It's Easter Sunday in France, and that means two things. Killer Bunnies, and Paris-Roubaix.
look fun?
At the startline, a deep field has assembled to tackle the Hell of the North, and it'll be a tough one, with rain all day causing a slippery and muddy course.
Our favorites today are no surprise, Tornado Tom Boonen of Warner Brothers, Fabian "The Bear from Bern" Cancellara of Carmeuse, and Marcus "Get This Dog Out of My Way" Burghardt of Wikipedia. However, the bookies have drafted up odds for a number of other riders, with the list of secondary favorites looking something like this.
Nick Nuyens - Domina Vacanze
Alessandro Ballan - Sony Ericsson
Adam Blythe - 100% ME
Frederiek Nolf - Festina
Enrico Franzoi - Pearl Adidas
Geert Steurs - Nespresso
Jerome Baugnies - Lipton Ice Tea
Nikolas Maes - Auber 93
Gert Steegmans - Vespa
Juan Antonio Flecha - Warner Brothers
And so the flag is dropped, and the riders are off.
After a period of just rolling along, we see our first attack, as Biondo of Energie jumps away from the field.
He is followed by Gallardo of Colombia and Sergent of 100% ME. They'll form up, and reach Troisvilles, the first cobbled section, all together.
hoping for a repeat of '88
The pack would follow on 3'48" later, led (not surprisingly) by Carmeuse and Warner Brothers.
It's all status quo until the third section, when pre-race favorite Frederiek Nolf punctures.
Luckily for him, the pack is going slow enough to allow an easy re-entry.
By the fourth section though, Sony Ericsson, bursting with confidence from their incredible start to the season, have moved to the front, and started laying down a tough pace. Pretty soon, they've caught the break, which never had more than a four minute lead.
tough luck for the BOTD, no leash given at all
However, more importantly, the increase in speed and the howling winds have caused for a split in the pack. And what's this! Flecha, Maes, Blythe, and Steegmans have all been caught behind!
And 20 km later, things are looking dangerous for those four, as the gap has gone up to 1'09"!
None of them panic, and good for them, as their teammates all go to the front, put there heads in the wind, and start pulling the groups back together.
With 140 km to go, the groups have (partially) re-joined. A 113 rider peloton, including all the favorites, is together, with a 40 man chase group 2'46" behind.
It's all quiet at the front of the peloton for a long while after, and although a few of the weaker riders are yo-yoing off the back, the race still hasn't opened up.
Until with 55.6 km to go that is, as Nuyens attacks!
55 km is a long way out...
Franzoi and Arnaud Coyot of Starbucks are the only two to follow. Could the Big Three have missed the decisive move?
They may not think so, but others certainly have decided it's now or never, as Damien Gaudin of Auber 93 launches off the front.
He gets a strong reaction, as Blythe follows, as well as Visconti of Starbucks, Devolder of Phillips, and Gaudin's own teammate, Maes.
With 40 km to go, the groups have settled down. The first three attackers, Nuyens, Coyot, and Franzoi, have gotten a good gap, and have 1'07" back to the second group on the road. That one is composed of Blythe, Maes, and Devolder, the rest having failed in their attack. The second trio meanwhile has a 15" gap to a 49-man peloton.
Shortly after the 40 km to go mark, the Blythe trio is caught, and now it is Steurs who launches an attack, and he is followed by De Vocht of Pearl Adidas, Geraint Thomas of 100% ME, and Sam Bewley of Festina.
By 30 km to go, the front trio have 30" back to a chasing Thomas and Bewley, who themselves are 48" ahead of the peloton, with Steurs stuck in no mans land.
And now with 20 km to go, Nuyens and Franzoi have said goodbye to Coyot, who trails them by 37". He himself is trying to hold off a 25-man peloton, who've caught Bewley, Thomas, and Steurs and are 45" behind Starbuck's Frenchman.
The pack is getting closer and closer, but can Nuyens and Franzoi pull this off?
But 10km later, with only a similar distance to go, Coyot is about to be caught, and right then the safeties come off, with the mighty German, Marcus Burghardt, launching the first salvo.
This obviously lights the fire under the collective asses of the favorites, and Ballan, Cancellara, Nolf, and Boonen all follow.
The mighty Belgian Boonen is the strongest, and with 12km to go he has caught the leading duo. 24" behind, Burghard, Cancellara, Nolf, and Ballan are chasing. Others are trying to get across, but by now it looks like anyone not in the front two groups are out of it.
Boonen meanwhile decides that Franzoi and Nuyens are just slowing down, and ups the tempo. This dislodges the duo, who are caught by the Cancellara/Burghardt group. They've brought the gap down to 22", however, the Velodrome grows closer and closer by the second.
With 6km to go, Cancellara knows it is now or never, and tries to bridge, but he isn't getting any closer, as although he is gaining time on the Burghardt group, Boonen gets ever distant.
And we're into the Velodrome!
Boonen is in the lead, Cancellara having been caught by Burghardt, with that duo 27" behind the Belgian. Nuyens and Franzoi are 33" behind the Swiss/German train, and Maes, Nolf, Ballan, and Gaudin a further 21" back.
The question now is whether anybody can catch Tom Boonen?
The Answer?
No.
Victory!!!
But now the race for second is on, who will take the silver and who the bronze? Burghardt led out around the penultimate turn, but Cancellara had too little left in his legs, and the German takes second.
Shortly after, Nuyens, Franzoi, and Ballan reach the final turn, and they both enter and exit in that order, and while Ballan charges past Franzoi on the finishing straight, he cannot beat Nuyens, so Nuyens 4th, Ballan 5th, Franzoi 6th.
Next up comes Maes, Gaudin, and Nolf, and although the Festina rider makes a run for it, he cannot beat the Auber pair. They finish in that order, Maes 7th, Gaudin 8th, Franzoi 9th.
Adam Blythe is next, as he rounds out the top ten in 10th. He is followed over by Coyot in 11th and Baugnies in 12th.
Bewley crosses in 13th shortly after, the first rider since Boonen to cross the line alone.
And finally Geraint Thomas and Geert Steurs finish out the top 15 in that order, Thomas easily beating out the Belgian to the line.
A great victory for Mr. Tom Boonen!
While Auber 93 get their own moment on the podium, as they take the team prize.
