2014 Liege-Bastogne-Liege, 1.UWT (262 Km's)

[Netserk]

Don't understand you. There were riders in front of him and he wanted to win it. What else should he do?

Follow Dan Martin's attack, or attack himself. Instead he acted like a lead-out man.

 

[trevim]

Don't understand you. There were riders in front of him and he wanted to win it. What else should he do?

To be fair, he didn't really have a lot of ways to win. Riding the rest of them off his wheel and catching up with Martin was a veeeeeery long shot, but any other tactic was even more doomed.

Maybe I was too harsh but it upsets me to see a favourite of mine pulling a group from where he doesn't stand a chance to win.
His best bet was when he was up front with Nibali and some other guy but that didn't work out.

 

[ILovecycling]

Congratulation to your 26/1 bet

Thanks.

Kreuziger was really strong, but also really dumb.

He wanted to win,not to be on podium or Top5...he wasnt a freakin wheelsucker at least.

yeah i placed 5 on gerrans for the win and 20 on valverde to top 3.. so made a good profit, even with Mollema and Gilbert sucking

good one,strange betting tactique tho

Well done. Kudos on the prediction!

Thanks.


Im pretty happy cuz of money,but this-----

bbooooooooorrriiinnngggg..........................................

 

[skidmark]

beyond the 'not an entertaining rider to watch' aspect that Libertine highlights, for me another thing that makes this result not sit well with me is the sense I have that he doesn't deserve it. Gerrans is a fine racer, but make no mistake, Valverde is clearly more talented, in terms of climbing, endurance, and (not so much anymore) sprinting. So if Valverde tactically wheelsucked his way to the end with 3-4 other guys who were the strongest guys in the race and couldn't get rid of him, I wouldn't be cheering for him for the win but him winning wouldn't feel wrong. Simon Gerrans winning feels wrong. Nobody even tried to get rid of him, or anyone, really.

So yeah, the perfect storm of not entertaining, undeserving, and a feeling that I wasted my time watching the race in general brings the hate down on this result. Not Gerrans' fault (in fact, anyone but his fault), and I haven't seen any aspects of his personality that are particularly annoying (other than being on Greenedge), but he's gonna be my whipping boy for terrible racing for quite some time - at least until the Tour.

 

[ILovecycling]

Follow Dan Martin's attack, or attack himself. Instead he acted like a lead-out man.

Unfortunately this was an attack...but he was too empty and they reacted immediately.
It was an unsolvable situation for him.

 

[JRanton]

Shocker of a race.

Bring back Edgar Allan Poe.

 

[peloton]

Well the final km's were interesting..

Very negative racing from some of the favs, Kreuziger was the most active trying to get clear and then leading out Gerrans in the final.

Very meh race, but I have nothing against Gerrans' win, congrats to him.

Hopefully Trek will fix Andy before racing him the next time.

 

[Kokoso]

Follow Dan Martin's attack, or attack himself. Instead he acted like a lead-out man.

He did what he could. Don't think he could catch Dan Martin or attack harder than he did. Anyway, if you saw entire race you coould see that he attacked before. He fell, chased backed, attacked. Team didn't help him much. Don't see what else he could do.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Thanks.

He wanted to win,not to be on podium or Top5...he wasnt a freakin wheelsucker at least.

good one,strange betting tactique tho

Thanks.


Im pretty happy cuz of money,but this-----

Not strange, Valverde is almost certain to finish top 3 these days without winning.
Gerrans is a good outside bet if the race goes as ****ty as AGR/FW.
Expected Mollema in the top 3 tho, he really costed me a little

 

[peloton]

He did what he could. Don't think he could catch Dan Martin or attack harder than he did. Anyway, if you saw entire race you coould see that he attacked before. He fell, chased backed, attacked. Team didn't help him much. Don't see what else he could do.

Nothing, imo, he did all he could. Had someone helped him to get clear when he was attacking, maybe the result would be different. He rode a good race in my book.

 

[ILovecycling]

He did what he could. Don't think he could catch Dan Martin or attack harder than he did. Anyway, if you saw entire race you coould see that he attacked before. He fell, chased backed, attacked. Team didn't help him much. Don't see what else he could do.

I think he was one of the 3 strongest riders today.
Pozzovivo
Martin
Kreuziger

 

[ILovecycling]

Not strange, Valverde is almost certain to finish top 3 these days without winning.
Gerrans is a good outside bet if the race goes as ****ty as AGR/FW.
Expected Mollema in the top 3 tho, he really costed me a little

Understand.I just dont bet on various riders (2 at most)
Congrats

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

https://twitter.com/danmartin86/status/460454636429004800

Tweets "I think the phrase rhymes with Clucking Bell"

 

[Dazed and Confused]

"African" watch update.

Froome went MIA, Berhane DNF, so Meintjes picks up the prize:

61 MEINTJES Louis MTN - Qhubeka 3:33

 

[doperhopper]

valmerde will probably always manage to wheelsuck some chaser of any surge... prepare for the worst, piti's big waiting game, looking around so long for the 2nd

sorry to ruin the race, my fault, I won't predict anything anymore, I promise

 

[BigMac]

sorry to ruin the race, my fault, I won't predict anything anymore, I promise

Sorry to ruin your moment, but you didn't predict anything. There were 40 riders in that group, Valverde wasn't the only one who waited. In fact, he was one of the few that did a move and took a pull at the front for a few moments.

 

[Tournesol]

Understand.I just dont bet on various riders (2 at most)
Congrats

Good pick Gerrans@25-1,you stuck with him since before Ardennes started,must pay more attention to your tips now,you did warn me though so i should have listened.Well done.

 

[hfer07]

oh man - I just wasted 25 minutes of my life watching the last 20K.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcjjjLH0t1M

I mean.....really?

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I had to watch the last 50 min of the awful LBL 10 again, to calm my nerves after the suspense from this race...

 

[ILovecycling]

Good pick Gerrans@25-1,you stuck with him since before Ardennes started,must pay more attention to your tips now,you did warn me though so i should have listened.Well done.

Thanks,but luck is needed too.

 

[Roude Leiw]

Complete with broken chain.

He could at least have entertained us with a magnificent bike throw

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

He could at least have entertained us with a magnificent bike throw

I'm not sure how magnificent a bike throw someone with Martin's scrawny little arms could manage.

It doesn't seem to have been the chain anyway. It's not in place in the post crash photos , but it could obviously have just come off in the fall. He's not blaming the bike and presumably if he had actually just lost a monument because of a bike failure no team PR department on earth would be able to stop him ranting about it.

 

[hiero2]

beyond the 'not an entertaining rider to watch' aspect that Libertine highlights, for me another thing that makes this result not sit well with me is the sense I have that he doesn't deserve it. Gerrans is a fine racer, but make no mistake, Valverde is clearly more talented, in terms of climbing, endurance, and (not so much anymore) sprinting. So if Valverde tactically wheelsucked his way to the end with 3-4 other guys who were the strongest guys in the race and couldn't get rid of him, I wouldn't be cheering for him for the win but him winning wouldn't feel wrong. Simon Gerrans winning feels wrong. Nobody even tried to get rid of him, or anyone, really.

So yeah, the perfect storm of not entertaining, undeserving, and a feeling that I wasted my time watching the race in general brings the hate down on this result. Not Gerrans' fault (in fact, anyone but his fault), and I haven't seen any aspects of his personality that are particularly annoying (other than being on Greenedge), but he's gonna be my whipping boy for terrible racing for quite some time - at least until the Tour.

I don't recall seeing Gerrans taking any flyers, but this time I felt he earned the win as much as anyone there. Unlike the result from 100% sticking to Canc's back wheel.

At least this time Gerrans was in the mix. And it wasn't a case of one rider doing a locomotive impression to stay away from the approaching pack. The two locomotives were out front - and got swallowed. Actually, at 3K to go, I thought they had it. I was a little surprised when they got caught - it was the uphill finish, I think. So, it seemed like a fair fight, and Gerrans was on a par with all the guys in that group.

 

[Cookster15]

Wow, just read the results and reports. Awesome effort by Gerrans. Made best use of his talents against superior on paper competition. A great example of what makes road racing so unpredictable. If we wanted the strongest to always win we'd ban bunch riding and conduct TTs only. Now we'd all quickly lose interest if that was the case.

Everyone should just think what would you do if in Gerrans and OGE's situation? Lose just to please some fans? He and Greenedge have done great, just as they did at MSR. Gerrans is a great opportunist and tactician. Perhaps other riders such as Valverde should not have underestimated Gerrans and been ready to counter his tactics?

Last night it crossed my mind fleetingly - what about Gerrans, nobody is picking him and he's been strong since TDU ? Should have gone with my fleeting instincts!

Now I am sure Simon might be thinking about Valverde - you can have Willunga Hill because I'm taking LBL!

 

[IndianCyclist]

i thought Martin or valverde would win. But Martin crashed and Valverde out of gas. This is Gerrans' finest win. He didn't do much except in the finale but his team did good work for him. OGE's season is finished.