Amstel Gold Race -18th April -257km

[luckyboy]

Valverde might not be able to fly in cause of the ash

 

[icefire]

Paris and Frankfurt are within 4 or 5 hours drive and their airports are not closed AFAIK

I've read somewhere that Tondo is going by car from Barcelona (~1200km)

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Paris and Frankfurt are within 4 or 5 hours drive and their airports are not closed AFAIK

Oh yes they are. Everything is closed in GErmany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and at least in Paris, if not more of France. Switzerland and Austria are closing tonight or tomorrow morning.

It could be a very interesting race with a fairly small line-up.

Susan

 

[theyoungest]

Oh yes they are. Everything is closed in GErmany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and at least in Paris, if not more of France. Switzerland and Austria are closing tonight or tomorrow morning.

It could be a very interesting race with a fairly small line-up.

Susan

From what I read around the web, most of the riders on the original start list are going to be there. Although there's serious doubt if the defending champion can make it...

 

[issoisso]

Ivanov will likely not make the start

 

[The Sheep]

Ivanov will likely not make the start

Where's he at the moment?

 

[theyoungest]

In light (or actually, in darkness) of the ash cloud I'm changing my prognosis:

1. Gesink
2. Gilbert
3. Kroon
4. Ten Dam
5. Devenyns
6. Monfort
7. Van den Broeck
8. Mollema (replacement for Freire)
9. Vansummeren
10. Random knackered German, tired from driving

 

[ChrisE]

Nah. NOS (Dutch broadcasters) posted a message on their twitter this afternoon that the race will happen and they will have helicopters in the air. So, no 2005 scenario.

Do they plan to use the helicopters to help blow the ash away from the racers?

 

[Kellys Big Sprocket]

A good Amstel is hard to beat !!! Is the Amstel Gold still rated as a second category classic ?

This year I think it will go to Gilbert.

Do any of you guys/gals recall Malcom Elliotts epic ride back in the mid eighties in this race during his ANC-Halford phase ? I think Zoetemelk won it that day. Elliott ruffled a few feathers that week end as everyone rated him as one of the hot car park sprinters in the Kelloggs City Centre series and nought else from memory. The boy did good.

 

[jaylew]

In light (or actually, in darkness) of the ash cloud I'm changing my prognosis:

1. Gesink
2. Gilbert
3. Kroon
4. Ten Dam
5. Devenyns
6. Monfort
7. Van den Broeck
8. Mollema (replacement for Freire)
9. Vansummeren
10. Random knackered German, tired from driving

It's the all Dutch-Belgian Amstel! I'm sure a Spaniard or two(and maybe an Italian or Luxembourger) will make the trip.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Do they plan to use the helicopters to help blow the ash away from the racers?

Those outside of Europe may not know: The cloud is way up there at airplane elevation. There is nothing visible, in fact it was very sunny today. The cloud is not expected to have any health effect at all, and we should not even be aware of it in any way, other than the flight ban.

Susan

 

[tgsgirl]

Do they plan to use the helicopters to help blow the ash away from the racers?

No, to transmit. Some of you may remember back in 2005, there was a really dense fog on the Amstel course. It was too dangerous for the helicopters to fly, so there was no way to transmit the images from the on-course motorbikes (cameraguy on motorbike films, transmits to helicopter, helicopter transmits to TV van). All they had that year were the steady cams on the finishline up on the Cauberg. Fairly dull affair.

There's no ash you know, the cloud is like 5 kilometers up in the air. There's nothing over here that would let you know there's an ashcloud except for the closed airports and the news which keeps trying to find new ways to avoid saying Eyjafjallajökull.

 

[theyoungest]

Dave Zabriskie has the following to say about all of this, on Twitter:

Truth be told...it's not volcanic ash...Chuck Norris sharted...

 

[Moondance]

Well, currently it's still looking like all air traffic in the Netherlands and Belgium will be closed tomorrow... Don't know for sure about Western Germany, but I doubt if Brussels, Eindhoven and Amsterdam are closed that everything above Dusseldorf or Koln will be hunky dory.

Anyway, even if the non-Benelux teams manage to get some part of their squad bussed in tomorrow, it ain't exactly going to be good prep (very likely most squads will only be at partial strength)... If the winner isn't going to come from Rabobank, Lotto, Vacansoleil or Quickstep I'll be mightily surprised.

Iceland has thrown Robert Gesink a major bone in getting his first big win.... He'd better not f- it up.

 

[ChrisE]

No, to transmit. Some of you may remember back in 2005, there was a really dense fog on the Amstel course. It was too dangerous for the helicopters to fly, so there was no way to transmit the images from the on-course motorbikes (cameraguy on motorbike films, transmits to helicopter, helicopter transmits to TV van). All they had that year were the steady cams on the finishline up on the Cauberg. Fairly dull affair.

There's no ash you know, the cloud is like 5 kilometers up in the air. There's nothing over here that would let you know there's an ashcloud except for the closed airports and the news which keeps trying to find new ways to avoid saying Eyjafjallajökull.

I really need to start mixing some emoticons into my posts.

 

[luckyboy]

Where are the Schlecks?

Hope Gilbert can win this

 

[theyoungest]

Well, currently it's still looking like all air traffic in the Netherlands and Belgium will be closed tomorrow... Don't know for sure about Western Germany, but I doubt if Brussels, Eindhoven and Amsterdam are closed that everything above Dusseldorf or Koln will be hunky dory.

Anyway, even if the non-Benelux teams manage to get some part of their squad bussed in tomorrow, it ain't exactly going to be good prep (very likely most squads will only be at partial strength)... If the winner isn't going to come from Rabobank, Lotto, Vacansoleil or Quickstep I'll be mightily surprised.

Iceland has thrown Robert Gesink a major bone in getting his first big win.... He'd better not f- it up.

Saxo are probably doing fine as well.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Where are the Schlecks?

They are in Luxembourg, so they don't have to worry.

Susan

 

[Moondance]

Where are the Schlecks?

Hope Gilbert can win this

Cheering for the Walloons now because there ain't an French rider alive who can win this?

 

[Moondance]

Saxo are probably doing fine as well.

The Schlecks yes, I suppose... But their domestiques?

If Rabobank and Vacansoleil work together and set a brisk pace right from the start I think we're going to see a major slijtagslag where all the riders who spent the last two days trying to get their a$$e$ to Maastricht get shelled out soon. I know if I spend an entire day in a car or bus or train, I usually get really tired out because of the inactivity. Shouldn't be too good for form.

Maybe I'm overplaying things.... But at this point I'm just hoping for a Gesink, Kroon, Kreder podium is all

 

[luckyboy]

Cheering for the Walloons now because there ain't an French rider alive who can win this?

Haha. I've always liked him. He was getting some nice wins and good placings at FdJ, and I don't think these have jumped up a huge amount since going to Pharma. I hope he's clean. This 2005 article made me think this

Anyway, it'll either be Gilbert or Benoît Vaugrenard in a long break after the peloton miscalculate the gap

They are in Luxembourg, so they don't have to worry.

Susan

Ah ok, thanks

 

[theyoungest]

The Schlecks yes, I suppose... But their domestiques?

If Rabobank and Vacansoleil work together and set a brisk pace right from the start I think we're going to see a major slijtagslag where all the riders who spent the last two days trying to get their a$$e$ to Maastricht get shelled out soon. I know if I spend an entire day in a car or bus or train, I usually get really tired out because of the inactivity. Shouldn't be too good for form.

Maybe I'm overplaying things.... But at this point I'm just hoping for a Gesink, Kroon, Kreder podium is all

From a Dutch perspective, it would surely be great to see the Spaniards, Russians, and Italians dropping off one by one, leaving Rob Ruijgh, Laurens ten Dam, and Karsten Kroon to contest the sprint (as they can literally take the bike to the start line).

 

[tgsgirl]

I really need to start mixing some emoticons into my posts.

Haha, you really should

 

[maikel]

I hope that it can be broadcasted because when the choppers and airplanes cannot get into the air we will be forced to listen to the radio....

 

[auscyclefan94]

Beckstedt retired from Garmin last year. If he's there, it's with Eurosport...

Start list here.

Anyone mentioning Horner? He may be a better pick for LBL, but he's clearly riding strongly right now, for whatever reason.

Inaccurate, Burghardt is out with heel soreness and someone else is saying that Ivanov is not riding.