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

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kjetilraknerud

Apr 28, 2009
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Hopefully strong teams means a good race. If teams like Movistar, Katusha and Vacansoleil send some strong riders up the road, other teams will have to chase. I would imagine the big teams show more interest here than they did yesterday, at least I hope...
 
will10

will10

Dec 27, 2010
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El Pistolero said:
I hope Freire wins this. One of the best one day racers in history, but he needs more classic wins on that palmares!
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I have fond memories of Boogerd leading Freire out in 2005 only to realise when he pulled over that Freire was 50m behind and Boogerd had just done a perfect leadout for Di Luca :D

Freire cannot win the Gold Race
 
M

movingtarget

Aug 5, 2009
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Lanark said:
I'd be really surprised if Gerrans could extend his form from Down Under to Milano - Sanremo until the Gold Race. The Vuelta a Pais Vasco doesn't give much hope either.
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I disagree. It's not a long period of time between the races. He finished third at Amstel last year against an out of this world Gilbert and his early season form this year is the best of his career. He's not great climber but he is a very good climber suited to this sort of race.
 
Eyeballs Out

Eyeballs Out

Jun 19, 2009
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sTTevie said:
no one has yet mentioned the fact that (due to road works in Valkenburg) the finale has underwent change

for the 3rd & final climb of the Cauberg the riders will no longer descent the (technical) Sibbergrubbe (where Ivanov went all out in 2009 & almost rode in the grassy banks, but dit set up his base for his escape & later victory ... & where last year Phil hauled back a lot of time on Schleck with his superior descending skills)

now the riders leave the Sibbergrubbe on their right & go straight towards the Daalhemmerweg for the final descent to the Cauberg
this is a very 'easy' & straight forward descent, nothing technical about it (wide lane, almost no corners)

so an escape by a strong rider (with some TT skills) has a lot more chance to stick this year than any other years where most of the attempts to break away on the Keutenberg were countered & caught ...
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Is the new run-in shorter ?

I would have thought that wide straight descent would favour a chasing group as opposed to one or two riders in front
 
G

Gloin22

Apr 10, 2011
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theyoungest said:
Sanchez is usually not that great in Amstel... no idea why, but he's never quite up there.
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Yeah, noticed it by the results. That's why I'd hope he could get a Top 10 and then prepare for FW and LBL where he definitely stands a chance for the win in that form he has. We'l guess soon. Looking forward to it though :)
 
Ryo Hazuki

Ryo Hazuki

Mar 31, 2010
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theyoungest said:
Sanchez is usually not that great in Amstel... no idea why, but he's never quite up there.
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because the climbs are way too short for him. he isn't overly explosive
 
B

barmaher

Oct 2, 2011
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I don't have a clue who is going to win. I know for certain that Westra will come second, however. :p

Seriously, I think the order will be as follows:

Sagan
Gerrans
J-Rod
Purito
Sammy
Voeckler
Poels
Voeckler
Frandy
Someone from Rabo
 
F

Fetisoff

Jan 22, 2011
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barmaher said:
I don't have a clue who is going to win. I know for certain that Westra will come second, however. :p

Seriously, I think the order will be as follows:

Sagan
Gerrans
J-Rod
Purito
Sammy
Voeckler
Poels
Voeckler
Frandy
Someone from Rabo
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I'm sure Purito would gladly trade his 3rd and 4th places for 1st :D
 
liamito

liamito

Jul 6, 2011
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Gloin22 said:
Yeah, noticed it by the results. That's why I'd hope he could get a Top 10 and then prepare for FW and LBL where he definitely stands a chance for the win in that form he has. We'l guess soon. Looking forward to it though :)
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There are rumours Sanchez will only ride Amstel because of the Worlds. I hope he will get a very good result so it would be ridiculous not to ride Fleche and/or Liege.
 
Maaaaaaaarten

Maaaaaaaarten

Oct 23, 2011
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All I'm hoping for is that Vacansoleil can make up for the rabofail we've had all these years. Hopefully Poels can get second behind Rodriguez like in the Vuelta (or beat him) :)

Not sure if Poels is fit for long hard classics though, guess he'll show us these weeks in the Ardennes if he is fit for classics. Still, as a Dutchman, I've placed my hope firmly on Vacansoleil, rather then rabobank.
 
Parrulo

Parrulo

Aug 5, 2010
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Ryo Hazuki said:
becaus eunless I'm mistaken, which I think not he's never actaully even finished a classic race, expect lombardia 25th last year
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In 2009, his first year in movistar and only 22 years old he raced all five monuments and finished them all except liege where he was already in no form at all because of the extremely heavy schedule he had for the first part of the season.

his best result was in the GDL where he finished, 26th 1:15 down on gilbert.
25 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quick Step 0:01:15
26 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Caisse d'Epargne

last year his first 3 races of the season where the ardennes and he finished all 3 outside the time limit because of obvious lack of form. I think even you agree that there was no way he could be in decent shape at that time, don't you?

anyway your argument that he never finished a classic could be more wrong.
 
Azabael

Azabael

May 31, 2011
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Parrulo said:
In 2009, his first year in movistar and only 22 years old he raced all five monuments and finished them all except liege where he was already in no form at all because of the extremely heavy schedule he had for the first part of the season.

his best result was in the GDL where he finished, 26th 1:15 down on gilbert.
25 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quick Step 0:01:15
26 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Caisse d'Epargne

last year his first 3 races of the season where the ardennes and he finished all 3 outside the time limit because of obvious lack of form. I think even you agree that there was no way he could be in decent shape at that time, don't you?

anyway your argument that he never finished a classic could be more wrong.
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Conclusion, you cannot complain that people don't see him as a favorite, becasue he hasn't shown it yet.
 
Parrulo

Parrulo

Aug 5, 2010
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Azabael said:
Conclusion, you cannot complain that people don't see him as a favorite, becasue he hasn't shown it yet.
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once again who said he was a favorite? i think every1 that mentioned him said he was an outside bet. And i only defended him when people used wrong facts to completely write him off as even an outside bet (like ryo just did).

but i guess we should only discuss the top favorites so. . . . purito is the big favorite, sagan, piti, poels and a couple others should be also in contention.

i feel like i have added something completely new to the thread with this prediction :cool: i bet no1 could come up with it. ;)
 
Ryo Hazuki

Ryo Hazuki

Mar 31, 2010
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Parrulo said:
In 2009, his first year in movistar and only 22 years old he raced all five monuments and finished them all except liege where he was already in no form at all because of the extremely heavy schedule he had for the first part of the season.

his best result was in the GDL where he finished, 26th 1:15 down on gilbert.
25 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quick Step 0:01:15
26 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Caisse d'Epargne

last year his first 3 races of the season where the ardennes and he finished all 3 outside the time limit because of obvious lack of form. I think even you agree that there was no way he could be in decent shape at that time, don't you?

anyway your argument that he never finished a classic could be more wrong.
Click to expand...
what are ahis reuslts in those monuments then because I can't find them and 25th is his bets. that's quite pathetic at best for a so called hilly classical talent. betancourt finished 9th last year in lombardia at age 22. now that is a huge talent. uran finished on podium even at age 22
 
gustienordic

gustienordic

Feb 15, 2011
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barmaher said:
I don't have a clue who is going to win. I know for certain that Westra will come second, however. :p

Seriously, I think the order will be as follows:

Sagan
Gerrans
J-Rod
Purito
Sammy
Voeckler
Poels
Voeckler
Frandy
Someone from Rabo
Click to expand...

No Nibles? I think Poels will be a contender, but I think his best race will be LBL. With the way this spring is going, I wouldn't be surprised if Devenyns or Terpestra won ;)
 
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