Mr.White said:
WheelofGear said:
I actually think he thought they would attack on Cauberg.
Gilbert and co. are just smarter in these races.
It's not about the brains, he just didn't had the legs. He would go after Kwiat, or before him, on Keutenberg if he had them
It is indeed about the brains. Kwiatkowski could only bridge because he had absolutely super legs. If Valverde had just gone with the Gilbert group when it attacked, he would have had a good chance of winning or podiuming. He looked like he considered it, but he was again too hesitant in a big race and didn't go.
Maybe he had decided that he would follow van Avermaet, but he was poorly positioned, which explains why he didn't join the Gilbert attack. That was not true for Valverde but he probably thought it would be fine just to put Rojas up there so he could help him later.
Then of course it turned out that Rojas couldn't really do anything but sitting on wheels and was to no help at all (otherwise, he could have dropped down to the GvA-Valverde group when it was at ten seconds and sacrificed himself - but in that case that would have been stupid, because he then would have had a chance of winning - so to sum up, Rojas' presence in the front group was never going to help Valverde in any case).
But I just don't know why he didn't go with Gilbert and co. There were so many fast guys left behind, so his presence would not have dampened the desire to work hard. It was quite sad to see him squander that very good opportunity.