El Presidente Rules Paris-Roubaix

Tom Boonen is pretty good. He won Paris-Roubaix today for the second year in a row, and 3rd time in 5 years. Not bad at all. Others who've won PR three times? Some guys named Merckx, Moser and Museeuw. It almost looked too easy, in the end. Boonen simply kept on riding while others flatted, crashed, or just fell off the pace. He rode the last 10 km alone, after a couple of crashes took down the other five in the final group of 6. I'm sure it was harder than it looked. CN has all the details. If you missed it this morning, you can watch the decisive moments below.

Arenberg Forest:




From six to one:




Victory Lap:




El Presidente, who is not to be confused with the President, won the vicarious version of the race. The President fancies himself too good for vicarious racing, it would seem. Or maybe he's just too busy saving lives. But El Presidente seems to like it a lot. I don't believe he's ever missed a pool. And he's usualy the first guy to get a team in. With Pozzato (2nd), Hushovd (3rd), Flecha (6th), and Chavanel (8th) on his team, he took home 1525 points and the victory on the day. KK finished in 2nd place, 200 points back. And Ian beat out Rick for the chance to stand on the final podium step. Mike had another good day. He was 5th. But his competition couldn't keep pace, so his led is back over 1000 points. King Andy has moved into second overall. And Rachel still sits in third place. In case you haven't noticed, Naomi isn't doing so well in the 2009 FGBC Spring Classics Pool. Craig and I aren't doing much better. But Naomi looks to have the lanterne rouge pretty much sewn up. Not to worry. The 2009 FGBC Giro Pool, and a chance for redemption, is just around the corner.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. They're back at it on Wednesday for the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen. And then it's Ardennes time, where the climbers will come out to play. Good times.

The Top 30:

Boonen 500
Pozzato 450
Hushovd 425
Hoste 400
Van Summeren 375
Flecha 350
Haussler 325
Chavanel 300
Quinziato 280
Breschel 260
Weylandt 240
Klier 220
Guesdon 200
Van Impe 180
Hammond 160
Arvesen 150
Terpstra 140
B. Schierlinckx 130
Hunt 120
Sieberg 110
Hayman 100
Hutarovich 90
Furlan 80
Gaudin 70
Wiggins 60
Haddou 50
Wynants 40
Schierlinckx 30
Minard 20
Ljungqvist 10


Stage Results:

David 1525
Kevin 1325
Ian 1260
Rick 1255
Mike 1185
Luke 1170
Andy 1170
Chris O 1100
Donna 935
Hal 935
Dallas 880
Bill 880
Jonny M 875
Paddy 820
Matt 800
Darryl 760
Rachel 740
Brad 520
Adam 510
Vic 500
Chris A 460
Jonny G 445
Craig 380
Chris H 30
Naomi 10


Overall Standings:

Mike 6650
Andy 5625
Rachel 5430
Adam 5330
Bill 5300
Rick 5235
Chris O 5190
David 5145
Ian 5060
Matt 4710
Paddy 4470
Kevin 4405
Hal 4305
Donna 4275
Brad 4210
Dallas 3850
Jonny M 3530
Vic 3260
Chris A 3185
Luke 3170
Darryl 3155
Jonny G 2720
Chris H 2600
Craig 1500
Naomi 510