grolby

I think if you think this through a little bit more, you'll realize how foolish and illogical it is. But I'll give a hint: if he's only going 90% to try and get "wheel suckers" to pull through, and could win if he just went "balls out" the whole time, why would he be worried about wheelsuckers? Sheesh.

ETA: Sorry, not trying to be a jerk. I just find excessive Cancellara-fawning at the expense of common sense so tiresome. He's very strong, and his trick is a very good trick, but if anyone can make it to his wheel, he's not strong enough, and anyone who makes it to his wheel and doesn't take advantage of the fact that a huge attack is his only trick is a fool. Pulling through for Fabian Cancellara in any situation like that is just a boneheaded thing to do.

kindablue

That's my thought. I would love to see Fabian on a team that could support his attacks, maybe anothestriding TT type that would throw in a spacer block so Fabian could get that 10m he needs for the attack to stick.

It really kills me in the classics season to see him more or less alone out there.

Wouldnt it be awesome if he won the tour? Not gonna happen though...

Creakyknees

I think Fabian could use a few tips in "the art of the attack" from CDR or somesuch.

He's always seated, gradually winding it up from near the front. I can't recall seeing him do a classical, "out of the saddle balls-out sprint from 15 guys back" in order to get a clean gap.

.02

YMCA

Even when he goes from 15 guys back, it seems to be in the saddle.
Almost like he's trying not to project his intentions, but there is always someone who can get there.

I like the "classical" attacks as you called them.
More showmanship involved

HMF

That's part of the trick, isn't it? He doesn't look like he's attacking when he's attacking, so it catches people off guard.

That's not to say he's not going "balls-out". He managed to drop Boonen in the 2010 Tour of Flanders while staying in the saddle and keeping it "balls-in", and he got a clean gap.

Then there's this:

echappist

did you watch any cycling in the last 3 years?

eja_ bottecchia

Without the "surrender monkeys" we would still be an English colony...just saying!

Creakyknees

That is absolutely my favorite bike racing clip of all time. And he almost pulled it off again on Sunday.

But. In 2007 he was clear with nobody on his wheel from over a K out. He got lucky / or / he wasn't as marked then as he is now. That same move doesn't work anymore.

When he dropped Tommeke in De Ronde, that was the steepest part of the hill, a pure power move. Legs v legs, Fabian wins.

But Sunday's finish was different; not even Gilbert could break away on the steepest part of the hill, and Fabian was still way back until he made his move at the switchback (which btw was the perfect spot to go).

I'm not suggesting that something as simple as "sprinting out of saddle" might've won him the stage... naaah ok, yes I am. Who knows.

/ back to my armchair.

Creakyknees

It was sarcasm. Playing off of the various "Sagan is a wheelsucker" comments yesterday.

McTufferton

You're right... it's better.

kindablue

Needed to be embedded


Sounds strange but I think for some TT types, they can put power down much more comfortably and efficiently from the saddle. Its not really the sprint that he can do, its the 1k power. Maybe if he spent some time out of the saddle, that total 1k power would be less. I think he 'crescendo's' with those sort of attacks (aka he doesn't have a jump that would do enough damage for the energy it takes).

From all the titles that that guy carries, I trust that he is using himself as efficiently as he can.

echappist

fail on my part...
tbf, Gilbert was way out of position on that hill. He used to be a real fighter, getting up there for the good positions. I was surprised to see Hincapie towing Cuddles up but that GIlbert was no where to be found

Going w/ Phil Gil tomorrow. Just 700m of drag racing upwards. Either that or Old Man Cuddles pulls something out of the bag

speaking of English, what's a proletariat like yourself doing in the sanctum of the inner party?

mollusk

I have always wondered how great Cancellera would be on the track in the pursuit.

carpediemracing 

Imagine a pro in a land speed record thing? The hour record is something like 50 mph and the guy that broke it "had to hold 270 watts" or something like that. The "dial it up to 400w" thing would hold true here.

The top speed one is over 80 mph but I think they had legitimate track kilo riders doing them. I remember reading their wattages and thinking "omg how do they accelerate once they get up to speed?!" It was something like 800w to get up to speed, 1000-1200 watts once up there, and a 1500-1600 watt kick. Something like that. I remember the 800w part and thinking "Um, okay, I can barely do that for about 20 seconds, this guy did it and then went even harder."

Racer Ex 

Scary good.

I think it's pretty funny that people would believe they know better than Fabian how Fabian should race his bike. I'd have to defer to the guy. He's probably one of the most marked people in bike racing.

FWIW, at times I drop people and get separation without getting out of the saddle. Often it gives you an extra second of hesitation before folks react.

Peter Sagan picks good wheels, but he's still got some learning to do. Next year...he's going to be scary.

gsteinb

I spent the day reading some good FB arguments amongst track sprinters talking about how Cavendish can't even pull out an endurance medal at the Olympics, and how female track riders have better 200 times than the pro tour sprinters. Good stuff. These weren't 41 guys arguing either. Stars and stripes. Track sprinters get worked up.

hammy56

Like Ex said, i think Fabian knows what hes doing. Im not sure what all the fluff is about yesterdays stage...of course sagan sat on fabians wheel. Why wouldnt he? He wanted the stage win and doesnt care about gc, and fabian wanted a few seconds
to stay in yellow a few more days and possibly the stage for the cherry on top.

jwible

PSA for today: Don't chop Cavs wheel.

Creatre

This is not foolish and illogical. He's just lacking the confidence right now to go full out because of his crash. Instead of being confident that he can ride away from everyone, he's hesitating, and worrying about who's on his wheel. This gives Sagan or whoever a chance to recover. Once they have a chance to recover it's game over. If he kept going full bore, those guys wouldn't recover and eventually be dropped. Just because someone is strong enough to close the gap on Cancellara, doesn't mean they are strong enough to hold that pace after the catch.

It's the same thing for climbers. They all think they need to "attack" in order to win climbing stages. That's not necessarily what you have to do. Riding a hard tempo on the front will drop guys too, and often times its more successful to drop people if you are strong than trying to be punchy, and then everyone follows and you all play chicken and recover for a while.

HMF

I just watched the stage 3 finish in flemish. Did you know that "chickendance" is the same in flemish as it is in english? cray.

climber7

...next year?

echappist

i'm pretty sure you meant Dutch or Flemish Dutch. Flemish is a group of people.
well, no wins in the classics yet, but there are a few more left (San Sebastian, two in Quebec, and Lombardia) plus the Olympics & World Championships.

HMF

yea, I did. I was pretty sure I was getting something wrong.

echappist

jus yanking your chain

though a lot of people make that mistake, which is on par with calling what we speak in the United States as "American."

rkwaki

I speak American...