PeloPics: This weekend sees the men’s and women’s Paris-Roubaix, so let’s have to look at the classic of Classics – Paris-Roubaix. Not any Roubaix, it had to be a muddy edition and 1994 was one of the worst. It takes a super hard-man to overcome the muddy cobbles and Andrei Tchmil was one of the hardest.
Forty-seven riders finished on the Roubaix velodrome in 1994 due to the snow the previous day. George Hincapie crossed the line of his first ‘Hell of the North’ and could only say: “It was brutal”.
Those Northern French cobbles were treacherous in 1994
Rock Shocks on Johan Museeuw’s special Bianchi bike
Musseeuw’s full suspension bike wasn’t much help as he finished in 13th place after the suspension gave up on him and then a non-releasing pedal slowed his bike change (Why does it have Gewiss team bottles?)
We haven’t seen a wet Roubaix for a few years, maybe we will in 2018?
Adri van der Poel – Cyclocross World champion and Classics winner, he never did win Roubaix, although Tour of Flanders, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Amstel Gold Race, Brabantse Pijl, Clásica San Sebastián, Paris–Brussels and Paris–Tours wasn’t bad. He is also father of cross riders Mathieu and David
Leon van Bon now takes photos of races
Always a big crowd on the cobbled route to Roubaix
Charley Mottet – More known for his climbing than cobble riding
Bruno Boscardin leads Fabio Baldato. Baldato was 2nd in 1994 and is now a DS with BMC
Franco Ballerini – Roubaix winner in 1995 and so close in 1993 and 3rd in 1994. He died in a rally car race in 2010
Sean Yates didn’t look so happy at this point
5th place for Yates
Eric Vanderaerden won Roubaix in 1987, but by 1994 his career was on the slide, although he did finish 6th in 1995
Three time winner Johan Museeuw – Special bike but only 13th
Dirk De Wolf – Liège winner in ’92 and 2nd in Roubaix in ’89
Andrei Tchmil made his move 67 kilometers out
The Moldavian’s move looked a bit early
1994 Paris-Roubaix was more like a cyclocross race
One lap of the track to go, but Tchmil had over a minute on Fabio Baldato and Franco Ballerini
Tchmil won the UCI Road World Cup in 1999 along with Milan–San Remo, 1994 Paris–Roubaix, 1997 Paris–Tours, 1998 Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and the Tour of Flanders in 2000. If it was a hard day Tchmil would be at the front
A wet and happy Andrei Tchmil
Brian Holm finished 25th, but had been working hard for his Telekom team leader Olaf Ludwig
Another happy but wet finisher – Johan Capiot in 6th place
A disappointed Johan Museeuw in the famous Roubaix showers
Paris-Roubaix 1994:
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Paris-Roubaix 1994 Result:
1. Andrei Tchmil (Mol) Lotto in 7:28:02
2. Fabio Baldato (Ita) GB-MG at 1:13
3. Franco Ballerini (Ita) Mapei
4. Olaf Ludwig (Ger) Telekom at 1:26
5. Sean Yates (GB) Motorola
6. Johan Capiot (Bel) TVM
7. Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle (Fra) GAN
8. Ludwig Willems (Bel) GB-MG at 1:31
9. Frankie Andreu (USA) Motorola at 4:14
10. Nico Verhoeven (Ned) Novemail
11. Mario Scirea (Ita) Polti
12. Dario Bottaro (Ita) Gewiss-Ballan at 4:22
13. Johan Museeuw (Bel) GB-MG at 4:24
14. Mario De Clercq (Bel) Lotto at 6:45
15. Charly Mottet (Fra) Novemail at 7:08
16. Adri Van der Poel (Ned) Collstrop at 9:06
17. Giovanni Fidanza (Ita) Polti at 9:36
18. Frank Corvers (Bel) Collstrop
19. Peter Farazijn (Bel) Lotto
20. Frédéric Moncassin (Fra) Wordperfect at 9:46
21. Rob Harmeling (Ned) TVM
22. Uwe Raab (Ger) Telekom at 11:24
23. Thierry Marie (Fra) Castorama
24. Hendrik Redant (Bel) ZG-Selle Italia
25. Brian Holm (Den) Telekom.
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