Cycling 2012 Thread | Giro d'Italia - Tour de France - Vuelta a Espana

[another_rack]

The person that looked really good in Qatar was Boonen, cobbled classics here we come! If anyone gets a chance watch stage 4 of Qatar for some sick racing.

[hennerz]

I'd agree that there should be some great Boonen vs Gillbert battles in the classics.

[areaman]

hey, those little diamond icons are for baseball threads!

[hennerz]

Originally Posted by areaman

hey, those little diamond icons are for baseball threads!

I think you will find the icons are reserved for baseball threads.

[pablito_21]

Bump because this Sunday it's Tour of Flanders. I know in general the big tours like TdF and Vuelta have more appeal, but one day classics such as this one are def worth a watch, very entertaining.

Favorites are Boonen and Cancellara, could be an epic duel between those two. Other notable contenders: Pozzato, Chavanel, Gilbert (although not in 2011 form so far), Devolder, ...

[another_rack]

For people in the U.S. I think Flanders is gonna be broadcast live on the NBC sports cable channel (whatever that's called). For anyone that hasn't watched these one day classics, especially the big ones in Belgium, have all the action of a TdF Mountain Top Finish.

This year is shaping up to be an interesting one in the classics. They changed the route for the first time in like 25 years, making it even more hilly at the end. They took out a few of the classic climbs but added a circuit that takes them over some pretty tough ones multiple times. I also think the finishing line is a lot closer to the final climb. This should have the effect of making a very small selection for the finish line.

-2008 and 2009 Tom Boonen was heavily favorited allowing his team mate Stijn Devolder to go up the road and take back to back wins.

-2010 Flanders was billed as Boonen vs. Cancellara but it turned out that year that Canc was much stronger than anyone and just rode away from Boonen, on the Oude Kwaramont I think. A similar thing happened in Roubaix.

-In 2011 Cancellara was probably even stronger but got marked out of the race by Boonen's teammate Sylvain Chavanel, who seemed the strongest in the race, alowing the group to come back together and Nick Nuyens to win a surprise 3 up sprint with Canc and Chav as Boonen finished 2 seconds off the podium. To me this was the most exciting edition in the past handful of years.

-In 2012 like I said the route is different so its tough to say who will be eliminated because it is to hard. Nick Nuyens is out with an injury but I think he wouldn't be able to get to the finish line on the new parcours anyway, guess we'll find out next year.

The favorites

Tom Boonen - Has already won more races this year than in the last two combined. He claims he is healthy for the first time in years. He has won Harelbeke and Ghent- Wevelgem, both from rather large groups against other very strong sprinters. He has probably the strongest team, the New Omega Pharma- Quickstep merger is turning into the Yankees of the peloton this year. He seams to be the strongest rider and has the best finish, I'd call him the favorite

Fabian Cancellara - Seams super strong this year and may have even lost a little weight, which will help on the climbs. The way Cancellara wins a road race is to attack and solo to a victory. In the past he has done this in San Ramo from 1km and from Roubaix at like 50km. Recently the Peloton has employed a successful strategy of jumping on his wheel and not letting him get separation. This results in him towing a few guys to the finish and getting jumped in the sprint, as in Milan San Remo this year, or in him sitting up and refusing to do so, as in Roubaix last year. He has been criticized for not being as tactically astute this year as Boonen has been. He also doesn't have Boonen's team behind him. Although he should have more support this year than last, when his team was very weak.

Peter Sagan - At only 22 he has quickly Boonen's heir apparent. He has been super strong on the hills and on the cobbles this year and can match Boonen in the sprint. Since he is not Belgian and races for an Italian team he is not tactically strong in the Belgian races. He has said this about himself as has Boonen. Because of his age and strong season he may run out of gas on this one, he may also use his energy unwisely by following the wrong attack, leaving himself knackered for the sprint. Will more than likely win this race a few times before he retires.

Philippe Gilbert - Super strong last year in the hillier one day races. He has won cobbled one day races in the past and this route seams to suit him more than in the previous years where he has managed multiple top 10 placements. The problem is this year his form is ****, he hasn't won a race yet and has had a fever from a tooth infection. He could win just about any one day race he enters, but he may not have the form this year. He has also changed teams to BMC where there are many other star riders so he is not the only protected rider for races like this anymore.

Matti Breschel - In 2010 he was Cancellara's team mate so he rode in his service in these races. That year he almost seamed stronger than Canc in Flanders and Roubaix, but had a mechanical problem in Flanders at a terrible time so we'll never know. Last year he was injured and pretty much didn't race. This year he appears back, having podiumed in Ghent-Wevlgem where he looked super strong on the climbs and in the sprint. He may be coming into form at the right time. I think he may surprise.

Sep Vanmarcke - Had a super strong Het Volk, the first big Belgian race of the year, where he looked like by far the strongest and even beat Boonen in a 3up sprint, which I am sure not even he expected. Has looked good since then but it seams like the other riders are coming into form closer to the big races so doesn't really seam like the strongest. He is young like Sagan but has the advantage of growing up racing in Belgium, making him tactically stronger. He hasn't displayed Sagan's sprint however. Him and Sagan looking to be the Boonen and Canc of the future

There are a whole tier of outside favorites beyond these guys here are the Unibet odds, Langeveld seams like a really good price tbh, as does Terpstra. If I could I'd bet against Gilbert at that price.

Boonen, T 3.50
Cancellara, F 3.50
Gilbert, P 13.00
Sagan, P 16.00
Breschel, M 17.00
Pozzato, F 19.00
Vanmarcke, S 19.00
Boasson Hagen, E 23.00
Chavanel, Sy 23.00
Devolder, S 30.00
Haussler, H 30.00
Ballan, A 35.00
Hushovd, T 35.00
Leukemans, B 35.00
Van Avermaet, G 35.00
Goss, M 40.00
Hoste, Leif 40.00
Flecha Giannoni, J-A 45.00
Hoogerland, J 55.00
Langeveld, S 55.00
Paolini, Luca 55.00
Van Summeren, J 75.00
Boom, Lars 90.00
Burghardt, M 90.00
Kroon, K 90.00
Maaskant, M 90.00
Oss, D 90.00
Terpstra, N 90.00
Marcato, M 100.0
Farrar, T 125.0
Hincapie, G 125.0
Muravyev, D 125.0
Steegmans, G 125.0
Voeckler, T 125.0
Gallopin, T 200.0

[Andro]

Flanders and Roubaix are the two most entertaining races of the year IMO. Last years Flanders was absolutely epic.

Going to be interesting to see if Breschel can actually achieve something for once.

[another_rack]

Breschel has won plenty of races before his injury and will likely win many more.

[True North]

I'm getting more and more pissed off with the ****ty/non-existant race coverage here in Canada. At least it was a North American thing before NBC/Universal came along.

[another_rack]

Originally Posted by True North

I'm getting more and more pissed off with the ****ty/non-existant race coverage here in Canada. At least it was a North American thing before NBC/Universal came along.

Streaming options are pretty good, as are the torrents. GL Sven Tuft and Dominique Rollin.

[True North]

And it's Boonen again, seemed to be almost a foregone conclusion once he got in the final breakaway. Tough race with some pretty nasty crashes, esp Cancellara's.

[another_rack]

The Langeveld crash was pretty spectacular.

[another_rack]

Boonen just crushed this classics campaign, the way he won today was just insane considering he could have just waited for the sprint.

[vedder1980]

Not sure if it works for canada/us etc but you can pay like $5 a month to get eurosport streaming online. They cover every big race and the commentary is pretty decent. Wiggins for the TDF obv

[gusmahler]

Tony Martin (world time trial champ) was hit by a car in a training accident. Seems bad (fractured shoulder, arm, and facial bones). But no news on when he can start training again.

http://road.cc/content/news/56849-te...-collision-car

Here's his epic performance in the World's last year when he passed two and won by over a minute.