Cancellara the Untouchable

The new course for the Tour of Flanders was changed last year, and it included three finishing loops, instead of a point to point dash to the line. The reason is economics, and by placing VIP sections along the last 75 kilometers, it insures additional income for the race organizers.

However, critics have been crying foul over the changes saying that it creates a boring race since the new course was more difficult as the old one. I always find this reason funny, since its not the route that makes the race, it’s the cyclists that makes the race exciting or not, regardless of how easy or difficult the parcours is.

Obviously, the strength of winner Fabian Cancellara didn’t help the vote for the new route. The race was 256km in all yet, the first 238km was a stalemate. It was obvious that everyone was watching Cancellara and was keeping their matches dry. But when Cancellara attacked on the 2nd to last climb, only the young Slovak sensation Peter Sagan was able to hang on. Four K’s later, it was Sagan’s turn to let go of the Swiss. Just two powerful accelerations inside 4km and the peloton realized that it had lost all of its matchsticks.

As fans, we want an attacking race but when one rider and team is so dominant, it can lead us to believe that the race is boring when in fact, it wasn’t. When winning seems to easy, the game looks ordinary. Hey, why not cut the left leg of Cancellara to even the playing field?

Now, can Cancellara win Paris-Roubaix? With Tom Boonen out after his crashing 2okm into the Tour of Flanders, and Sagan taking a pass to prepare for the Ardennes Classics, who’ll stop the Fabian? No one.

The list of contenders is long but there are no 5-star rivals. Bu then again, professional cycling involves not only strength and skill but also smarts and lots of luck. Nobody expected Johann Vansummeren to win in 2011 but he did while the favorites were watching each other.

The only way for Cancellara to lose this race is a mechanical problem or a crash. His team, Radio Shack, is ready this year. For the other teams, they can’t base their race around Cancellara. They have to attack early and isolate Radio Shack or form “corpo”with other teams if they hope to win the cobblestone trophy.

Finally, I thought that the flooding along the Minglanilla Highway was a thing of the past but yesterday, as I was riding to Carcar, I couldn’t help but notice the thick muck on both sides of the road. It was still wet so I stayed near the middle of the road which, for you travellers south, know how dangerous it is with all the busses and the trucks who think they own the road. I sympathize with the people who live along the area who have to put up with the flooding, and later the mud and dust when it dries up……Good Luck to Ome Rodriguez, Ronnie Adlawan, John Gayatin, RaffyAmorganda and Amon Espinosa who will be joining the the “Tour of Friendship” in Thailand in a few weeks. They are currently in Negros for a training camp.