Bettini and Van Petegem?

No. Such talk would make sense if they were neutralising each other while
decisive breaks take off (like Astarloa last year..) . But we see races
remaining closed for a long time and then it is played at the very end with
everybody still there.

Van Petegem shaked "no" on the Muur in the Ronde. In Roubaix he had bad luck at
a bad time. He seemed unusually strong in the AGR and LBL. So his peak seemed to
have come just after his most fitting races.

Bettini was simply not good enough in the very final of the races he aimed for.
In MSR he was the strongest on the Poggio but unable to make a gap. In the other
races not good enough to be a contender.

"Van Hoorebeeck Bart" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

No. Such talk would make sense if they were neutralising each other while
decisive breaks take off (like Astarloa last year..) . But we see races
remaining closed for a long time and then it is played at the very end

with

Quoted message said:

everybody still there.

Van Petegem shaked "no" on the Muur in the Ronde. In Roubaix he had bad

luck at

Quoted message said:

a bad time. He seemed unusually strong in the AGR and LBL. So his peak

seemed to

Quoted message said:

have come just after his most fitting races.

Bettini was simply not good enough in the very final of the races he aimed

for.

Quoted message said:

In MSR he was the strongest on the Poggio but unable to make a gap. In the

other

Quoted message said:

races not good enough to be a contender.

Thanks. I have only been able to read Cyclingnews' live reports the past
two Sundays. I had the feeling from what I read that Bettini and Van
Petegem kind of let Boogerd and Rebellin go up the road rather than these
two counter-attacking and decisely dropping Bettini and PVP.
-Mike

"Van Hoorebeeck Bart" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

No. Such talk would make sense if they were neutralising each other while
decisive breaks take off (like Astarloa last year..) . But we see races
remaining closed for a long time and then it is played at the very end

with

Quoted message said:

everybody still there.

Van Petegem shaked "no" on the Muur in the Ronde. In Roubaix he had bad

luck at

Quoted message said:

a bad time. He seemed unusually strong in the AGR and LBL. So his peak

seemed to

Quoted message said:

have come just after his most fitting races.

Bettini was simply not good enough in the very final of the races he aimed

for.

Quoted message said:

In MSR he was the strongest on the Poggio but unable to make a gap. In the

other

Quoted message said:

races not good enough to be a contender.

From what little I saw it looked to me like Bettini had a bad case of
Hincapie disease - he was always up on the front showing everyone how strong
he was while everyone else was planning all sorts of strategies to tire him
out and make him screw up.

Van Hoorebeeck Bart said:

Bettini was simply not good enough in the very final of the races he aimed for.
In MSR he was the strongest on the Poggio but unable to make a gap. In the other
races not good enough to be a contender.

Paolo told to an Italian TV interviewer that he simply wasn't at top level
form, but something between 80% and 90% ot his peak level.
He said that maybe in other circumstances, with different competitors, this
would have been enough (and it almost was on Amstel). But this time around
there were a couple of riders there were simply too strong for his present
shape.