51st Amstel Gold Race, 249km - 17/04/16

[TourOfTexas]

Cannondale is putting their money on Slagter, again. That guy hasn't won anything against the big boys since 2013 TDU.

I'd love to see Uran do more one day races. He's always up there when he races.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Gerrans to wheelsuck Matthews and outsprint him at the line.

... after they wheelsuck Valverde who wheelsucks everyone

The Human Centipede, cycling version.

 

[Pantani_lives]

The only thing more boring than a boring race are people moaning about how boring it is before it's ridden.

*****Matthews, Vakoc
****Rodriguez, Kwiatkowski
***Alaphilippe, Wellens, Coquard
**Dumoulin, Kelderman, Gesink
*Gilbert, Aru, Kreuziger, Cunego

 

[Andro]

So, after broadcasting PR in its full length, Eurosport only have a 2 hour broadcast planned for this race. That really says it all about the race.

Oh well, at least the last 500 meters will probably be exciting. Matthews vs. Kwia.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

The only thing more boring than a boring race are people moaning about how boring it is before it's ridden.

*****Matthews, Vakoc
****Rodriguez, Kwiatkowski
***Alaphilippe, Wellens, Coquard
**Dumoulin, Kelderman, Gesink
*Gilbert, Aru, Kreuziger, Cunego

Seriously?

 

[Pentacycle]

Re:

anyone knows what kind of wattage gilbert puts out for that 1:30 ?

~ 700-750W.

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

The only thing more boring than a boring race are people moaning about how boring it is before it's ridden.

*****Matthews, Vakoc
****Rodriguez, Kwiatkowski
***Alaphilippe, Wellens, Coquard
**Dumoulin, Kelderman, Gesink
*Gilbert, Aru, Kreuziger, Cunego

Seriously?

He means for Fleche and Liege

 

[DFA123]

Re:

The only thing more boring than a boring race are people moaning about how boring it is before it's ridden.

*****Matthews, Vakoc
****Rodriguez, Kwiatkowski
***Alaphilippe, Wellens, Coquard
**Dumoulin, Kelderman, Gesink
*Gilbert, Aru, Kreuziger, Cunego

Gerrans, Rui Costa, Henao, Vanendert and Gallopin will all finish well ahead of most on that list.

 

[Brullnux]

Idk how well Henao can do on this course. Cauberg is probably not hard enough for him to make a real difference. I imagine Kwiatkowski is SKY's man for today, although Henao will definitely be free.

 

[hrotha]

Re:

I was watching extra time koers (Belgian program about cycling). Bakelants was a guest there and he was asked about Amstel. He litterally said it was pointless to attack from far here. Only thing you can do is wait wait wait and hope you have enough punch on the last time Cauberg.

Pretty depressing that an aggressive rider like Bakelants says this, but what's even more sad is that he's just completely right.

Bakelants is not right at all, he personally has close to zero chances of doing anything in the scenario he's advocating. But hey, if that helps him sleep at night after not trying anything when he could actually have a decent chance if it didn't come to the Cauberg sprint.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

The only thing more boring than a boring race are people moaning about how boring it is before it's ridden.

*****Matthews, Vakoc
****Rodriguez, Kwiatkowski
***Alaphilippe, Wellens, Coquard
**Dumoulin, Kelderman, Gesink
*Gilbert, Aru, Kreuziger, Cunego

Seriously?

He means for Fleche and Liege

I mean, I'm one of the biggest Purito fans around (the fact I still support him despite riding for Katusha says a lot), but even I can see the writing on the wall this season. FW, perhaps because it's just the Mur, but AGR and LBL...

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

The only thing more boring than a boring race are people moaning about how boring it is before it's ridden.

*****Matthews, Vakoc
****Rodriguez, Kwiatkowski
***Alaphilippe, Wellens, Coquard
**Dumoulin, Kelderman, Gesink
*Gilbert, Aru, Kreuziger, Cunego

Seriously?

He means for Fleche and Liege

I mean, I'm one of the biggest Purito fans around (the fact I still support him despite riding for Katusha says a lot), but even I can see the writing on the wall this season. FW, perhaps because it's just the Mur, but AGR and LBL...

I think he will podium at least in Fleche or Liege. I actually think he will win Liege. Fleche will be more difficult with Henao in the race.

He showed in Pais Vasco he's perfectly on schedule. He was really strong on Arrate. I don't see any problems anymore this season, now he's finally in shape.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

The only thing more boring than a boring race are people moaning about how boring it is before it's ridden.

*****Matthews, Vakoc
****Rodriguez, Kwiatkowski
***Alaphilippe, Wellens, Coquard
**Dumoulin, Kelderman, Gesink
*Gilbert, Aru, Kreuziger, Cunego

Seriously?

He means for Fleche and Liege

I mean, I'm one of the biggest Purito fans around (the fact I still support him despite riding for Katusha says a lot), but even I can see the writing on the wall this season. FW, perhaps because it's just the Mur, but AGR and LBL...

I think he will podium at least in Fleche or Liege. I actually think he will win Liege. Fleche will be more difficult with Henao in the race.

He showed in Pais Vasco he's perfectly on schedule. He was really strong on Arrate. I don't see any problems anymore this season, now he's finally in shape.

Will be interesting to see how he goes without Moreno. He was a great team-mate to have - willing to sacrifice himself for Purito, and also strong enough that the other contenders had to respond to his attacks and take them seriously.

 

[Flamin]

Re: Re:

I was watching extra time koers (Belgian program about cycling). Bakelants was a guest there and he was asked about Amstel. He litterally said it was pointless to attack from far here. Only thing you can do is wait wait wait and hope you have enough punch on the last time Cauberg.

Pretty depressing that an aggressive rider like Bakelants says this, but what's even more sad is that he's just completely right.

Bakelants is not right at all, he personally has close to zero chances of doing anything in the scenario he's advocating. But hey, if that helps him sleep at night after not trying anything when he could actually have a decent chance if it didn't come to the Cauberg sprint.

To say he's completely right is maybe a bit too strong.

But unless 1 rider has a (significant) gap after Cauberg, anyone from say the top-15 on the top can potentially come back and have a shot at winning. That's not bad odds at all compared to those sprint trains chasing down a break these days.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

I was watching extra time koers (Belgian program about cycling). Bakelants was a guest there and he was asked about Amstel. He litterally said it was pointless to attack from far here. Only thing you can do is wait wait wait and hope you have enough punch on the last time Cauberg.

Pretty depressing that an aggressive rider like Bakelants says this, but what's even more sad is that he's just completely right.

Bakelants is not right at all, he personally has close to zero chances of doing anything in the scenario he's advocating. But hey, if that helps him sleep at night after not trying anything when he could actually have a decent chance if it didn't come to the Cauberg sprint.

To say he's completely right is maybe a bit too strong.

But unless 1 rider has a (significant) gap after Cauberg, anyone from say the top-15 on the top can potentially come back and have a shot at winning. That's not bad odds at all compared to those sprint trains chasing down a break these days.

Maybe a team with a rider like Bakelants could consider making the race hard before the 200km mark for once. It's no surprise a solo break won't work when most contenders have 4 or 5 relatively fresh team-mates to chase in the final 20km.

 

[DBotero]

Swift ftw! If not possible Gerrans/Matthews will be nice as well.
Too bad that Valverde is not riding

 

[Gigs_98]

I'm honestly surprised about the Vakoc hype right now. Only because he won brabantse out of a 5 men group which probably wont be the case in Amstel? So if he wants to win there he has to do a solo from the final Cauberg and I really don't see him dropping everyone there, since his rivals will be way stronger than last Wednesday.

 

[Ricco']

Re:

Idk how well Henao can do on this course. Cauberg is probably not hard enough for him to make a real difference. I imagine Kwiatkowski is SKY's man for today, although Henao will definitely be free.

Was 6th in 2013 (5th in the group after Kreuziger) and 9th in the 2012 WC's.

 

[maltiv]

I'm honestly surprised about the Vakoc hype right now. Only because he won brabantse out of a 5 men group which probably wont be the case in Amstel? So if he wants to win there he has to do a solo from the final Cauberg and I really don't see him dropping everyone there, since his rivals will be way stronger than last Wednesday.

I agree, I don't think he's explosive enough for this.

 

[classicomano]

Tom Dumoulin said in an interview he wants the course to change. "For the riders its super hard, but watching it on tv is extremely boring." I hope his opinion will carry some extra weight since hes Limburg's cycling posterboy.

 

[May0maniac]

I'll be working as an election helper/vote counter, so I won't be able to watch the race, but at least it's just Amstel (For the same reason I missed Aru's first stage win at the 2014 Giro )

 

[Lexman]

Re:

The only thing more boring than a boring race are people moaning about how boring it is before it's ridden.

*****Matthews, Vakoc
****Rodriguez, Kwiatkowski
***Alaphilippe, Wellens, Coquard
**Dumoulin, Kelderman, Gesink
*Gilbert, Aru, Kreuziger, Cunego

Cunego really?

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re:

I'll be working as an election helper/vote counter, so I won't be able to watch the race, but at least it's just Amstel (For the same reason I missed Aru's first stage win at the 2014 Giro )

Oh man that sucks, They always pick the same guys here. There too?

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re:

Tom Dumoulin said in an interview he wants the course to change. "For the riders its super hard, but watching it on tv is extremely boring." I hope his opinion will carry some extra weight since hes Limburg's cycling posterboy.

Change how?

 

[Red Rick]

Kelderman has no shot at winning. He's already said that he's going to wait for the last cauberg and hope to sprint to a nice minor place

*** moron