What is wrong with Boonen???

it could be that, or it could be that things just happen and a race is competitive. I think of the 2005 Giro when Petacchi, a heavy, heavy favorite, didn't win until stage 9.

JRMDC said:

it could be that, or it could be that things just happen and a race is competitive. I think of the 2005 Giro when Petacchi, a heavy, heavy favorite, didn't win until stage 9.

I remember that well, chaotic twisty finishes, with steep uphill drags, his train couldn't get organized. I used that same logic until today when Boonen had two bike lengths on the field and Freire just generated way more speed. I have never seen that happen to Boonen, or Pettacchi. This looks different to me.

JRMDC said:

it could be that, or it could be that things just happen and a race is competitive. I think of the 2005 Giro when Petacchi, a heavy, heavy favorite, didn't win until stage 9.

A common theme there is Robbie McEwen. Proven he can beat both Petacchi and Boonen consistantly no matter their form or fitness. I dunno that Boonen is that far off, he has been made to look slow at the moment. Dont forget he is still in Yellow and had Green. McEwen is just plain fast and Freire is all class too.Boonen will still win one.

I think we asking too much of Boonen. He peaked last year at the Worlds and he peaked this spring for the classics. Boonen is Belgian and a man of the cobbles. PR/Worlds/GW is his races. Boonen has made it known he values the Rainbow jersey more then he does the yellow or green. I think to win at the level of the TDF stages or the classics, you must peak. And to consistently do that 3 times a year may be tough.

I expect him to drop out after the mountains to start preparing for the Worlds again.
We will see Boonen flying at the Worlds.

I ask one thing. Replay today's stage and watch the last 500 meters from the aerial view. I have the OLN coverage in my DVR. My wife was the first to comment on how slow boonen looked a day or two ago. When I saw him up front this morning, I thought surely he would get his stage. He got up to full speed on the left and had a clear lead of two lengths on the field and about three on Freire. Without Boonen slowing down, Freire picked up speed and went past Boonen like he was standing still. I get the arguments you are making about the cobbles, too much pressure, worlds etc. Freire and McEwen, and even Jimmy Casper are very fast. I get it all but am still surprised that he was outkicked like that by Freire. Freire is not a pure bunch sprinter, neither is Boonen in that he has many other talents, but Boonen is still the fastest bunch sprinter in this field by history. Faster than McEwen.... McEwen accelerates and handles better but is not faster at top end. Boonen is a step slower than usual and I am wondering why. Holding back for worlds? Sure. Afraid of crashing? Sure. Secretly ill? Sure... all possibilities, just wondering.

17 wins already this year, nothing is "wrong" persay, but, he has been off his game this Tour. Today was the perfect set-up, but robbed from the outside! So he was so close today.

He'll get a win.

barnstorm said:

I ask one thing. Replay today's stage and watch the last 500 meters from the aerial view. I have the OLN coverage in my DVR. My wife was the first to comment on how slow boonen looked a day or two ago. When I saw him up front this morning, I thought surely he would get his stage. He got up to full speed on the left and had a clear lead of two lengths on the field and about three on Freire. Without Boonen slowing down, Freire picked up speed and went past Boonen like he was standing still. I get the arguments you are making about the cobbles, too much pressure, worlds etc. Freire and McEwen, and even Jimmy Casper are very fast. I get it all but am still surprised that he was outkicked like that by Freire. Freire is not a pure bunch sprinter, neither is Boonen in that he has many other talents, but Boonen is still the fastest bunch sprinter in this field by history. Faster than McEwen.... McEwen accelerates and handles better but is not faster at top end. Boonen is a step slower than usual and I am wondering why. Holding back for worlds? Sure. Afraid of crashing? Sure. Secretly ill? Sure... all possibilities, just wondering.

I did read where McEwen has targeted this event. What I have read about McEwen is this ..... They say he can reach top speed quicker then most. I'm thinking that Boonen may not have tactics in the bunch sprint when pure sprinters are around. I'm thinking that BOonen has shown us he can sprint In a Classics race where many of the pure sprinters have been eliminated by the hils, cobbles , etc. But when other teams have set up as well as QS , he may not have the tactics down as well as they have.

I'm thinking, but I can't remember how he has done compared to Pettachi this year in straight up sprints?

Well yesterday his front tire was going soft.

And he doesn't sprint for second so if he sees he's beaten he'll just sit up and take 5th or 6th... I've seen that twice so far, plus once he found himself out front with too far to go so that was a tactical error.

McEwen is a better bunch sprinter I think. TomTom might be just a bit too cautious to take the crazy risks he does.

I wouldn't read too much into it:

Tom Boonen (Quick.Step) - second:

"I'm happy - it wasn't a perfect sprint but that was my fault. In the last 400 metres, Marco Velo was pulling in front, and I start my sprint, but Steven (De Jongh - ed.] starts too... I yelled at him but he didn't hear. At that moment, you have to stay calm and wait for Steven's sprint (to end), and then do my own. That's when I lost."

Did you start too early with your team? "No, it's a strong team... I'm really happy with my guys, they're so strong to do these long stages every day, control like they have... I'm happy."

On his explosiveness, he said, "It's there, but I'll wait a little longer [for a victory]... I have the Yellow jersey, which uses a lot of energy, too, but it's such a beautiful jersey!"

But more importantly the question we should be asking is why the TDF does not have a special yellow jersey with the world stripes around the collar and armbands?

barnstorm said:

I am sorry if this is getting covered elsewhere... direct me if it is. I have had no time to surf this forum but have been watching of course...

Boonen looks just slow. He took off today and had two lengths on Freire and Freire completely smoked him. I do not mean to start rumours about one of the true class guys in the peloton but something is seriously wrong with him. I know he is in yellow but he has no top end speed right now and that is totally apparent. Either, something is wrong with him and the team is not saying.... or he was doing something he shouldn't have been doing and the latest scandals scared him straight. I really really really hope it is the former, so any theories on what could be wrong?

Nah, Boonen is just getting old.

It's time for him to make room for the young'ins like Robbie.

I think we need to wait and see. He could just be having a bad patch of form. It could be something else, to which you alluded. I prefer to believe the former. We are only, what, five stages in? Freire is a former world champion; McEwen's palmares is inarguably impressive; and Casper has had his honours as well. If Boonen's form is even a hair off, these guys are good enough to get a wheel on him.

As has been mentioned, the other riders really have the advantage on Boonen in that they do focus on the Tour; whereas Boonen seems to have at least three season goals (Classics, Tour, Worlds).

I'm confident he'll bag a stage soon.

wolfix said:

I did read where McEwen has targeted this event. What I have read about McEwen is this ..... They say he can reach top speed quicker then most. I'm thinking that Boonen may not have tactics in the bunch sprint when pure sprinters are around. I'm thinking that BOonen has shown us he can sprint In a Classics race where many of the pure sprinters have been eliminated by the hils, cobbles , etc. But when other teams have set up as well as QS , he may not have the tactics down as well as they have.

I'm thinking, but I can't remember how he has done compared to Pettachi this year in straight up sprints?

Petacchi beat Boonen more this year, i think Boonen beat him once. The only sprinter who beats Petacchi consistantly is McEwen.

McEwen has got the acceleration and the top end, he just cant hold it as long as Petacchi and Boonen. Doesnt have the strength. Either way, hes the more complete bunch sprinter out of them all i think. When things go wrong he can still create a win, when things go wrong for Petacchi, he ends up nowhere. McEwen is really the only guy also that just keeps his focus on the sprinting. His view is, he just gets paid to win at the Giro and the Tour and isnt going to bother trying to work on his hills and strength etc... though he does go well over the cobbles without ever working on them.

Why does there have to be something wrong with Boonen coz he hasnt won a stage yet? Hes got Yellow and McEwen is just the fastest sprinter there right now. Beaten fair and square. Plus Tour sprints are more choatic than any other, takes a bit of luck too. It can still turn Boonens way, im still backing him for Green.

Boonen might actually have Green if he got over his i dont sprint for 2nd place thing. He goes after the intermediates while comming to the line and letting others comes past for valuable points. I think hes feeling under pressure right now, he wont show it but his ego is taking a hit.

hasn't he won enough in the last 18 months???

😄

wasn't there a headwind at the finish today too? that may have affected him in the end, whereas freire came out of the slipstream a little later. the headwind could have been a big problem if boonen's lead out came too early.

oely said:

Petacchi beat Boonen more this year, i think Boonen beat him once. The only sprinter who beats Petacchi consistantly is McEwen.

McEwen has got the acceleration and the top end, he just cant hold it as long as Petacchi and Boonen. Doesnt have the strength. Either way, hes the more complete bunch sprinter out of them all i think. When things go wrong he can still create a win, when things go wrong for Petacchi, he ends up nowhere. McEwen is really the only guy also that just keeps his focus on the sprinting. His view is, he just gets paid to win at the Giro and the Tour and isnt going to bother trying to work on his hills and strength etc... though he does go well over the cobbles without ever working on them.

Why does there have to be something wrong with Boonen coz he hasnt won a stage yet? Hes got Yellow and McEwen is just the fastest sprinter there right now. Beaten fair and square. Plus Tour sprints are more choatic than any other, takes a bit of luck too. It can still turn Boonens way, im still backing him for Green.

Boonen might actually have Green if he got over his i dont sprint for 2nd place thing. He goes after the intermediates while comming to the line and letting others comes past for valuable points. I think hes feeling under pressure right now, he wont show it but his ego is taking a hit.

That does puzzle me how he lets positions slip away when he has stated his goal is the green jersey. Maybe he was confident he would already won at least 1 or 2 sprints before now already, and thus didn't need toe placings as much.

But just because he hasn't won, doesn't mean anything is necessarily wrong. Zabel went 2 years with out a victory in the TDf and won the green jersey both of those years, he just always came in 2nd or third in a sprint (Usually behind Cipollini or Steels).

Plus with the heat, i imagine Boonen prefers the cooler weather in Belgium for hte classics then this major heatwave France is seeing

I agree with the comments made yesterday by Bob Roll...QS is having to do a lot of work at the front of the peleton throughout these sprint stages in order to defend the maillot jaune. So far, they have not had enough steam left for the killer lead-out that Boonen has apparently been needing. Personally, I am not surprised either. It would be really hard to do both and pull it off unless he is just that much stronger than the rest of the sprinters. This year, it looks like a pretty tight field.

rule62 said:

I agree with the comments made yesterday by Bob Roll...QS is having to do a lot of work at the front of the peleton throughout these sprint stages in order to defend the maillot jaune. So far, they have not had enough steam left for the killer lead-out that Boonen has apparently been needing.

I was going to say the same thing. Roll gets criticized a lot, and often rightly so, but he was on rare form last night, offering several cogent points to the viewers. Nothing genius, mind you, but things that the casual cycling fan might not have considered, explained in an easy-to-digest manner. Perfect for an OLN audience.

Speaking of which, my wife is training for a half ironman in November, and recently purchased a road bike. She's an accomplished marathoner and swimmer, but doesn't much care to ride. She's bike training with a neighbor down the street who is learning to ride, and the neighbor has been trying to watch the TdF for inspiration. It's funny to listen to her -- "I don't get it. How can this guy be in the yellow jersey when he never wins? Why don't they get penalized for drafting? (triathlon no-no) Green jersey, polka-dots, what's the deal? When do they stop to pee? If Hincapie, Evans, etc, are supposed to be so good, how come they're never close to winning at the end of the day?"

When I told her that Greg LeMond once won the TdF without ever winning a stage, she almost fell of her chair in amazement. How is this possible? 🙄

rejobako said:

Speaking of which, my wife is training for a half ironman in November, and recently purchased a road bike. She's an accomplished marathoner and swimmer, but doesn't much care to ride. She's bike training with a neighbor down the street who is learning to ride, and the neighbor has been trying to watch the TdF for inspiration. It's funny to listen to her -- "I don't get it. How can this guy be in the yellow jersey when he never wins? Why don't they get penalized for drafting? (triathlon no-no) Green jersey, polka-dots, what's the deal? When do they stop to pee? If Hincapie, Evans, etc, are supposed to be so good, how come they're never close to winning at the end of the day?"

When I told her that Greg LeMond once won the TdF without ever winning a stage, she almost fell of her chair in amazement. How is this possible? 🙄

I usually explain that stage racing is like a decathlon- the winner is the guy with the highest score at the end of all ten events... that makes it easier to understand how you can win overall without winning any particular event/stage. But you can't suck at anything.