108th Liège-Bastogne-Liège: 24 April, 2022

[Ilmaestro99]

Remco is smarter than I gave him credit for.

 

[Leinster]

Impressive by Evenepoel once again - if riders just had some prior experience with the effects of letting Remco go.... seemed idiotic to let him race off at Redoute, but Cosnefroy and Powless got cooked trying to follow, so maybe it was just THAT lethal?

Regardless a well deserved victory. The outcome was known as soon as RaF was done.

Powless and at least one other tried to go with him and he burned them off. It was just that lethal.

 

[Ricco']

Did Remco and Wout already had their café?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

PR and Flanders are contested by heavier riders who produce more power on the run-in. If the climbers don't dispatch the more powerful riders on the finishing climbs in Liege, they have no hope of victory.

Isn't that the dynamic any race is supposed to be based on?

 

[StryderHells]

Wanty have had a brilliant classics season

 

[movingtarget]

Lol, that sprint train for Woods just to get like 10th and overtaken by pretty much everyone

I wonder how he would go with a different team or a different coach ?. He is incredibly consistent at top 10 finishes but I would probably pass out if I saw him win a big one day race. He obviously has the engine to do well.

 

[Didinho]

What about the climate guy who came in second again?

 

[yaco]

Actually Remco benefitted from having many domestics when he made his attack because the leaders would rely on their domestics to bring Remco back - Have to wonder whether Pogacar or Roglic would have allowed their domestics to do the work.

 

[StryderHells]

That helmet tan line on Remco screams someone who’s either spent to much time in the tanning salon wearing a helmet or a rider who’s put in the miles to win his monument.

 

[Forever The Best]

A Remco solo win from La Redoute is imminent

Good post, Gigs.

 

[Leinster]

Lot of comment on the race scenario, no one looked at the wind? Going solo or in a small group was not an option today. This is why the race finished with a sprint with 10 riders. Teuns-Martinez-Vlasov would probably have been the podium without the wind. And what to say about external factors, without them podium was Pog - Rog - Alaf.

it was for Remco…

 

[Tobi]

Love Remco im happy to see him have some succes

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I wonder how he would go with a different team or a different coach ?. He is incredibly consistent at top 10 finishes but I would probably pass out if I saw him win a big one day race. He obviously has the engine to do well.

He can't do positioning, can't just drop everyone uphill, can't sprint well enough to win from a small group, can't solo well enough to do what Evenepoel did today, and late attacks rarely win his best races. Even if he wasn't as old, I doubt a different approach would yield much.

 

[Leinster]

No comment on Remco’s right-way-up 13?

 

[TomBonnen2005]

it was for Remco…

Who did a stupid move against the 4 main teams still with domestiques (Bahrein, Movistar, Ineos, Jumbo) and a strong headwind.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Isn't that the dynamic any race is supposed to be based on?

Fair point, but I think even if the climbers do dispatch of the heavier riders, they'll be reeled in on the run in. If prime Sagan or Cancellara break free on a Flanders climb, good luck bringing them back. What good is a 15 second gap with an 11k run in going to serve a whispy climber with Van Aert and co in hot pursuit?

Hence why I say the flat run in is way too long. 3-4k would be ok.

 

[F_Cance]

thought we are past the stage of letting remco ride away, but apparently that's not the case. Their fault. Not one of the bigger names was near him when he attacked.

 

[Breezy1985]

What about the climate guy who came in second again?

Sadly climate action never comes first

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Fair point, but I think even if the climbers do dispatch of the heavier riders, they'll be reeled in on the run in. If prime Sagan or Cancellara break free on a Flanders climb, good luck bringing them back. What good is a 15 second gap with a 11k run in going to serve a whispy climber with Van Aert and co in hot pursuit?

...hence why you need to make the race hard well before the last hard hill if you want to win as a climber. Unfortunately neither the rider's attitudes nor the parcours are tailored to aggressive racing at all. Unlike the Flemish classics, or Amstel, or Lombardia, or pretty much any big race that isn't an Ardennes classic.

3-4k on this kind of parcours rarely does anything, unless you're Bardet and Pinot in Mende.

 

[Amazinmets87]

...hence why you need to make the race hard well before the last hard hill if you want to win as a climber. Unfortunately neither the rider's attitudes nor the parcours are tailored to aggressive racing at all. Unlike the Flemish classics, or Amstel, or Lombardia, or pretty much any big race that isn't an Ardennes classic.

3-4k on this kind of parcours rarely does anything, unless you're Bardet and Pinot in Mende.

I just don't think the parcours is tough enough in this race for climbers to achieve sufficient gaps. I still feel there's an imbalance.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

thought we are past the stage of letting remco ride away, but apparently that's not the case. Their fault. Not one of the bigger names was near him when he attacked.

All the Ardennes specialists have their brains hardwired to no attacks before the final climb and taking the initiative as little as physically possible. That might have been Evenepoel's biggest asset today, hopefully the dynamics change like they have in Sanremo from days like today because an Amstel 2017/Lombardia 2016-esque parcours change is not imminent...

 

[Velolover2]

I feel like we are entering a Redoute-era.

MVDP or Wout (let's hope both will show up) can copy this move for next year if they are not feeling 100% sure about going up against the climbers (especially Pog and Pog) on the Faucons.

 

[OlavEH]

What they should actually do is bring back Forges ans throw out RaF instead. Then beef up the part before Redoute, with more hard climbs (Hézalles, Thier de Coo) in the Stavelot zone, and maybe abandon the current route via Spa as the wide, easy roads there would make any action in the Stavelot zone unviable.

These (Thier de Coo, Hezalles) would still come at least 60-70 km from the finish. If they were to remove RaF, they need to change and beef up the last section before Redoute. That section in the current version has too gentle climbs on too wide roads.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Rejoice, it was the last LBL of the Valverde era.

And the organizers intentionally modified the parcours to prevent him from winning after 2017.

 

[movingtarget]

He can't do positioning, can't just drop everyone uphill, can't sprint well enough to win from a small group, can't solo well enough to do what Evenepoel did today, and late attacks rarely win his best races. Even if he wasn't as old, I doubt a different approach would yield much.

Yes he's in that "nearly" category of rider that doesn't have the next one percent you need to win a major race. And if its ever going to happen it has to be on an uphill finish maybe in a weaker field than usual.