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2013 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, 21/04/13 257km

Page 39 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Apr 21, 2013
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Went down to Ans to watch the finish and for me was a great race today.
Ans is so easily access compared to Amstel. Parked up and in 10 mins on the finish line.
Great atmosphere - people bbq-ing outside etc. Will be going again for the 100th.
 
Sep 24, 2012
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I love cycling and I love Valverde as a rider.
At least I used to.

Unlike Contador, that can barely make top ten after the doping positive, Valverde still has it (almost). The thing he doesn't have since 2005's tour, is cojones.

Today, no one, not even me, a huge Valverde fan, can defend him.

He blows past Gilbert like a f*cking rocket while Phil was still pushing it, has everything to win, and refuses to work, refuses to cooperate, even after Purito's surprise attack.

The only talent that can be compared to Valverde in todays racing is Sagan. I hope he doesn't blow it. I give up on Valverde, 8 years later.

Even if Scarponi dragged him to the line so he could explode and win, my opinion would be the same.

pedromartins, former C&Cfan.
 
Aug 16, 2011
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pedromartins said:
I love cycling and I love Valverde as a rider.
At least I used to.

Unlike Contador, that can barely make top ten after the doping positive, Valverde still has it (almost). The thing he doesn't have since 2005's tour, is cojones.

Today, no one, not even me, a huge Valverde fan, can defend him.

He blows past Gilbert like a f*cking rocket while Phil was still pushing it, has everything to win, and refuses to work, refuses to cooperate, even after Purito's surprise attack.

The only talent that can be compared to Valverde in todays racing is Sagan. I hope he doesn't blow it. I give up on Valverde, 8 years later.

Even if Scarponi dragged him to the line so he could explode and win, my opinion would be the same.

pedromartins, former C&Cfan.

:confused: Sagan didn't wheelsuck practically at all in the classics this year, In fact he was the one chasing people down or carrying the break a lot of the time. And he ended up riding away solo more than a few times.
 
Valverde did everything right, the one thing he couldnt do was staying on Martins wheel in the last km, and that's what cost him the win. Given that he not exactly killed himself bar that one attack where he bridged the gap to the headgroup suggests to me that he simply wasn't strong enough for anything better than 3rd spot today.
 
Sep 24, 2012
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That was not my point.

Valverde could win pretty much every type of race, same as Peter. There's no one like that in modern cycling.

If this sort of athlete was born 40 years ago, nobody would talk about those farmers against Merckx (even if they were hard men, they were still "amateurs".).
 
Parrulo said:
And costa 9th after being in that attack and making the first attack on the next climb and following the contador attack on that climb as well!!!

This was a mighty impressive race from costa, i think he was one of the strongest today.

i don't understand movistar tactics tho, they saved quintana all the way sending costa from far out and in the end quintana was nowhere to be seen. . .
Are you talking about Valverde's Movistar????
 
Fight.The.Power said:
Great Ride by Danny Boy, but you must say fantastic strategy by Garmin!

Fantastic strategy? Well, yes they played their hand well but having the two strongest guys in the race is normally pretty handy when you're trying to win! Read Purito's comments afterwards. It comes down to who has the legs. And Martin had the legs. He was the strongest. He won. This is what makes me laugh about people questioning Sky's tactics in the classics. Tactics very rarely decide these incredibly long and tough races. 9 times out of 10 the strongest guy will win. Sky don't have the best classics riders so they don't win them! Pretty simple..

I remember saying after Martin's stage win in Catalunya that it was the most impressive performance of the year and I stand by that. Hesjedal did some incredible work in the break that day too. I trust nobody will underestimate him again in the Giro this year. If he's close to the lead at the start of the third week, he'll win.
 
Cookster15 said:
Just read the results. Great result for Garmin, nice to see AC back on form but poor result for Sky. Where was Jonathan Tiernan-Locke? Isn't he supposed to win a swag of LBLs one day? I thought with his move to Sky it (doing well at LBL) would be a lay down misere :confused:

He was doing the early donkey work, first rider sacrificed. Probably shouldn't have even made the team really.
 
goose bumps for Wegmann upon knowing they won it!

20130421-3S3A9733.jpg
 
Richeypen said:
Nothing to do with his riding style, in fact he used to be my favourite rider. It wasnt even his clinic ban that put me off him but rather his reaction to it. As the above post says, he epitomises what is wrong with cycling.

If there is anything which epitomises what's wrong with cycling, it's those people who were mocking Valverde after Liege because he was fricking human.
 
Roderick said:
The fact about Cav is that he is a real winner. He will do everything he can to win. Valverde just seems not to care about getting first or second. You can say that it is clever riding but sometimes you just have to risk losing in able to win.

Don't you think it's a bit silly to imply that a rider with as many victories as Valverde has doesn't care about getting first or second? If you compare his palmares and overall number of victories to any of his contemporaries (gc contenders that also compete in the hilly classics) you'll find that his record speaks for itself. You don't have to like how he does it, (and I don't see anything wrong with it) but you really can't deny his status among his peers.
 
kingjr said:
Valverde did everything right, the one thing he couldnt do was staying on Martins wheel in the last km, and that's what cost him the win. Given that he not exactly killed himself bar that one attack where he bridged the gap to the headgroup suggests to me that he simply wasn't strong enough for anything better than 3rd spot today.

+1000

All this talk about Valverde not caring about winning is ridiculous.:(
 
Yes, I'm no fan of Valverde, but it just strikes me as crazy to say that he wasn't riding to win. He couldn't hold Martin's wheel, but neither could Betancur, Scarponi or Rodriguez. That happens in cycling: Sometimes you get the end, having played your cards well, and the other guy is stronger.

Valverde's tactics are determined by his abilities. He's been very good at turning his particular set of talents into wins. He usually has the fastest kick in any small group sprint, so he tries to hang on until then. It's not particularly exciting but it's ruthlessly effective and is all about riding for the win. For the same reasons, Wiggins climbs at a constant tempo without sudden changes of pace and Purito likes to attack with a steep km or two to go. Those are the basic tactics that suit their particular qualities, and riding some other way would lessen their chance of winning.

If Valverde had been able to hold Martin's wheel, he wins two times out of three from that position.
 

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