Thanks, guys. I really think I got the maximum possible out of the race, except for a stage win. Kwiatek will have his revenge in the Ardennes, I guess!
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Paris - Roubaix: Preview April 7th, 2014
As usual, the northern classics season closes down with the pinnacle of these races, and arguably also that of the whole month. 260 km in total; 51 km on cobbles. It's just not possible to have a disappointing race with this route!
Previous winners:
2013
Fabian Cancellara
2012
Fabian Cancellara
2011
Johan Vansummeren
2010
Fabian Cancellara
2009
Tom Boonen
Just like with the Ronde, the last few years have been mainly Cancellara and Boonen taking turns winning the race. The exception being Vansummeren three years ago; an edition that would likely have gone to Cancellara as well, had it not been for Vansummeren's team mate at the time, Thor Hushovd.
Sep Vanmarcke came close to doing something similar last season, only to be shut down and left behind by Cancellara inside the velodrome. Perhaps it's time for a long-range attack like that to succeed once again?
With Vansummeren absent, Cancellara and Boonen are in fact the only previous winners on the startlist - since all other victors have hung up their wheels.
In other words, a new name entering the record books wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Both Pozzato and Vanmarcke showed high capacity in the Ronde, but ultimately came up short against Cancellara and may well find the task even tougher on these 'pure' cobbled sectors.
Similarly, Langeveld, Van Avermaet, Stybar and Gatto have all occasionally displayed performances that could carry them to an advanced position at the finish. Whether any of them will have a day like that however, is far from certain.
Then there's also the French, of course. AG2R's Gaudin/Turgot combo didn't work out as well as they had perhaps hoped in the Ronde, but if past years are to judge from - then it's evident that Roubaix suit them both a whole lot better.
Them aside, the fans along the road also have Ladagnous to cheer for. The FDJ rider has emerged as one of the very best northern classics specialists only in the past couple of years, but looks set for a splendid April after his 5th place in the Ronde. All in all, a great race lies ahead!
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 25-01-2014 10:30
Last year he was 25th, so I'm not expecting much. I'd consider top 20 a success.
Still haven't decided whether I should have him follow attacks mid-race, or try to hold on for as long as possible. I guess you'll find out when the actual race goes up!
Good luck, hopefully he can get that top 20. Personally I'd hold him back, hold on for as long as possible and dot him. Attacking mid-race didn't work for him last time
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Thanks, everyone! You'll be pleased to see that is the strategy I decided to for, Froomedog
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Paris - Roubaix April 7th, 2014
Barely anything of interest occured during the first couple of hours of the race, so we pick up the coverage well over halfway through the race, in the forest of Arenberg. Most of the peloton is still in one piece, with Nick van der Lijke and Robert Wagner navigating them across this infamous section.
Roughly six minutes up the road, a lone Heinrich Haussler leads the race after escaping with 150 km to go. A breakaway of 13 was initially up ahead, but all of them were left behind by the IAM rider once the cobbles starting appearing every few kilometers.
It actually takes another 20 km before the race really kicks off. Stijn Vandenbergh is drilling at the front of the main field, with Nick Nuyens enjoying the drift behind the tall Belgian.
As a result of the augmented speed, the peloton is thinned to somewhere in the range of 50 riders. Most favourites have moved to positions near the front, to avoid getting caught behind on the narrow roads.
Vandenbergh is soon joined by Niki Terpstra, and the two Omega riders keep going at it for the next 15 kilometers or so, before sitting back for a moment - opening an opportunity for Jens Keukeleire to jump away.
Looking ahead, all the early escapees have been brought back. Haussler still holds an advantage of 3'30, but it's constantly decreasing.
Although Keukeleire to most would seem like a fairly harmless rider to let go, it appears that is not an opinion Cancellara shares. Without much of a second thought, the Swiss machine sets off after the Orica-GreenEdge rider.
He links up with the Belgian in the last meters of the sector. Behind, a gap has appeared after Greg Van Avermaet blew up trying to follow the acceleration. The other leaders are nearby too, but an already previously small peloton has been absolutely ripped to shreds by this move.
A new formation is created when Terpstra glues some smaller gaps together back on the normal road. 14 other riders have made the cut: Boonen, Stybar, Cancellara, Vanmarcke, Boom, Langeveld, Nuyens, Gaudin, Turgot, Keukeleire, Chavanel, Pozzato, Van Avermaet and Roelandts.
That means no Kristoff, Ladagnous, Degenkolb or Gatto, among others. All of them are found in the next group, which is actually a fairly long way back.
After 115 km on the attack, and 45 of those solo, Haussler is now coming into view for the first group of favourites. Spurred by this, Cancellara presents himself for real with a first actual attack.
It seemed like an odd moment to attack at first, but he had clearly observed that the others weren't paying attention. He gains that meter you're not supposed to leave him, and bang - he is gone!
Within a matter of seconds, Haussler is caught and left by the roadside.
Langeveld and Vanmarcke start taking turns chasing, and another bunch of riders are shed out the back: Gaudin, Boom, Nuyens, Terpstra and ... Boonen!
It's up to Stybar to save this race for OPQS, then.
He too is clearly struggling, however. Langeveld and Vanmarcke are riding tremendously, and have dropped the others while also gaining a couple of seconds on Cancellara. A little over 20 km to the finish.
The positive tendency for the two pursuers was only temporary, apparently. More cobbles soon follow, and Cancellara starts to pull away again, while Langeveld is struggling to keep up during Vanmarcke's turn.
He manages to stay in contact, but despite excellent cooperation between the two - Cancellara only continues to increase his advantage.
Carrefour de l'Arbre becomes a killer for them. At the end of it, Cancellara's lead has gone up above the minute mark, with only 10 km remaining.
The gap stays in the same range all the way into Roubaix, but it's just not going to happen for Langeveld and Vanmarcke. Only the velodrome remains for Cancellara.
2006, 2010, 2012, 2013 and now - 2014! Spartacus claims his 5th win in Roubaix, and the third one in a row!
Vanmarcke easily defeats Langeveld in the sprint for 2nd. He was clearly the stronger of the two ever since they broke away, so well deserved.
Langeveld is probably extremely satisfied with a 3rd place too. They both rode an excellent race, but Cancellara was simply in another league. The Ronde showed that he is beatable though, so perhaps next year.
A solo Stybar gets 4th, another minute down. He rode alone almost from the point where Langeveld and Vanmarcke escaped, and was very close to them at one point, but it was just too tall of an order in the end.
Fifth goes to Turgot, who saved everything for the sprint and beat the rest of the little group he was part of without much of a challenge. Biggest surprise in that group is surely Keukeleire, with an impressive 7th.
On the negative side, Pozzato was far from last weekend's level. He couldn't even keep up with the little group in the final kilometers and comes across the line in 10th by himself.
Another big surprise of the day is 14th at the finish: Jean-Lou Paiani!
The French rider missed the 15 rider selection earlier, but rode within himself in the last 40 km and passed many riders. No shame in finishing ahead of Tom Boonen in this race!
Nice job from Paiani!!, I love how you only mentioned him once.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
What a massive, might report incl. of one damn fine preview. Loved to read it. Paiani awesome performance dragging himself to the finish as 14th. Looked like a incredible tough P-R versio with Cancellara attacking so early. Boonen kinda weird, OPQ messed up big time (like Movistar... ), and Vanmarcke and Langeveld can be proud of their performance too. Sorry for Stybar though... Stybar
Oh, and just too bad Kwiatkowski missed out so narrowly on the overall victory of PaÃs Vasco. That was way too close.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Thanks. It was a really fun race to play - one of my favourites in a long time!
547984 - I tend to focus mainly on what's going on among those fighting for the victory. Hence why he wasn't seen that much
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De Brabantse Pijl: Preview April 10th, 2014
It's time to make the transition from dirt and crashes to small country roads and steep climbs. No better way to integrate the riders to that change than by taking on a race that includes both!
Interestingly, barely any of those who are hoping for good results in the three upcoming races have made the trip for this. Pais Vasco runner-up Michal Kwiatkowski and former LBL winner Maxim Iglinskiy are really the only ones.
Straight from Roubaix comes a few more strong contenders. Jens Keukeleire was perhaps 'the' revelation there, and has also handled short hills like these quite well in the past. The same goes for Nick Nuyens, who is having his best season since 2011 - the year he won the Ronde
A strong Sky squad could also be in the running with Edvald Boasson Hagen and Bernhard Eisel in case of a sprint finish, while Belgium put their hopes in mainly Jan Bakelants and national champion Stijn Devolder.
Great result from Paiani at Roubaix, good to see his conservative tactics were indeed justified. A good end to the cobbles season for him, probably the best yet.
Good luck at Brabantse Pijl as well, always a fun race with the Cobbles and steep hills. I fancy Kwiatek to take the win.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed the report from Roubaix, since it took me a good hour or so to put together.
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De Brabantse Pijl April 10th, 2014
80% of the race is spent with Garmin-Sharp trying to keep track of a large early breakaway for Nuyens. However, despite the efforts of strong riders like Tom-Jelte Slagter, Ramunas Navardauskas or Johan Vansummeren - they are finding it difficult to bring down the last 2'30 on the twisty parcours.
Fearing that the American squad's domestiques are starting to run low on energy, Skujins makes an attempt to cross the gap with 25 km to go.
Within a fairly short period of time, he builds up a gap of roughly 30 seconds. This triggers a response from a more dangerous man: Maxim Iglinskiy
The Astana rider catches up with Skujins in no time, and almost instantly shakes the young Latvian off his wheel.
Others expected to deliver today are now going into full chasing mode; causing what was left of the peloton to be ripped to shreds. Sky's Boasson Hagen and Eisel are leading the way, with Iglinskiy's team mate Guarnieri, Nuyens, Kwiatkowski and Tosatto also breaking clear.
Iglinskiy and Skujins are soon shut down, so Eisel goes on the attack instead. Iglinskiy is apparently still fresh enough to follow - tracked by Boasson Hagen and Kwiatkowski.
They group together in what looks like a potentially decisive move. However, four men from the early breakaway still remain up the road.
Tom Leezer and Scott Thwaites are brought back shortly afterwards, but Niels Wytinck and Tim Declercq are still lingering a little while ahead, so Kwiatkowski makes a big attack on the final paved climb.
Iglinskiy appears to be the only other leader with anything left in the tank, but even he has a lot of work to do. Only a couple of kilometers remain, and Kwiatkowski goes past Wytinck and Declercq into the lead.
The distance between him and the pursuers really doesn't increase anymore after the actual attack, but since nobody has the resources to claw their way back - it is more than enough to secure the victory!
Wytinck caps off a great day in the breakaway by staying in front of Iglinskiy for 2nd, whereas Declercq is edged off the podium by a very slim margin. Good day for the break in general, with 7th placed Leezer also in the top 10.
Paris - Roubaix: Preview
De Brabantse Pijl: Preview
