97th Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2011

[Mrs John Murphy]

Was Vaughters guest DSing for Leotard this weekend?

'Sprint for Second boys'

 

[Ferminal]

schlecks will stuff the tour up this year as well...gesink will win it

Nice joke

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

the schlecks are showing once again to be a complete disgrace to cycling. gilbert won he's an animal and amazing rider. he deserves everything he ever wins. uran also fantastic

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Perhaps they just had nothing left. Andy had already been droped and had to work pretty hard to get back. It's one thing to know what the tactics should be but if you don't have the legs it makes no difference.

In which case they should at least have made Gilbert lead out...

 

[mulletCobra]

lol! gilbert's baby is getting comfy in front of the cameras and is now thinking that mics are big fuzzy teething rings

That was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Now let's start a thread speculating about his chances at the Tour.

They are better than Andy's, that's for sure.

 

[jaylew]

I usually love the Ardennes but they absolultely sucked this year.

 

[Thomsena]

Sorry, but I don't get people here. If he COULD have attacked, he would have. Andy was dropped on St Nicolas, obviously he was cooked. Frank was hanging on for dear life as well; everyone saying they 'should' have attacked?? It's the end of 256k, you're the only ones who took the race to the favorite, and you're just out of legs. They kicked the asses of every other one of the 'challengers'; simple as that.

This.



--------------
sfwsowfefs

 

[cineteq]

Sorry, but I don't get people here. If he COULD have attacked, he would have. Andy was dropped on St Nicolas, obviously he was cooked. Frank was hanging on for dear life as well; everyone saying they 'should' have attacked?? It's the end of 256k, you're the only ones who took the race to the favorite, and you're just out of legs. Simple as that.

+1 people don't get it at all.
chapeau to gilbert!

 

[Anonymous]

Who finished 11th to 20th.. impatient #velogames

 

[goggalor]

So, uh, who was second?

 

[auscyclefan94]

If last year was any indication, he would have sat on for 20km... but probably win the sprint.

Not sure why this race was relatively tame. Bring back Cuddles.

Yep, bring back Cadel!

Nice joke

AC won't be able to back up from the giro. it is just too hard. Andy was better without Frank and vice versa. I never include my favourite in my tips so I think Gesink can win le tour. Schlecks play very silly tatics anyway. (i am not joking).

 

[roundabout]

Haha, but that's exactly what they did! Armed with sticks and everything, they charged against a guy in full plate armour, somehow hoping it'd be alright. Yes, Gilbert was stronger than them, but come on. In a breakaway, when a guy is dropped and comes back later because the front group has stopped, he attacks, not because he's stronger but precisely because he's weaker. The Schlecks are morons.

True. I hope that they were dead because otherwise it doesn't look very good.

Although at one point i was kinda expecting Gilbert to just ride away Bartoli 97 -style.

 

[Ramira]

Considering the fact that Gilbert is the best one day classics rider of the moment and unlike the brothers Schleck this is his main goal so he's at 100% while I doubt they're at more then 90% (if that) I don't think they had the strength to do anything more then they did. There's a difference between not attacking because you don't want to or because you can't, anything they did was instantly countered without any difficulty by Gilbert. That being said if you look how much better they were then any of the other stage riders out there I think they're going to be very hard to beat in the tour (that is if Contador stays unsuspended if he's suspended I don't see anyone beating them).

 

[Granville57]

Gilbert pedaling style is so weird

That's what Frank & Andy were probably thinking...

"Look at his pedals? What is he....hey wait up!"

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I usually love the Ardennes but they absolultely sucked this year.

they have sucked last year too really.

Poor camera work didn't really help this edition of lbl.

Fleche was the worst I've seen tho.

Meanwhile, the cobbles rocked it
I love mountains more then anything in cycling, but easy cobbles are more entertaining then ardennes.

 

[hrotha]

the schlecks are showing once again to be a complete disgrace to cycling. gilbert won he's an animal and amazing rider. he deserves everything he ever wins. uran also fantastic

Gilbert deserves better rivals.

 

[la.margna]

Most boring race of 2011.
Leo might have loads of riders from Saxo 2010, but tactics are not at pro-level.
Why is it that the Schleck's often prefer to ride for 2nd or 3rd instead of trying everything to win, but risking to lose big? I will never get it.
At least, the strongest and best won.

 

[Tuarts]

Looks like the only thing the Schlecks can drop are chains.

 

[beer_thirty]

Did you read past the word "fail"?

Yep, certainly did. You said 'Well done for being there'. That's fine; it's the FULL CAPS 'fail' and the derisive smiley that I thought was the gist of your post.

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

In which case they should at least have made Gilbert lead out...

I think at that point it made no difference. Whatever happened he was doing to drop them.

 

[Ferminal]

I usually love the Ardennes but they absolultely sucked this year.

For sure.

AGR - No huge attacking prior to the Cauberg. Andy was always going to be caught. Last year there were many attacks/chases.

FW - Seemed like a lame sprint compared to last year, but it could just be that Gilbert made it that way.

L-B-L - Only really one attack from the favourites in the whole race, very boring.

 

[Granville57]

Nice podium: 2 Schlecks & 2 Gilberts

 

[cineteq]

Gilbert deserves better rivals.

Gilbert deserved to win. Period!

 

[vcampbell]

I think Gesink can win le tour.

Also he can be a weightlifting world champion, but he wont.