(Spoilers) Ronde van Vlaanderen. 31/03/13

[Strathlubnaig]

fantastic performance from spartacus there, he is truly the man with the hammer. Tough break for tommeke though, nae luck at a' this year.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I think Cancellara is enjoying torturing young Sagan. The other teams are going to have to try something different against Spartacus next week. But it seems that the longer the road is, the more that Cancellara comes into his own. It was almost just attrition today. It is admirable riding but it does make the last 30k or so rather predictable.

 

[zizou]

Awesome show from Cancellara. Incredible how quickly he can turn a small gap when a rider loses his wheel into a big gap over the course of less than 1km.

Have to say i'm not a great fan of the new route, given it two years now and still think it misses the kapelmuur

 

[redcard]

...anyone know why he was shaking his head at the end as if in disapproval of something?

I thought it was more of a "f-ck, that was tough" than anything else.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Fabian was incredible, thought it was an exhibition of great cycling.

 

[line71]

Geraint was 5th in the end, not that it matters much in the great scheme of things.

WRONG

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/disappointing-tour-of-flanders-for-team-sky

G Thomas was 41st 2.49 down

 

[raindog]

I know, I know, I know

 

[smutchin]

Having now watched the end of the race, I'd say it looked like he could have finished higher but threw the towel in after Cancellara attacked. He was unlucky to crash when he did. The pace was high all day but especially so at that moment and it must have been quite a drain on his reserves to chase back to the lead group.

Shame. He looked like he was going really well until the crash - quite comfortable, in fact.

Though even without the crash and chase, I doubt he could have done much about it when Cancellara went for it. That wasn't just a truly awesome display of power, it was the technique and experience to know exactly when and how to attack. And the sheer bloody determination to keep going even though his legs must have been really burning at the end. He showed that Sagan still has a lot to learn.

And unlike in certain other races recently, Fab's team also played their part and deserve a lot of credit - especially Hayden Roulston.

 

[Booyaa]

And unlike in certain other races recently, Fab's team also played their part and deserve a lot of credit - especially Hayden Roulston.

Agreed, he was phenomenal. Great win by Fab, a joy to watch.

 

[The Couch]

And unlike in certain other races recently, Fab's team also played their part and deserve a lot of credit - especially Hayden Roulston.

We even got a more than decent Stijn Devolder sighting after several years of invisibility.

Strange that nobody has yet mentioned the disappointment that the lesser-favourites were (and I am not talking result-wise).
If Cancellara and Sagan were 5-star favourites (nobody being 4-star ), almost none of the 2 or 3 star did anything.
I wanted to give a thumbs-up to Roelandts who was the only one brave/smart (pick what fits best) enough to not have Sagan and/or Cancellara lead them to slaughter that would be the 3rd time Kwaremont.
(I consider here Turgot and Offredo - who also tried - lower-tier for the RvV than Roelandts was/is)
People like Haussler, Breschel, Van Avermaet, Langeveld... even a strong-in-form Chavanel, they should have all known (after the previous races) that they needed a better strategy than just hoping they won't get dropped on the last 2 climbs.

I also wanted to highlight the very nice race from Kwiatkowski... I just checked, because I didn't quite know when he left the peloton, apparently he attacked on the Molenberg (km 130). Which means that he rode about 120km in the lead group(s), since he only "broke" after the 3rd Kwaremont, not being able to stay in the wheel of Sagan and Cancellara in the glowing piece between Kwaremont and Paterberg.
This guy really has a lot of potential and while last year I was thinking he might he be more suited for the 1 week stuff (Tour de Suisse, Paris Nice,...) he actually showed he has more than a bit of a classics rider in him as well.