Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale) is looking to carry his form and excellent performance from the Tour of Flanders into Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. The 23-year-old finished sixth in Flanders, the best result he and his team has mustered in the Classics all season after a spate of crashes and illness disrupted their chances.
Van Baarle finished 133rd in last year’s Paris-Roubaix but he has emerged as Cannondale’s most consistent rider on the cobbles this spring with a top-twenty ride in E3 Harelbeke proceeding his fine Flanders performance.
The forecast for Paris-Roubaix is for dry weather but with rain forecast for Saturday, the pave could be wet in certain sections. Should the conditions remain wet, Van Baarle believes that the race will transform into an entirely different proposition. The last truly wet Paris-Roubaix was over a decade ago, meaning that the majority of the peloton have not encountered those conditions.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It’s like a new race if it’s wet because it’s been a long time since we’ve had a new Roubaix,” Van Baarle told Cyclingnews.
“For me it doesn’t matter if it’s wet or dry, I just want to get the best result possible again.”
In Flanders Van Baarle made it into the main break of the day, and survived when the main contenders moved up from the peloton. Anticipating the attacks from riders such as Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara is now considered a key ingredient in the success of riders who lack the horsepower to go with the winning attacks.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1qAZPg8
No comments:
Post a Comment