Actually, he was very good from the first week of the season. He was third in the Primavera last year. He was 9th in Vlaanderen but was probably the best man in the race during the finale. Based on his current form, he'll be lucky to finish in the top 25 next week. Some dropback from last year was to be expected. But he has to show us something if we are to believe he'll be alright by the Ardennes.
I'll put it this way: I have more faith that he'll find his form by the Ardennes than I have in either Tommeke of Spartacus to stand on the top step of either the RVV or P-R podiums. /famous last words
I think Spartacus will win at least one of those. I agree about Boonen, his win in Wevelgem now means he'll be regarded as one of the favorites, which means they won't give him anything for free.
I'd say the same is true of Cancellara too. He will be marked every time he tries to escape from the pack and won't be able to expect any of his break-mates to help him unless he has teammates with him. That's why I'd say neither of those two guys is going to win either of those two races.
I think Fabian has a better chance than Boonen just because he is more of a force of nature in the finale. Speaking of the Ronde, it will be interesting to see what effect the new course has on proceedings.
They dropped the Muur/Kapelmuur among other things, didn't they? Shame. That would be like P-R dropping the Carrefour de l'Arbre or something like that.
Blame it on that scumbag Wouter Van Den Houte. There is talk about him having plans to charge admission to part of the course in a couple of years.
Any thoughts on Evans' early season form? I finally was able to watch the highlights of the Criterium International, and he looked extremely comfortable in that final climb. Schleck, on the other hand... You guys know far more about this than I ever will. I appreciate your thoughts.
Out of the BMC riders, he looks really good. I forget if he said he was going to do any of the Ardennes classics, such as La Flèche Wallonne. Still a ways out, from getting into tdf form, but he is doing fine. Andy Schleck on the other hand has been panned a bit from what I have seen: dropped out of a few races, not good form, etc... But, again, still a bit early for gauging what kind of tdf form they will be in.
I suspect we'll see Evans in la Fleche. A couple of years ago, when BMC was a Pro Conti team, Evans had to ride a lot more races (he rode La Fleche, the Giro and the Tour that year) but now that BMC is a ProTour team, he can take it easier. But I think he'll ride one or both of La Fleche/L-B-L.
I don't see it happening for him. Sporza was saying that Cance has a possible broken collarbone. Horrible news. I feel for the guy.