One Overweight Man's Obsession With a Mountain
April 8, 2017
Blog Alexander Kristoff, BMC, Bora-Hansgrohe, CBS Sports, Cycling Podcast, E3, Gent-Wevelgem, Greg Van Avermaet, Hell of the North, Het Volk, Ian Stannard, John Tesh, Katusha, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, L'enfer du Nord, Mathew Hayman, Matteo Trentin, Milan Sanremo, Monument, Monument Classics, Niki Terpstra, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Orica-Scott, Paris - Roubaix, Peter Sagan, Queen of the Classics, Quick-Step Floors, Roger De Vlaminck, Roubaix Velodrome, Team Sky, Theo De Rooy, Tom Boonen, Tour of Flanders, Zdenek Stybar 2 Comments
2002 3rd, 2004 9th, 2005 1st, 2006 2nd, 2007 6th, 2008 1st, 2009 1st, 2010 5th, 2012 1st, 2014 10th, 2016 2nd.
15 years and 11 top 10 finishes with 4 victories. That’s Tom Boonen’s record for L’enfer du Nord, the Hell of the North, the Queen of the Classics, Paris-Roubaix.
July 3, 2016
Blog Amstel Gold, BMC, Cav, chapeau, Cherbourg, Dimension Data, Etixx-Quickstep, Fleche-Wallonne, Greg Van Avermaet, Julian Alaphilippe, le tour, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish, Michael Matthews, Milan Sanremo, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Orica-BikeExchange, Paris-Nice, Peter Sagan, puncheur, Saint Lo, Sky Bet, Strade Bianche, TdF, Tinkoff, Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour de France, Tour de Suisse, Vuelta Cyclista a La Rioja, wikipedia 2 Comments
So Stage 1 has come and gone, Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) took the yellow jersey and his 27th TdF stage win, a tremendous achievement for the Manx Missile – chapeau Cav. My four favourites finished in the first four places but as you know, I went for outsiders so maybe gut feeling should be the order of the day going forward.
No opinions today folks, just pure unadulterated punditry.
Sky Bet are backing Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) at 10/3, Michael Matthews (Orica BikeExchange) at 6/1, Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx Quickstep) at 13/2 and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) at 8/1. So what are their chances? More
April 9, 2016
Blog Alexander Kristoff, Astana, Channel 4, cobbles, Compiegne, Cycling Weekly, Dimension Data, E3 Harelbeke, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Fabian Cancellara, Fabio Aru, Grand Tour, Hell of the North, Hennie Kuiper, Ian Stannard, Katusha, Lars Boom, Le Auto, Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix, LottoNL Jumbo, Milan Sanremo, Monument, MSR, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Paris - Roubaix, pave, Peter Sagan, Phil Ligget, Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Roubaix Velodrome, Sep Vanmarcke, Sky, Sky Bet, Team Sky, Tinkoff, Tour of Flanders, Tour of Oman, Trek Segafredo, Vincenzo Nibali 1 Comment
So having struck gold in last week’s Ronde Van Vlaanderen / Tour of Flanders with a win from Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) placing 4th, I thought I would give you another opportunity to share the spoils this weekend.
Paris-Roubaix is possibly the most iconic Monument Classic, it’s certainly the most ridiculous. Starting in Compiegne north-east of Paris, the route covers a flat 257km route, across the open countryside of northern France, finishing in the Roubaix velodrome. But what makes this race ridiculous and yet so intriguing is the fact that the route also covers 27 individual cobbled (pave) sections totalling 53km. These aren’t you’re modern day bumps on the road, these cobbles are verging on medieval, the only traffic these roads see is farm machinery. A society exists (Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix or the friends of the race) to maintain some of the sections and by maintenance I mean, they manually scrape the compacted dirt OUT of the gaps in the cobbles to make sure that they are in the worst possible condition for road bikes. Throw in some rain and you have a lottery of biblical proportions so picking a winner could be challenging. More
April 1, 2016
Blog Alexander Kristof, Arnaud Demare, Ben Swift, BMC, Cofidis, Curse of the Rainbow Jersey, Dimension Data, E3 Harelbeke, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Etixx-Quickstep, Fabian Cancellara, FDJ, Fernando Gaviria, Gent-Wevelgem, Geraint Thomas, Greg Van Avermaet, Il Lombardia, Katusha, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, LottoNL Jumbo, Michal Kwiatkowski, Milan Sanremo, Monuments, MSR, Nacer Bouhanni, Niki Terpstra, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Paris - Roubaix, Paterberg, Peter Sagan, Rainbow Jersey, Ronde Van Vlaanderen, RVV, Sep Vanmarcke, Sky, Sky Bet, Team Sky, Tinkoff, Tirreno-Adriatico, Tom Boonen, Tour of Flanders, Trek Segafredo, Zdenet Stybar 1 Comment
Well after the Milan Sanremo debacle I would not be surprised if this post receives no views. My MSR pre-race tips were actually looking very good at 300 metres to go and then it all fell apart with Fernando Gaviria (Etixx Quickstep) taking out Cancellara, Sagan and Boasson Hagen then Bouhanni slipped his chain (although I’m sure he still thinks it was someone else’s fault) when he looked odds on to take the sprint. But chapeau to Arnaud Demare (FDJ) for his first Monument win and to Britain’s Ben Swift (Sky) for a tremendous second place.
So onwards to the second Monument of 2016, the 100th edition of the Ronde Van Vlaanderen (RVV) or the Tour of Flanders if you prefer. Each Monument has its individual nuances, Milan-Sanremo has the epic distance, Paris-Roubaix has its cobbles, Liege-Bastogne-Liege has its many steep climbs and Il Lomardia sitting at the end of a gruelling season has the longer climbs.
But the Ronde Van Vlaanderen has no fewer than 18 climbs, some cobbled, some asphalt and a further 7 cobbled flat sections. The climbs in the RVV aren’t your classic alpine slogs. No, these are short sharp strength sappers. They range from 400 metres to 2.5km in length and average between 4% and 12.5% average gradients but some sections are as steep as 22%. Now throw in a distance of over 250km and you get a guaranteed afternoon of sporting excellence and endeavour and no matter who wins, it’ll be safe to say that they deserve it.
So taking this and the current performances, who is most likely going to be on the podium? More
