Will Lance beat Tom in Flanders?

No, next question. 😉

I agree the question is not meaningful. As LA has reiterated, he is going to Flanders to help Hincapie and Devolder. He is not striving for a personal win against Boonen.

Neither! Lance won`t go for a win and the course is too hard for Boonen! He is a pure sprinter! It`s very hard to say who will win because it`s first northern classic this season and Freire won`t participate!

Erik Dekker or Stefan Wesseman will win Flanders.

Why Wesseman? Just because last year`s surprise? He has some good results in the past, but nothing really special! The best except Flanders is 2nd at Paris - Rubaix in 2002..🙄

Virenque said:

Why Wesseman? Just because last year`s surprise? He has some good results in the past, but nothing really special! The best except Flanders is 2nd at Paris - Rubaix in 2002..🙄

I go for Wesseman for two reasons :

1.He's the defending champion.
2.Mr Goodefroot is quoted as saying that he wants to see more results from Mobile.
Their season start has been poor.

But if I had to put my mortgage on it - Erik Dekker would be my bet.

I think it`s harder for him to be a defending champion, because last year nobody was expecting him to win! And I think T-Mobile has better riders, but we`ll see..🙂

I'm hoping Hincapie or Devolder, but I don't believe they will win.

limerickman said:

I go for Wesseman for two reasons :

1.He's the defending champion.
2.Mr Goodefroot is quoted as saying that he wants to see more results from Mobile.
Their season start has been poor.

But if I had to put my mortgage on it - Erik Dekker would be my bet.

Ugh, Cyclingnews is suggesting that Wesemann is having a stomach problem. Bad news! It would be awful not to have the defending champ at the race. Hopefully nothing serious.

I agree that T-Mobile must be hungry, I'm rooting for Klier. Going to be an awesome race!

Erik Dekker or O'Grady.

Virenque said:

Neither! Lance won`t go for a win and the course is too hard for Boonen! He is a pure sprinter! It`s very hard to say who will win because it`s first northern classic this season and Freire won`t participate!

I assume you didn't watch last weeks E3 prijs in Harelbeke ? If you would have, you'd seen that Boonen succeeded a truly magnificent breakaway with T-Mobile's Kleer, over most of the same track they will be disputing the Ronde van Vlaanderen at. You are clearly wrong to consider Boonen purely a sprinter. He's much more then that . His first Paris Roubaix (3th place, 3 years ago when he was a neo) already made that very clear.

Boonen will be there in the end..

O'Grady, I doubt it..

Freire will participate. He's not going to back down now .

Personally i'd love to see Tom put one over Hincapie and LA so he can say: "look what you missed".

I don't understand the prior comment. 😕 It was Boonen's betrayl and insistence on leaving USPS when he was still under contract that caused him to go to Quickstep. USPS recognized his talent, was nurturing him, and then Boonen jumped ship.

musette said:

I don't understand the prior comment. 😕 It was Boonen's betrayl and insistence on leaving USPS when he was still under contract that caused him to go to Quickstep. USPS recognized his talent, was nurturing him, and then Boonen jumped ship.

I thought Boonen left because he felt that US Postal wasn't a team for the classics and that he couldn't get the kind of support for the classics that he wanted. Postal's program concentrates on getting one man to win one race. Many other have left for the same reason... yes????

I think the two that are really in form and winning over similar parcours are Boonen and Devolder.

Do not count out Van Petegem, though; he still has the engine and his team is completely devoted to his victory.

Boonen's greed and impatience caused him to leave USPS. I'm not saying USPS was a good Classics squad then, but I am saying that the statement that USPS did not recognize Boonen's talent is COMPLETELY wrong.

musette said:

Boonen's greed and impatience caused him to leave USPS. I'm not saying USPS was a good Classics squad then, but I am saying that the statement that USPS did not recognize Boonen's talent is COMPLETELY wrong.

well, Boonen recognised that Quickstep are Belgian, and therefore much better team for the classics. What's wrong with that?

I hope Devolder realises the same too and moves elsewhere. Discovery messed up big time, with the strong lineup they had.

Dead Star said:

well, Boonen recognised that Quickstep are Belgian, and therefore much better team for the classics. What's wrong with that?

I hope Devolder realises the same too and moves elsewhere. Discovery messed up big time, with the strong lineup they had.

with the squad they fielded today, they should have taken the top 8 places with ease. Fact is, you can have all the firepower you like but if there's no tactical sense there then it's all a bit of a waste.

Boonen knew he'd spend the rest of his career riding for Hincapie and squandering his own chances. Today proved he made absolutely the right decision and Devolder should get out too if he wants to actually win Classics. QS get it right when it matters.

micron said:

Boonen knew he'd spend the rest of his career riding for Hincapie and squandering his own chances. Today proved he made absolutely the right decision and Devolder should get out too if he wants to actually win Classics. QS get it right when it matters.

yep, it's a little like Hamilton/Landis/Heras both leaving when they realised they'd be working for Armstrong until he retires.

Anyways, it'll be interesting to see whether this'll fire DC up for Paris-Roubaix. They certainly came back at K-B-K after messing up Het Volk