Tour of Flanders

[DavidL]

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/livestream/


it's a shocking link

dropping out all the time

28 minutes till live coverage on sbs

Have been trying that for 90 min now and just not getting anything......

Trying the others....

- David

[norbs]

I suspect the SBS stream got slaughtered.

Eurosports is ok for now.

[toolonglegs]

http://sports-livez.com/channel/ch-5.php

[HAKS]

Awesome stuff, nice exciting finish

[Chuck]

Makes me like Cancellara even more the way he fought after the last climb

Quickstep, too clever by half.

[roller]

throughly enjoyed last night's race and coverage

was really hoping for chavanel to win, alas it was not to be.

really looking forward to next sunday now

[sogood]

Great contest last night and felt sorry for Cancellara on that last climb. Only if he had just that bit more gas... And Nuyen had better legs in the final metres. Dark horse!

And how do you pronounce "Leopard Trek" again?!?

[bella26]

Definately an exciting finish to the race whcih had me on the edge of my seat. I really wanted Chavanel to pull through with the win after all the hard work he had done being out in the break and not to mention sticking with Spartacus.

Have to say though - how dissapointing were Garmin-Cervelo?!

[MichaelB]

Can't understand Boonens tactics - has a teammate up front, attacks only to be attacked by Canc within 50m and then gets dropped because he hesitates once Canc gets passed EBH (and another) - reeks of poor nous like Roubaix last year.

Great to see another rider win apart from the usual.

Surprised at how few teamates that Canc had (lost all of their spots ...), but then BMC had most of the team there but still didn't win or pdium - burnt all their matches chasing down the front guys.

Awesome crowds and race though !!!

And poor Boonie didn't win

[malocchio]

Bjarne Riis is amazing. To lose such quality riders at the end of last season, and still manufacture a Spring Classic win is phenomenal.

Have to say though - how dissapointing were Garmin-Cervelo?!

Agreed. I had my money on Haussler! Thor didn't do any work on the front all race, and still didn't have the legs to get him across the line....

[sogood]

So who'll still have the legs for next week?

[MichaelB]

So who'll still have the legs for next week?

Hopefully me. Only lasted till 11:35pm last night - the result of too much painting and other house reno stuff to make it through to the end. Next Sunday will be a duifferent story though

[Jensen]

Fantastic race and thanks to SBS for getting the live coverage (at least in Eastern states). Obviously missed the first 200 or so kms, but was amazing how much less of a role the team seemed to play in these one day races. Perhaps that all came in to it earlier in the day. Tenacity of so many riders refusing to give up and returning to the lead groups was great to see and inspirational. Always seems criminal when the guys doing the work miss out on the win.

[Parrott]

I really wanted Chavanel to pull through with the win after all the hard work he had done being out in the break and not to mention sticking with Spartacus.

Have to say though - how dissapointing were Garmin-Cervelo?!

You what???

I was glad the slimy bludger came up short. It seemed to me he was hoping for Cancellara to tow him to the line and he would just pop out and take the win.

[jules21]

I was glad the slimy bludger came up short. It seemed to me he was hoping for Cancellara to tow him to the line and he would just pop out and take the win.

to be fair, he would have been riding on team orders to mark Cancellara for Boonen's benefit, not his own lack of ethics. and he had done a lot of work out the front already. but having said that, i'm sure he would have happily popped out and stole the win.

[Parrott]

to be fair, he would have been riding on team orders to mark Cancellara for Boonen's benefit, not his own lack of ethics. and he had done a lot of work out the front already. but having said that, i'm sure he would have happily popped out and stole the win.

Yeah I know it was team orders and that was also mentioned on the commentary. It would have been a win on the back of Cancellaras break not his. Particularly given how Cancellara mowed down his lead in a matter of k's.

[roller]

I really wanted Chavanel to pull through with the win after all the hard work he had done being out in the break and not to mention sticking with Spartacus.

Have to say though - how dissapointing were Garmin-Cervelo?!

You what???

I was glad the slimy bludger came up short. It seemed to me he was hoping for Cancellara to tow him to the line and he would just pop out and take the win.

did you just watch the last 30kms or something?

to quote someone else on another forum who summed it up quite well:

I dont have a problem with people choosing Cancellara but to dismiss Chavanel is even more clueless. Go back and either watch the race or read the race report.

Lets see Chavanel attacked with 86km to go, caught the leaders and was the main pace-setter in the leading group working his bottom [sic] of. Meanwhile Cancellara was hiding in the main bunch doing very little in the way of work other than following.

With 49km remaining Chavanel attacks on the Molenberg leaving all the break and continuing on his own.

With 40km to go Boonen attacks taking Cancellara with him and resulting in Cance continuing with the attack leaving the rest behind.

32km remaining Cance catches Chavanel who has been on his own for almost 20km now but he still manages to hang onto the flying Cance.

With 18km reamining the bunch catches Cancellara/Chavanel.

When Cancellara attacks again, only Chavanel and Nuyens can stay with him.

So in summary, Chavanel was at the front of the race for almost 100km. He attacked on the Oude Kwaermont and Molenberg and was the most hardworking rider in the bridging break and then the lead group for almost 40km. He then spent another 17km riding on his own of the front.

From the time of Cancellara attacking at 40km to when he was caught on the Muur was a total of 22km. So the question is how could the super fantastic Cancellara not drop a guy who had been out in front for almost 60km before he caught him.

Chavanel on his own 17km.
Cancellara on his own or with Chavanel 22km. Wow, big difference 5km.

Yes Cancellara was probably the strongest but Chavanel done equal if more work during the entire race and still finished 2nd. When is the last time a guy won a classic having been involved in the action from almost 90km out? Where did all those guys who were in breaks earlier on with Chavanel finish?

That was an amazing battling performance from an underdog so perfectly normal to choose Chavanel

in summary, huzzah for chavanel!

such a gutsy ride all day and a shame he didn't win.

[jules21]

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

[Parrott]

Definitely the stronger rider. If Chavanel had chosen to work they would probably have stayed away. However he knew Cancellara was the stronger rider and would drop him if he did his share of the work. To sit on someone like that, stay away on their effort and then sprint over the top at the end is undeserving. He could have worked but held a bit in reserve and I'd have had no problem if he won.

[jules21]

you've got to temper that with the fact he had boonen coming up behind. as i understand, the plan was to get chavanel up forward as a buffer for boonen, which worked beautifully to spoil cancellara. boonen just wasn't able to capitalise, but that couldn't have been foreseen. those are legitimate tactics, even if i'd also have liked to see chavanel work with him.

[Chuck]

Chavanel rode a great race. He can't be bagged for not working with Fab when his team leader is still in contention, he just fluffed his lines at the end.

I was a little frustrated that Keenan and McKenzie couldn't see that Fab was in trouble. He didn't bridge in the usual Fab fashion (after the initial attack) then called for a drink from the neutral service vehicle, took on board more supplies as soon as the team car was able to get to him. I thought it was pretty clear he was feeling the pinch. Then before the 2nd last climb I thought he may have taken on a salt tablet from the car (I could well be wrong here), Matt Keenan called it a "handshake" before the final attack Then even when the lead dropped dramatically on that climb (more a case of Fab slowing than the peloton gaining) they never called him in trouble until he got dropped on the last climb.

Perhaps my criticism is harsh, but part of being a good commentator is reading what's happening. I don't know about you guys but I thought it was fairly obvious what was happening. Made for great drama though

Fab's efforts to get back after the last climb and then go on the attack again were huge, he really went deep. You would have thought with 3k to go that Boonen would have been all over any move that went, maybe he just couldn't.

[Mustang]

They were all amazing,I have never seen so much rocking in the saddle & hurt on their faces, I would like to see some stats on the race.

[sogood]

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.

[ft_critical]

I was glad the slimy bludger came up short. It seemed to me he was hoping for Cancellara to tow him to the line and he would just pop out and take the win.

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.

Then before the 2nd last climb I thought he may have taken on a salt tablet from the car (I could well be wrong here), Matt Keenan called it a "handshake" before the final attack

Nice pick up, I think you are right. Fabio always complains of cramps around that time of the race. That is the reason he reckoned he had to sit and destroy Boonen on the Muur last year. Cramps. Man if I could drive off the front with cramps the way he does I would never complain about them.

If only he had had a bike change things would have been different

[Sven Nijs]

Great to watch the Sporza live stream and see the lead-up to the finale of a cracking race, then even better to watch the finale on sbs in HD - don't know why they didn't advertise that