but why don't they just ride on the roads...

Welcome to Cycleboredom's live coverage of Cyclingnews.com's live coverage of the 104th running of Paris-Roubaix. Yes, I'm typing this live but you ain't gettin' it live. Update of race at this point:
10:06 EST 47k to finish
Postal has the most cards in the deck as Hincapie has Hoste and Gussev to help him. Boonen amazingly has NO ONE!?
10:09 EST 45k to finish
I'm going to stop the live coverage as the Bontrager handlbar/stem/fork decided to break on Hincapie's bike and he's crashed into the ditch! WTF!!!!! Why can't this guy get a F-ING break?!
10:11 EST
I have to go outside and pick up the things I threw out the window. Why does a team w/ that much money have to ride freaking OEM house brand parts? Did anyone see Lance's bike in last year's Tour? Beautiful frame, wheels, Shimano groupset, and a RaceLite stem!?! Again, WTF? Granted Trek made him a carbon handlebar that doesn't look like it belongs on [ed.note-offensive remark to follow] some oldie's steel tourer. Honestly, who makes a race bar w/ 90° angle on it and thinks that's what the public wants? It looked and felt ridiculous.
10:23 EST 34k to finish
No word on the condition of George. The break has Boonen (Quick-Step), Van Petegem (Davitamon), Cancellara (CSC), Ballan (Lampre), Flecha (Rabobank), Eisel (FDJ), and amazingly Hoste and Gusev (Discovery).
10:27 EST 31k to finish
Perhaps this is Hincapie's legacy. He's turning into the Raymond Poulidor of Paris-Roubaix. (look up Anquetil and Poulidor)
10:33 EST 27k to finish
Boonen is powering the break as usual w/ a little help from Gussev. Lars Michelson (CSC) was in the break just before I started and I wanted to comment that I had a chance to meet him back in 2004. He's been racing for a while now, but he still has great form and seems to be in a bunch of important breaks. I remember him making a comment that the shop I worked for at the time only seemed to carry Trek. I assured him that was the, wait, wasn't the case... I also got to meet the rest of the CSC team at the time which included Bobby Julich; he's so dreamy. The DS for the race the next day was Sean Yates! When he walked in he asked me in a voice and manner straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie, "Who's the proprietor of this establishment?" It seemed dramatic at the moment, but all he needed was some bike tubes. But it was bike tubes w/ an English accent; much better.
10:49 EST 17k to finish
Everybody seems to want to blow the race apart. Cancellara had just attacked w/ Gusev going along, but it seems that Gussev is already on the rivets and can't keep the effort. Discovery still has 2 riders in the front where everyone else is by themselves. This is the race situation that George always wanted, but never had... WTF!!!
10:52 EST
I have to go outside and pick up my laptop that I just threw out the window.
10:54 EST
Fabian Cancellara leads w/ Hoste, Gussev, and Van Petegem chasing at 0'09. Looks like Boonen has fallen behind. That would make things a little better in light of Hincapie falling.
10:56 EST 10k to finish
Cancellara has a 31' gap over the chasers. Who would have thought this was to be the race today? It's refreshing, but still plain weird to watch it unfold. Only 2 cobbled sections to go and from what I remember, they're more ceremonial (meaning well-kept) versus the farm cart paths that they're usually punishing themselves on.
11:00 EST 8k to finish
Boonen's group was STOPPED BY A TRAIN!! Beautiful. If you haven't noticed this isn't impartial journalism by any means!
11:03 EST 6k to finish
Cancellara just finished the 2nd set of cobbles and has a 45' gap on the chase group. Unless he runs directly into a wall he should take this. Anything is possible in this race though.
11:06 EST 5k to finish
Hoste seems to be the stronger of the top 2 finishers from Flanders, but he's not going to get a win in either. It's actually nice to see Boonen suffer. It makes his wins more plausible in these days of doping. You always get that twinge in the back of your mind that he can't possibly be that good. It happend to me w/ Lance too, so shut it!
11:09 EST 3k to finish
The Disco boys are starting to screw around w/ Van Petegem. Who's going to take the coveted 2nd spot on the podium? I can't be too sarcsastic, I'd be floored to be anywhere near those damn steps! It's great for your career, and super for your sponsors as their logo is up there for all those photographers. So it's going to be networking solutions followed by either a cable tv channel or vitamins.
11:14 EST FINISH
Cancellara takes a great win followed by I think Hoste then Van Petegem. Hoste is a beast. Fabian hit the line w/ a gap of over a minute. That is not small for this race. Gussev took 4th while the boy in white, Boonen took the sprint for 5th followed by Ballan and Flecha.

So from us hearing about Fabian at the 2004 TDF prologue where he won in front of Armstrong to this win today, he's truly established himself as great rider. As you can see this race is dictated not only by one's mental and physical strength, but also luck. Luck sees you through w/ out your fork breaking (word on Hincapie's bike), crashing or getting an ill-timed flat. This is such a preposterous race, but one of the greatest of all of them.

I'm going out on a limb to say that the Trek bike George was riding was using a fork that was carbon w/ a bonded aluminum steerer. A fork made of ALL carbon and being one piece has to be better than bonding. I know that Trek said that the gain is minimal in weight, and that the strength is better w/ aluminum, but w/ the nano-tech that's out there now, and the advances Trek has made w/ carbon, they have to see the change is needed now.

So it looks like the officials have decided to completely screw the race aside from Cancellara winning. They say that the Hoste group are disqualified because they went through the gates at the train tracks. This is simply stupid. Today's race was a joke; aside from Fabian winning.[ed. note-more info says that the gates went down just as they were getting there and there was no word on the radio whether or not they were supposed to stop.]


Images courtesy of Cyclingnews.com