at ease, without having to stress about those others who also want to win the race... it has to be like an orgasm. No, better than an orgasm. A sort of trance; a feeling as if you're floating meters and meters above ground.

"The cobbles are the hell, and the track is heaven. And well, the showers are inferno. It's just the order of things isn't logical. They're tombs, from the coldest stone I ever felt. Sometimes the water was hot and then you were lucky. But when you won, you entered the showers as the last rider. Then there was only fog. You were standing there; in a sort of a mist, all by yourself, underneath a measly stream of ice-cold water.

"Paris-Roubaix, that's suffering. That's cobbles. That is dust and mud in your nose and your throat and your ears and your eyes. That's cursing a whole day, and yelling and shouting. But I would have never wanted to win Paris-Roubaix without experiencing those showers afterwards."
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/apr06/apr08news

[shinomaster]

I hope George wakes up and wins..

[The Spider]

Matt White (Disco) & Baden Cooke to....finish!

Matt's looking good and taken a page out of the GH book with the Oakley racing jackets (I didn't know anyone else was allowed to wear them!)

Kevin Hulsmans....hey when Boonen calls it...we gotta contender!

Ballan's looking good.

[97CSI]

Disco will need to 'out-smart' Boonen's crew to win. Or simply have better luck. We'll see. GH wants it bad.

Who has the best coverage? When and where?

[Argos]

See My other thread.... They JUST had an interview from the Car with Sean Yates on Cycling.tv. No one has better coverage, and at $3/ month it is the best deal going.

[97CSI]

In the Arenburg pave'. Amazing just how fast they go on those rocks.

[Headwinds]

I am not picking Tom Boonen, I am putting my bets on Thor Hushovd or Alessandro Ballan

A pat in the back for me... :)

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC
2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Innergetic
3 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Fondital