# Alright. The Official Milan San Remo thread.



## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Discussions, predictions, race reports, updates, spoilers all in one.

Let's start. Who's your pick to win?

I say, Thor. Is Oscar Freire riding? He's a pretty good climber for a sprinter. 

What about Stijn Devolder? Seems like his area as well IMO. 

What do you think Cavendish will do?

a) drop out
b) finish but not great
c) win
d) Who's Cav? 

I say he'd be in the main group to finish perhaps.


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## godot (Feb 3, 2004)

Petacchi

Cav - gets dropped on one of the late climbs and finishes a few minutes down.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

uzzie, i swear, man. you beat me to the punch. and you didnt pick your boy;-)

start list is up at CN:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/mar09/msr09/?id=startlist

thor is on form! can farrar sprint it again? boonen? flecha? hoste? who knows.

what i do know, however, is that i WANT the current italian champ to win. however, i have a feeling a certain someone in the race would do whatever he could to prevent it.

so if i had to pick, i will pick...pozzato. for fun.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

while seeing petacchi win would be awesome, i dont think he will factor.
now that i said that, everyone should put money on him...



godot said:


> Petacchi
> 
> Cav - gets dropped on one of the late climbs and finishes a few minutes down.


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## DMFT (Feb 3, 2005)

I'm pulling for Boonen. :thumbsup: 

Cavendish will prob. get dropped on the Pogio as all the pundits are saying.

* Darkhorse - Stuey O. He's a tough-guy.


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## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

I think its going to be a long break followed by a big field sprint this year. Yeah, daring prediction I know. . .


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## zosocane (Aug 29, 2004)

My top 5:

Mirko Lorenzetto
Daniele Bennati
Tom Boonen
Oscar Freire
Luca Paolini.


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## loubnc (May 8, 2008)

In no particular order other than top 3:

Petacchi
Boonen
Freire


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## godot (Feb 3, 2004)

new pick - Simeoni pips Lance at the line


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## albert owen (Jul 7, 2008)

Whoever Caisse d'Epargne nominate to win, will win, cos they have the fastest bikes


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## serfur1 (Sep 17, 2007)

I don't have any predictions, but I will post pics Sunday after I get back. I'll be up on Poggio. wifey will be in town spending all my money. It looks like the weather will be nice in San Remo.


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## Einstruzende (Jun 1, 2004)

Boonen finally gets MSR.


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

Hmmm....arkhorse....Farrar.


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## Spunout (Aug 12, 2002)

Ryder Hesjedal sprinting from a small group.


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

Boonen, Farrar will show well for Garmin. Cav gets dropped on some of the late hills.


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## moonmoth (Nov 8, 2008)

uzziefly said:


> Is Oscar Freire riding?


He is not. Still recovering from his crash in California.


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

Bennati
Boonen
Thor


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## AidanM (Aug 11, 2006)

hesjedal...ahahha yea right.

as much as i love him ( he is from vic and me from the mainland) , MSR is for big boys.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

godot said:


> new pick - Simeoni pips Lance at the line


I would soooooooo love to see this. 

Or better yet, pull away on the poggio and watch LA get gassed. or how about the Italian nationall champ get help from garmin.


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## parker3375 (May 6, 2008)

My boy...sylvain for the win. He launches an attack on the poggio, the only counter is liquigas (to set up benati), because no other team will want to let Boonen sit on a wheel up the climb. Write it down. Well maybe benati gets it. Should be good regardless.


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## QUiTSPiNiNArOuND (Mar 15, 2002)

Rebellin and Chavanel over the Poggio together. Liquigas will try to pull them back. Watch out for Boonen.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Hmm... Interesting. It's one helluva long race for sure. Alejandro Valverde could do it if he was racing. 

Devolder ain't racing so I gotta change my thoughts.

I wanna pick Tom for the top 3, but I'm not sure how well he can climb the Maine and the Pogio etc towards the end. Can Farrar last such a long race? 

I say, Tomas Viatkus!!!! 

Okokok, Alberto Conta...wait, he's not racing. Oh.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

weltyed said:


> uzzie, i swear, man. you beat me to the punch. and you didnt pick your boy;-)
> 
> start list is up at CN:
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/mar09/msr09/?id=startlist
> ...


Haha. What punch? You wanted to pick Thor too? You wanted to start this thread as well? Slowpoke! Bam!!

I'm unsure as to whether Farrar can last though. I'm pretty sure Cav will get dropped towards the end. 

Lance might get top 15 and it'd be cool to see if he could of course. If he wins, oh my, it would rain hot, nekkid supermodels here tomorrow. :blush2:


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

serfur1 said:


> I don't have any predictions, but I will post pics Sunday after I get back. I'll be up on Poggio. wifey will be in town spending all my money. It looks like the weather will be nice in San Remo.


You need to post pictures. Kthxbye.


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

*Half way update*

At the midpoint Astana is on the front with a 7 man group pulling back a 11 minute break. They have pulled it back to under 2 minutes. Who are they working for?


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## identifiler (Dec 24, 2005)

I just want to say that the two guests on cycling tv looked like hipster idiots. That is all.


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## DMFT (Feb 3, 2005)

DMFT said:


> I'm pulling for Boonen. :thumbsup:
> 
> Cavendish will prob. get dropped on the Pogio as all the pundits are saying.
> 
> * Darkhorse - Stuey O. He's a tough-guy.


**Looks like my Stuey-Darkhorse isn't going to pan out. He hit the deck & went home......


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

boonen hit the deck, but is up again.

not sure who astana is working for...they wouldnt think popo would try for it, would they? dont rule out inter-team cooperation to bank good vibes for later this season.

any news on simeoni?


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

arstrong is wearin #21, but that doesnt mean he is the leader...


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

phillipe masuduit attacks up a climb...
but he is already slowing and rubbernecking


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

the group is starting to get strung out on this climb. the pace must be up there guys are already struggling in the coda


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

i think barloworld is leading the group, but not sure.

anyone know the guys in the break? or what time they have on the gruppo


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Damn.. I'm still not getting coverage here on Eurosport. Eff that, I'll check the live streaming first.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

man, i hate seein rabo on giant bikes.

barloworld does have 5 guys leading the group right now as they serpentine through the streets.we still have cars and the mavic car up withthe break, so there must be at least one minute, if not two


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

looks like 43 seconds for the break, but the mavic car is still up there.

barloworld, fdj, rabo, saxo, and others are in the break


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

try this, uzzie:
http://www.justin.tv/abdel55


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

ag2r has a man off the front of the brea
yuriy kristov

saxo and bouj follow


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Thanks E.

Eurosport is showing it now so no biggie. But with commercials!!!! I'm flipping in between my laptop and my tv now. Hah.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

the splijntered break is caught, but there are still three more up the road.

saxo, ag2r, and bouj. they are smooth, bothe pedaling and pulling in circles


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

here is a pink wall and they turn right and head up a bit.

they three are swallowed up as two fdj riders lead the chard up the cipressa (i think)


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Where's Cav?

I actually think Schleck MIGHT be able to do it man!

Or Lance!!!!! haha.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

there are some commercials on this feed, but they be french, so its fun.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

dont know where cav is. heck, i cant get any info on actual riders and where ther are.

the pace is picking. scarpelli leads, with barloworld and liqigas close by


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Hmm maybe George Hincapie?

I'd like to see Yaroslav Popovych try as well. I do wish Armstrong could hammer it down but it's still not the right time in his training though. 

Scarponi has a chance IMO as well. 

You know, in all honesty, if Alberto did ride here, I'd say he has a chance just because of the climbs at the end. Which brings me back to Schleck perhaps.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

we are starting to hit some hairpins, so the elastic will slow some riders down a bit.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

it is still pretty early. lots can happen, and the group is all together.

except they autobus


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Chavanel and Basso are up front too. Hmm...

Damn this is cool!


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

cameras on armstrong. not looking smooth on this climb. in fact, by the string of riders, i think he may be near the tailend of the group. not off the back, but tail end


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

weltyed said:


> dont know where cav is. heck, i cant get any info on actual riders and where ther are.
> 
> the pace is picking. scarpelli leads, with barloworld and liqigas close by


It's Scarponi, moreon.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Lance looks to be fine - not suffering nor looking great either. 

Basso pulling it now.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

there is a split in the group! looks like about 30 riders have broken from the main group. i think basso is leading that charge.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

weltyed said:


> cameras on armstrong. not looking smooth on this climb. in fact, by the string of riders, i think he may be near the tailend of the group. not off the back, but tail end


Til end of the front group. No problems IMO. Taking a good draft. Possibly suffering a tad too of course.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Nibali is behind Basso, working for Rebellin. Nice pull indeed.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

the break is not as big as i thought and it will all come together on the downhill here. the poggio will break this apart. it could be a climbers day if he has the legs to blow apart the group. especially if he crests early. the descent will let him gain ground.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

back on some level road, they merge to a flat.
<20k to go
a barloworld rider is down!


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

How long is the Poggio? I'd like to see a climber take it.

Or someone like Yaroslav. Or Vaitkus too. 
Crash!!!!!!


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Cav is in the main group. Impressive.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

I would have picked Basso to win but he's working for Rebellin.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

the two liquigas riders are still on the front as my source hits commercial...

i will take this time to reiterate: i thinks its gonna come down to the climbers. a strong 10 minute effort up the poggio with gooud carving on the downside will win this thing.
lets hope the gerolsteiner mecahnics did not put the tyres on today.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

It might be an opportunity for George Hincapie perhaps.

Boonen has a perfect leadout man in Allan Davis. If that goes to the end that is.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Nothing new right now.

Just some shots of the 50-60 man break.

Lots of the big sprinters all in that group.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

barloworld is sending two guys up the right side. they already have two on the front. could they be working on something here?


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Let's not forget there's Luis Leon Sanchez and Thor too maybe since he can kinda climb (Thor)

Di Luca can go too. It's about to hit the Poggio.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Nahh.. It's a Caisse D'Epargne train now.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

caisse leads the group now.

man, uzzie. i think you "would have picked" everyone.

poggio looks to be 5-7k up. from the start of the climb it is ~14k


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

no way thor can climb and slide down the hill with the group. too twitchy. if it stsya compact he might have a chance with a train, but i doubt it.

you will see the climbing teams moving up now as they will try to cause a break on the climb to log jam the sprinter teams


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

getting twitchy. i wouldnt be surprised if there were a crash before we hit themain poggio.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

the start of the poggis. a rider from each team is up front. but some have help
they slow as they hit the first corner. still comacpto from what i see.


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## deastin (Jun 24, 2004)

cav is looking fresh still 
head games by saying it wasnt "his race"


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

this french announcer just said ricardo ricco was up in the group. then he laughed.

the climbers need to break away. who will make the move? it is too jammed for anyone to take their flyer


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## deastin (Jun 24, 2004)

First shot fired!


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

chavanel is leading the group up. a few QS riders up front. cavs is still in the mix.
looks like they wanna make this a sprinters race afterall.

there they go! snaking back and forth, trying to snap the group!


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

stringing the group out again. waiting for the elastic to snap.

and over the top we go.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

pozzatto led over the hill, i think. not sure.

we need someone to slide down this hill fast or there will be a sprint afterall. and i think cavs has kept up there.

<5k to go!


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

go pippo! had you you picked!


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## deastin (Jun 24, 2004)

Maybe big George has dreams of taking this today, he is in good position


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Go Mark Go Go GOOOO!!!!!


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

we are seeing arms draped over the handlebars.

columbia has at least two riders up front, so they have to be the late favorite now.


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## deastin (Jun 24, 2004)

Big George is looking good still


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

they break right and a caisse rider strings some out for a bit. 

wegman is up there. this is were fabian motored away for the win last year


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

Flmae Rouge And Its All Together!


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

EFFIN AWESOME!!!!!

Haussler!!!!! OMG!!!!!

Cav was amazing!!!


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

here we go. columbia on the front
CAVS GOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and he is caught at the last second by caisse? maybe? it cant be?

NO CAVS WINS


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Wait, maybe Cav!!!

OMGGGGG
MC!!!!!


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Mark Cavendish for the win!!!!!!! He WON!!!

What an AMAZING sprint!!!!!!!


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## albert owen (Jul 7, 2008)

Cavendish!!!!! What a rider!


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

I thought Haussler won till I saw the photo finish. Oh my gosh!!!

That's just fantastic.


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## deastin (Jun 24, 2004)

Great job by Hausler and Cav
Cav was ace today


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

sorry, that wasnt a caisse rider. crappy resolution here. cavs wins by a hub.

haussler almost took it after sneaking off on the left. he went maybe 2 meters too soon and cavs nipped him

cavs
haussler
thor

wow, that climb musta been slow.


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## iamnotfilip (Jul 9, 2007)

Uzzie, I think Cav was the only one you didn't give a chance to.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

why didnt haussler and thor work together? did haussler go as a red herring and thor couldnt react to cavs?


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## kbiker3111 (Nov 7, 2006)

That was sort of a strange finish. Everyone looked worn out an there were no quality leadouts. Anyone know what caused the split in the field?


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

I know Cavendish has been working on his climbing. Looks like he's got it pretty good. What a win!!!! It looked he was crying after the race. Methinks there is a new king.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Haha indeed. I honestly thought Cav might be dropped to the second group but as I watched, I kept thinking he could win. I hoped he did actually just coz it would be super cool.

What a rider indeed. He's most definitely an overall sprinter or at least, becoming more and more like one.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

the pace was high the entire race, except the poggio climb. that probably wore everyone out. it looked like highroad and cervelo (i thouhgt it was caisse) were the only teams with mutiple riders in the last k. im just surprised haussler and thor didnt work as lead-out guys. a few things could have been goin on there, but who knows...

i think the mass of people on the descent caused the split, but im not sure. there was a small split heading up, but it was still pretty compact.
the resoluton was pretty bad here, so it was tough to tell.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

weltyed said:


> why didnt haussler and thor work together? did haussler go as a red herring and thor couldnt react to cavs?


Yup and, yup.

Cav was wayy to fast today. Good job by Thor as well.


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

Anybody else notice LA couldn't keep up with the front group over the Poggio. I think he's a long way from all the big talk.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

thats all for me today. gotta go get a 6 mile run in and then pick up the house a bit. this was fun. we should do it again sometime.

uzzie, too bad we aint together in a sports bar. i woulda been razzin you hard about astana. anyone know where they finished? i think this was one of there "we have to race" races. and i tell ya, armstrong looked pretty tired. i kow he always races to form, but he was wobbly the few times i saw him. he might have even pedaled a few squares there. i swear the last i saw him he was ducking AWAY from the cameras...


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## Spunout (Aug 12, 2002)

Hushovd should have led out Haussler! 

Do you realize that they put 2 seconds into the peleton in the last 300m? These two are above the rest.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2009)

Great finish, amazing that so many sprinters were there at the finish but I think many of them were toast by the very end.


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## DMFT (Feb 3, 2005)

jd3 said:


> Anybody else notice LA couldn't keep up with the front group over the Poggio. I think he's a long way from all the big talk.


Big talk?
- More like Big-downplay...


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

weltyed said:


> thats all for me today. gotta go get a 6 mile run in and then pick up the house a bit. this was fun. we should do it again sometime.
> 
> uzzie, too bad we aint together in a sports bar. i woulda been razzin you hard about astana. anyone know where they finished? i think this was one of there "we have to race" races. and i tell ya, armstrong looked pretty tired. i kow he always races to form, but he was wobbly the few times i saw him. he might have even pedaled a few squares there. i swear the last i saw him he was ducking AWAY from the cameras...


If we were in a sports bar, we'd be havin a ball man!!!

Haha.

I was disappointed no climbers could go but damn, with that pace, who the hell could go if your last name isn't Cancellara??!!

I'm sure Armstrong wanted to race this more for his cancer event at the MSR actually but wouldn't otherwise.

He'll have a decent Castilla Y Leon I bet. Nothing fantastic, but pretty decent I guess.

Looks like Astana can only race stage races indeed. Vaitkus could dish it out for some of the smaller classics maybe but that's that. 

Unless of course, you're talking LBL but they won't focus on that I suppose. That's a race some climbers could take (Evans almost won it last year right?)


Awesome race indeed!



Spunout said:


> Hushovd should have led out Haussler!
> 
> Do you realize that they put 2 seconds into the peleton in the last 300m? These two are above the rest.


Haussler went on his own so that's one factor. Cavendish was the first to react as well but that's the key quality of a good sprinter too.

But yeah, they were a cut above the rest today indeed.


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## desmo13 (Jun 28, 2006)

weltyed said:


> thats all for me today. gotta go get a 6 mile run in and then pick up the house a bit. this was fun. we should do it again sometime.
> 
> uzzie, too bad we aint together in a sports bar. i woulda been razzin you hard about astana. anyone know where they finished? i think this was one of there "we have to race" races. and i tell ya, armstrong looked pretty tired. i kow he always races to form, but he was wobbly the few times i saw him. he might have even pedaled a few squares there. i swear the last i saw him he was ducking AWAY from the cameras...



Watching on a foreign language feed, I could pick out the words "Armstrong" and "difficulty"

Maybe it was the Pasta and eggs he was twittering about this morning.
(update: He said he felt great, but bad position on the start of Cipressa sealed his fate for the day)

I just can;t believe Cav made up those 8 bike lengths on Haussler.


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## PJay (May 28, 2004)

velonews has a quote from haussler saying he was intending to lead out hushovd, and was not planning on sprinting all the way to finish line. good job haussler to almost-get first on accident. ('missed it by that much' maxwell smart)


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## gray8110 (Dec 11, 2001)

Why does MSR post the timing on the results if they are going to get it so royally screwed up?? Doesn't really matter, but they've got guys finishing 8 minutes back who were clearly in the main field behind Haussler and Cav. There were 30-40 guys in the group - I'm sure there were gaps, but not 8 minute gaps!?!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/mar09/msr09/?id=results#res


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## Mosovich (Feb 3, 2004)

*You..*

might be surprised.. Once those guys knew they were out of it, it was probably PIANO to the finish and the front group was really ramping it up.. I'm sure it's accurate..


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## ProRoad (Oct 13, 2008)

some of these guys were lead out men and the results timing is wrong. I saw them on the finish straight with the lead group..


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## gray8110 (Dec 11, 2001)

Mosovich said:


> might be surprised.. Once those guys knew they were out of it, it was probably PIANO to the finish and the front group was really ramping it up.. I'm sure it's accurate..


They've corrected it...There were 50 guys at the line within 15-20 seconds and the results now reflect that.


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## roadie92 (Jan 21, 2008)

my pick has to be the god of thunder Thor!!


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## twiggy (Mar 23, 2004)

Anyone else notice that Boonen was riding a Saxobank coloured Tarmac?


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