Il Lombardia 2014

[DFA123]

I don't think the criticism of the course stands up. Any race where you've Albasini and Gilbert up front alongside pure climbers is pretty well balanced.

It might be balanced, but it was pretty boring to watch.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Jesus Lombardia has become an extremely ****ty race . . . the last exciting race was in freaking 2010!!!

All hilly classics this year have been meh..

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Most random monument winner in years lol

 

[webvan]

Huh...hopefully Martin will use his prize money to get new front teeth !!!

 

[LaFlorecita]

He's not hurt, besides he was crap today. At the bright side he prob won't go to china now and valverde ****ed up again a certain victory.

Life is good.

Yep, it's not all bad.

Though Valverde will now call himself the best rider in the world which is sort of annoying

 

[luckyboy]

Guess Contador was involved/held up by the crash/es?

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Most random?
Aside from the fact this same guy won Liege, are you forgetting Zaugg?

Atleast Zaugg won because he was the strongest. Anyone except Gilbert, who'd have attacked like Martin, could have won. That's how random it was. It doesn't have anything to do with Martin winning LBL 1½ yrs ago

 

[GuyIncognito]

Huh...hopefully Martin will use his prize money to get new front teeth !!!

He's emulating Boogerd

Seriously, teeth aside, can you imagine a more perfect copy of Boogerd in terms of strengths and weaknesses?

 

[dlwssonic]

Busy being useless as usual, I hope Sanchez gets fired/"not renewed", crap season, whining about WC selection, and now this ?!

Please wake the hell Up they were one of the few teams that tried to animate the race. This useless team apparently is placed 3rd on both the uci and cq rankings. After this race they are probably second.

 

[Escarabajo]

One has to wonder... how much money did JV offer Valverde to do this?

Most random monument winner in years lol

What??? Do you think somebody has to offer Valverde money to screw it up???

LOL!!!

 

[roundabout]

In the sense that everyone stopped for a conference and the only guy who didn't won.

It's like 600 meters to go, downhill. Momentum counts and I was expecting a mad battle for the final corner and then this.

 

[TourOfTexas]

Gilbert's racing IQ has taken a serious hit since he won the worlds.

 

[MBotero]

Ridiculous end to this,so Martin goes and everybody is looking around instead of trying to follow him.Well,they got what they deserved,good for Martin bad for them.

 

[Arredondo]

Martin: Really clever, well done.
Valverde: Well, what can you say..
Purito: flawless, not bad, definitely not good. 2014 hasn't been his season.

Race: Didn't really enjoyed it. Some good attacks, but at the end i have a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I don't think the criticism of the course stands up. Any race where you've Albasini and Gilbert up front alongside pure climbers is pretty well balanced.

The balance in terms of who can compete for the win was absolutely fine. The balance in terms of the positioning of obstacles in the course was very poor as it led, as was expected, to everything coming down to the last 4 kilometres. We had some interesting moves on Berbenno but everything was cut off before it got more than 20 seconds up the road and certainly no realistic bids for the win were to be seen until Wellens went.

The problem with the course was not its selectivity or who would be able to compete for the win (although that was not as apocalyptic as had been feared), but it was that it wasn't conducive to racing. The Lecco course had obstacles further away meaning it was certain to come to the final climb, but that final climb was a bit further from the finish meaning that there was intrigue for a bit longer.

 

[Piti4Podiums]

Yep, it's not all bad.

Though Valverde will now call himself the best rider in the world which is sort of annoying

Why? It's not that anything new happened today, Contador can't race one-day races properly, Valverde throws certain victories away, why would anything change after today? It's not like Valverde wins such a ranking for the first time

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Valverde denied awesome

but he beat Contador so he's probably happy, because that's what his goal is usually.

Eh what? Of course Valverde doesn't ride just to beat Contador

 

[trevim]

One has to wonder... how much money did JV offer Valverde to do this?

Most random monument winner in years lol

The winner of Liege, 2nd place finisher 2011 is random?
Yeah really random considering Goss, Zaugg and Van Summeren all have won a monument

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

One has to wonder... how much money did JV offer Valverde to do this?

Most random monument winner in years lol

Why would JV offer Valverde money to lose himself the race? Valverde does that for free.

 

[mr. tibbs]

Really questionable stuff from BMC. Was Samu racing on his own? It sure seems like it. They had a strong hand to play in the finale but he just wasted all of his strength with that bone-headery.

 

[Parrulo]

All hilly classics this year have been meh..

Yup, they really need to rethink the whole concept because this isn' exciting TV and this surely isn't bringing in the sponsors.

Longer harder races, smaller teams, points for aggressiveness instead of placings, huge difference in points between winners and placers. . . . just do something!!

No wonder cycling is dying. . . exciting racing has been labelled as doping racing by idiots and boring racing doesn't bring in the money/spectators needed for the sport to prosper

But whatever

 

[Escarabajo]

I don't consider Martin a nobody. I think the route was soft but Martin is a great rider and a deserving winner.

 

[BigMac]

Yep, it's not all bad.

Though Valverde will now call himself the best rider in the world which is sort of annoying

No offence, but what is annoying is you mentioning Valverde all the time even when his persona is not implied in the discussion. Why would Valverde call himself the best rider in the world. He won't.

 

[Big Doopie]

karma after liege which he would have won. martin has a good sprint on him.

hesj once again the perfect teammate.

martin played it perfectly. once he couldnt get through to attack on the last climb, he sat at the back as BMC and Valverde tried to control everything and work to keep the group away. beautiful tactical ride by garmin and martin. and what a fantastic naturally talented rider!! the greatest of his generation!!

 

[jaylew]

Terrific timing by Martin. BMC the only team with two and Samu and Gilbert were both spent.

You knew he had it won the second he went.