Garmin gets a classic. Van Summeren stuns in Paris-Roubaix.

/, Thor Hushovd, Tom Boonen/Garmin gets a classic. Van Summeren stuns in Paris-Roubaix.

Garmin gets a classic. Van Summeren stuns in Paris-Roubaix.

Rock as diamond ring.

Garmin finally got their big classics win. It was certainly a big surprise.

On the infamous Carrefour de L’Arbre cobblestones, Johan Van Summeren powered away from a small breakaway and took a solo victory ahead of Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) and Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank). A stunning Paris-Roubaix win for a classics specialist who has spent his career riding for others.

“When I was in the lead group, I knew I had a chance to win. To win ahead of Cancellara – he is such a great rider,” said Van Summeren. “I had wonderful legs, it was a great day.” A dusty chapeau, my friend, enjoy the youtube salute.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJUL2vHTM18[/youtube]

He triumphed over the odds, avoided the crashes, outlasted a powerful Cancellara and won the queen of the classics. Along with Tjallingi, it was a day for the little guys, a day when the biggest stars either crashed hard or marked Superman too much.

The first star to fall was none other than Quick Step’s Tom Boonen. A chain problem in the Arenberg Forest led to a shocking scene: a helpless Boonen standing with his bike in the middle of the road as the entire peloton ripped past. He looked like a tourist taking in the show. His chances vanished in that instant but he fought on until he was knocked out by his own water bottle flying out and wedging between his back wheel and frame. Crash, history.

The weather was sunny and perfect, the speeds high and the dusty cobblestones seemed to cause plenty of problems. The falling down kind. Sylvain Chavanel went down hard and needed a ten count before he could get to his feet. A “cheese grater” of a crash, he called it. The Frenchman would finish a battered 38th place but showed his toughness.

Filippo Pozzato, already under pressure and hammered by criticism from his own Katusha squad, had a miserable day, too. First, he crashed then a puncture — not his wheel, but the Katusha team car! The angry folks at the Global Russian Cycling Project couldn’t get him a spare bike, so he took the broom wagon. The Italian media will dine on roast Pozzato for the next few weeks. We actually feel sorry for the guy.

Van Summeren flys.

George Hincapie, no stranger to bad luck at Paris-Roubaix, has his usual ill-timed puncture and assorted mishaps. A 42nd place was not what he dreamed about when he was training hard in January. Sentimental favorites are great but sentiment doesn’t go far in the Hell of the North.

The remaining strongmen gradually worked their way to the front. Cancellara rode with smooth power, effortless, never caught up in the chaos. Thor Hushovd made sure he was locked on the Swiss champion’s read wheel. Alessandro Ballan (BMC) might be back in the Mantova doping story but it sure wasn’t affecting his confidence or power output.

At sector number 8, Pont-Thibaut à Ennevelin, Cancellara did his superman trick, accelerating away and only Hushovd and Ballan were able to stay with him. On pure force alone, it looked like the kind of move that tracks down a break, kills it dead and snatches the victory.

Still the race was further up the road with Van Summeren, Lars Bak (HTC-Highroad), Grégory Rast (Radio Shack) and Maarten Tjallingii. They weren’t slowing down and suddenly the storyline was changing. The little guys had a minute lead and were just 15 kilometers from the velodrome and glory and that big rock trophy.

Time was running out and Fabian Cancellara was angry, disgusted, tired of being marked by everyone on a bike in Northern France, all the pressure on his shoulders, nobody willing to do a lousy turn on the front. Superman reduced to begging for help at the Garmin team car. Sorry, not interested. So he went hard again and blew Hushovd and Ballan off his wheel. It was a hammer blow and he launched into full time trial mode sweeping up the leftovers of the early breakaway.

Unfortunately for superman, Van Summeren had done the exact same thing and was flying up the road, with only Tjallingii willing and able to chase. The tall, skinny Belgian entered the velodrome alone, arms high in the air, taking the biggest win of his career in the biggest one day race in the world.

Cancellara had beaten everyone except a domestique from Garmin-Cervelo who rode the last few k on a flat tire. “I had a puncture with 5km to go. I knew it was too late to change the wheel, so I had to take it a little easy on the velodrome,” Van Summeren said. “I know how to ride on a flat because sometimes I forget to bring a tire on training rides.”

It was actually a double victory for Van Summeren because he proposed to his girlfriend on the velodrome infield. “Some people give a ring, I give a rock,” said Van Summeren. That’s going to be a tough one to wear on a finger. Perhaps this makes runner-up Cancellara the best man.

Last week in the aftermath of Flanders, Jonathan Vaughters said nobody on his team had brought their A game. In the Hell of the North, Van Summeren was an A+.

By |2019-02-03T16:21:01-08:00April 10th, 2011|Paris-Roubaix, Thor Hushovd, Tom Boonen|5 Comments

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5 Comments

  1. Sam Parker April 10, 2011 at 10:29 pm - Reply

    Coming off Flanders and Rubaix (comments from Cancellara about Nuyens post Flanders aside) I have far more respect and admiration for Cancellara than I had before, and more than for either winner. The guy rode not only against the courses, but against every tactic designed to keep him from winning…and still put on a display in both races. Not the results he wanted, I'm sure…but it will be interesting to see what vindication he seeks out later this season.

    • TwistedSpoke April 11, 2011 at 8:55 am - Reply

      Sam, totally agree. What people are all saying is PR revealed the weakness. He's still superman but his team isn't super. Garmin had four – five guys working and Cancellara had nobody. A well-deserved win for Van Summeren. Matt

  2. Willem April 11, 2011 at 5:22 am - Reply

    I'm still reading in this morning, but this is the best race summary I've read so far. Nice flow, colorful prose. I love Chavanel's "cheese grader" comment.

    • TwistedSpoke April 11, 2011 at 8:57 am - Reply

      Thanks Willem, I've checked out your waffles and steel blog a number of times — my daughter is adopted from China. My buddy Neil Browne at Versus.com did a nice write-up also so check that out. Best, Matt

  3. IdeaStormer Jorge April 11, 2011 at 8:03 pm - Reply

    It was a great race, but everyone knows the only reason Van Sommeren won was because Fabian didn't have any one else to help with the chase, be it a teammate or another rival without a team member in the break. Yes, team tactics but you know deep inside Thor wanted to be up there, this was exactly what happened in 2001 when Servais Knaven won and the team leader Museeuw had to hold back when the chasers attempted to catch Knaven. At sounding bad, they were undeserving wins on both accounts, yes undeserving sounds bad maybe super lucky would be better?

    The issue is now Van Sommeren will be touted as the next thing in Classics racing and probably get a bigger contract on some other team (good for him) but I don't think he'll pan out in the long term.

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