Paris-Roubaix *SPOILER*

[ComedyPilot]

Chavanel goes again.

 

[ComedyPilot]

1. - - 50km: 1 Tom Boonen (Quick Step), 2 Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), 11 Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank), 14 Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank), 41 Leif Hoste (Silence-Lotto), 48 Johan Van Summeren (Silence-Lotto), 56 Gregory Henderson (Columbia), 61 Frederic Guesdon (Francaise Des Jeux), 151 Roger Hammond (Cervelo), 154 Thor Hushovd (Cervelo), 155 Andreas Klier (Cervelo) and 161 Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) are the chasers.
2. - -
   
   55km: The breakaway riders are caught on section 12 through Orchies. Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo), Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank), Kasper Klostergaard (Saxo Bank), Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) and Manuel Quinziato (Liquigas) now have gone ahead and lead a chase group of a dozen by 15 seconds.

 

[yello]

That lead group (Boonen et al) are taking turns to go hard. Can they keep doing that? That could take its toll and they may find themselves being caught - there's still a way to go.

The lady (?) hit by the motorbike went down hard. It didn't look good.

 

[ComedyPilot]

- - 45km: Mons-en-Pévèle is the 10th section of pave before the finish and its 3000m are rated the hardest level of difficulty, five stars. Boonen is driving the pace with Pozzato glued to his wheel. Hushovd and Flecha follow with Hoste and Van Summeren coming up from behind. Hammond has lost contact and is back in the Hincapie group which is one minute behind.

 

[ComedyPilot]

That lead group (Boonen et al) are taking turns to go hard. Can they keep doing that? That could take its toll and they may find themselves being caught - there's still a way to go.

The lady (?) hit by the motorbike went down hard. It didn't look good.

40+k to go, 25 miles? As long as they share it, then they're all up to the task. The problem begins when people start playing games, looking up and not pushing.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

There's more than a few riders in there who favour the sneaky break - Flecha especially. That might destroy the move, but I think they are all aware of how small the gap is right now. The longer it stays together the more you have to favour Boonen or if it comes down to a proper sprint, Hushovd, I reckon.

 

[yello]

They've settled down now and are playing together. It seemed for a while that they were taking pops at each other! Still, that chase group are not going to give up.... they're, what, a minute down?

Edit: 40 seconds

 

[ComedyPilot]

- - 40km: Section nine from Mérignies to Pont-à-Marcq is only 700m and it is the Saxo Bank trio who are driving the eight-man chase group which is 24 seconds behind our six leaders - Boonen, Pozzato, Hushovd, Flecha, Hoste and Van Summeren.

 

[ComedyPilot]

What a lovely windmill.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Gap steady at a minute 30k to go

 

[ComedyPilot]

- - 35km: Cancellara, Breschel and Klostergaard have got no help from Quinziato and Guesdon and the chase group now trail by 40 seconds. Haussler and Klier are not working with Hushovd up ahead nor will Quick Step with Boonen so strong.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Boonen bike change!!!!!

 

[ComedyPilot]

- - 30km: The gap is now over a minute and one of the leading six men will contest the title - remember Lotto have two men. We have three Belgians, an Italian plus a Spaniard and a Norwegian looking to notch the first Paris-Roubaix victory in their nations' history.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Tom looks like he got a bit of road rash???

Must have had an off in the break?

 

[ComedyPilot]

J A Flecha pushing on