Cycling on Television (TV)

go chris hoy, awesome

Not awesome, expected. Awesome is the double WR breaking Anna & Kaarle combo or the NZ WR pursuit or Meyer's total domination of the Points race.

Mulder with a 1.00!

Australia with another gold!

Cancellara killing it at E3-Prijs

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRGk1G1kSs"]YouTube-
Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) wint E3-Prijs 2010[/ame]

Is that a preview of a week tomorrow?

Cancellara killing it at E3-Prijs

YouTube- Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) wint E3-Prijs 2010

I loved this when I caught it on a live feed a bit earlier! I really like this sort of finish, especially in this style, from an échappée royale. Cancellara is a monster.

Is anyone watching Gent-Wevelgem? A really nice race so far.

Shame that Vanmarcke's attack fizzled out due to cramp. After that, it was a bit of an anticlimax, but a nicely-taken win by Eisel--Hincapie obviously knew that he couldn't win a shorter sprint, but he didn't have it for the longer one.

How can Omega-Lotto have two riders in a six man break and yet come 3rd and 6th? Shocking. No wonder they are one of only two Pro Tour teams without a win this season.

Especially if one of them is Philippe Gilbert.

Gilbert will always be second favourite if it comes down to an all-out sprint finish.

You mean like this one?

YouTube- Paris-Tours 2009 - Final kilometers

Watch the slow-mo.. Boonen grabs a cheeky line off some bloke in the crowd.

Boonen followed the wrong wheel in Paris Tours.. Bozic gave up and forced him to go round.. :) Boonen would kill Gilbert in a one on one sprint. :)

I bet Boonen thought he had that one in the bag too. The way he beats his handlebars in frustration as he crosses the line would seem to confirm that.

Gilbert is, generally, a clever rider and knows how to finish a big race, hence my surprise yesterday. I thought he'd go for a long one and try and surprise Eisel and Hincapie in the way he did with Boonen above. That neither he or Roelandts many any attempt to go in the last 3 kms was also a surprise, and tactically stupid. When you have superiority of numbers you should try and use it, i.e. one attacks and if he's brought back the other goes immediately.

They might not like each other and disagreed with working together? I dunno. Didn't see it.

Slightly OT, but the voice of cycling on TV (well one of them) Mr Anthony McCrossan will be hosting the Rollapaluza National Finale on Friday.....

I don't think Gilbert is in the same form as last year, but yes, they should have attacked. No idea what they were playing at. Maybe Vanmarcke attacked when they'd wanted to? Of course, they may just have been cooked. Conditions were apparently quite difficult. I really wanted Vanmarcke's attack to stick, but sadly he got cramp.

From what I've read, the last 30km were completely flat and they were going at 60km/h. Not much chance for Gilbert to attack at that pace. He does much better in tougher finishes with a few rollers thrown in to destroy competitors' legs. Apparently Roelandts was completely spent too, so he wasn't much help.

Yes, you're right, and I was even watching it! D'oh. Still, there was an attack, by Vanmarcke, where Lotto should have attacked, which initially looked promising. Up to the point when he got cramp, it was an interesting finish--after that, they all settled in for the sprint and didn't do anything else.

Vanmarcke was brought back because Roelandts sacrificed his chances of winning to pull him back. Instead he or Gilbert should have attacked and then watched as the other four riders hesitated to do the same as it would have sacrificed their chances of the win and given the other Lotto rider a free ride. Cycling tactics aren't that complex.

'The Flying Scotsman' film is on BBC1 at 11:25pm tonight, but irritatingly it doesn't look like it's going to be available on iplayer.

Just went to record it and noticed "The man who cycled the Americas" is on just before, Watched it last week, pretty good.

Tour of Flanders
http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/724

Hope that rider number 261 wins the women's race. A long shot, but I'd love it if she showed them (again) who's riding there unsponsored!