Paris Roubaix - Spoilers be here.

[iLB]

Tommeke tips Wiggo for the win http://rouleur.cc/journal/racing/tom-boonen-bradley-wiggins-big-favourite-paris-roubaix

 

[Apollonius]

Well, I wish. Mrs A and I will be in that velodrome in Roubaix on Sunday to wave goodbye (for now anyway) to a man we have admired for some time. It will be wonderful if he can go out with a win, but I suspect it will be beyond him. I think Thomas had a better chance in Flanders, and look what happened there. Too many younger and faster guys around.

 

[The Couch]

Too many younger and faster guys around.

Yep, that's my feeling as well.

Even if he is in great form (which he hasn't really shown yet this year/in the past weeks), he'll probably need to drop most other strong men
(like Kristoff, Degenkolb and Sagan... even Stybar and Van Avermaet are probably to be avoided)

Nevertheless, a succesfull escape or a blow-everybody-away-on-the-cobbblestones performance have all been done many times in PR

 

[ayceejay]

In the much aligned 'psyching' tactic it is often a good idea to hide your intentions and ability, if you announce yourself as Wiggins has done you make yourself a marked man and the one to beat.

 

[The Couch]

It seems the predicted good/great weather will be useful for all the pave sections to dry up till Sunday.
This is how the "Forest of Wallers" (that's the section right before Arenberg) is looking like today:

 

[MisterStan]

It seems the predicted good/great weather will be useful for all the pave sections to dry up till Sunday.
This is how the "Forest of Wallers" (that's the section right before Arenberg) is looking like today:

Someone's nicked the cobbles!

 

[Flying_Monkey]

The thing about Wiggins is that he's completely unpredictable in races which he hasn't targeted, and can seem completely uninterested. But in races he has targeted he seems to be in a different world. The question for me, though, is how much he will be really supported by Sky and how much his PR dream is a purely personal objective. For some time, he seems to have had his own little team within a team, and it may be that Sky as a whole has different ideas about who is their protected rider. But who that might otherwise be, I don't know - although Sky have a great squad of hard men, they've been working them hard and his three fellow Brits especially so: Rowe must be exhausted, Thomas looks a bit shagged out right now after some great results, and Stannard isn't quite back on top form.

 

[jarlrmai]

Whose saddle is going to break this time?

 

[thom]

Tommeke tips Wiggo for the win http://rouleur.cc/journal/racing/tom-boonen-bradley-wiggins-big-favourite-paris-roubaix

I suspect something got lost in translation: "We want SKY to think Wiggo can win as they'll take too much responsibility as a team to control the race, work themselves into the ground needlessly, the rest of the peloton will sit in their pockets and we'll mug them in the last 50 km"

 

[iLB]

I suspect something got lost in translation: "We want SKY to think Wiggo can win as they'll take too much responsibility as a team to control the race, work themselves into the ground needlessly, the rest of the peloton will sit in their pockets and we'll mug them in the last 50 km"

Hopefully Sky won't go committing so many guys at the front as early as they did in Flanders, certainly some room for double bluffing.

 

[beastie]

Hopefully Sky won't go committing so many guys at the front as early as they did in Flanders, certainly some room for double bluffing.

Sky's tactic were poor in Flanders, defensive and reactionary. 7 guys on the front with hours still to race is unnecessary. I think at PR they will be better served getting someone up the road after Arenberg, less need to drive the bunch, and also as a bridge to any other attacks. Easier said than done mind.

 

[Keith Oates]

All the riders will know that this is Wiggins last race for SKY and he's hoping to go out on a high so both him and Sky will be targeted by all of the other teams in a similar manner as they were in the London Olympic RR. I just hope that he will be near the front at the finish and again show everyone that he is a class rider. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Roscoe]

If Wiggo's head stays in the right place, no reason he can't do this. My heart wants him to win, however, my head says top 10. Fingers crossed for him, really want him to do this!

I think it'll be Stybar, Kristoff, Thomas..............maybe

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Here's the SKY squad for P-R:
Fenn, Knees, Eisel, Stannard, Wiggins, Thomas, Rowe, Puccio

 

[Berk on a Bike]

Here's the SKY squad for P-R:
Fenn, Knees, Eisel, Stannard, Wiggins, Thomas, Rowe, Puccio

...in glorious technicolor! Funny looking bunch.