de ronde review + paris-roubaix preview

Of Mice and Men

We are in the middle of two weeks in Flanders, thehistorical region that spans the Belgian and Frenchborders on the shores of the North Sea, that are al-ready proving the Scots poet Rabbie Burns to be ashrewd commentator on the Classics: "The best laid schemes of mice and men / Often goawry / And leave us nought but grief and pain, / Forpromised joy."� Tom Boonen’s early crash in the Tour of Flanderson Sunday past – at 19km from the start so earlythat the UK TV coverage missed it – changed thatrace completely, and will have provoked a majorreconfiguration of Omega Pharma-QuickStep’sseason. Boonen may have struggled to rebuild hisform since an elbow operation in January, andcrashing out of Gent-Wevelgem the week beforehardly increased his prospects at the Ronde.Geraint Thomas’s race also did not go to planwhen the Team Sky rider, who had said that theRonde was his main target after re focusing on theroad after the Olympics, went down in the bunchon a flat, straight section of road with 35km to go.Despite the help of some friendly Garmin-Sharpsoigneurs in sorting out his mechanicals, Thomasfailed to build on his initial promise. The race hadalready taken on a strangely neutralised quality inthe wake of Boonen’s crash, so the attack byFabian Cancellara, which would culminate in themoment of truth between him and Peter Sagan,seemed inevitable. In the event, Cancellara dis-patched the Slovak almost as easily as he did Boo-nen on the Kapelmuur in 2010, beforetime-trialling his way to victory from the finalclimb.So what of Roubaix? Never a straightforward race,its roots lie in a scheme by two industrialists topromote their newly built velodrome in the town.

They contactedLe Vélo, aParisian paper,which sent acorrespondent,Victor Breyer,to ride some ofthe course. Ar-riving filthyand exhaustedfrom the cob-bles, Breyerswore he’dsend a telegramto his superiors calling off the idea; yet, afterwarming up with a few drinks, no doubt paid forby the putative race hosts, the telegram was neversent. All of which is to say that Paris-Roubaix isthe result of a delirious masochist’s bar-roomschemes (Victor Breyer went on to preside overthe Tour de France’s legendary, lunatic first as-cent of the Tourmalet in 1910), and any prognosti-cations should be approached with extremecaution. Boonen will not be there, but, in no particularorder, Cancellara, Ian Stannard, Lars Boom andJohan Vansummeren will. As will a reinstatedfour-star sector of cobbles not seen since 2008, a1,600m stretch between Wallers and Hélesmes,which could prove significant. Renamed PontGibus, after Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle, it comes justafter the Trouée d’Arenberg and contributes tothe 52.6km of rough stuff this year, an increase on2012. And, should current forecasts prove accu-rate, there will be cold, wet weather. If it does rain(and weather predictions are only marginallymore reliable than the riders’ starting prices), itwill be the first wet Roubaix since 2002. One thingis certain: unlike Tour of Flanders, where both themen’s and women’s races were perfectly exe-cuted by their respective winners, next Sunday, thebest laid plans of mice and men will go awry.

paris-roubaixrace type: Monumentdistance: 254.5km region: Northern Francecobbles: 27 sectors / 52.6km

30 31 01 02 03 04 05 06 07SATURDAY SUNDAY

—Ronde van VlaanderenMONDAY—Vuelta Ciclista al PaisVasco

TUESDAY—Vuelta Ciclista al PaisVasco

WEDNESDAY—Vuelta Ciclista al PaisVasco—Scheldeprijs

THURSDAY—Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde

FRIDAY—Vuelta Ciclista al PaisVasco

SATURDAY—Vuelta Ciclista al PaisVasco

SUNDAY—Paris-Roubaix

a weekly double-shot of road racing

who’s your pic k for # prost y le?

Wednesday 3rd April 2013

rapha.ccissue 03

quote:

Pain was myshare today,up to nextyear@TomBoonen1

From thecobbles ofthe Kware-mont andthe steep Pa-terberg, it'sonly a smallstep to anMTB race,isn't it?@Marianne_Vosraced MTB theday after Flan-ders… and won

Fabian CancellaraRADIOSHACK LEOPARD TREK

1Peter Sagan

CANNONDALE

2Jürgen Roelandts

LOTTO BELISOL

3

moment ofpanache:

The RVV was achronicle of anattack foretold.Everyone – in-cluding Sagan –knew Cancellarahad to attackfrom the frontand ride thecontenders offhis wheel. SoFabian’s finalburst on the Pa-terberg was allthe more im-pressive for it.

Vuelta Ciclista al PaisVasco. Screened live all weekat Rapha Cycle Clubs.

weekend weather

LondonSunny Saturday,rain Sunday, 7C.Winter Jersey, buttime for shades!

a weekly double-shot of road racing Wednesday 3rd April 2013

women’s ronde van vlaanderen

Va Va VosCharlotte Easton of the Look Mum No Hands! race team recounts theWomen's Ronde as she saw – or tried to see – it.

Short of flying to Oudenaarde, hiring a helicopter and borrowingsome binoculars it is pretty difficult to watch the whole of theWomen’s Ronde. For years the men’s Spring Classics have inspiredme to get out and ride my bike come what may. The riders exude akind of toughness more commonly associated with frontline service-men. Stoicism in the face of adversity. Initial investigations into howI would watch the Ronde voor Vrouwenwere disappointing, but likethe riders, I persevered.My efforts across multiple media streams paid off, and I watchedpre-race favourite Marianne Vos storm to victory, filling the only sig-nificant gap in her palmarès. The photographs of her crossing theline show how determined she had been and how fiercely she hadcontested the sprint. Ramping up the pace from the 200m mark shemoved away from the group of four, and despite the raw aggressionof Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon), and Emma Johansson(Orica-AIS), who chased right to the line, Vos was unassailable.There had been early breaks in the 127km but they were broughtback by the bunch. A group of three: Vos, Johansson and Elisa LongoBorghini (Hitec Products UCK), made the move that was to stick.Vos set the pace while the others fell in behind her to take theirturns. The heroic effort of the unmistakable, rangy twenty-six-year-old Van Dijk who crossed to the break was somewhat reminiscent ofCancellara’s work in the men’s race hours later. The phenomenal strength of Emma Johansson will be what stickswith me. Her do-or-die attack in the last kilometres was feisty,courageous and brilliant. It’s just that Vos is something other-worldly. Her strength is Olympian in its quality. She is the warriorwho has set the tone for a generation of female riders to come.

who’s your pic k for # prost y le?

junior paris-roubaix

CobbleshockEighteen-year-old Tao Geoghegan Hart was bornand raised in east London. Part of the British CyclingOlympic Development Programme, the talentedteenager was competing at last year’s Junior Paris-Roubaix. With 20km to go, and with thoughts of theRoubaix velodrome looming, Tao was riding welland feeling strong. But they call it the Hell of Northfor a reason...

The race was a war of attrition, the bunch becom-ing ever smaller as crashes, cobbles and mechani-cal catastrophes gradually claimed victims amongthe hopefuls. Each sector would arrive completewith a fresh surge of adrenaline, urging you for-ward and through the mêlée of bodies.The smoothness of the tarmac that followed wassuch a shock it felt like the abnormal element ofthe race. As the sectors came and went, my handsbecame increasingly tender; what I can onlyimagine arthritis feels like began creeping into myknuckles and fingers. Despite this, the legs contin-ued to go and, fuelled by the fervour of the occa-sion, not to mention caffeinated cola gels andsticky, foil-clad cake, I soldiered on.And just as I’d predicted, it was at 20km to go thatcrunch time arrived. The scar on my back, thehole ripped in my Pro Team Base Layer, both pro-vide reminders of that moment, before I hit thedeck, when I was still in with a chance. I have noidea how I crashed. But I remember the backspasms, the shame of riding at the rear of the fieldon the biggest of cycling stages. I remember, too,riding to the Roubaix velodrome with my headdown; I was still fighting but this time it was tohold back the tears. The gates to the mythicalvelodrome closed moments before I arrived. Itwas one of my worst races of the year but one ofthe biggest lessons of my life.

Tao has again been selected to ride the JuniorParis-Roubaix for Great Britain this year. Read hisfull account of last year’s ride on the Rapha blogfrom Thursday 4th April. Visit: rapha.cc.

San Francisco55F average, withsunny intervals.Merino ArmWarmers and aGilet required.

OsakaHighs of 18C;sunny intervals,chance of rain. Trade Team Jersey,Classic Bib Shorts,Wind Jacket.

RoubaixOvercast with alight breezes,highs of 8C.Arm Warmers,Knee Warmers,courage.

1Trouée

d'Arenberg

2Carrefour de l’Arbre

3Wallers àHélesmes

4Mons-

en-Pévèle

pavé pop charts

The top five Paris-Roubaix 2013 sectors.

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5Troisvilles à Inchy