Apr 11, 2008 0
Paris Roubaix
It’s that time again for the “Hell of the North” Classic. The race where bike are specially outfitted with all manner of cobble gobbling secrets and only the tough guy racers show up to battle it out.
Paris-Roubaix is a race where everything needs to happen almost perfectly. You can have a flat or two, but make sure they happen at the right time. You can go too fast and have to wait for a train to pass, which could pose a problem again this year.
Again, there will be several railway crossings on the course this Sunday, amongst which one with 95.5 kilometres to go, right at the entrance to the Arenberg forest sector. Using the fastest average time (42 km/h), the riders could arrive at the crossing at 2.54pm. But that is exactly the same time a regional passenger train is expected to pass the road. And just a few minutes earlier, at 2.45, a French high speed train (TGV) is scheduled on the same crossing.
Or simply bonk and not be able to stay upright on the slippery cobbles.
Paris Roubaix usually takes a racer several years to master. Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle finally found the combo in his late 30s to win. Peter Van Petegem was a little older as was Francesco Moser and others. Experience counts when racing over the cobbles. That is why this year things look to be ripe for george Hincapie to finally break through in the Roubaix velodrome. Now at the ripe age of 34 Hincapie is refreshed by a new team filled with young racers. Team High Road seems to be a good fit for Hincapie who seems to race with an aggressiveness that he never had in his career. Hincapie was out in front in the Tour of California with constant attacks and time at the front. A fifth place in Flanders last week behind former teammate Stijn Devolder showed a Hincapie with a new style of racing that seemed muted by the Lance years.
At Discovery/Postal it seems that the Classics were always for George. The ony problem was that it did not seem that the team put in the same effort as they would in the Tour de France. Postal/Discovery’s total focus on the Tour and Hincapie’s transformation to a better climber seemed to have muted his resolve to actually win at a race such as Paris-Roubaix.
Hincapie was also absent from Paris Roubaix last year after suffering a wrist injury that sidelined his Classics campaign for 2007. The last taste of Roubaix cobbles Hincapie had was left at the side of the road after a catastrophic fork failure.
So Big George paid his dues. He is older and on a new team that seems to give him a new lease on racing. His fifth place at Flanders shows that he is on form. The only thing left is for luck to allow him to not crash or get too many flats. The other problem is the amount of on-form competitors this year.
Juan Antonio Flecha is on form and looks to better his close calls of recent years. He too is experienced enough to finally take the top step. Tom Boonen is on form and has a strong Quick-Step team with riders such as Stijn Devolder and others who could jump into the top spot.
Team CSC has Stuart O’Grady and Fabian Cancellara the last two winners who both look to be on form. Cancellara could be coming down from a peak of form that saw him win the Italian Paris Roubaix Eroica, Tirreno Adriatico and Milan San Remo.
Francaise Des Jeux has Phillipe Gilbert who has finally broken through to be a top Classics contender.
Alessandro Ballan was hampered by an early crash at Flanders, but is on form for Roubaix. He could take the win, but may be hampered by the loss of sprinter Bennati who went over to Liquigas.
Pippo Pozzato is the other Italian hope with a fearsome sprint and finally who could forget another former winner and all round cool guy Magnus Backstedt. The big Swede on Slipstream is back from a broken collarbone in the Tour of Qatar. Look for Magnus to at least be in the mix somehow.
