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2017 Flèche Wallone - April 19th - 200.5km

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Ridiculously impressive by Valverde. If he didn't sit up, he's basically about 5-10 seconds faster than everyone else here.

I don't get the other teams at all though. If you see a strong guy like Jungels go up the road to join de Marchi - why not send a Kwiatkowski, or a Kreuziger, or a Wellens with them, instead of chasing them down. They must have known they were racing for 2nd place.
 
When Martin signed for Quickstep I thought "finally a team can drop him off in a prime spot at the bottom of the Mur so he doesn't have a ton of ground to make up" and yet here we are again, Dan fifteen places back and boxed in for the majority of the climb, leaving him way too much to do in the final hundred metres.

Deja vu all over again as Yogi Berra would say.
 
Anyone who knows anything about cycling saw this coming like a freight train the moment they went over Cherave all together. Valverde is comfortably the best at this sort of thing and will win 95 times of 100 if he's there at the finish, especially with Alaphilippe out of the race.

Sky should be ashamed of themselves riding like that with both Henao and Kwiat in the team. They absolutely needed to try something with Kwiat on Cherave to have a chance.
 
Jul 19, 2010
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Wow Valverde. Great Ride. He has the best spring ever. He must have the right training. At his age, he is like a wine, he keeps getting better and stronger. Chapeau.
 
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vedrafjord said:
When Martin signed for Quickstep I thought "finally a team can drop him off in a prime spot at the bottom of the Mur so he doesn't have a ton of ground to make up" and yet here we are again, Dan fifteen places back and boxed in for the majority of the climb, leaving him way too much to do in the final hundred metres.

Deja vu all over again as Yogi Berra would say.

To be fair, Gilbert, Alaphilippe and Serry where all out injured ...
 
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Saint Unix said:
Anyone who knows anything about cycling saw this coming like a freight train the moment they went over Cherave all together.

Sky should be ashamed of themselves riding like that with both Henao and Kwiat in the team. They absolutely needed to try something with Kwiat on Cherave to have a chance.
Not just Sky - I think every team in the peloton apart from Quickstep and maybe BMC should be hanging their heads in shame at their performance today. A load of big WT teams, knowingly racing for 2nd place at best.
 
Also take into consideration that after a decade of riding this race, Valverde knows with milimetric precision when he has to make all the moves on Huy.

Very cowardly rides by the rest. Specially disappointed by Kiwi and Henao.
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Saint Unix said:
Anyone who knows anything about cycling saw this coming like a freight train the moment they went over Cherave all together.

Sky should be ashamed of themselves riding like that with both Henao and Kwiat in the team. They absolutely needed to try something with Kwiat on Cherave to have a chance.
Not just Sky - I think every team in the peloton apart from Quickstep and maybe BMC should be hanging their heads in shame at their performance today. A load of big WT teams, knowingly racing for 2nd place at best.

Orica put some work in didn't they ?
 
Aug 16, 2013
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The only rider who was able to attack from afar (450 meters) and crack Bala on the steepest slopes, was Purito.

Now all those wannabe riders are waiting till 150 meters, the flatter part, which is Bala's terrain. No single rider is going to beat his sprint on such gradient (4/5%). I'm so disappointed with Henao, he's maybe the only guy who's able to go full out after the steep corner. But he's just a good rider, not a champion.

The current level of puncheurs is quite poor atm. But props for Bala for his 5th win! Legend!