It has been a brutal week for us Keepers, having decided not to hold a Keepers Tour this year. Watching the action from half a world away has been almost too much for us to bear, and I know most of the participants from last year must be feeling similarly. On Sunday, we would be escorted by our friends and guides, William and Alex of Pavé Cycling Classics, shooting from one location to another to watch the race, eating Genevieve’s homemade sandwiches and pounding Malteni like its going out of style.
We may not be there this year, but that doesn’t change the question on everyone’s mind: can Fabian do the double a record three times? Personally, I hope not – I want the double to stay special. Until 2003, the previous winner of the double was de Vlaeminck who had managed it in 1977 at which point it had only been done six times previously. But since Van Petegem pulled it off in ’03, Boonen and Cancellara have done it twice each – that’s 4 doubles in the last 10 years.
Come Sunday morning, I’ll be gunning for Boonen. He’s been behind his form just a tad, but he forced the selection on the Koppenberg last Sunday, so he has the power. Maybe a day of killing it in de Ronde was last touch he needed and he’ll be peaking for Sunday. Fabian of course will be strong, but Sep and Greg had strong showings last week and Vanmarke is now proving to be Flecha’s replacement – hopefully he’ll have more luck taking a big win Sunday.
The points from the Paris-Roubaix VSP count towards the overall prizes plus the winner of this event also gets to post for the rest of the year in the cobblestone badge. So check the start list, review the VSP Scoring Guidelines and get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on Sunday the 13th. If you think we mapped one of your picks wrong, use the dispute system and we’ll review it. Also remember to be precise enough in your description so we know which rider you mean; in other words, if you enter “Martin”, we will use our discretion (read: wild guess) to decide if you mean Tony or Dan – and that choice will not be negotiable once the the countdown clock goes to zero, so be sure to give yourself enough time.
Don’t forget we’ve got three major prizes for the season-long VSP:
Good luck, have fun with it, and don’t lose your Rule #43 spirit.
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@andrew
That last suggestion is just crazy talk.
@frank
I Have ATT U verse and they don't carry Universal either! Other than that they have been excellent and I would never go back to Directv or Time Warner. Did Universal have PR on? I really do fear for the future of Cycling coverage on NBC, they seem determined to slowly eradicate it.
Final 10 k is already up on youtube
@scaler911
Kristoff dropped out soon after (maybe during?) the forest of Arenberg. 2 flats within a few km and he couldn't get back on.
Wiggins 9th, ahead of Boonen and with the big pack racing for 2nd. Pretty good effort I thought.
Interesting how good Cancellara's sprint is now. He beat Sagan and Boonen, and it took a pretty serious sprinter (Degenkolb) to beat him.
Just a heads up for anyone in the US who may not have seen it, there is now 4.5 hrs of "as live" coverage streaming on nbcsports.com under livestreaming...replays.
@Jay
True, I would have bet some money that Sir Twig would have been rattled to death. Chapeau to him. Damn, it would be fun to have a monster engine.
That was a fine race, couldnt believe that line up in the last 10km, and an excellent move by Terpstra, though I thought the Sky pair may have teamed up to chase, thankfully not.
Two interesting comments from the Eurosport ticker...
"The host broadcaster failed to show the final spring for the remaining podium positions! Terrible stuff there - they were following the third group to the line!"
"Thanks for joining us today for what was an utterly scintillating race - perhaps even better than last week's Tour of Flanders."
While this race was great, I got more pumped up watching the Ronde last week. But, as many Followers and Keepers, and all us at the line!, seemed to suffering viewing issues. The Ronde was an unwavering streaming broadcast for me last week, watched over 3 hours online routed to my t.v., no issues. Lots of drops this week.
Fans seem to have fucked the racers up last week, the broadcasters seem to have fucked up the fans this week.
*Not too much fan interference today, minus the dude with the French flag who nearly took out Boonen. I'd like to see Boonen get his hands on that feller...
@Gianni
And if you missed it, around 7 k or so to go, when things got wild again, Thomas and Wiggins were at the back of the chase talking about what to do, likely how to play it in terms of how they each felt. Thomas did then get back up to the front.
Imagine the awesomeness of sitting in with a pal/friend, thinking your head and lungs might explode and leaning over, "Hey sport, do you want to cover this move, or should I?" One of those things that probably is lost in the moment, but an experience many of us would love to feel...that close to the finish line at the Queen, sitting in with a 'mate, discussing strategy at top speed.