2017 Flèche Wallone - April 19th - 200.5km

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Dan could have won if he ws better positioned. He was way too far back

No chance imo.

 

[DFA123]

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.

 

[saganftw]

valverde with not one,but two fingers up his a*se,so easy

 

[Andro]

That looked like a complete replay from last year's final.

Valverde looking like he barely broke a sweat.

 

[Marco Pantani]

Superbala

 

[vedrafjord]

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.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

This was the most boring race I've ever watched. A flat sprint is much more exciting than this.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

I can't believe I've watched this stupid race again. And I even got mad when they caught Bob, off to watch Tour of Croatia.

Jungels' attack was doomed. Remniscent of a typical Wellens attack on a day when Wellens did nothing. But good job nonetheless.

 

[Arked]

No one has more W/kg in short 3 minutes/zone 6 effort than Valverde on decent form. Everyone was probably counting on some bad day of Bala but nope.

 

[Saint Unix]

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.

 

[Jelantik]

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.

 

[KyoGrey]

It's not Valverde's fault he is the best in this kind of finale.

It's the rest fault for doing nothing to avoid it.

 

[Dr. Watson]

saw the last km, next year last 10 seconds will be enough

 

[rghysens]

Most frustrating part of it is that it will be the same again next year (the waiting for the final climb), unless they change the course.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

This was the most boring race I've ever watched. A flat sprint is much more exciting than this.

Deja vu ! We say the same thing every year. Valverde looked so fresh after the race.

 

[Akuryo]

Re:

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 ...

 

[Alexandre B.]

The only rider who had the guts to attack on Huy has 20yo, and plenty of years ahead of him to beat this bunch of uphill Kittels.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

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.

 

[portugal11]

This isn't funny at all. Valverde on huy is almost equal to seeing kittel winning sheldeprijs. Shameful race

 

[KyoGrey]

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.

 

[jaylew]

Mr Flèche! Just untouchable. What happened to Cannondale? They were well-positioned and then just disappeared.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

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 ?

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

This was the most boring race I've ever watched. A flat sprint is much more exciting than this.

Deja vu ! We say the same thing every year. Valverde looked so fresh after the race.

It's kind of funny in a way. Like an annual tradition of sorts - watching Valverde put the rest of the pretenders firmly in their place.

 

[Arredondo]

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!

 

[dlwssonic]

Pitiful performance by sky and orica. *** awful.