Not really. he’s just riding like a smartass to let it come down to a sprint. Traksel was by far the strongest, he didn’t steal this win (having been at the front from halfway the race, the others joined later)
Not pulling during the break, making it succeed, is lame… unless you really can’t pull. Not pulling in the closing km’s, when you know the break will stick, is standard operating procedure for anybody looking to win. It is a lesson that you will quickly learn when you are at the front, at the end of a race. I’ve came up short because I put in monster efforts on the last few laps of crits or road races only to have some dude that sucked my wheel all day come around me with a few meters to go. thats life, race smarter the next time and you can do the same thing… its a high-speed rolling chess game of pain.
Understood. It just seemed strange that the guy refused to take a pull so early on… or maybe I read the race report wrong.
Edit: the video doesn’t reflect what I read. He took a pull or two and attacked once or twice in the last few minutes. I read that he was just sucking wheel all the way to the finish.
I really doubt Bos will challenge Cav much this season. I just don’t see Cervelo backing him in the field sprints at the big races with Haussler and Hushovd in there. I would like to see him take some sprints at some of the minor mini-stage races but in the big show he’ll either be in the leadout train or on the bench this year.
I may be overly optimistic but I think Farrar is the real threat to Cav this year. Maybe Boonen too. He seems to have regained some of the fire he had in years past. If he takes PR or Flanders he’ll probably soft pedal the rest of the season but if he comes up empty handed in the spring classics Cav will have to watch his back.
I keep waiting to see Ciolek really break through but I don’t think it will happen.
Most of the other true fast men like McEwen, Bennati, and Pettachi are over the hill and relegated to mixing it up at whatever grand tour Cav sits out.
Oh and my darkhorse in the sprints has to be Greg Henderson. He was faster than just about everyone this year when he was Cav’s final leadout man and now that he can race for himself at Sky I am really keen to see what he can REALLY do.
Even though he’s more of a straight up strong man Boassen-Hagen can win a sprint too so Sky might be the real challengers to HTC’s dominance.
Team Sky is doing really well especially for their debut in what will be leading up to the Tour. They won either the prologue (time trial) to the Tour of Down Under and/ or maybe the first stage as well? A few other stages too? It’s fuzzy and I do remember them saying they surpassed their expectations… and I don’t necessarily believe it’s shit-mouth/ catering to the press. Very good results for such a young team.
Last year’s Tour, we know that Hushovd could win races. We also know that Haussler could win races. Coming this July, with Sastre’s goal to win the GC and Hushovd’s aim to hold onto the green… what’s Haussler’s role in the Cervelo Test Team?
Of course can’t forget about Frank and Andy Schelck, Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong! Don’t forget about Bradley Wiggins because he finished 4th last year! I think this year’s Tour will be very exciting!
Gotta remember what Vaughters said about Wiggins…
“In 2009, the tactics worked in his favour and Astana were soft-pedalling a bit to not embarrass Lance [Armstrong],”
Also I think this is the year that Haussler really comes into his own and Hushvod will assume the role of mentor to a younger faster rider. Cervelo could be deadly in spring classics with this duo though. Wevelgem, Flanders, and really any of the sprint friendly classics they are a legit threat.
I’m still betting the house on Wiggins. But I genuinely like the guy. Oh, and Contador over Armstrong for 2010, followed by Lance retiring again.
I’m going to root for Danielson again this year…
Universal Sports has been replaying some of the races from last year. I watched the 2009 Milan-San Remo last night and seeing Cavendish beat Haussler by a 1/4 wheel was pretty amazing. Felt real bad for Haussler.
Yeah I’m gonna catch that on Sunday. I’ve never seen the whole deal.
Yeah, I doubt we’ll see much of Bos which is too bad. And as much as I favor Cavendish, things don’t look like they’re gonna be as easy for him this time. There’s going to be a lot of fucking awesome sprint finishes this year, that’s for sure.
Bos missed the split in Vuelta a Murcia today and wasn’t in the lead group for a bunch sprint finish.
I’m interested to see what Gilbert will be able to produce in the classics this year. Pretty fuckin’ lame that Lotto lost Van Summeren for this season though. That dude is an animal.
Gotta wonder how/if Ballan and Hincapie will work together at BMC.
One wonders what BMC is going to get invited to.
What’s the issue?
Problem is that they are a pro cont team… and need wildcard invites to big races…
Solution: WC, former WC, US Champ, Burghardt, Kroon, etc… they will get any wildcard they want.
Problem is that they are a pro cont team… and need wildcard invites to big races…
Solution: WC, former WC, US Champ, Burghardt, Kroon, etc… they will get any wildcard they want.[/quote]
Yeah. That’s why was confused about what Heath said.
Problem is that they are a pro cont team… and need wildcard invites to big races…
Solution: WC, former WC, US Champ, Burghardt, Kroon, etc… they will get any wildcard they want.[/quote]
Yeah. That’s why was confused about what Heath said.[/quote]
I’m not suggesting that they won’t get invited, just that I don’t know what, and I wonder.
Does anyone know if Skil-Shimano is around this year? I haven’t seen anything of them so far this season, and they were fun to watch in the TdF last year.
Holy shit! Fumy Beppu got picked up by Radioshack! That’s awesome!