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85th/24th La Flèche Wallonne, April 21st, 2021

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Who will cross the finish line first according to the commissaires and the photo finish camera?


  • Total voters
    35
  • Poll closed .
They are supposed to be classics with crucial climbs like Eyserbosweg or Redoute, not hilly stages with an uphill finish.

Turning big classics into uphill sprints is a disgrace.
When was the last time Redoute was strategically significant in LBL? Redoute (and Ghisallo) are the traditional centerpieces of these monuments, but in recent years it feels like they're not much more important than the Turchino, and less important than Arenberg which is fully 90km from Roubaix.


I'm going to go against the flow here, and say that a Lombardia finishing on top of Ghisallo, after Sormano, just as a one-off, could be a great race.
 
I expect a strong group to get clear on the penultimate Mur de Huy with riders like Formolo, Wellens, Carapaz, Tao, Mohoric (he'll probably attack on some descent), Lutsenko, Vansevenant, Vingegaard, maybe even Kwiatkowski, Yates, Pogačar or Fuglsang. Some of them, not all of them of course. Especially Ineos have a lot of cards to play, they have to be aggressive.

For those who expect nothing to happen until the last Mur and want to watch only the last 10min, I suggest them not to do so. I think the last hour will be very exciting with lots of attacks. I'm not ruling out a winning move before the last Mur.
 
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PS: Still can't get over Hirschi's jawline :D

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Reactions: Sandisfan
Bloodbath on Mur de Huy. Each pedal stroke being selective in that final 400m. Going to enjoy this one tomorrow and LBL a few days after.

P.S. After i will likely watch some football, until Tour. Don't know on how football from tomorrow will look like. I just know that i have never seen Europe united in such way as in the last couple of days. Čeferin, another Slovenian making strides on the big stage, just like the love duo. Some Champions League and some Slovenian PrvaLiga football fun ahead for me, until Tour.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Sandisfan
Bloodbath on Mur de Huy. Each pedal stroke being selective in that final 400m. Going to enjoy this one tomorrow and LBL a few days after.

P.S. After i will likely watch some football, until Tour. Don't know on how football from tomorrow will look like. I just know that i have never seen Europe united in such way as in the last couple of days. Čeferin, another Slovenian making strides on the big stage, just like the love duo. Some Champions League and some Slovenian PrvaLiga football fun ahead for me, until Tour.
I really wonder why that is.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Sandisfan
I think Pidcock is the 5 star favourite here. We don't know what to expect but that was true of every other race this spring and he's kind of risen to every challenge from MSR to RVV, and shown in the last weeks that he's built for the Ardennes.
He really looks sharp, and pretty mature in his approach. But how has he “shown he’s built for the Ardennes” when they haven’t been in the Ardennes yet and we haven’t seen him on the longer climbs he’ll see this week?
 
I really wonder why that is.

Some people messed with my local football club and made it less successful by doing that. Messi isn't getting any younger ... My faith in football was fading. Then a bunch of people decided they can take all that away in a rather sleazy way and Europe said no in a way i have never witness before.

This restored my faith not only in football but also in humanity. Now i need to give something back.

P.S. Until Tour.
 
Some people messed with my local football club and made it less successful by doing that. Messi isn't getting any younger ... My faith in football was fading. Then a bunch of people decided they can take all that away in a rather sleazy way and Europe said no in a way i have never witness before.

This restored my faith not only in football but also in humanity. Now i need to give something back.

P.S. Until Tour.

"off topic football remarks here"

I don't agree. I believe they're all equally awful (super league versus the rest), i.e. overpaid mercenaries sold around Europe by gangster agents (even at lower leagues which means club identity has zero meaning anymore) & clubs which are either owned by cutthroat speculators/bankers/investors or oil states (which no surprise had no reason to join the super league because they have unlimited backing). Bayern in Germany are also having a laugh considering their own monopoly of German football (haven't they won something like 10 consecutive titles?).

Let the house of cards called football collapse once & for all (which is quite possibly considering the dire finances & decreasing popularity) & let cycling because the king sport again.

As for the Flèche, Alaphilippe really, really needs to shine here otherwise his fans are going to get a bit upset. In that regard there's actually way more pressure on the classics specialists like Alaphilippe than on the GC guys like Roglic/Pogacar who're here just to represent their team & probably have some fun. No one is going to say their season is a failure if they lose today & Liège whereas Alaphilippe faces way more pressure.

It should be good. And I also agree with the poster who suggested this could be decided before the final climb, i.e. there are so many good riders in this races & when no one can control the peloton, a breakaway can win.
 
PS: Still can't get over Hirschi's jawline :D

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EzcmT2lVIAMkSBF


EzcmUy_WUAImcuv

Those team photos always look like the heads are photoshopped onto cutout "riders" at 125%.

My pick today is Roglic. He looked really, really strong in AGR until the flat and I think he's got a longer uphill sprint than just about anyone. (I'd have loved to see what a Strade-form MvDP could do here. I suppose he'd probably get impatient and attack too soon but if he got to the Huy without expending too much energy and didn't go too early we could see a new wattage record...)

My only wish, though, is that Mauri isn't in the final selection so we don't have to watch him pterodactyling up the Huy...
 

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