Sagan shaved his legs. I appreciate the troll though. He's the best. Also, this spring racing season has been great, but it's a bit bittersweet. Just watching Cancellara do his thing at Strada Bianche, or Contador shaking things up, as only he can do, at Paris Nice, makes me sad these guys will be gone soon. Also, Boonen looks like he's in decent form. Hopefully we get one last Boonen-Cancellara epic battle during Holy Week. Or maybe Sagan finally wins MSR or the Ronde. That'd be outstanding too.
Sagan is by far the favorite for pretty much all of the spring classics between now and Roubaix, and rightfully so. Greg Van Avaemart (BMC) has given him run for his money this year though. He could give Sagan difficulties in Milan San Remo and in Flanders, but Roubaix is another beast. Its really hard to predict who will survive all of the crazy classics between now and Roubaix, but Zdenek Stybar is my pick. Boonen hasn't done shit for a while. Sure, he's wily enough to sneak up on folks, but it would shock the hell outta me if he went on another 50km romp. Cancellara can still do it. His win at the Strade Bianchi was amazing and showed he's in great shape this spring. Milan San Remo isn't going to be the same without Degenkolb. Kristoff hasn't shown the zip that he's had in years past. Cav, Cancellara, Boonen and Gilbert are on the downturn of their careers. My tier 2 guys to watch out for Nibali, Michael Matthews, Tom Jelte Slagter, Nacer Bouhanni, and Andre Greipel (he's injured). I wish Phinney were healthy.. he wants this race more than he wants Roubaix.
Boonen has been pretty good when he's been healthy. He just hasn't been healthy much since 2012. But in between all of his injuries, he's still managed to win a number of races. Either way, I don't expect anybody to go on a 50km romp ala vintage Boonen-Cancellara (maybe Tony Martin in a couple years), but I'm hoping we get to see a final selection including both of them at either Flanders or Roubaix. It'd be awesome. Also, I'm interested to see what happens if MSR finishes in a bunch sprint, and Gaviria is there. Obviously, it's highly unlikely he'd even be there at the end, in his first classics start, but he might jist be a really special talent, and EQS is giving him protected status in the race (along with Stybar). Speaking of Stybar, he looks great yet again. I agree that he probably takes down one of these. Also, where is Sep VanMarcke? I haven't even heard his name mentioned during a race this year I don't think. I imagine he'll be right there in a couple of these as well.
Gaviria is the real deal. MSR is a different beast though, its not only a classic, its almost 300km long. Most riders never ride that distance, much less go that distance at race speed. Honestly, I'll be shocked if Gaviria even finishes the race. If he's there in the end, it will be one of the most impressive first rides ever. Not bashing him at all, just stating that it would be a historic moment if he was there in the end. Same thing with Caleb Ewan. Sep is taking a quieter approach to this season. Usually he does all of the tune-up races. The problem with Sep is that he always tries to win every single race he's in, even the minor tune-up races. Its great that he wants to win that much, but he ends up destroying himself before the big races come. This year his team directors are trying to hold him back for a bit. Hes the type of rider, and the type of build, who could win Roubaix and Flanders back-to-back.
Milan San Remo tomorrow. Race starts at 5:30 am EST, but no coverage until 8 - 8:30. Should finish around 12 - 12:30.
Seems like it starts at the very beginning of coverage. Trying to use the 2x speed to fast forward to the live action.
Translated: A landslide occurred between Genova Voltri and Arenzanoau the 160 kilometer race has forced the organizers of Milan San- Remo to change the route . The riders had to borrow a stretch of highway during nine kilometers before returning to the original route . The distance has been lengthened to four kilometers
FFS Gaviria. Keep the rubber side down, and he probably wins that. Inexplicable crash. Guy is gonna be special though. Also, lol at Bouhani throwing a fit while Demare wins. That was perfect. Fuck Bouhani.
Love Demare. Such an awesome win. Gaviria is so so insane. its especially unreal that he at his age he beats some of the best sprinters in the sport, he dominates track sprinting, and now he shows that he can last 300km with the best in the world. good fucking god, watch out. A lot of people hate Bouhanni, but I secretly love him. He races like the sprinters of old, like its an all-out contact sport. The fact that he headbutts people and does body-leans while riding at 40+ mph is awesome imo. Thats the way folks rode back in the day. He doesn't put up with the modern-day pussy shit. Sure, he's vocal, and he gets kicked out of races a lot. I can see how folks dislike that.
just re-watched another shot of the replay. I think something broke on Bouhanni's bike. He was in perfect position to win the race, he went to launch his sprint and then he looked down at his chain. As soon as he did that, Demare passed him like he was sitting still. That's why he was punching his bike.
confirmed. Bouhanni's chain slipped when he started his sprint. having that happen after 300km of racing is fucking brutal. this race was his to win and he knew that. he almost always beats Demare in a head-to-head sprint.
Demare might have this race taken away from him. There is evidence this morning that he held on to the team car up the Cipressa climb and that is how he closed the gap to the peloton after that crash with 30 km left. His team, FDJ, is known for being open and publishing their rider's data on Strava. Demare himself has tons of data up on Strava. Well, his data for MSR was up on Strava for just a tiny bit and it was pulled down. Someone grabbed the data and it all basically shows that he grabbed onto the car and was pulled up the Cipressa climb. I hope it gets stripped.
haha.. he set the Strava King of the Mountain (KOM) for the Cipressa climb. F'ing bullshit. Strip the win and fine the fuck out of his team. Maybe suspend him too.
Youtube feed in Dutch here... http://www.steephill.tv/players/you...ashboard=gent-wevelgem&id=v2XUFCFCXNs&yr=2016
That was a great win by Sagan, but notice how fast Sep was coming there at the end. Sagan has been great all year. That's not sustainable unless he's on something. Sep has been quiet and is just now peaking. He's the type of guy who can attack from 30km out and hold off the peloton too. Tactically he's not that savvy, but he has a huge engine and looks to be peaking at the right time. With Kristoff sick, Degenkolb out, Boonen aging and showing no sign of life, and Cancellara and Sagan due for a bad performance, I'm putting my money on Sep.
Also, wtf is wrong with Quick-Step? Usually they have 2-3 wins in the minor spring classics by this point. I think they're spending too much time trying to tow Gaviria to the finish line and set up a sprint. If they would ride for Stybar, Terpstra, Trentin, or fuck, even Boonen, they'd probably have 1-2 wins by now. They're by far the strongest classics team in the peloton.
I think their problem is that they have been riding for Boonen, because he's Tom Boonen, but he's probably only like the 3rd or 4th best classics guy on their team at this point. In both E3 and GW they burnt off Stybar and Terpstra trying to chase down the attack, while Boonen sat in until really late, then tried to attack from the chasing group and failed. I highly doubt Boonen would be ok riding these races for Gaviria at this point in his career. But yeah, they should protect Stybar or Terpstra. I have no doubt Stybar could be in these decisive attacks if the team was riding for him. Demare beat Gaviria in the bunch sprint too. He's on great form. Also, Kuznetsov sat up and got pipped by VanMarcke for second. Was happy to see that after Kuznetsov just sat on the lead group and didn't do any work.
The fact that Kuznetsov had that much in the tank was super impressive. It was nice to see him get on the podium. I saw Demare pip Gaviria too. Two things to take away from that. 1) Gaviria is spent. He's done a ton of racing this spring and the fact that he had his entire team working for him today, was near the front of the group, along with the fact that Demare worked his way from the back of the group up to Gaviria and then proceeded to pip him shows how done he is. 2.) Demare is on fire right now. Honestly, I think he would've beat Sagan in a straight up sprint today. He could be in the mix for Flanders. He won't be able to solo on his own ala Cancellara, Boonen, or Kristoff and Terpstra last year. If it comes down to a small bunch though, and Demare is there, he could get it.
Flanders spoilers so far: Spoiler Demare crashed out earlier and so did anothet guy they said was a contender, but whose name I didn't recgonize and can't remember. Van Avermaet just broke his collarbone. ~6 person crash, 4 of them BMC. Nothing really going too, and they were on wide and good streets, which makes it all the worse.
Also if Bein Sports is in your cable package, their beinsportsconnect.tv website (like ESPN3) has had all of these spring races.
He could have probably waited for Cancellara and VanMarcke to join, and won a 3-man sprint too, but he says after the race "Nobody wants to work with me, so it's better to just drop everyone." Lol.
i think i mentioned this earlier, but its worth mentioning again... Roubaix will be live from start to finish next weekend. so excited. i hope it pours buckets. Cancellara has to be the favorite.