Tour of Flanders

[Parrott]

Nice one 'Highlights watcher.' So Nick totally deserved to win by that score then? Chav is a god. Without the rouleurs the sport is nothing.

If he is a god then he can take his turn not sit on Cancellara's wheel. Could you see Cancellara just sitting on had the roles been reversed, team orders or not? It would have been a less than worthy victory had he sat on and popped out for the sprint. Slimy bludger is a bit strong I agree but it made me angry to see him sitting in there contributing nothing. What he did previously doesn't count for much if he is prepared to sit in like that.

[jules21]

parrot - just by the way, i think cancellara would have ridded straight past chavanel on his own steam if he hadn't cramped.

Do you think he really cramped? I have never been able to continue my rides when cramping, not even free spinning my legs.

he said he did.. that's all i know.

[Baldy]

What an awesome race, bit of a shame we only saw the last 80km or so. There seemed to be a bit of fluff in the broadcast, unless SBS were only allowed to show so much of it? dunno..

Im a Chav fan, I like his style. I felt bad for him actually, I dont think its in his nature to sit in like that. He even said as much after the race. Of course im new to this but Chav has been one of the most entertaining bike racers I have seen, he is fantastic to watch.

Is it wrong for me to wish it rains over there next weekend

[cf73]

This was the first year that I have watched the Tour of Flanders, and what a race.!
I couldnt believe the pace they were running after some of those climbs, I thought Cancellara had it, then I thought he had lost it then I thought he was bluffing....I didnt know what to think and for it to end up like a sprint like that was truely amazing.
Looking forward to the Paris-Roubaix this weekend

[toolonglegs]

To put it politely...Chav's boss is a hard arse #$%^. Quickstep is Tom Boonen... period!. Boonen is who the sponsors are paying for. Chav would have had a pretty poor season, if he got to race at all, by working with Fab.
He knows how it works and will have plenty of chances later in the season.
Now did we see the eventual winner at the head of a bunch until the last 100 meters of the race?...clever race and great win.
Although if Chavanel had picked a better line for the sprint he may of won.

Anyway could be hot and dusty for this weekend!.

[David_G]

I watched it and thought it was a great race, with great scenery too,the roads were so narrow and the climbs sensational and short but way brutal . The commentators weren't too bad and it was good to hear commentary in an Australian accent for a change. As for the tactics I'll leave that for others to debate, but with 40 or so km to go it was all over then on one hill the gap went down form a minute or so to nothing, I was on the edge of my seat too. I reckon it will be on SBS again next year and before long we'll be getting longer and longer coverage, maybe even the whole race. It wasn't that long ago that the TDF was a 30 minute highlight package at 6:00pm was it?

[Drunkmonkey]

Chav did the right thing by not working with Fabian. If he would have, Cancellara would have used him for a while - then drop him. Chav did well to hold Fabian's wheel for so long.

BMC were the stand out team of the race and have won plenty of new fans and respect. A very poor performance for Garmin- Cervelo considering they had a strong team on paper.

[rustychisel]

parrot - just by the way, i think cancellara would have ridded straight past chavanel on his own steam if he hadn't cramped.

Do you think he really cramped? I have never been able to continue my rides when cramping, not even free spinning my legs.

he said he did.. that's all i know.

I think we might all assume he cramped, as he said.

Hey sogood, put it in perspective... you may not be able to continue riding with cramps, but how often have you been leading the Ronde with Boonen at 40 sec behind you?

[shiv]

After watching Hell of the North last night I'd beleieve he did cramp. It showed him doing the same thing as subday night, taking on heaps of water etc, and having to basically sit up due to cramps. They even explain that as he is a big guy (in the pro cycling world anyway) he tends to sweat a heap. If he does cramp quite often he might be able to tell when he is close to cramping, or they maybe come on gradually so he can back off a bit to keep going. I know once I start cramping I can keep riding staying seated and just spinning, but cant stand or try to push to much power.

Also L' Equipe found some fairly interesting stuff about him apparently stopping dead on the Muur. Even with his implosion he was only 5 seconds slower then 2010 when he blew Boonen away.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cancell ... f-flanders

[jules21]

Cookie, giving it everything off the front.