Superlative, Cancellara Rolls In Roubaix
Dominant, overpowering, superior, controlling, assertive, authoritative, commanding, powerful, supreme, transcendent. Somewhere Saul Bellow is smiling, as the use of a single superlative simply fails to accurately capture Fabian Cancellara's performance this past Sunday, and for that matter this past week.
On a day usually referred to as "A Sunday In Hell," the current Ronde van Vlaanderen champion tamed the Roubaix cobbles and made it look more like a Sunday ride in the park.
Instinctively attacking his most powerful adversary, Tom Boonen (Quick Step), who had momentarily paused from his own relentless attacking, within 50kms of the finish line, Cancellara's move was so utterly demonstrative that the outcome of the race was decided in a few pedal strokes.
With front end bouncing like a hydraulically enhanced low-rider and a chain bobbing unbridled as if trying to wrestle itself free from the rest of his Specialized machine, the 29-year Swiss rider cruised solo to his second Paris-Roubaix victory, and in the process completed the rare Spring Classics double.
Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky Professional Cycling Team) were the best of the rest, breaking away late from a tired and dwindling elite group of riders.
Results
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank
2. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team
3. Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Professional Cycling Team
Extraordinary Times
Fans of the one-day Classics are truly living in extraordinary times. In 2008, coincidentally after Tom Boonen's second Roubaix victory, I remarked that cycling was entering a new "Golden Age." With trio of riders, Cancellara, Boonen and Ballan, under the age of 30, Classics fans were sure to be treated to greatness for some time to come. And with the exception of Ballan, who has been slowed by some injuries, Boonen and Cancellara have not disappointed. Both are now part of select group of 27 riders who have won more than 3 of the 5 monuments of cycling.
Like most cycling fans of a certain age, I often wonder what it was like when the legends like Merckx, De Vlaeminck, Van Looy, Moser, and Kelly once ruled the Classics planet. But unless you are irreparably nostalgic, cycling legends — perhaps soon to go down in the history books as "the greatest" — are currently riding, and winning, right under your noses.
Other Notables
4. Roger Hammond (GBr) Cervelo Test Team
5. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
7. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Team Katusha
8. Leif Hoste (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
10. Hayden Roulston (NZl) Team HTC - Columbia
26. Michael Barry (Can) Sky Professional Cycling Team
29. George Hincapie (USA) Bmc Racing Team
33. Dominique Rollin (Can) Cervelo Test Team
42. Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step
48. Bjorn Selander (USA) Team RadioShack
63. Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
Photo: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
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