Should be up to date yes and I can't see any reason to re-run de Ronde. Note that it was only custom riders starting with H as well so only a handful of riders in the end.
Welcome to Paris-Roubaix, queen of classics. The weather is cloudy and with a high possibility of rain, the experts for the pave have surely recovered well though from their efforts at De Ronde Van Vlaanderen. Sagan won ahead of the surprising Bozic and Cancellara, who put in an enormous performance with strong hints of complete tactical dumbness.
Paris-Roubaix may be argued to be similar to De Ronde, but the race is quite distinct to its brother in spirit.
The initial pace is very high, many riders want to get into the break. The peloton is eager to not let too many riders away and thus increase the dynamic and shifting of the constellation of break of the day. Eventually, a group of five riders get through: Engoulevent, Charneux, Drucker, Dumoulin and Ponzi. Behind in the peloton, the first riders have been dropped however due to the pace, including french champion Sicard. As the pelotons pace decreases, those riders come back to the peloton though.
Just in time for the first paved sections, the rain comes down on the cyclists and fans alike. The group has almost 9 minutes at this point, something that will crumble fast in the upcoming onslaught on the pave.
Crash by Dumoulin in the breakaway. He hasnt looked to fit at first despite being in the BOTD. He had to put in a massive dig in fact to join the breakaway, now he is also not feeling good on the cobblestones, resulting in him coming down nasty. He is however quick back up and hunts for the other guys. About one and half minute he needs to catch up.
Over those first paved roads and the narrow roads, the first splits occur. Mostly the peloton is still together though with 140 kilometers to go, but its stretched long as usual. It is known that from here on out, it is best to just always be upfront but who is strong enough to ride like this today.
Offredo is trying his luck with 130 kilometers to go. Another risk-taker is about to try it as well, Vansummeren from Garmin-Sharp breaks out of the peloton. In the peloton, the usual teams such as Quick Step, Trek, SKY and Cannondale share the work.
At the looks of it, its all rain and mud for the riders as they ride the Paris-Roubaix, Leukemans isnt impressed just yet and decides he will follow the moves of Vansummeren and Offredo, who are almost teamed up by now in their pursuit of the BOTD.
Arenberg is of course very dangerus at such weather; Offredo and Vansummeren have taken lead of the BOTD by now. Leukemans is a bit in the distance, determined to the same. In the peloton, Belkin has taken over the main chasing duties with help by SKY. Coming out of Arenberg, Offredo & Co. have about 5 minutes to the favourites.
 
Former world champion Tom Boonen is riding extremely well today, he followed a bit the lead of Ian Stannard there but now has taken over the front of the race in some inspiring style. Whats the end game here though with over 80 kilometers left on the road map. Soon he drops back though and lets his helpers to do the deed again. Meanwhile, Leukemans has joined the front.
Boonen is indeed a man on a mission again and has taken over the lead again as soon another paved section came up. He splits the peloton big time, many small groups try to hang on. His top rivals Vanmarcke and Cancellara are close though. It looks more like Boonen is asserting his strength on the other pretenders.
72 kilometers out: And Gaudin attacks. Would it be noteworthy? Yes. But its even more appealing since Boonen, Cancellara and Vanmarcke, who seems to back to his best after the abysmal showing at De Ronde, follow. Whilst SKY is chasing behind them, the three top contenders are happy to share the relay work in order to get a healthy 20 seconds lead for now. Gaudin is advised to try to recover after his attack..
The next cobblestoned section shortly thereafter is too much for the French, and also for last years winner Vanmarcke. With the head down, he has Dumoulin in his sights, but Cancellara and Boonen are speeding away. Fortunately for the both of them, the pave soon ends and they have a chance to catch up.
At 65 kilometers to go, Boonen powers past the BOTD without any remorse. Cancellara thought about taking a short pause to recuperate from the latest efforts but regrets it now as he has lost the wheel of Boonen. Vanmarcke is still at the back and may think wisely about his next moves. Same goes for Gaudin.
Strong showing by Drucker of Wanty who managed to get to Boonen and by it took Cance and the rest with him. Notably in the background we see the other group. Its certainly time to take a look at them
SKY and BMC are doing the main chasing duties for Pedersen and Van Avermeat. Kristoff, Khamphan, Stybar, Sagan, Turgot and Langeveld, who finished podium last year, are other riders in this exclusive group. SKY still with 2 helpers here, same goes for BMC. After this group, theres a large gap to the next, so its obvious that anybody who isnt featured here, wont have any shot at a good placing anymore.
Some monster effort by Phinney, who manages to get back the group to Cance and Boonen BUT
But as the joining of the two groups happen, old and new collide: Gaudin and Stybar hit the ground! With Nuyens and Vansummren respectively Khamphan upfront, both teams still have a outside for winning this race though.
The twenty men strong group is mostly guided and led over the pave and the roads by Sep Vanmarcke, until Boonen comes upfront again and wants to keep the pace reasonably high too. BMC has interests to here, Phinney looks to be on stunning form today. Soon thereafter, most guys of the former breakaway cant hold the high pace any longer and let go of the lead group
But as a matter of fact, the guys actually manage to hang on because the top favourites pace isnt selective enough. Like at all. Cozily, BMC guys are sitting on the wheels of the three big guns, whilst Eisel is pushing for Pedersen. Sagan hasnt done anything yet either, he will have saved his energies maybe for a late attack or the mass sprint. As a result of the lowered pace, Stybar manages to get back, in his wheel Gaudin.
Still 25 kilometers and everybody is waiting for the next moves. None of the big three has a helper with him, whilst SKY and BMC have strength in numbers. Is this reason behind a stale race at the moment, no one willing to risk too much just yet?
They gave him a meter and maybe this is enough as Cancellara powers away. Of course immediately a string of riders is on his wheel; Boone, Khamphan, Kristoff, Van Avermaet, Sagan. You all know the drill. Surprisingly Gaudin is there too after the crash! But no one is willing to help Cance here, so the groups get back together once again due to SKYs pace.
Was this the only move here, really? 10 kilometers to go, and the big group is still freaking huge
And really, even theres nothing going on the last cobbled section and so the group will head into the Velodrome. Sagans racing of De Ronde seems to have become the norm for Paris-Roubaix. Unfortunately. All eyes on Kristoff and Sagan as they are the fastest men in the peloton, but Cancellara and Boonen may have the most energies left despite their long efforts of pulling the race. SKY have held this race together all throughout the day, ironically Pedersen will have little chance in the reduced sprint.
And we take it over the hop, Eisel is still there. Insane effort by him today. Cancellara takes the honour of being the first rider in the velodrome but little does it matter today. Soon Eisel takes over leading out duties, Boonen on his wheel.
Sagan and Kristoff are in prime positions here.
With 3 kilometers still to go, some guys prefer a long, long sprint. This means that they have definitely saved their energy for todays finale unfortunately.
After just a few hundred meters, Sagan has an enormous lead already! His acceleration makes all the difference in the world here!
It first looked like Kristoff could make it, but no chance. He is quickly losing ground now. The surge of Khamphan to his side is only slightly better but Van Avermaet looks dangerously fast for Sagan; He has been protected almost all day long. How fast are his legs here? 1.2 kilometers for Sagan still to go.
And itS Peter Sagan nonetheless! His sprint has been clearly the best of today. His trademark celebration seals the deal for Cannondale here once more, as Sagan makes it back-to-back in the monuments and almost would have scored the treble wouldnt it have been for Kittel.
Congratulations to him and Cannondale, who played this one particularly cool and calm. Vanmarcke, Boonen and Cancellara have fucked it up by attacking early on and then not having any teammates in the front group left. Meanwhile, second-tier leaders such as GVA and Pedersen or Stybar had enough cobbled firepower at their sides to control the race for them, effectively equalizing most moves throughout the race.
Wow, just had the weirdest posting issue ever. The report got each time interrupt completely when either I posted something with Umlaut or with Apostroph. Straaange.
Oh, and apparently I still do.
Edited by Shonak on 06-07-2015 21:36
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Phinney and Oss really showing their strength fantastically and GVA staying out of trouble. Not the best cobbles season for us but we finished it with a real show of power so it'll do. On to the Ardennes.
I forgive you for De Ronde now Shonak . Great report.
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
As Dippofix still hasn't sent in anything, I had to randomise the startlist. If he remains inactive (or tells me he quits), I'll allow riders to make their own schedule again.
So I have been trying to figure out what this EPIC is all about, but I can't seem to find anything about it, other than a bunch of teams. How does it work?
SotD wrote:
So I have been trying to figure out what this EPIC is all about, but I can't seem to find anything about it, other than a bunch of teams. How does it work?
SotD wrote:
So I have been trying to figure out what this EPIC is all about, but I can't seem to find anything about it, other than a bunch of teams. How does it work?
As Dippofix still hasn't sent in anything, I had to randomise the startlist. If he remains inactive (or tells me he quits), I'll allow riders to make their own schedule again.
Damn. Would've been nice sooner as this is the only really big target for Erik. That's 2014 down the drain for him then...
In fact he missed both De Ronde and P-R. Sucks pretty bad for a pure cobbler Edited by Atlantius on 07-07-2015 18:25
Well, there's still a cobble stage at le Tour and the Eneco Tour. But yeah, I know what you mean. You didn't respond after McDermott missed Ronde so I thought it would be ok. Still, as you say, it would be nice if people would tell me if they leave the game so we can move on.
Didn't get around to reading the results of de Ronde closer until now. Up till now I just assumed he couldn't handle the hills or were used as helper for Stybar - that and Verbovens result made me completely lose focus
. Great report.
