With all the big names on the startlist, this was going to be the finest edition Paris-Roubaix has had in years. The favourite list is quite long, but we need to start with Fabian Cancellara, winner of Milan - San Remo and the Continental Championships, but he has not win a cobbled race this year. Will today finally be the day? Tom Boonen is also on top of the list. He's been racing good this year, and has the strongest team by far, and he'll want revenge for losing Ronde Van Vlaanderen last week. Greg Van Avermaet won it, so he's among the favourites for Roubaix as well.
Guys from the second line are Peter Sagan, who's still leading the rankings, but there can be too many cobble sections here for Sagan. Sep Vanmarcke has been riding solid as well, with a strong team behind him, though he never got on the podium yet. And then there's the young riders Pal, McDermott, Sithembile, and Khamse Khamphan. What can they do here?
At the start of the race, the early break gets away. Kroon, Desusschere and Van Emden can prove useful later on, while Löwenherz makes it into the break as well for his second race.
Is this a repeat of Ronde Van Vlaanderen? Not only does Löwenherz make it into the break, but Leukemans also brudges the gap with a very early attack. Europcar and RadioShack organise a chase, QuickStep is remarkably absent for the time being.
And it becomes clear why they were working as Cancellara and Gaudin attack. It's still early, but then again, it's Cancellara!
Terpstra and Chavanel now work for Boonen in the background. The pace has become incredibly high. Riders like Oget, Verboven and Lixandru have to let go here, while Team Sky is also struggling. Cancellara and Gaudin catch up with the early breakaway, but as Belkin joins the chase, they are doomed. But what is this?
Has Boonen lost confidence in his team mates? Does he fear reacting too slow again? Who knows, but he attacks and Boom counters. The rest follows and everything gets together again with 30 kilometres to go. The 2 top favourites have wasted quite some powers already though. All is quiet for only a few seconds until..
Attack by Sep Vanmarcke! The most powerful attack we have seen so far. Cancellara tries to counter, but he has wasted some powers alreayd, and only manages to shift the rest of the peloton a bit. Sagan and Kristoff are amongst those dropped.
Vanmarcke increases his lead to 30 seconds. On the next cobbles; the chasing group fails to organise properly and his lead keeps increasing.
Vanmarcke arrives at Carrefour de l'Arbre. Obviously in pain, but he needs to keep going. Stybar, Chavanel and Terpstra and drop, Boonen is on his own. Cancellara seems tired after his earlier effords. And Van Avermaet is on his own, when Ballan does this.
There really is no organisation in the background, just attacks. Cancellara wastes more energy, as Belkin does have a rider left to protect Vanmarcke. Boom counters pretty much everything, until finaly Boonen and Langeveld get away.
We are at the Velodrome! The crowd is shouting Vanmarcke's name, but the young Belgian can't slow down to celebrate yet, as Boonen and Langeveld turn up behind him. After that it's McDermott, followed by Van Avermaet and Roelandts. Cancellara is empty!
He's too exhausted to raise his hands, but he has done it! Sep Vanmarcke wins Paris-Roubaix! Great win for him and Belkin!
Langeveld comes out of Boonen's wheel to take second place. Van Avermaet does well again by getting 4th. Cancellara doesn't make the top 10 while Sagan even fails to score points. But the image of the day is this young man on the podium:
Although often refered to as the first of the Ardennes classics, we're actually in Holland, and the short steep hills are different from what the riders will get next week. Nevertheless, the Amstel Gold Race is a very important race from most teams. Important riders not participating were Nibali and Iglinsky from Astana and Ulissi and Cunego from Lampre. We thus had 3 major favourites, and expect these names back here for the next races: Joaquim Rodriguez, Alejandro Valverde and Philippe Gilbert.
The early break included no major names, though honourable mention goes to rookie Thomas Schwabe. As the rain came down, many riders suffered crashed, a few major names as well as Jens Voigt, Delfi Cervero and even Philippe Gilbert hit the tarmac.
The first major attack comes 40 kilometres from the line. Luis Leon Sanchez opens, and immediatly Uran, Valverde, Rodriguez and Spilak counter.
But that's too many big names, so they're brought back. What follow is attacks back and forth, every favourite shows himself at least once before we reach the final Cauberg. As we turn up right, the favourites are where they want to be.
But at the top, it's obvious who is the strongest today. Rodriguez first drop Gilbert, then Valverde. Henao closes the gap to Gilbert. Can some miracle happen in the last few metres?
No, it's Joaquim Rodriguez who wins. He certainly was the strongest rider with the strongest team today! Valverde takes second while Gilbert holds of Henao for third.
The last and of the Ardennes Classics, we have arrived at the 4th monument this year. La Doyenne is for the puncheurs what Roubaix is for the cobblers. But despite that, there were some notably absenties. Astana had a weird lineup, without Nibali or Iglinsky again. The same goes for Lampre, who did not send Ulissi, Cunego or Scarponi to the Ardennes. Team Sky also declined to send their climbers, relying on Henao instead.
We start the list of obvious favourites once again Joaquim Rodriguez. After winning Amstel he went to Trentino instead of competing in Fleche Wallonne, was it the right choice? Alejandro Valverde will have strong support by Quintana and Costa. Philippe Gilbert should also do well in his home race. Finaly we have to add Peter Sagan to the list of favourites after winning Fleche Wallonne.
Last of all we need to mention Delfi Cervero, a young rider under pressure. His manager demanded a top 10 in the Ardennes and this would be his last chance to do so.
The race starts with the traditional breakaway, no real big names, but you can't give them 10 minutes either.
A strong Movistar keeps the break under control, but the increased pace causes break in the peloton. Amongst those surprised are Costa, Quintana, Hesjedal, Kreuziger, Anton and.. The world champion himself!
Rodriguez is the first to test his legs on La Redoute, he causes another big split with Philippe Gilbert again on the wrong side.
And there goes Sagan! One attack on the flat and he reaches the breakaway, which he soon leaves behind.
He reaches Saint-Nicolas with half a minute on the other favourites. It's Betancur and Valverde trying to close the gap.
Can Sagan hold on? The last small climb in Ans might be too much for him, as Betancur comes really close.
But no, he turns right and knows the steep part is over. This one goes to Peter Sagan! What a great day for him!
Betancur grabs second, Valverde needs to settle for third. Gilbert, Martin and Rodriguez weren't good enough for the podium today. And looks who finishes 10th!
The last 3 important classics in Belgium then. We start off with the Scheldeprijs in Schoten. The organisers have to be really happy about this years' field. We have Cavendish vs. Greipel vs. Kittel here, with also Goss, Farrar, Viviani and Ciolek present. Futhermore, there's a lot young violence as well, with Brouwer, Brookes, Stromberg and Verboven.
A classic race, with a few people crashing at the 5km mark. Young sprinter Mario Guido is down, as are Hofland and most Lotto's train. Who saw that coming? Greipel is on his own for the sprint. Kittel opens early, and immediatly the big 3 get a gap.
But Greipel passes him and holds off Cavendish just long enough to claim victory. Viviani claims 3rd place. Fabian Brookes suprises everyone with a 6th place, while Willem Brouwer got boxed in and finishes 8th.
Brabantse Pijl saw a lot managers forgetting the new cobbled sections. The race was the classic example of the peloton underestimating the breakaway. When the favourites finaly went, it was too late. Kevin Hulsmans could celebrate his biggest victory in the autumn of his career.
And as we return to the World Tour, Fleche Wallonne is the race that normaly end in an uphill sprint, and this year was no exception. While the breakaway almost made it again, they were caught on the final Mur de Huy. Peter Sagan once again showed he was the man of the season, beating Philippe Gilbert and Daniel Martin. Honourable mention goes to Rudy Verboven, finishing 9th.
Looking at the startlist, we see that a few teams are not waiting for the Tour to let their leader ride. The man to beat will Vincenzo Nibali from Astana. The Italian wants to the race and can count on the support of Aru and Agnoli. Nibali was already the strongest in Trentino, and with the home advantage, he will be the man to beat.
His main challenger comes from Columbia. Nairo Quintana of Team Movistar is still young, but he looks ready for his first GT victory. He has already won Tirreno-Adriatico in style, and looked decent in the Ardennes as well. What he lacks in experience, will be compensated by his team.
A third man to keep an eye on is Richie Porte. Sky is not bringing Froome yet, but Porte is by far the best time trialist of the field. If he hangs on in the mountains, the race is his. With support from Uran and Cataldo, this might be very possible.
Behind these big 3 favourites, there's a big list of outsiders. We have to start with Roman Kreuziger, a solid stageracer. With the support of Sorensen, Majka and Hernandez he should be able to compete with the best.
Last year's winner Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin is here as well. In this field he might not be the main favourite anymore, but only an idiot would rule him out for the win.
What can we say about Michele Scarponi? It's obvious Lampre has gone all out here. With Cunego, Ulissi and Niemiec in support, what can this veteran do in a race he already won before?
Then we go to a double ex-winner, Ivan Basso. With Sagan scoring almost 95% of Cannondale's points so far, will he get revenge in his home nation or has age caught up with him?
While we're talking about veterans, let's have Cadel Evans. This former World Champion and Tour de France winner has been doing nothing but annoy the BMC manager this season. Will this be his race to shine?
Back to the younger generation then, Carlos Betancur has had a good season for AG2R so far, finishing second in Liege - Bastogne - Liege. It will be interesting to see if he can handle the longer climbs as well.
From the Continental Teams Franco Pellizotti is the biggest name, though a top 5 will be hard in this field. Androni did bring its strongest team though.
So after 10 names, we're still not done, but we're running low though. Youngster Christiano De las Campos will get his chance for Euskaltel. What can the Belkin duo Kelderman/Gesink do? Zubeldia, De Greef, Poels and Trofimov are long shots for a top 10. All other teams did not send their top stage racers.
The challengers will be second line sprinters, but this open oppurtunities of course. One mistake by Cav and someone could get a very big win. Elia Viviani of Cannondale has the homeland advantage, he'll be Cav's main challenger. Matthew Goss has had a bad season so far, this will be his chance to recover. Young rider Willem Brouwer and his even younger lead out Moreno Hofland want to give it a try as well for Belkin. Lampre may have the best weapon against Cavendish: Roberto Ferrari. If you can't beat them, make them crash! Giacomo Nizzolo will be there for RadioShack, another rider with home advantage. Or is Saxo going to deliver the best Italian? Daniele Bennati has had a great season so far, and he's one of the few that take a hill decently. Another young sprinter for Team Sky: Adrien Hanzen. Garmin has one as well: Nicklas Stromberg.
A very wide field, and there's even more to come. If Omega Pharma doesn't get it right, we can see a very surprising winner. Appollonio for AG2R, Arndt/Mezgec for Argos, Guardini/Gavazzi/Ponzi for Astana, Dehaes for Lotto, Ventoso for Movistar, Van Poppel/Van Poppel for Vacansoleil.
Even the Continental teams have a decent shot here. Calzone has been doing well in Turkey. Brookes/O'Callaghan have been very good as well. Or will it be Pelucchi for IAM?
I think this will be a very interesting Giro!
Edited by Ollfardh on 10-04-2014 13:49
Pretty strong field there... it looks like Tour will be Froome, Contador, Purito and Valverde. Fairly confident of achieving goal of top 5 here, would be rather disappointed if Roman finished outside the top 5, but strange things do happen (especially in PCM).
And I have to tip Bennati for a stage win somewhere, don't I? One like that hilly one that Cav surprisingly won irl perhaps.
Was hoping Cavendish wouldn't go to the Giro. Hopefully Viviani can win a stage. Got a top 5 GC goal, so Basso needs to find some good form. Otherwise it'll be the end for him at Cannondale.
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
2013 Giro d'Italia 
AG2R
Argos
Astana
BMC
Euskaltel
IAM
Katusha 
Lotto
Orica
RadioShack
Saxo
Sky
