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skippo12 said:I think his biggest problem was the lack of a useful teammate on the last kms. He had to fight for position and in my opinion was a little bit to far behind. He basically was on defense for the whole climb and his usual acceleration with 300m to go wasn`t enough to close the gap. When Ala and Vanendert attack he is behind Wellens wo gets gaped. At this point he most likely realized that he screwed up because Ala is out of reach.
Valverde or Sagan - my personal preference is Valverde and objectively, I also think he is the best, altho there's no such thing as objectivity when it comes to that.armchairclimber said:The best rider in the world (so says Alaphilippe).
Valv.Piti said:Valverde or Sagan - my personal preference is Valverde and objectively, I also think he is the best, altho there's no such thing as objectivity when it comes to that.armchairclimber said:The best rider in the world (so says Alaphilippe).
He could have used Soler or a good Bananito today, then it would have been a bit more tranquillo and he would have been placed better at the foot.
When Sagan starts winning nearly every stage race he enters, as well as his targeted one day races, he can enter the conversation. Until then, no.tobydawq said:Valv.Piti said:Valverde or Sagan - my personal preference is Valverde and objectively, I also think he is the best, altho there's no such thing as objectivity when it comes to that.armchairclimber said:The best rider in the world (so says Alaphilippe).
He could have used Soler or a good Bananito today, then it would have been a bit more tranquillo and he would have been placed better at the foot.
Two weeks ago, Valverde would have been my pick. Now it's Sagan.
Koronin said:Squire said:Yeah, his 'injured leg' sure doesn't seem to have hampered him in any other races. It's just unrealistic to expect that he does everything right on the day, year after year.
He actually said he screwed up on the Mur de Huy and didn't race it properly this year. So yeah he did make a mistake this year.
tobydawq said:I think they were equally strong and that the position was the tipping factor.
Arredondo said:I think yesterday showed Valverde always have some difficulty when the Mur (and the race in general) is being raced hard. When the tempo is not that high, he's able to position himself brilliantly till he can produce his sprint with 150/200 meters to go when the climb flattens out a bit.
But when someone like Vanendert is already putting the pressure on before 500 meters to go, on the steep parts, it means Valverde has to use the energy he normally needs to kill of his rivals to even be in perfect position! The same thing happened to him in the TdF of '15, when Froome went to the front quite early.
Don't get me wrong, giving the climbing time of Valverde yesterday (1 second faster then last year) it's all extremely relative. But i think he's beatable when the climb is raced differently.
Blanco said:Arredondo said:I think yesterday showed Valverde always have some difficulty when the Mur (and the race in general) is being raced hard. When the tempo is not that high, he's able to position himself brilliantly till he can produce his sprint with 150/200 meters to go when the climb flattens out a bit.
But when someone like Vanendert is already putting the pressure on before 500 meters to go, on the steep parts, it means Valverde has to use the energy he normally needs to kill of his rivals to even be in perfect position! The same thing happened to him in the TdF of '15, when Froome went to the front quite early.
Don't get me wrong, giving the climbing time of Valverde yesterday (1 second faster then last year) it's all extremely relative. But i think he's beatable when the climb is raced differently.
Don't know, you're maybe right, but I still think it was more due to a hard race for him before and having been on his own in the finale. I guess we'll see in the next editions...
As for that famous Tour stage, I don't think it has much relevance. He obviously didn't hit his peak right from the start, but slowly building his form and reached his max. at the end of a 2nd week. I mean, he finished behind Quintana, Nibali and freaking TJ!
Blanco said:tobydawq said:I think they were equally strong and that the position was the tipping factor.
Alaphilippe rode way more calmer race than Valverde. Movistar was shattered yesterday, I thought they will be lot more stronger. When that break went with 20+ riders, they send Rojas . What threat and insurance Rojas represents in a break like that with the likes of Nibali, Gilbert, Kwiatkowski... Landa should've been there! And where the hell was Betancur!!! They were short of at least one man (maybe even two), after penultimate Mur. QS had 4 guys and one up front, Lotto 3...
All this influenced Valverde's race, he was tensed for most of the race, he needed to be near the front for the last 40km, he closed the gaps on Cherave and fight for position before the Mur on his own. That drained some energy out of him certainly. On top of everything Valverde messed up his positioning on the Mur itself, although it could had something to do with all of this I mentioned before.
Anyway, I wouldn't want to take anything from Alaphilippe's performance, it was superb display of strength. He beat the king himself, so I guess he's the new king of Huy We will see on Sunday if he's the king of all Ardennes though...
Arredondo said:Blanco said:Arredondo said:I think yesterday showed Valverde always have some difficulty when the Mur (and the race in general) is being raced hard. When the tempo is not that high, he's able to position himself brilliantly till he can produce his sprint with 150/200 meters to go when the climb flattens out a bit.
But when someone like Vanendert is already putting the pressure on before 500 meters to go, on the steep parts, it means Valverde has to use the energy he normally needs to kill of his rivals to even be in perfect position! The same thing happened to him in the TdF of '15, when Froome went to the front quite early.
Don't get me wrong, giving the climbing time of Valverde yesterday (1 second faster then last year) it's all extremely relative. But i think he's beatable when the climb is raced differently.
Don't know, you're maybe right, but I still think it was more due to a hard race for him before and having been on his own in the finale. I guess we'll see in the next editions...
As for that famous Tour stage, I don't think it has much relevance. He obviously didn't hit his peak right from the start, but slowly building his form and reached his max. at the end of a 2nd week. I mean, he finished behind Quintana, Nibali and freaking TJ!
But a day after Huy, he was one of the better riders in the cobble stage. And a couple of days after that, he already finished 3rd on the Mur de Bretagne.
For sure he was not at his best on that particular day on the Mur de Huy, but that's not only because his shape was 'poor'. I'm convinced it had something to do with the ferocious pace of Froome early on the Mur.
Valv.Piti said:Wasn't he also half helping Quintana in that stage? I remember it that way, but Im not really sure. But I don't really think you can point to that stage and say it supports the claim/argument that he is beatable when ridden differently (which I agree with tho). There are completely different circumstances in play in a GT compared to a one day race.
I remember him turning his head to see where was Quintana halfway the Mur that day, probably he wouldn't have won the stage but he didn't even try.tobydawq said:Valv.Piti said:Wasn't he also half helping Quintana in that stage? I remember it that way, but Im not really sure. But I don't really think you can point to that stage and say it supports the claim/argument that he is beatable when ridden differently (which I agree with tho). There are completely different circumstances in play in a GT compared to a one day race.
I don't think so, but 20 kms out he had to do a pretty big effort in closing a fairly large gap that had established in the peloton on a climb. That might have cost a bit but probably not all that he was missing in the end.
If it's a major objective, then I wonder if that means he'll try to bulk up for it a bit? That would probably mess up his chances at FW and possibly LBL, but could offer some benefit at Amstel. Perhaps next year will be a full on assault at adding new races to his palmares: Paris-Nice, a top 10 RVV and AGR.jaylew said:Bala is making Flanders a major goal for next year.
"It will be a major objective," he told La Meuse of the 2019 Ronde van Vlaanderen. "I love racing on the pavé and I get the feeling I handle it well, even if I'm a long way off being a specialist."