boonen was and is a classics man with a great sprint( which he lost some mostly due to crashes and age) and he won on a hilly course where no1 thought a sprinter could survive. he was the only sprinter in the finishing group which caught a group of 3 that had attacked on a hill on the finishing straight.
@Frekdiznel, actually OPQS did more to ensure Gilbert's win than BMC, I didn't see VanAvermaet doing any work for Gilbert, and BMC screwed up the TTT, so I would say OPQS all the way, and congrats to Phil for a great win and hope he wins some early season classics next year in the jersey
completely suicidal tactic by Italy who puts Paolini in front to launch Nibali who has no legs and therefore the result is to launch Gilbert towards victory... surely Philippe would have won anyway because that day he had superior strength to everyone, but Italy it had to stay covered and run on the wheels of Belgium and Spain and not take on the burden of top positions without being able to afford it...
To say "stay in your wheel till the finish and don't get tired" about a sprinter let alone the best of his generation is just ignorant. Why should the world champion be an all rounder? Isn't it fairer to the professionals and more entertaining to cycling fans to change the course every year so different people win. If you watched the whole race you would have seen Cavendish lead the peleton for a fair while. That, plus wins in the Giro D'Italia and Tour De France for me means a great WC.
just compare the top 10 of each race and notice the difference. it's not about a sprinter not deserving to win the WC, is about the course being 100% flat to favor a sprinter which it was in 2011 and wasn't in 2005. if the sprinter survives the hills and wins the sprint then he deserves it. also boonen was 9th in 2006 in a very hilly course won by bettini and even this year he finished on the second group just behind gilbert. clearly you don't know anything about cycling.
the commentators are so boring... The Rodrigo Beenkens' speech was so much passionated compared to this one, no doubt about that. A way better way to look at a cycling race.
Michel Wuyts and Jose De Cauwer are very good commentators who know a lot about cycling. Actually, I find all the Sporza commentators very good for that reason. This being said, they are not as outgoing and exciting as Rodrigo Beenkens. I think it is a cultural thing, Germanic commentators are usually more restraint and less emotional than latin ones. To each their own, they all have different qualities.
Pourquoi tu dis ça ? Tu comprends le néerlandais ? Au contraire, ils sont très contents de la victoire de Gilbert. Les deux commentateurs, Michel Wuyts et Jose De Cauwer ont toujours beaucoup de respect pour Gilbert. Je le sais, je regarde toutes les courses sur Sporza.