CSC Out For Revenge In ‘Hell of the North’
PARIS, April 11, 2008 (AFP) - Danish outfit CSC will be fired up to make
amends for their debacle on the cobble of the snow-hit Flanders last week when
they line up two former champions at Paris-Roubaix this Sunday.
CSC go into the 259.5km cobblestoned classic, known ominously as the ‘Hell
of the North’, as big favorites having won the past two years through Swiss
Fabian Cancellara and Australian Stuart O’Grady.
A rare hat-trick of wins is credible, and will be further boosted by their
bid to banish the demons of last week’s Tour of Flanders where they were
decimated by crashes and punctures.
However CSC, and every other team lining up for the second of the cycling
season’s one-day ‘monuments’ - after Milan-SanRemo - are aware the race has a
flavor all of its own that can leave even the best prepared, and most
determined teams with a painful aftertaste.
It was in dry and sunny conditions last year that O’Grady rode off the
front to become Australia’s first winner in Roubaix.
But after years of being chewed up by the tough northern classics, he knows
the ride into ‘Hell’ - which this year could be hit by cold and rain - can be
fraught with danger, and tough opponents.
“We’ll be one of the teams to beat. But there’s a lot of good riders and a
lot of good teams out there,” O’Grady told AFP after he failed to finish in
Flanders last Sunday.
“To win these big classics it takes a lot more than a lot of good luck.
Everything has to fall in your favor on the day.”
Luck becomes arguably the number one factor in Paris-Roubaix, which this
year includes 28 sectors of cobblestones totaling 52.8 of the race’s total.
The ever-present likelihood of punctures is the reason most of the peloton
try to ride on the side of the road where the rugged cobblestones are flatter.
But even with the possibility of being handed a replacement wheel or bike
from a team car, the reduced chances - in the event of disaster - of catching
runaway rivals makes puncturing or crashing something everyone wants to avoid.
It’s exactly what happened to former three-time Tour of Flanders runner-up
Leif Hoste when, despite being given a new bike by his team car after his
gears broke, he was left playing catch-up for the remainder of Sunday’s race.
Hoste, who also has a solid record in Roubaix but has yet to win, knows
good fortune plays a major role.
“The most important thing I can do is hang with the best. Winning depends
on the details,” he told Sporza.be.
Predicted rain and cold temperatures will also be giving the peloton cause
for concern and will barely hearten O’Grady, who suffered in the chill of
Flanders last week.
The Australian is still searching for full form following the serious crash
at last year’s Tour de France which has compromised his early season, and so
CSC are likely to ask Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Lars Bak and Matti Breschel to do
their best to support Cancellara.
The Milan-SanRemo champion will still have to fight off the threat of
Belgium’s 2005 champion Tom Boonen, and a handful of other contenders.
Boonen is possibly still smarting after his Quick Step teammate Stijn
Devolder rode away with 26km to go to claim victory in Flanders last week, and
victory Sunday would more than make amends for what has been a comparably
mediocre season so far for the former world champion.
Rabobank’s Juan Anotonio Flecha is another contender, and he could give
Spain their first win on the race having finished second behind O’Grady last
year and placing third last week in Flanders.
American George Hincapie will be backed by a confident High Road team that
will be dedicated to grinding out a win - if they get luck on their side.
“All we need is a bit of luck because luck is a key factor in Roubaix,”
said team manager Brian Holm.
“I always spend the whole of the race with my fingers crossed, hoping that
nobody will puncture at the wrong moment or crash.”
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