47th Amstel Gold Race (The maze) - Sunday April 15, 2012

[greenedge]

If people wait until the final climb and fancy their chances against Purito, they are truly idiots. Only a few have a chance in an uphill sprint vs. Purito. Valverde and perhaps Sagan. Maybe Evans. Gilbert hasn't "recharged" his batteries.

That said, I'm hoping Sammy Sanchez wins tomorrow.

Gilbert will attack on the Keutenberg ( if he does not feel he can go well on the Cauberg ) mark my words!!!

 

[greenedge]

I wonder if Rodriguez will be able to do the same as Gilbert (pulling back Schleck) if everyone races against him.

He has a strong team (Friere as well- could win). Moreno and Paolini would do any chasing for him/ attack off the front if the race is not hard enough.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

In about 30/40 minutes... Ryo Hazuki will be here to pick me up to go to the gold race.

Wish me luck hearing crap about colombians all day

 

[Trofinios]

We saw that Valverde lacks his punch to obliterate everyone on steep sections ( Mende, he was expected to attack non-stop to gap Wiggins ) so Samu logically steps into the main dude who can challenge JROD in the steepest part.

However he will not win it on that section but on the flatter part.

Beside Samu, there is of course Gilbert who with ease followed Purito last year. But Gilbert's form is of course a big question. Then we have Sagan who never ceases to amazes, it wouldn't surprise me if he could follow a Purito attack.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

In about 30/40 minutes... Ryo Hazuki will be here to pick me up to go to the gold race.

Wish me luck hearing crap about colombians all day

I would love to go to a race with Ryo. Think it would be fun
Anyway, have a nice day!

 

[will10]

In about 30/40 minutes... Ryo Hazuki will be here to pick me up to go to the gold race.

Wish me luck hearing crap about colombians all day

Have a good one. Are you going to the Cauberg again? What should we be looking out for to spot you?

 

[dlwssonic]

In about 30/40 minutes... Ryo Hazuki will be here to pick me up to go to the gold race.

Wish me luck hearing crap about colombians all day

wow thats great forum users knowing each other. How did you guys know each other?

You guys meet every year to watch AGR?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

wow thats great forum users knowing each other. How did you guys know each other?

You guys meet every year to watch AGR?

yes from cycling manager forums 10 years ago already

since 2005 there's almost always a yearly meeting on the cauberg. Usually it's just 5/6 guys. But this year there will be about 15/16
we'll be standing somewhere at 200m before the finish. Usually just out of sight of the static camera's though

 

[maltiv]

From article on front page:

What do you say maltiv? Any hope for EBH today? It was a hard blow to see EBH last weekend i P-R, totally exhausted after 220k. Different type of course but AGR is also damn tough. Only light I can see is that EBH looked decent in RVV and AGR is a bit like RVV without the cobbles. Still, with RVV and P-R in his legs I think AGR will be too much for him at this point and I don't expect anything from him today.

I'm 99% sure EBH will ride surprisingly well until he cracks with about 10 km to go. He seems to have a 250 km limit, unfortunately. Else than that, the course is pretty decent for him. In my opinion he's much more suited to AGR than P-R.

He said in an interview that he's looking forward to helping Nordhaug, so EBH is mostly a domestique today.

 

[Trofinios]

He said in an interview that he's looking forward to helping Nordhaug, so EBH is mostly a domestique today.

I wonder about that. Here is EBH in an interview two days ago:

– Hvor godt VM-løypa passer meg får vi et svar på under søndagens Amstel Gold Race. Da er målgang på toppen av Cauberg, så vi får se om jeg henger med opp den siste bakken da.

Ambition seems to be that he will try to be in the front group when they hit Cauberg.

 

[Trofinios]

We have a break:

Romain Bardet (AG2R), Pello Bilbao (Euskaltel), Kreder (Garmin), Alex Howes (Garmin), Steven Caethoven (Accent Jobs) have 2.40 on the bunch.


Two Garmin riders?!

 

[theyoungest]

Garmin aren't exactly on a good run, maybe they've adapted their tactics accordingly Howes should go pretty far, his form seems to be okay.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

C.Pineau (FDJ), Stortoni (Lampre), Lietaer (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet) also in the break.

 

[jens_attacks]

everything seems to be done in favour of turbo diesel.unfortunately keutenberg will be ridden very fast

 

[The Sheep]

which kreder is it?

 

[search]

which kreder is it?

Raymond

...

 

[mb2612]

which kreder is it?

Not Michael, the other one

 

[Christian]

I'm looking forward to seeing what Romain Bardet can do this season. He seems to be a good talent. Nice that he got in the break

 

[Kwibus]

Garmin aren't exactly on a good run, maybe they've adapted their tactics accordingly Howes should go pretty far, his form seems to be okay.

Until last wednesday I had never heard of Howes and I must say he did pretty damn well there.
Where did he come from? I heard the commentators say he was a mountainbiker?

 

[hoerpi]

Bilbao seems to be taking lessons from Master Txurruka, always in the break

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I'm looking forward to seeing what Romain Bardet can do this season. He seems to be a good talent. Nice that he got in the break

Agree. He hasn't really gotten any results so far this year but he has been very active, constantly getting into break aways so that's very nice to see. He's a big talent in my opinion.

 

[theyoungest]

Break already have near 13 minute gap. If Rabobank won't control the race, nobody will apparently

 

[Trofinios]

For those interested, info about the climbs with 40k to go.

24. Wolfsberg (4.4%, 800m) at 215.km
25. Loorberg (5.5%, 1500m) at 221.4km
26. Gulpenerberg (8.1%, 700m) at 229.7km
27. Kruisberg (7.5%, 800m) at 235.2km
28. Eyserbosweg (8.1%, 1100m) at 237.3km
29. Fromberg (4%, 1600m) at 241km
30. Keutenberg (9.4%, 700m) at 245.5km
31. Cauberg (5.8%, 1200m) at 256.6km

From Gulpenerberg to Keutenberg we have 5 climbs in 16k, 4 of them 7.5% or steeper. Probably not more than 10-15 will survive this section.

 

[Panda Claws]

So according to Van Avermaet: He and Cadel are the leaders, Gilbert is 'just' a protected rider.

 

[insideout leadout]

Tommy V:

"In the Flemish classics, I went into combat and that can give you a bit of scare. But I’m not like some madmen who would sell their mother to get in front of you. If there are two people trying to get into one space, I’m sometimes the one who brakes"