News for April 16, 1997

Best Cobblestone Rider - Paris-Roubaix

 1. Moncassin (prize 640,000 Belgian Francs)
 2. O'Grady
 3. Tafi
 4. Wauters
 5. Museeuw
 6. Durand
 7. Vogels
 8. Tchmil
 9. Feys
10. Knaven

Yet another Paris-Roubaix Report

Eurosport's advertised early coverage was replaced by some repeated motorcycling, so we missed the important Arenberg forest section. The coverage starts with 70km left, and Sean Yates is the resident expert alongside Duffield this week.

The weather is dry, and it has been dry for weeks, so this year, the riders are spared the mud-bath that we have all seen in pictures of this famous race.

Some information gleaned about the early incidents:

- there was a big stack up that took at least Sciandri out, and left him with a hard chase to get back with the main field.

70km to go: A group of five have a 1.30 lead. They are Knaven, Feys, Tafi (Mapei), Durand (Casino) and O'Grady (Gan). It is well organised, but Durand seems to be missing his turn every so often. There is a semi-organised chase in progress, but they are not coming back very quickly. Fred Moncassin (Gan) punctures, and gets Eros Poli's wheel in exchange for his. He's back in the chasing group before long.

55km to go: The lead is down to 30 seconds, and Sorensen now has his entire team chasing on the front. There are 6 Rabobanks in a line, with Sorensen in the World Cup jersey behind them, Museeuw is on his wheel.

50km to go: At the Martinsart pave section, Lotto are keeping the speed up at the front. Tchmil attacks, Museeuw follows, but won't come through. Now, Tafi, Tchmil, Sorensen, Moncassin and Museeuw are at the front of the group.

Ennetiers pave (3km long): Zanini(Mapei) attacks at the start, Museeuw follows him instantly with Moncassin. It is incredibly dusty. Vogels (Gan) and Jo Planckaert (Lotto) bridge across, then Sorensen himself brings up Tchmil and Sciandri. This gives us a lead group of nine, with three Lotto riders, two Mapei and two Gan.

Pont Thibaut Pave (38km to go): This group of nine have a lead of about 10 seconds. Museeuw punctures and gets a wheel from the Mavic bike, which puts him back in the main group again. Tafi is now on the front of the peloton, grinding away in his usual handlebar-chewing position.

34km to go: The leaders still have 20 seconds, but they're not 100% committed. Zanini is not contributing to the break at all, because Museeuw's not there. David is now giving us a French history lesson, rather than commentary. The chasing is being done by 3 Mapei riders, towing Museeuw.

Vogels attacks from the break, probably trying to get some more commitment out of the rest. He's riding hard, and the leaders make several attempts to bring him back. Wauters (Lotto) makes a big effort and gets across. Sciandri (Francais des Jeux) is also trying to get there, but he doesn't look as strong.

Cysoing Pave (sec. 4): Wauters and Vogels have 7 seconds on Sciandri and 15 seconds on Sorensen&co. After 1km of Pave, the main field have caught the other five, leaving just those three ahead.

After the Pave, there are 20km to go. Sciandri has drifted back to the group, which is 40 strong. Ballerini and ? (Mapei) are still burying themselves to bring back the two leaders who still have 18 seconds, and are still riding hard. David and Sean think that Vogels is really doing this to aid Moncassin, by wearing out some of the chasers.

Camphin Pave (sec. 3): The right-angle bend in the middle causes a few heart-attacks, but no crash. Moncassin launches a big attack out of this bend, and bridges across to the leaders, bringing up Tchmil and Museeuw as well. Moncassin attacks again on regaining the tarmac, and the leading group is reduced to Moncassin, Museeuw, Tchmil, Vogels.

Arbre Pave (sec. 2): Moncassin is on the front, Museeuw and Tchmil following. They only have about 5 seconds on a few chasers. Moncassin is really putting the hammer down now. Sean says that Moncassin is a brilliant bike handler, and this really helps in such poor conditions. The gap has opened up a bit.

15km to go. Moncassin is having another really serious dig. Museeuw chases him down. Tchmil is hanging on, looking a bit desparate. Museeuw has punctured again ! This guy has no luck. Another wheel from Mavic, but Tchmil and Moncassin have gone, and he's now back in a chasing group of six.

Moncassin and Tchmil are riding hard, co-operating well. Sean says that Tchmil hates Museeuw, and is very interested in Museeuw not winning. They have 11 seconds over the group of six containing Museeuw, Sorensen, Wauters, Planckaert, Casarotto (Scrigno) and Guesdon (Francais des Jeux) [I thought that he was Sciandri for a while]. Museeuw, Sorensen and Casarotto are the only ones actively chasing.

Hem Pave (sec.1) 8km to go. There is an asphalt strip on the side of the pave. Too easy ! Moncassin is still driving, Tchmil is fighting to stay there. The next six have about 15 seconds on about twenty others.

6km to go: Back on the tarmac, leaders still dangling out at 12 seconds. They won't have much time to play around on the track with the lead they have. Tchmil sprints off in a big attack with about 4km to go. Moncassin grits his teeth, sits down and slowly grinds his way back up to him, pushing a massive gear. Even Sean says it was agonising to watch.

Tchmil is refusing to go through. They'll be caught if they keep this up. Moncassin has now attacked - just to get Tchmil to work, I think. Museeuw is now only a few seconds behind.

They're now riding on the little cobbled stretch before the velodrome, the chasers are almost on them.

1km to go: Approaching the velodrome: They've been caught ! Eight riders are in the lead group on the track. One of these will be the winner.

Moncassin is leading round the track, and doesn't look too chuffed about it. He is clearly not feeling up to doing an Hinault-style win from the front. Tchmil starts the sprint, but the little-known Frederic Guesdon takes the others by surprise from high off the banking and wins by an easy couple of lengths from Tchmil, Planckaert and Museeuw. Moncassin finished eighth. Tchmil was fourth. There is a photo for second and third between Planckaert and Museeuw. Does Paris-Roubaix hold the world record for photo finishes ?

David tells us that Guesdon won the amateur Paris-Roubaix in 1994, so he knows the course.

Eurosport didn't show the prize presentation, so we didn't see the traditional golden-cobble-brandishing ceremony.

A little hindsight:

- Museeuw was unfortunate to puncture twice while in good-looking breaks.

- Tchmil threw away a guaranteed second place, and this also resulted in Museeuw beating him. Serves him right.

- It's no coincidence that Guesdon's name hadn't appeared in this report until he won the race. He had let the others tow him up to the leaders, and blasted past when it mattered. Probably won't win him any friends amongst this group, but I suppose he's not too bothered right now.