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Cyclingnews 2002 Reader Poll Results
Best One-day Race
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A not-terribly-surprising landslide - or should that be mudslide? - for Paris-Roubaix, the race that always seems to mark the real start of the season and never fails to produce a winner who embodies the vital qualities of form, power, team-work and sheer grit. To triumph on the cobbles of the Hell of the North is the dream of every Belgian schoolboy and, it seems, plenty of Cyclingnews readers too.
Belgium figured strongly in the rest of the poll too, with the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) in second place and Gent-Wevelgem in sixth. This year's road world's - often a sadly ho-hum end-of-season fizzer - was recognised, Milan-San Remo also got a nod, and a plenty of people who turned out for the San Francisco GP were impressed enough to give it top billing.
Why is Roubaix so huge? We asked for reasons for your choices. Here are a few Roubaix explanations:
- Museeuw takes a gutsy 40km flyer, Hincapie falls in a ditch, Boonen gets a freshman third, the weather cooperated again to create the classic Classic. These are hard men; this is extreme sport.
- Always brings out the true hardmen. No sitting in.
- Museeuw's back up from Ronde disappointment and pure strength. Boonen's epic ride.
- Any time it's run in muddy conditions it is always the best race of the year. Museeuw's attack was colossal.
- Museeuw's incredible show of strength and determination in the twilight of his career was inspirational, even a two-up team of Hincapie and Boonen could not reel him in. It was an incredibly tough race in "normal" Roubaix conditions.
- Because you have to go through so much s#@% and all you get for it is a cobblestone.
- Even with everyone watching him, Museuw still won it solo.
- Weeds out the weak, chews up the strong, beats the hell outta everyone.
- Musseuw's power was astounding. Rode away from everyone.
- A real race! You can't fake it during this one.
- Who doesn't like a mud-fight now and then!?
- Anything can happen. That kind of distance over that kind of terrain. You must be crazy!!
- Just a completely dominant ride, and to do it at that stage of his career in one of the real monuments was inspiring.
- Watching Johann just dominate the field. Now if we can just get him to finish all of next year. (Not May)
- M-U-D. M-U-S-E-E-U-W. M-A-Y-H-E-M.
- Dependably heroic.
- Mad
- Eroic [cut-and-pasted verbatim. Decide for yourself whether there's an 'h' missing or a 't' - Ed]
In the runner-up races, it seemed that if Mario Cipollini was in a race, he was the reason people voted for it. Milan-San Remo: "I am not a huge Cipo fan, but it was nice to see such a class act get the prize he has always desired." Gent-Wevelgem: "Mario bridging, working in the break, and still pulling the sprint off. Changed my whole perception of him, a classic ride." and of course the world's: "Mario Cipollini's fairy tale win and the plan of the Italian squad working so well."
If Cipo rides and wins Paris-Roubaix in 2003, we'll just give him and the race this award on the spot!
Results
Votes %ge 1 Paris-Roubaix 436 55.9 2 Ronde van Vlaanderen 73 9.4 3 Men's World Championships road race 61 7.8 4 Milan-San Remo 53 6.8 5 San Francisco Grand Prix 28 3.6 6 Gent-Wevelgem 25 3.2 7 Liege-Bastogne-Liege 20 2.6 8 Amstel Gold 15 1.9 9 Clasica San Sebastian 14 1.8 10 Saturn Cycling Classic 8 1.0 11 Zurich World Cup 6 0.8 12 HEW Cyclassics 3 0.4 12 Tour of Lombardy 3 0.4 12 US Pro Championships 3 0.4 15 Flèche Wallone 2 0.3 15 Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2 0.3 15 Melbourne-Warrnambool 2 0.3 15 Mountain Bike World Championships 2 0.3 19 24 hours of Moab 1 0.1 19 Athens Twlight Criterium 1 0.1 19 Clasica San Sabastian 1 0.1 19 Classique Des Alpes 1 0.1 19 Commonwealth Games RRs 1 0.1 19 Copperopolis Road Race, Milton, CA USA 1 0.1 19 Daily race to make the train in the morning 1 0.1 19 Des Hanlon Memorial/ Paris-Roubaix 1 0.1 19 Fight of the Pigs in Phoenix AZ 1 0.1 19 Heritage Day Classic Bermuda 1 0.1 19 Het Volk 1 0.1 19 Housatonic Valley CLassic 1 0.1 19 Little 500 at Indiana University 1 0.1 19 Omloop Eurode 1 0.1 19 Pace Bend, Austin, TX, Feb, 02 1 0.1 19 Paris Tours 1 0.1 19 Paris-Brest-Paris 1 0.1 19 Ride for the Roses 1 0.1 19 Junior World Championships road race 1 0.1 19 Single Speed Worlds 1 0.1 19 Syracuse Criterrium 1 0.1 19 USPRO Criterium Championships 1 0.1 19 World Cup MTB in houffalize 1 0.1 19 Zinger Classic 1 0.1 Total 780
