Tomorrow sees L’Enfer Du Nord. While the obvious picks such as Cancellara and Chavanel, Paris-Roubaix always throws up a few surprises. In the last few years we have seen previous unknowns such as Sebastien Turgot and Maarten Tjallingi on the podium, so, in part two of this post, here are a few more riders who could surprise a few people.
Ramunas Navardauskas
The three-time Lithuanian champion has impressed many over his previous two seasons at Garmin-Sharp. If you tuned in to the 2011 Tour or the 2012 Giro (in which he wore the Maglia Rosa for two stages) at any particular point, it was more than likely that you’d see the powerful Navardauskus sitting on the front. The season he’s been a lot quieter, with a twelfth place in the Tour Med time trial his best result. This leaves me in doubt as to the sort of form Navardauskas is in, but there’s no doubt that he has the raw power to challenge for Paris-Roubaix in the future. With the absence of a clear leader for Sunday at Garmin-Sharp, perhaps the 25 year-old could seize the opportunity for himself.
Koen De Kort
One of three winners of the U23 Paris-Roubaix in the Argos-Shimano line-up for this year’s race, Koen De Kort will likely be working for team leader John Degenkolb. However, if the team’s tactics is to put a man up the road early then De Kort is the man for the job with plenty of experience and an expert on the cobbles. The 30 year-old all rounder has never quite had that breakthrough victory and hasn’t been in the best of form so far this year, but the Dutchman is one of the smartest riders in the peloton and will know exactly the right moves to follow even if he’s not in top form.
Rüdiger Selig
Selig has looked in excellent form this spring. The German worked incredibly hard to deliver Alexander Kristoff to a stage win and second overall in the Dreidaagse De Panne before being given an opportunity to ride for himself at the Volta Limburg and duly delivered with the win. On Sunday he will probably be required to carry out domestique duties for Luca Paolini and Alexander Kristoff. This could take the form of early pacesetting, or perhaps he could be given free rein to try and get in the early break.
Kenny Dehaes
Since winning the U23 Tour of Flanders in 2005, Kenny Dehaes has failed to live up to his obvious potential. However, this year has seen the Lotto Belisol rider in the best form of his career with a string of top ten finishes including a win in the Handzame Classic in mid-Febraury. Whether or not Dehaes is good enough to put in a strong performance in a race as big as Paris-Roubaix is yet to be seen, but he certainly has the form and confidence to perform well as a domestique for Jurgen Roelandts come Sunday.
Jens Keukeleire
Keukeleire is a young man who has been mentioned a few times before on this blog. An exceptional spring in 2010, including a stage win and the overall at the Dreidaagse van West-Vlaanderen, showed that he is a very talented rider. However, a seventh place in Dwars door Vlaanderen gives a hint that the Orica-Greenedge rider could perhaps have something like the form needed to put in a performance on Sunday. With the team entering the race without a clear leader, perhaps the experienced campaigners such as Stuart O’Grady and Baden Cooke could make way to give Keukeleire a chance to fulfil his promise.
Stijn Devolder
It may seem odd to include a two time Belgian champion and two time Tour of Flanders winner in a list of outsiders, but Stijn Devolder has been almost completely written off by many in the past couple of years as he failed to match his previous performances. However, his ride in support of Fabian Cancellara was simply immense, keeping a dangerous move including Jurgen Roelandts and Sebastien Turgot in sight as the race approached its denouement. With his incredibly tanned legs, Devolder seemed to be returning to something like his best. Cancellara will be very grateful to have a rider like Devolder by his side on Sunday, but should the Swiss favourite hit trouble, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the rejuvenated Devolder seize his opportunity.
The first part of this post, with five more outsiders for Sunday, can be found here
Student Cyclist 