La Flèche Wallone (WT) / Wednesday 18-04-2012

[Bala Verde]

That would suck for purito. Coming out of pais vasco with great legs ready to blitz the bulge, Gilbert not yet 100%, one less contender and then...

Rain and cold and it could be all over.

 

[Swede1]

with the weather being bad ill make a final prediction
1) vanendert
2) gilbert
3) jrod
4) f. schleck
5) gasparotto

 

[Wilba60]

No-ones predictions have included or mentioned Albasini and I think he is a good outside chance. Finished 12th I think last year and has had very good form this year with a solid performance at Amstel looking after Gerrans as his most recent outing. It seems that GE will be riding for Albasini and possibly Clarke if Albasini isn't feeling right. Here is the top 20 in betting...can anyone recall what Gasparotto paid for Amstel win last weekend?

113037 RODRIGUEZ Joaquin 3.75 $
113046 VANDENDERT Jelle 6.50 $
113018 GILBERT Phillipe 7.50 $
113049 Riders not Quoted 10.00 $
113042 VALVERDE Alejandro 13.00 $
113009 ANTON Igor 16.00 $
113030 MOLLEMA Bauke 29.00 $
113014 DUARTE Fabio 31.00 $
113016 GASPAROTTO Enrico 31.00 $
113039 SCHLECK Frank 31.00 $
113041 URAN Rigoberto 31.00 $
113031 MORENO Daniel 41.00 $
113036 POELS Wouter 41.00 $
113015 FREIRE Oscar 51.00 $
113019 HENAO Sergio Luis 51.00 $
113020 HESJEDAL Ryder 61.00 $
113032 NIBALI Vincenzo 61.00 $
113033 NORDHAUG Lars Petter 61.00 $
113040 SIMON Julien 61.00 $
113008 ALBASINI Michael 81.00 $
113017 GESINK Robert

 

[auscyclefan94]

Originally picked Igor Anton but have changed to Gilbert due to the weather.

Also, the CN gallery of Fleche Wallone has too many Armstrong picks :mad

 

[LaFlorecita]

1 Vanendert
2. JRod (yes, i do belive in the guy)
3. Kiserlovksi (becasue he is awesome)

Oh Kiserlovski is so awesome. I hope he does well.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I think Gilbert will win.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

According to this interview with Thomas Löfkvist it seems that Löfkvist will be one of the protected riders for F-W.

We will see how is legs will be, though; he was in the final of AGR without fighting in the top.


(I think he usually struggles a bit with positioning himself before narrow climbs which, combined with his duties of being a domestique, which is not good for recipe for placing good in AGR).

that better be a joke. only henao and nordhaug should be protected. lovkvist is even more overrated than nibali

edit and uran of course should be protected

 

[kjetilraknerud]

Löfkvist has done well on Mur de Huy before, but how many protected riders do Sky really need? Captain Uranium D), Henao and Löfvkist protected and Nordhaug in a free role?

One captain (Uranium) and one in a free role (Nordhaug) should be enough.

According to this interview with Thomas Löfkvist it seems that Löfkvist will be one of the protected riders for F-W.

We will see how is legs will be, though; he was in the final of AGR without fighting in the top.


(I think he usually struggles a bit with positioning himself before narrow climbs which, combined with his duties of being a domestique, which is not good for recipe for placing good in AGR).

 

[jonjungel]

How does "Rigoberto" become "Juan Felipe"?

Definately not by anything in the Norwegian language. It's a "bing-ism"

 

[jens_attacks]

On the Sporza site you can see the finishes back up till 2000.

Kind of funny to see that prior to 2004 a lot of breakaways made it to the end. After that never, always a sprint up Mur de Huy. Wonder what changed?

wasn't a route change?or maybe i remember wrong?actually,2003 was the last time this race was ridden like a proper classic.after that only bunch sprints on mur de huy

that one by verbrugghe was the most impressive after the gewiss TTT.he attacked from a group some 25 km to go,bridged to the break and then he did all the work to the finish and still dropped basso and the others.

 

[Connor Pass]

Here is the top 20 in betting...can anyone recall what Gasparotto paid for Amstel win last weekend?

$67 I think. Nice if you were on it!

 

[boomcie]

I like how Vanendert gradually got to where he is now. I never expected him to become this good though.

Expectations seem high today and I guess racking up his first big 1-day win will make his star shine even brighter in the peloton.

I hope he won't disappoint, but I can't see that happening, since this race is perfectly suited to his capacities.

 

[will10]

Can't see Gasparotto in the top 10. Fleche is a different beast to Amstel.

 

[Kvinto]

Indeed, Astana will definitely ride for Kiserlovski, there's no other option for them

 

[FrankvdV]

Probably one of the hardest races to predict this year. It is cold and windy (5 bft or more), not the best weather for the spanish riders. I think Gilbert or Vanendert have a big change to win today's race.

 

[kjetilraknerud]

I think Gilbert will take this. The race should be easier to control in the final than Amstel, so an attack like Freire on sunday will be chased down by domestiques rather than Gilbert himself. He'll time his effort perfectly up Mur de Huy.

1. Gilbert
2. Vanendert
3. Uran

 

[Kvinto]

I don't believe in Gilbert. He can top-10 it or maybe even top-5 but can't see him on the podium. I think his form is similar to the one he had in 2009 when he rode FW for Evans and then was expressing his dissatisfaction by the outcome The most probable podium for me is 1.Purito 2.Jelle 3.Fuji

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

More riders contradicting Gilbert who said it was 'easier'

Wout Poels said the new climbs make the finale harder and there will be less guys at the Mur.
Jelle Vanendert says especially the penultimate climb worries him because it's very narrow and therefore could split things up.

Maybe Gilbert reconned wrong?

 

[sankaa]

Took a shot on Visconti, just for the fun of it. If he wins, il get like 600 bucks.

To be serious, JRod takes this unless Gilbert make something happen.

 

[meandmygitane]

that better be a joke. only henao and nordhaug should be protected. lovkvist is even more overrated than nibali

edit and uran of course should be protected

We don't know how old the interview so things may have changed since then but:

1. I'd imagine that some of them are saving themselves for LBL and hide in the bunch, such as recently crashed Nordhaug.
2. He was 6th in F-W 2009 (which of course was some time ago) so I wouldn't say he is overrated for this type of races if only his form is there (which it might not be).

I find it likely that Uran will be the captain with a lot of support and, that those are merely protected will not get a lot of it.

 

[maltiv]

We don't know how old the interview so things may have changed since then but:

1. I'd imagine that some of them are saving themselves for LBL and hide in the bunch, such as recently crashed Nordhaug.
2. He was 6th in F-W 2009 (which of course was some time ago) so I wouldn't say he is overrated for this type of races if only his form is there (which it might not be).

I find it likely that Uran will be the captain with a lot of support and, that those are merely protected will not get a lot of it.

This finish doesn't really suit Uran in my opinion. Last year he was on good form and in a good position ahead of the Mur, but he only ended up 18th. I think Henao and Nordhaug are their best cards.

As for Löfkvist, well, he just doesn't seem to be anywhere near the form he had in 2009. In Amstel he was seen several times getting dropped on climbs and dangling on the back. He never really did any work for Nordhaug either. It's a shame, after Lombardia last year I thought Löfkvist was finally finding his legs again.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

that better be a joke. only henao and nordhaug should be protected. lovkvist is even more overrated than nibali

edit and uran of course should be protected

Yea right..he was won a gt and podiumed in 2 gt...come back when your colombian or venezuelen do that.

 

[Machu Picchu]

Anyone have more info:

OPQS Cycling Team ‏ @opqscyclingteam
crash at km 29 causes a split of the peloton into 3 groups. First group 18" on the second. Third group 35" back

 

[vcampbell]

I hope Jelle can take this.

 

[meandmygitane]

This finish doesn't really suit Uran in my opinion. Last year he was on good form and in a good position ahead of the Mur, but he only ended up 18th. I think Henao and Nordhaug are their best cards.

As for Löfkvist, well, he just doesn't seem to be anywhere near the form he had in 2009. In Amstel he was seen several times getting dropped on climbs and dangling on the back. He never really did any work for Nordhaug either. It's a shame, after Lombardia last year I thought Löfkvist was finally finding his legs again.

You forgot that he brought Nordhaug back to the front at least once in AGR, as was seen on television. So it was Henao and Nordhaug (which were protected) and Löfkvist who was doing domestique-work, in the finale.

But I agree that he did not show anything in AGR which would automatically earn him the privilege of being protected in F-W, but we don't know how he performs on training.

I think the DS will give him a shot if they think he is good enough and it doesn't interfere with Uran's chances. We will see, but we can't really know beforehand.