To win Paris-Roubaix you need three things: to be the strongest rider on the day; to be the smartest rider on the day; and plenty of good luck. On Sunday, Fabian Cancellara was the strongest and the smartest, but only by the barest margin.
Nevertheless, it was enough to give him victory by a wheel on Belgium’s rising star Sep Vanmarcke (Blanco), and the chance to join names like Merckx, van Looy, Moser, and Museeuw with three victories in l’enfer du Nord.
Cancellara’s luck also held: Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s well laid plans for a team assault were dashed against the cobblestones of the Carrefour de l’Arbre as first Stijn Vandenberg and then Zdenek Stybar, desperately searching for a smoother road surface, clipped spectators.
Vanmarcke’s tactical error to slip past Cancellara on the first lap of the Roubaix track, forcing the Belgian to lead out the sprint, was the final slice of good fortune required.
At its worst, Paris-Roubaix is an anachronistic bloodsport. If it involved animals, the race would be swamped by placard-waving protesters calling for a ban. It’s stupid and brilliant; magnificent and abusive.
This was a brutal edition of this brutal race.
Even in perfect spring sunshine, it was littered with crashes, serious injuries, blood, and broken bodies. Only 60% of the riders who started the race this year managed to complete it; 80 hardened professionals in the primes of their careers were beaten by the course.
Even Cancellara, a man admired the world around for his nearly unparalleled strength and determination, had to be helped to the podium by two strong men.
What hasn’t already been written and said about Cancellara? It was another fearsome ride, culminating in a deserved victory. He’s a wonderful rider, and he’s proved his doubters – myself included – wrong. Chapeau.
But what about the crashes?
The most spectacular was Yoann Offredo’s spectacular flying face-first superman over a traffic sign, a result of a moment’s inattention. On the cobbles, the crashes tend to occur out of sight of the cameras, but they were many and dangerous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G1j5kPFpy8
Geraint Thomas (Sky) continued his knack of crashing at the pivotal moment of every monument he enters.
The pace was on all day, and this surely contributed to the high rate of attrition as riders were riding on their absolute limit for hours. The mind can wander when exhaustion is stalking, and a moment’s lapse in concentration can be disastrous.
Indeed, this was the second-fastest edition of Paris-Roubaix, with an average speed of 44.2km/h (the fastest edition was in 1964, won by Peter Post at a speed of 45.13km/h). The route varies enough from year to year to make direct comparisons difficult, and the dry, sunny conditions were perfect for racing, but the high speed has raised a few eyebrows among the more hard-bitten sceptics.
From my couch, I didn’t see any of those telltale outrageous individual performances: the riders who worked hard early suffered for it, and the riders in the final leading groups waited until the last 20km to surge. There were no miraculous recoveries.
Without being naive, let’s hope the rapid pace is a result of improved bike technology and legitimate training methods, rather than a sign that some of cycling’s bad habits have returned.
The racing itself was electric, and the finish was riveting. Vanmarcke was positioned perfectly entering the velodrome until Cancellara, almost slowing to a trackstand, unbalanced the younger rider with a deft feint and forced him to the front.
Vanmarcke’s tactical error was the difference between victory and defeat, and the 24-year-old’s anguished interview afterwards indicated it was a lesson he learnt immediately.
As Vanmarcke told Velonews, “I know I should be proud, but it’s so disappointing when you get so close, and the problem is when you start believing in the victory it makes it harder”
Like many others, I thought Vanmarcke the more likely victor in a sprint, but Cancellara’s experience and pure strength told after a long day. Expect Vanmarcke to bounce back next year.
OPQS gave the most complete team performance, with riders in every move. The team managed to grab the final podium place through Nikki Terpstra, but if Stybar (6th) and Vandenberg had managed to stay upright they would have had a serious tactical advantage against a tiring Cancellara.
Gert Steegmans really kicked off the day for OPQS when he joined Australian Paris-Roubaix veterans Stuart O’Grady (OGE) and Matthew Hayman (Sky), and Frenchman Clément Koretzky (Bretagne). It showed intent from OPQS despite the absence of Tom Boonen, and provided options for the team in the latter stages of the race as the team had plenty of options spread across the road.
Clearly the hope was that Cancellara could be isolated and worn down by a series of attacks, and if not for the enthusiasm of the crowds, it may well have worked.
Sylvain Chavanel was prominent, Vandenberg was aggressive and looked dangerous until he pole-axed a pillock, and Stybar produced one of his best performances on the road.
Of course, you’d expect a cyclocross champion like Stybar to feel relatively comfortable on the rough stuff of Paris-Roubaix, but he showed some serious grunt to hold Cancellara’s wheel through a couple of punishing attacks, and he’ll be a valuable asset in the Ardennes.
Ultimately though, OPQS must be wondering what might have been if their leader had been present, or two of their riders hadn’t crashed when well positioned. Missed it by that much.
Sebastian Langeveld rode an admirable race for Orica-GreenEdge, to finish seventh. He was in all the right moves, could be seen conserving energy as much as possible, but stayed well positioned to avoid danger on the cobbles.
Stuart O’Grady’s valiant attack was another highlight for OGE fans, joining compatriot Matthew Hayman in a four-man group that animated the race through the middle stages.
The sight of O’Grady leading the race off the Arenberg sector was probably enough to give SBS presenter Mike Tomalaris palpitations (Mike, we all know Stuey won this race a few years ago, you don’t have to remind us every 30 seconds) but was this a farewell dig from the veteran in possibly his last Paris-Roubaix?
All in all, this year’s Paris-Roubaix was one of the best races of the season so far, with constant action, tension, drama, and deep suffering etched on the faces of the participants. For we the viewers, that’s as good as it gets.
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