97th Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2011

[Libertine Seguros]

Tried? Are you mistaking Valverde with someone else by any chance?

Hence why I said "or contested the sprint". At least with Valverde there it wouldn't have been as much of a foregone conclusion.

 

[Anonymous]

Two interesting post-race interviews on RTBF:

Bernard Hinault: "They [the brothers] could NOT attack. He was much too strong. They did try on St Nicolas but the counter was even more violent." (or something like that).

Fränk Schleck: "We wanted to make the race and be loyal. We've seen in Flanders and Roubaix that many riders wanted to make Fabian [Cancellara] lose and we didn't want that. We wanted to win Liège but not to make another LOSE."


That's my conclusion. The Schleck's may be proud of how they raced. And I'm not a particular fan. Had they raced like Hushovd and Chavanel/QS, we would have been entitled to criticize them but not the way they raced today.

I hope that those who criticize them, approved Hushovd's shameless tactics on the way to Roubaix.

In a way, it reminds me of Gimondi in Mendrisio 1971. He was also criticized for co-operating with Merckx who was faster than him. His response was: "Why shouldn't I? In order to make Guimard win who didn't pull a single time? Nah, Eddy made his jersey wet and deserved to win."

Case closed.

We are not going to have that stupid argument drug up here are we? Um, Mr. Master of Tactics, Garmin WON Roubaix (check the results if you don't believe me). Leopard/Trek...they lost BOTH races. (check the results if you don't believe me.) I would suggest one tactic does not compere to the other.

I'm honestly happy that the two back stabbing brothers and their whiny diva TT star ended up the Spring Classics season with nothing but "also rans." You reap what you sow I guess?

 

[roundabout]

Hence why I said "or contested the sprint". At least with Valverde there it wouldn't have been as much of a foregone conclusion.

Well yeah, knowing full well that Valverde is not really an aggressive rider you decided to pretend that he is one anyway.

 

[Ryaguas]

uran non-form based on....?

Pais Vasco performances... He didn't have enough time to get some form in this weeks... but this 5th place is very good even on form for him being that young...

Tried? Are you mistaking Valverde with someone else by any chance?

If Valverde had ridden this LBL He would have won it by a mile... even walking the last km!
Nah seriously... would have been a epic battle between Ale and Phil in the end, but Ale would have won IMO...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Well yeah, knowing full well that Valverde is not really an aggressive rider you decided to pretend that he is one anyway.

He can be pretty aggressive when he wants to be. It was him that split up the front group on stage 1 of País Vasco last year, and it was him that was up at the front when Caisse d'Epargne formed echelons in stage 1 of Paris-Nice. And he certainly didn't win the Dauphiné by defending, going several km from the top of Mont Ventoux.

Now, in one-day races such as this he has a bit of a tendency to rely on his sprint, admittedly. But unless we're judging against the standards of Vino, Valverde's not a defensive rider.

 

[spalco]

Was Vaughters guest DSing for Leotard this weekend?

'Sprint for Second boys'

More like "casually roll in for second. Don't break a sweat, you don't want to look like a hobo during the interviews.".

 

[roundabout]

He can be pretty aggressive when he wants to be. It was him that split up the front group on stage 1 of País Vasco last year, and it was him that was up at the front when Caisse d'Epargne formed echelons in stage 1 of Paris-Nice. And he certainly didn't win the Dauphiné by defending, going several km from the top of Mont Ventoux.

Now, in one-day races such as this he has a bit of a tendency to rely on his sprint, admittedly. But unless we're judging against the standards of Vino, Valverde's not a defensive rider.

The discussion isn't about what Valverde does in stage races it's about what he would have done in a hypothetical group with Gilbert in Liege.

Other than having a 50% chance of beating Gilbert in a sprint Valverde would have done even less before the final 300 meters.

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

Team Leopard Trek were issued honorary team race numbers in anticipation of their contribution to this year's Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

 

[luckyboy]

If Piti was there he would've been dropped before the finish along with the two Schlecks.

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

Very happy for Gilbert. He declared long ago that Liège was his dream and his goal and now he's finally won his home town race.

I am tranquil about Team Leopard's effort. They shared the work in the peloton to bring back the break, they produced the attack that reduced the field to 4 riders. They made Gilbert be the one to drop van Avermaet. But when Gilbert was able to drop Andy as well, the writing was pretty clear, even if Andy was able to struggle back on.
What else could the Schlecks have done tactically? My only complaint, if I have one, is that the two of them still seem to "race as one" sometimes. If Andy was really cooked, maybe he could have just made road kill out of himself to produce a Hail Mary chance for Frank at the end, but instead the two of them rode in as one defeated rider - but maybe Andy wasn't just pulling at the end, maybe that was his best attack, and that's all he had left.

Anyway, I appreciated Gilbert paying tribute to his fellow rivals, making them all look good in the process.

 

[Echoes]

Um, Mr. Master of Tactics, Garmin WON Roubaix (check the results if you don't believe me).

No. Johan Van Summeren won Paris-Roubaix while Hushovd LOST it, had Cancellara lose and had Vanmarcke pull like a beast for nothing (great tactics). He's just a jealous coward.

The Schleck's lost with dignity and honour. They tried and lost to a better rider. They were loyal. They could've drafted and let the others coming back (which would have happened !) like a mere Hushovd, Ballan or Chavanel but didn't do it.

Even Hinault agrees with me, which is very telling, actually.

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

Awesome DS race action: Andersen trying to hitchhike back on after being dropped by the team car...

LOL, Imagine this conversation
Leopard Trek financial backer Flavio Becca talks to directeur sportif Kim Andersen

 

[Ryaguas]

No. Johan Van Summeren won Paris-Roubaix while Hushovd LOST it, had Cancellara lose and had Vanmarcke pull like a beast for nothing (great tactics). He's just a jealous coward

Cycling is a team sport you know???
Van Summeren won = Garmin won = Hushovd won...

The Schleck's lost with dignity and honour. They tried and lost to a better rider. They were loyal. They could've drafted and let the others coming back (which would have happened !) like a mere Hushovd, Ballan or Chavanel but didn't do it

Dignity and honour???
Yep keep telling yourself that... If that would have happened You would see most of the forum saying "Well They at least they tried... chapeau to them..."
but you are seeing all the contrary... why? cuz they are a w@nkers...

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Team Leopard Trek were issued honorary team race numbers in anticipation of their contribution to this year's Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Well they have moved to the top of the WT team rankings, and the Schleck family are now the tenth highest ranked country in the world.

They put enough into the break that hey had nothing left with which to threaten Gilbert, but they put enough into the break to be safely 20 sec + clear of anyone else who could prevent them being the highest finishers that anyone other than Gilbert could be.

Coming second and third beats coming fifth and eighth (for example): they did as well as anyone coul have done, but never threatened to do better than they did.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Has the paint dried yet?

 

[Echoes]

Cycling is a team sport you know???
Van Summeren won = Garmin won = Hushovd won...

No, it's an individual sport. Van Summeren won = Hushovd lost and Garmin is not a cycling rider. Vanmarcke pulled against Van Summeren = Evidence, no?

Just go and watch some cyclocross races and you'll understand.

The Cobble is in Van Summeren's home and not at Garmin's headquarter. Cancellara has two of them and Hushovd none, serves him right.

Yep keep telling yourself that... If that would have happened You would see most of the forum saying "Well They at least they tried... chapeau to them..."
but you are seeing all the contrary... why? cuz they are a w@nkers...

Perhaps, because they're all wrong and I'm right, aren't they?

It's not my fault if the Schleck's attacked on Roche aux Faucons and on St Nicolas. These are facts. What do you want?

Then they co-operated with Gilbert to prevent any riders coming back from behind because they are no Hushovd, no Chavanel, no Pozzato and no Ballan, right? F Schleck said so.

 

[Escarabajo]

Uran 5th. Nice.

It looks like allergies are not a problem anymore.

I don't think that anything that the Schlecks had done tactically would have helped them against Gilbert. Just my opinion. But then, there is the argument that at least they should have tried even if they were tired and were the inferior sprinters.

 

[MartinGT]

I went to RvV this season and next season I am deffo going to watch FW and LBL.

I was a little disappointed that FS didnt attack Gilbert, he seemed to hand back for his brother.

Happy for Gilbert though

 

[Christian]

Andy's data:

"I attacked at the bottom of the Saint-Nicolas. I went at 600 watts and after 240km that's not easy, I can tell you. Maybe Frank could have attacked but Gilbert gave us a pretty good answer by dropping me in the last 300 metres."

(from the CN article)

It's not like he didn't try ... he gave all he had, it just wasn't enough

 

[metaCYCLE]

It's not like he didn't try ... he gave all he had, it just wasn't enough

sadly this is how it looked to me too...

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

Well they have moved to the top of the WT team rankings, and the Schleck family are now the tenth highest ranked country in the world.

They put enough into the break that hey had nothing left with which to threaten Gilbert, but they put enough into the break to be safely 20 sec + clear of anyone else who could prevent them being the highest finishers that anyone other than Gilbert could be.

Coming second and third beats coming fifth and eighth (for example): they did as well as anyone coul have done, but never threatened to do better than they did.

Please consider my posts in jest to be parody or caricature, and not malicious (that's what the evil grin was trying to indicate). In this case, as much as anything else, they help keep Christian on his toes as a good fan and forum contributor, much like Dekker Tifosi's Belgian flag avatar.

 

[hrotha]

Andy's data:

"I attacked at the bottom of the Saint-Nicolas. I went at 600 watts and after 240km that's not easy, I can tell you. Maybe Frank could have attacked but Gilbert gave us a pretty good answer by dropping me in the last 300 metres."

(from the CN article)

It's not like he didn't try ... he gave all he had, it just wasn't enough

Again, the climbs are not the be-all and end-all of cycling. Gilbert was clearly superior in those short punchy climbs (although he couldn't drop Fränk), but there were other types of terrain to try something. Anything.

 

[Benotti69]

No, it's an individual sport. Van Summeren won = Hushovd lost and Garmin is not a cycling rider. Vanmarcke pulled against Van Summeren = Evidence, no?

he rides for team Garmin-Cerveo that is TEAM. The TEAM is sponsored by Garmin Cervelo. The have a TEAM leader. They have TEAM manager. do you see where this is going?

It is a team sport. When it becomes an individual sport then individual riders will have their own personal sponsors. You cannot ride a race as an individual.

End of.

 

[Bala Verde]

Opl as the slightly awkward uncle at the quickstep kermis no longer.

 

[Benotti69]

over 100 riders DNF! why so many???