Ardennes Classics Discussion thread

[boomcie]

Freire HAS been there at the bottom of the cauberg, TWICE even... and TWICE...he failed miserably.

He simply can't win on that climb.

Ow yes, 2005. That was a dramatic performance by Rabo.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Not really, they did everything right, except Freire couldn't follow Boogerd, actually nobody could, except Di Luca unfortunately.

If that's a team failure...then a lot of teams fail regularly. The team did everything perfect, just unfortunate that Freire failed to finish

 

[will10]

2005 was pretty hilarious from Rabo on the Cauberg

 

[boomcie]

Not really, they did everything right, except Freire couldn't follow Boogerd, actually nobody could, except Di Luca unfortunately.

If that's a team failure...then a lot of teams fail regularly. The team did everything perfect, just unfortunate that Freire failed to finish

What is not dramatic about that? Boogerd would have easily won that if Freire had just told him he didn't have the leggs. Still, great team work .

I also remember the fog being annoying.

 

[movingtarget]

AGR - Gilbert
Fleche - Evans
LBL - Vino, Gilbert and Kolobnev

 

[boomcie]

AGR - Gilbert
Fleche - Evans
LBL - Vino, Gilbert and Kolobnev

That was last year

 

[theyoungest]

What is not dramatic about that? Boogerd would have easily won that if Freire had just told him he didn't have the leggs. Still, great team work .

I also remember the fog being annoying.

Rabo should sign Gilbert... they have a strong team for the Ardennes, without a real leader, and Gilbert is a strong leader without a team

 

[boomcie]

Rabo should sign Gilbert... they have a strong team for the Ardennes, without a real leader, and Gilbert is a strong leader without a team

I agree, but I'd prefer another team

 

[theyoungest]

I agree, but I'd prefer another team

Wouldn't it be fun? Then both Dutch WT teams would be led by Belgians.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Rabobank were interested in Gilbert at some point, I believe when he was still at Fdjeux

 

[boomcie]

Wouldn't it be fun? Then both Dutch WT teams would be led by Belgians.

Nah, I like Rabobank being the dutch team.
Also despite my Rabo-aversion I believe their presence is very good for cycling.

 

[hfer07]

AG= Gilbert
FW=Purito
L-B-L = Contador(yes- he's aiming at it)

 

[jens_attacks]

alberto said he will go just in fleche wallone,did he change his mind?

anyway:

amstel:di luca
fleche walonne:vino
liege:gillbert

 

[will10]

Amstel - Vino
Fleche - Purito
Liege - Kolobnev

 

[jobiwan]

Amstel: Gilbert, Hesjedal, JRod
FW: Contador, Evans, Horner
LBL: F/A Schleck, Gilbert, Kolobnev

 

[Carl0880]

Just some food for thought, which isn't good news for last year Champions.

The last time these races had to back to back winners of the race were

Amstel Gold- Jan Raas 1977-1980
L-B-L- Michele Bartoli in 1997 and 1998
Fleche Wallone-Moreno Argentin in 1990 and 1991

So its been almost 15 year since a repeat winner in any of the Ardennes.

In fact its rare for even the same team to win back to back years, the last occurences these happen were

Amstel- The Supperconfex team in 1987 (Zoetemelk) and 1988 (Nijdam)
L-B-L- the MG Maglifico in 1996 (Pascal Richard) and 97 (Bartoli)
Fleche- The Lottoe team in 2001 (Rik Verbrugghe) and 2002 (Aerts)

In fact Amstel Gold is the most unique race in the entire world of any sport. It is the only race to feature 29 different winners in the last 30 years, the only 2 time winner in the span was Rolf Jarmann in 1993 and 1998.

So repeating in these races are tough to do.

My picks are

Amstel- Vino (Yep I think he will buck the trend listed above)
Fleche- J Rod.
LBL-Gilbert

My pick of an outside of the favorites for Fleche will be Horner, He seems to be on really good form.

 

[El Pistolero]

Rabo should sign Gilbert... they have a strong team for the Ardennes, without a real leader, and Gilbert is a strong leader without a team

No thanks, Rabo would be crazy enough to let Gilbert work for Gesink or even Freire.

 

[theyoungest]

No thanks, Rabo would be crazy enough to let Gilbert work for Gesink or even Freire.

No, they wouldn't. Maybe they'd even let Gesink do what he's best at and forget about this classics business. But anyway, I was just kidding of course. Although Gilbert really needs to switch teams, Lotto are crap.

 

[jaylew]

Amstel- Vino (Yep I think he will buck the trend listed above)
Fleche- J Rod.
LBL-Gilbert

How does that buck the trend? You have Vino and Gilbert trading their wins from a year ago - no repeats.

 

[jaylew]

Possibly my favorite week of racing.

Lots of guys who've been in the mix before who could win: Gilbert, SamSan, Schlecks, Di Luca, JoRod, Kolobnev, Ivanov (Katusha is stacked), Evans, Cunego, Gesink, Vino, Hesjedal...

Horner will probably be in the mix again but I don't think he's got the punch for a podium.

The Schlecks will attack as usual and could very well get a win somwhere if the timing is right.

Movistar is usually strong in the races but without Rodriguez and Valverde, where do they turn? Intxausti? Kirienka? Pardilla?

Good to see Farnese in AGR and LBL so we can see Visconti have a go. I'd like to see Androni in these races as well.

Going to wait until I see complete start lists for all 3 to make my picks.

 

[Carl0880]

How does that buck the trend? You have Vino and Gilbert trading their wins from a year ago - no repeats.

I was talking about this fact:

In fact Amstel Gold is the most unique race in the entire world of any sport. It is the only race to feature 29 different winners in the last 30 years, the only 2 time winner in the span was Rolf Jarmann in 1993 and 1998.

He won Amstel Gold in 2003.

 

[jaylew]

Ah, thanks. Somehow I missed that paragraph and assumed the entire thing was about the dearth of repeat (back-to-back) winners.

 

[theswordsman]

In an interview a couple of week ago he said that he should have attacked earlier, so no, he hasn't learned his lesson at all.

Do you remember where that was, because I didn't see it.

The thing about Cadel's win last year was that his DS took him out to recon the climb for the first time in his career, and he realized he'd been racing it wrong all along. Pus he was at his peak fitness.

I expect Contador to win this year. Last year he did that as an add-on at a time he would normally have reached his peak and gone on a ten day vacation. He had the massive road trip by car due to the volcanic ash shutting down flights. Right now he's still building to fitness, with an eye to race into shape during the Giro, it will be his last race day before then, and he'll have Riis to help with strategy. I haven't seen it mentioned much, but when Spartacus took off on the 50 kilometer solo last year, it was Riis who told him to go.

 

[will10]

Yep it was clear Riis told Cancellara that Boonen was in the rear of the group.

 

[Lanark]

Do you remember where that was, because I didn't see it.

The thing about Cadel's win last year was that his DS took him out to recon the climb for the first time in his career, and he realized he'd been racing it wrong all along. Pus he was at his peak fitness.

I expect Contador to win this year. Last year he did that as an add-on at a time he would normally have reached his peak and gone on a ten day vacation. He had the massive road trip by car due to the volcanic ash shutting down flights. Right now he's still building to fitness, with an eye to race into shape during the Giro, it will be his last race day before then, and he'll have Riis to help with strategy. I haven't seen it mentioned much, but when Spartacus took off on the 50 kilometer solo last year, it was Riis who told him to go.

Interview with Sportweekend: "De Waalse Pijl rijd ik wel. Ik heb een wrang gevoel in mijn maag overgehouden aan mijn derde plek van vorig jaar (achter Evans en Rodriguez). De finish op de Muur van Hoei ligt me, maar ik denk dat ik vorig jaar gewoon te laat aanviel."

Translation: But I will ride the Fleche Wallone. I have bad memories about my third place last year (behind Evans and Rodriguez). The Finish on the Mur the Huy suits me, but I think I attacked too late last year.

Let's hope Bjarne talks some sense in him. But then again, last year was the third time he rode the Fleche, with the Mur three times in the race, that was the ninth time he rode it in competition, you would think he had some idea how to tackle it.