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Fantasy Cycling

Paris Roubaix post race chatter....

by Gregoire500
Sun, Apr 10, 2011 21:05
8

First off, big ups for Van Summeren, solo breakaway in a classic featuring most of the world's best has to be the ultimate dream for any cyclist, and he seems a thoroughly modest chap to boot.

Been reading a lot of argument on l'equipe website about whether Hushovd and Ballan were right to not ride (more accurately, whether Hushovd was looking out for Van Summeren and being a good team player or just knew he didn't have the legs to go straight up against Cancellara so was riding negatively).

Being that he didn't really know how VS was placed, I'd say he was just riding to his ability, which can't be criticised really, even if he did have much more team support. What it really shows is that Cancellara needs better team-mates to help him along in these situations, otherwise he's always going to be struggling.

My points today were pretty awful thanks to Rabobank rider taking out Chavanel and Boonen... Half my team didn't finish and I'd hedged my bets on Seb Hinault going out on an early break after reading an interview with him which retrospectively was a bit of a dunce move.

my position in the league is slipping!

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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8 comments

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joediesel | 13 years ago
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I had Van Summeren on my squad up until yesterday when he got greyed out and I transfered him. Lame.

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Gkam84 | 13 years ago
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Cancellara has a strong team, they just weren't at the PR with him

If i was in his position, i would have just sat back and said, feck it all, do it yourself, Ballan and Hushovd had someone up the road, but they would have wanted the win themselves, they just wanted him to do all the work for them, just like Chavanel last week

But there were a few arguments going on today, at one point Flecha was bumping shoulders with someone from Rabobank and shouting at each other

Was a decent race in the end, spoilt by a few spats and crashes, but thats racing i suppose

Only scorer for me was Cancellara, the rest seemed to get taken out by Rabobank and apart from the very start i never even saw Wiggins at all

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chinchli | 13 years ago
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Huschovd did an excellent job of neutralising Cancellara, just by sitting on his wheel. I think Cancellara should have done all the work to get up to the leading group then spent 10km recovering before attacking again. You can understand why he didn't want to do all the work himself after what happened with Chavanel the week before.

As for fantasy, I got lucky having Rast as well as Hushovd and Cancellara on my team. I'm pretty happy with 93 points off 2 races.

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Gregoire500 | 13 years ago
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Would love to have heard what Cancellara was saying to Thor and Ballan then Vaughters when he spat his dummy out and refused to keep pulling them along. He's an amazing rider but I don't know why he'd expect them to give him a helping hand when they don't need to and its not in their interest.

He's right when he said that getting 2nd place was like winning for him today though, dropping Hushovd and Ballan showed who the real rider was out of them.

Going to have to put much more thought into next week's team selection now... Gilbert and Boonen were a big let down for me over the last two though-really expected more from them.

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20thebear replied to Gregoire500 | 13 years ago
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Gregoire500 wrote:

He's an amazing rider but I don't know why he'd expect them to give him a helping hand when they don't need to and its not in their interest.

How can you say it is not in their interest? How were they going to win otherwise? I'm sure they would have rather won than let one of their team-mates take the honours.

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Opismath | 13 years ago
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Yeah the League leader from last week Sir_Velo and another high ranker - Men in Black have picked up a load of points again this week - well done you guys on that achievment, particularly in this race where the points can come from the strangest places( You obviously have the inside track ) . .methinks you may have made the break from the Peloton a little too early though, we're all chasing hard . . you will be caught !

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pjt201 | 13 years ago
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I think the interaction between Cancellara, Hushovd and Ballan was interesting. I think the other two probably could have worked, but they didn't want to with Spartacus in their wheel as he would almost certainly drop the hammer when the bridge to the lead group was made and then beat them - I think it was kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. It's as much a question of why would Hushovd and Ballan want to work for Cancellara as vice versa.

Quickstep had a horror of a race, lost points on Boonen too.

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Chas | 13 years ago
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Im inclined to agree about losing riders,I only had a couple finish myself, but to be fair look at the league leaders - they appear to be consistantly picking the right riders at the right time for the right race - and amassing huge points to boot . Ultimately ( like the Grand National ) this is the one race which it is difficult - even impossible to pick the winners - it's such a grueller ,several riders got shed through no fault of their own, mechanicals and punctures etc. Anyway will lick my wounds and get myself ready for the Amstel Gold Next week, also time for a rethink on my current team,see how many riders remain injured from todays outing, exciting stuff all the same.

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