A surprise winner for an exciting Roubaix:

The season of the outsiders continues. After Goss and Nuyens' victories, the third Monument Classic of 2011 was won by another outsider, the lanky Johann Van Summeren.
Not that I complain, of course. Actually, I was very happy to see Van Summeren (can I call him 'Summie?') triumphing in Roubaix because it was like a breath of fresh air for this Fangirl. In fact, me likes unpredictable races - and unpredictable races often have unpredictable winners. And yesterday race was really unpredictable, since crashes, punctures and motorbikes did their best to create more suspence.
Having to predict the name of the race winner, yesterday morning I would have said 'Thor Hushovd'. At the end of the day, however, it wasn't Thor who entered the velodrome first, but it was Van Summeren. At least, I had guessed the winning team.
Talking about Garmin, their race was really good. Hushovd was simply flying, while Van Summeren entered a very important breakaway right after the Arenberg forest. Said breakaway was formed also by Bak, Hayman, Quinziato, Guesdon (winner of 1997 Roubaix), Cooke (who was feeling very well) and Roelandts. After the forest, these 10men bridged up to the leading group, which was formed by Boucher, Engoulvent, Tjalingii, Docker, Oliveira, Veilleux, Seubert and Elmiger. Van Summeren & Co. however weren't amongst the last guys to join the main group at the head of the race: their example in fact was soon followed also by Degenkolb, Rasch, Rast and Leezer. Arenberg forest was one of the key points of the race also because it saw Hincapie and Boonen puncturing before/while facing it. Quick Step was actually chased by bad luck, since a few kms later Chavanel and Boonen even crashed and eventually said 'Adieu!' to their victory chances. Also Pozzato crashed, just like Sagan, and had to abandon his dreams of glory.
With about 35 kms to go there was the decisive moment of the race. With one of his usual attacks, Cancellara got rid of the other peloton guys. The only ones who could follow him were Hushovd and Ballan. The fate of the race seemed almost decided but, when the magic trio had a disadvantage of just 25" from the leading group, Cancellara (who hadn't received a single turn at the front yet) suddenly stopped pulling. 'I'm not going to bring you into the main group if you don't pull too', Fabian probably said to his fellows in that moment. Both Ballan and Hushovd looked a bit confused and in the end they decided not to help Fabian. That was the decisive point of Roubaix, since after that moment Fabian stopped pulling and the advantage of the breakaway guys went back to the previous 1 minute gap.
Imo both Hushovd and Ballan did the right thing in not helping Cancellara in that moment. Fabian is a very dangerous adversary and he had no one in the leading group. Garmin and BMC, on the other hand, had Van Summeren and Quinziato at the front.
Talking about Quinziato, he suddenly disappeared from the first positions of the race. This happened because he hit a motorbike on le Carrefoure de l'Arbre (right after Van Summeren had attacked) and he lost all his victory chances there.
Motorbikes often disturbed the riders yesterday, not just because of the dust that they caused (a necessary thing, unfortunately for the athletes), but mainly because of the obstacles that they created to the guys. Cancellara even had to stop one of his attacks because of a motorbike, that was a true scandal!!

Talking about the eventual results, I must underline once again the great race that Garmin managed to do. As well as putting a key rider like Van Summeren in the leading group, Vaughters' team also exploited the huge talent of Sep Vanmarcke, who worked hard for Hushovd and arrived 20th anyway. As you could read on my Twitter page, yesterday I was supporting Sep, since he's now become one of my favourites 'Cobble riders' (together with Breschel, Iglinskiy and Leukemans).
Still talking about Garmin guys, Hushovd paid a lot of attention to Cancellara and it was great to see someone being able to resist Fabian's attacks on the cobblestones. Poor Haussler instead abandoned the race after a crash. Talking about Van Summeren, he was simply amazing. He even punctured with 5 kms to go, but he kept on riding because he couldn't change his bike wheel. He held on and he won. Amazing.
People often say that Roubaix is the 'Hell of the North', but Johann actually found his own Paradise in this terrible race characterised by dust, cobblestones and risks. In fact, not only did he enter history by soloing to the finish-line of Roubaix alone: he also proposed to his girlfriend at the end of the race! Things couldn't have gone better for this lanky Belgian, right? ;)
Talking about other riders (and other teams), Fabian Cancellara was a great second. When he attacked with a few kms to go I thought he was going to catch Van Summeren! Unfortunately, Fabian didn't have a very strong/experienced team yesterday and that was a pity. If he had had a teammate at the front, things might have gone in a different way. Fab ad Mortensen in fact were the only Leopard Trek riders who finished yesterday race, while Nizzolo, O'Grady, Posthuma, Stamsnijder, Klemme and Weylandt all got retired.
Third in the race was a surprising Tjallingii, the only vegetarian rider of the peloton. Rabobank also had Boom and Langeveld who were in a great condition and this makes me wonder how things would have gone if poor Matti Breschel had been able to race.
4th in the race was Rast, who got one of the best seasonal results for Team Radioshack.
5th instead was Bak, a Columbia Danish rider. Columbia rode well, since Eisel was a good 7th and the young Degenkolb attacked after the Arenberg forest and eventually came in 20th. The boy has all the physical qualities that the North Classics demand and moreover he seems to have a great mentality. Therefore, I'm sure that in a few years time he'll surely take home at least one of the North races.
Talking about Bak, was I the only one who laughed when he made that gesture to tell the others that they all needed to take regular turns at the head of the breakaway?
The 6th rider to cross the finish-line yesterday was Ballan, whose team was very unlucky. In fact, as I already mentioned, BMC lost Hincapie because of a flat tyre and Quinziato (who had excellent victory chances) because of a stupid motorbike.
The best Sky rider instead was Flecha (9th), while Hayman was 10th. Poor Thomas crashed together with Boonen and other guys (I almost had a heart attack when I saw him crashing).
11th was the eternal Frederic Guesdon, whereas 13th was a surprising Mirko Selvaggi. Vacansoleil team leader, Leukemans, crashed a few times during the race and he eventually got retired (just like De Gendt, Mol and Bozic). Stijn Devolder instead was 105th, but at least managed to cross the finish-line.
Also Hoste and Pozzato got retired and Pippo said that he had lost all his victory chances when Katiusha's car punctured. Actually, I must say that I've seen him at the front on a very few occasions in this year North classics.
Quick Step was cursed by bad luck as well, although Sylvain Chavanel managed to cross the line in 38th, together with his brother Sebastien. Also Liquigas didn't have a lot of luck, since Sagan crashed when he was in a very good position.
As far as Saxo Bank is concerned, Cooke had high ambition for the race, but he was stopped by bad luck too.
Talking about Riis' team, I'd like to point out Marycz's performance: the Polish rider went on a breakaway in the very first kms of race and then he managed to cross the finish-line in 93rd. Chapeau!

So, these are my opinions about the 2011 edition of the Queen of the Classics. There was dust, there was blood, there was sweat and there was excitement. And in the end, there was also a wonderful (although surprising) winner. Well done Johann - and best wishes for your marriage!

PS: If you haven't done it yet, check out Marleen's post on Bananas About Bikes (the one about the Bourg Saint Maurice stage of 2009 TdF). And remember that, if you have tales from old/recent cycling races, you can send them to bananasaboutbikes@gmail.com and see them published on our wonderful blog!