THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Oh so close: Boonen takes Roubaix ahead of Hincapie
With baby daughter Julia Paris cradled in his arms, a physically and emotionally drained George Hincapie finally stood on the Paris-Roubaix podium he’s doggedly pursued for so many years.
Standing one step higher was Tom Boonen, the Belgian bomber who swept to an emotional victory in a three-up sprint that also included Spanish charger Juan Antonio Flecha.
“I’m satisfied, yet disappointed at the same time,” said Hincapie, who couldn’t counter when Boonen shot away high off the final turn in the velodrome. “This gives me even more motivation to come back here and win next year.”
Boonen’s triumph capped the elusive Flanders-Roubaix double to consecrate the 24-year-old phenom as Belgium’s new king of the classics, while Hincapie fell one bike length short of consummating his own dream.
Nonetheless, his second-place finish was a milestone for Hincapie, who loves the treacherous cobble-toned roads of northern France. His podium is the first by an American in the Queen of the Classics and the first time he had cracked the top three after previously finishing five times in the top 10.
“My legs were good today, but it was the best I could do in the sprint. Everyone was very tired after the effort,” Hincapie said. “I did my best and I’m happy with what I did. I couldn’t beat Tom today, I tried, and I was there until the end. I couldn’t do any more.”
Hincapie, Boonen and Flecha were the last three standing in a brutal day that saw only 80 men arrive at the Roubaix velodrome of the 191 that started six and a half hours earlier in Compiègne.
With the victory, Boonen becomes the 51st Belgian to win Paris-Roubaix and the ninth to accomplish the Flanders-Roubaix double in the same year, the first since Peter Van Petegem did it in 2003.
“Today was very hard, especially when you have a breakaway at 80km from the finish. It’s not too easy to control the race. Everybody had to put in some great efforts,” said the 24-year-old phenom. “I knew in the final with Hincapie and Flecha it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Three men standing
No matter how many crashes, how many thrills or how many disappointments, Paris-Roubaix is always condensed to one decisive moment.
In the 103rd running of the cobbles, that moment came on the Hornaing pavé section with 80km to go to the storied velodrome.
Despite forecasts of doom and gloom, the French soleil was shining bright during most of the 259km course, but rain fell for a brief spell, just long enough to lather up the treacherous cobbles.
As the peloton charged onto the Hornaing pavé – sector14 in the Roubaix countdown – a rider crashed, momentarily disrupting the rhythm. Quick Step’s Filippo Pozzato punched the accelerator, springing Boonen, Hincapie, Lars Michaelsen (CSC) and defending champion Magnus Bäckstedt (Liquigas-Bianchi). Flecha quickly bridged out with teammate Fabian Cancellara and the winning move was made.
“When that rain came down, the cobbles got very, very slick,” said Dane Frank Höj (Gerolsteiner), who came through 17th. “When that move went away, I thought, ‘Oh, I just missed it.’ I was in the wrong position, and once it’s gone, it’s hard to come back.”
That was all it took. From there on out, the Paris-Roubaix was a dog-fight to the finish.
With 40km of racing and just nine sectors of cobbles left to go, five challengers remained: Hincapie (Discovery Channel), Boonen (Quick Step), Bäckstedt (Liquigas-Bianchi), Michaelsen (CSC) and Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) were powering toward Roubaix.
Five big names, any one of whom could win. Boonen, fresh off his Flanders victory; Bäckstedt, the defending champion; Michaelsen, the veteran journeyman; Flecha, the opportunistic sprinter; and Hincapie, the made-in-USA classics strongman.
Bad luck played its hand in the finale, taking out Leon Van Bon (Davitamon-Lotto) and Cancellara with flat tires.
The demanding Carrefour de l’Arbre section with 16.5km to go would play kingmaker once again. Firs Michaelsen lost the wheel, and then Bäckstedt.
“Those guys went hard and I just couldn’t follow,” said Bäckstedt, who hung on to come through for alone in fourth at 1:09 back. “It was still very important for me to get this result. I wanted to demonstrate that I deserved to be here. I won last year and came back to be with the favorites again.”
Next, it was Boonen who punched the accelerator on the Gruson sector with 14km. With tongue wagging, his long legs pumping the pedals, Boonen wanted to ride solo into the velodrome like his hero Johan Museeuw, but he couldn’t shake Hincapie and Flecha.
Early break to Troisville
The mood was festive Sunday morning in Compiègne. Forecasters were calling for rain and strong winds, but a hint of sun welcomed the peloton as raucous crowds turned out to cheer the 191 riders from 25 teams lining up for the Queen of the Classics.
“It doesn’t matter if it rains or if it’s sunny, Roubaix is always hard,” said Servais Knaven, Paris-Roubaix champion in 2001, whose duty was to help Boonen. “The team is very motivated. This is always a big race for us.”
Boonen and another big favorite, Peter Van Petegem (Davitamon-Lotto), stayed hidden in their respective team buses until the last minute but others were happy to press the flesh.
Once the race began, eight riders pulled away -- Sébastian Chavanel (Bouygues Telekom), Carlos Barredo (Liberty Seguros), David Herrero (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner), Arnaud Coyot (Cofidis), Florent Brard and Stéphane Berge (Agritubel) and Erwin Thijs (Mr Bookmaker) – and would dominate the early action.
The leaders' gap stood at 11 minutes when they roared onto the first of 26 sectors of pavé at Troisville at 97.5km. It didn’t take long before the first crash as some riders got tangled up at the back of the bunch on the left side.
From there, the real battle had just begun. There were 161km and 25 more sections to go to the velodrome in Roubaix.
Troubles for PVP
The peloton was already shot to pieces under the blistering pace, with a good chunk of the bunch blown off the back. Roger Hammond (Discovery Channel) set the pace for Hincapie when Andrea Tafi (Saunier Duval) flatted on the Quiévy section, forcing the 1999 Paris-Roubaix champion to chase back hard.
Tafi wanted to go out in a blaze of glory in his final attack on the pavé, but bad luck seemed to chase the Italian veteran once again. Another former winner – 1997 champion Frédéric Guesdon (Ag2r) – was forced to change bikes after coming through the Saint-Python cobbles.
With 140km to go, the leading eight still held a seven-minute lead, but the effort, like so many early tries in Paris-Roubaix, was doomed to failure. The main bunch rolled through the feed zone at 113.5km and the clouds were brewing further north. It looked like the fair-weather fans were in for a disappointment.
On the d’Escarmain sector at 135km, another aging veteran Ludo Dierckxsens (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) fell into some barbed wire after getting tangled in a pile up at the back of the bunch. Jimmy Engoulvent (Cofidis) flatted and had to chase back.
Discovery Channel was looking good heading to the Vertain sector, with Tony Cruz, Viatcheslav Ekimov, Michael Barry and Hammond protecting Hincapie’s flank when disaster struck.
There was a major crash as riders squeezed left to avoid a huge mud puddle. Several riders went down, including Tom Steels (Davitamon-Lotto), Stijn Devolder (Discovery Channel), Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros) and Van Petegem.
The 2003 champion damaged his bike and was forced to wait a couple of minutes for the team vehicle to push through the chaos and deliver his spare bike. Davis was reeling in pain, clutching his elbow, and abandoned.
Van Petegem hit the climbing section of pavé at Buat at 2:30 back of the lead group, and things were looking worse until he joined a chase group. Amid the chaos, Hincapie flatted and was forced to chase hard to get back on.
Glenn D’Hollander (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) shot off the front of the main bunch after coming through Ruesnes on a solo flier.
The leaders fought the good fight while the main bunch settled into a nice rhythm, bounding over the difficult Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes sector without major mishap while the Van Petegem group chased back on.
There was even time for a light-hearted moment when Chavanel flatted, prompting him to take one of the Mavic neutral support bikes. In an amazing display of acrobatic panache, one of the mechanics climbed atop the speeding yellow Mavic car to mount Chavanel’s team bike and then adjusted his saddle. Applause all around.Van Petegem’s problems weren’t over yet. Despite getting towed back onto the lead group, the Belgian hero was grimacing in pain and had problems maintaining the high pace of the hard-driving peloton.Steels and Van Petegem abandoned the race with 100km to go. Later, Van Petegem was transported to a Belgian hospital where early diagnosis suggested a possible cracked hip. He’ll likely stick a fork in his season.
The big break
Things settled down as the race chugged further north, with T-Mobile setting the pace at the front. The leaders were down to six as Chavanel and Herrero dropped back, but managed to widen their lead to 5:26 as Cruz and Barry led the way onto the cobbles at Haveluy with 86km to go.Just when things seemed to be going smoothly, Cruz fell along with Mauro Gerosa (Liquigas-Bianchi) on the cobbles. Lang, meanwhile, fell back off the pace, leaving five riders on the front with a 4:48 lead. Just as they pushed onto the Hornaing pavé the first raindrops started to fall.Christophe Detilloux (FDJeux) crashed and disrupted the rhythm on the long, 3.7km sector. Filippo Pozzato (Quick Step) peeled away and Boonen, Hincapie, Bäckstedt and Michaelsen hit the paved road with a 15-second lead on the splintered group.
Anxious not to miss the move, Fassa Bortolo slipped in Cancellara and Flecha while Davitamon-Lotto’s Leon Van Bon stepped up from the absence of Van Petegem. Also there were Pozzato and Lang, who dropped back from the front group. A crash in the lead chase group on the Brillon cobbles further disrupted the rhythm, giving the Hincapie group another edge with 68km to go.
“There was no doubt that was the decisive move. All the best guys were there,” said Dirk Demol, the classics sport director for Discovery Channel. “We knew George had good legs today and he rode very well to get into that position.”
It was a major case of bad luck for Van Bon, who punctured and fell back. The Hincapie-Boonen group widened its lead over the pursuers to 43 seconds on the rough 2.4km Tilloy sector and trimmed the margin to the five leaders to 2:15.
The leaders rolled through the second feed zone with 64km to go still putting up a good front with the Hincapie-Boonen sextet breathing down their necks at 1:31. The lead chase group, with Rabobank and Davitamon-Lotto doing most of the work, were keeping the dangerous move within 45 seconds.
Van Bon wasn’t going to risk missing his chance and shot out on a solo flier on the 1.7km Prières cobbles. Last year’s Flanders champion Wesemann also gave chase with Kevin Hulsmans (Quick Step) marking his wheel.
“It was a frustrating day for me because I felt strong all day and I was riding in the third position until just that one cobbled section,” Wesemann said. “I tried to chase back but I had a Quick Step rider on my wheel the whole time. There’s not much you can do.”
The Boonen-Hincapie group joined the leaders on the difficult Bersée cobbled sector with 50km to go while Wesemann, Van Bon and Hulsmans were still chasing at 26 seconds back; meanwhile, the peloton was losing ground at two minutes.With nine cobblestone sections and 40km to race it appeared the podium had been decided, as strong crosswinds meant that Boonen's group was virtually uncatchable.Boonen, Hincapie and Flecha broke free as they exited the fourth-from-last cobblestone section, leaving Bäckstedt and Mickaelsen trailing."I was on the last wheel and as we went round a corner Mickaelsen swung out and left a bit of a gap," explained Bäckstedt who finished fourth. "I tried to close it but just couldn't. The front three were just far too strong for me."Charging into the Roubaix velodrome, Hincapie was at the front of the trio, not a strong position with a lap-and-a-half to go.On the final stretch, Hincapie, again in the lead, eased off and Flecha moved to the front going into the penultimate turn. Boonen rode up high on the tarmac and shot out of the back on the final turn, easily taking the race to the line.The Quick Step rider served notice that he now has his sights set on the Tour de France green jersey and the world champion's rainbow jersey."I've still got plenty of motivation left," he said after achieving his two major aims for the season. "I've got my motivation back for the Tour (de France), and I'm confident for the rest of the season."
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