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La Flèche Wallonne: April 24th, 2019

Page 7 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Who will win La Flèche Wallonne 2019?

  • Adam Yates

    Votes: 3 5.4%
  • Alejandro Valverde

    Votes: 9 16.1%
  • Jakob Fuglsang

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Jelle Vanendert

    Votes: 3 5.4%
  • Julian Alaphilippe

    Votes: 22 39.3%
  • Maximilian Schachmann

    Votes: 6 10.7%
  • Michael Matthews

    Votes: 1 1.8%
  • Michal Kwiatkowski

    Votes: 5 8.9%
  • Romain Bardet

    Votes: 1 1.8%
  • Other

    Votes: 6 10.7%

  • Total voters
    56
  • Poll closed .
Re:

Rollthedice said:
The end of an era. You will be missed Alejandro. On another note Ala is on Rebellin's footsteps, too bad he wasn't sharp enough in Amstel.

Yeah feels like a changing of the guard this year. Not happening for Valverde. He won the Worlds just in time it seems. Fuglsang having the best spring of his career. That was a much tougher victory for Ala than last year and they really cleared away from the field.
 
Re: Re:

Eyeballs Out said:
WKA311 said:
ppanther92 said:
****, Schachmann was bad. Why bury Formolo (who could have got about the same result) and why let Konrad (probably had a better result than Schachmann in him today) ride for 500-600m at the front in the finish, when you clearly don't have it?

Yeah, 5th is really bad :rolleyes:

Don't think either of them (Konrad and Formolo) could have done any better. Formolo will lead them at L-B-L and Konrad hasn't shown the form that Schachmann has yet.
Schachmann was this year's Dan Martin / Igor Anton. In about 20th when Fuglsang made his move and finished 5th. Although that was still a long way behind the podium position and he wasn't quite as good as I thought he would be

I was following Schachmann from the start of the Huy. He was in good position but was fading. Then when it flattened he overtook some riders.
 
I think Lotto had a chance if anyone of Wellens, Lambrecht or Vanendert attacked with 20 to go and not Marczyński. He is a solid rider but Quickstep only chased with Devenyns. Mas took over once the break of Marczyński and Mohoric was caught. But if a rider of a different calibert would have attacked I doubt Devenyns alone would have been enough ...
 
Re: Re:

Keram said:
Eyeballs Out said:
WKA311 said:
ppanther92 said:
****, Schachmann was bad. Why bury Formolo (who could have got about the same result) and why let Konrad (probably had a better result than Schachmann in him today) ride for 500-600m at the front in the finish, when you clearly don't have it?

Yeah, 5th is really bad :rolleyes:

Don't think either of them (Konrad and Formolo) could have done any better. Formolo will lead them at L-B-L and Konrad hasn't shown the form that Schachmann has yet.
Schachmann was this year's Dan Martin / Igor Anton. In about 20th when Fuglsang made his move and finished 5th. Although that was still a long way behind the podium position and he wasn't quite as good as I thought he would be

I was following Schachmann from the start of the Huy. He was in good position but was fading. Then when it flattened he overtook some riders.

When Fuglsang and Alaphilippe had opened up a gap he was a loooong way down. There were still 250 metres to go at that point but surely he didn't only gain the positions on the final flat part (the coverage didn't show him after that before the finish).
 
gunara said:
Fuglsang should try his best, for once he won't have to worry about being beaten by the better sprinter in a very small group on a flat run in

Lol, the result just wouldn't come in whichever way, but at least he really tried his best. What a season.
He looks sooo many years away from retirement for a rider his age, look more like a coming-of-age rider now than the days of whining about Tour leadership.
 
Alaphilippe vs Fuglsang seems to be the rivalry of the spring so far.
Standard FW, we might say.
Alaphilippe's becoming a monster. In every race he starts he's fighting for the victory and winning the most of them. While Fuglsang just can't find a finish long enough to absorb puncheurs' kick and leave him ahead of them.
Good placing by Bling. Now it's even harder to tell what his targets should be.
 
Re:

sir fly said:
Alaphilippe vs Fuglsang seems to be the rivalry of the spring so far.
Standard FW, we might say.
Alaphilippe's becoming a monster. In every race he starts he's fighting for the victory and winning the most of them. While Fuglsang just can't find a finish long enough to absorb puncheurs' kick and leave him ahead of them.
Good placing by Bling. Now it's even harder to tell what his targets should be.


Green at the Tour ?
 
Re: Re:

HelloDolly said:
sir fly said:
Alaphilippe vs Fuglsang seems to be the rivalry of the spring so far.
Standard FW, we might say.
Alaphilippe's becoming a monster. In every race he starts he's fighting for the victory and winning the most of them. While Fuglsang just can't find a finish long enough to absorb puncheurs' kick and leave him ahead of them.
Good placing by Bling. Now it's even harder to tell what his targets should be.


Green at the Tour ?
Of course.
Was thinking more about single day racing. MSR, De Ronde, Ardennes... He seems to be capable of doing all of them, but the peak can't be stretched for so long, and he has to choose in order to maximize the chance. That's the downside of all-around talent.
 
Re: Re:

Samamba said:
Logic-is-your-friend said:
Lambrecht 4th, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

great tactics, as predicted by Lotto. Making him work at 30K from the finish, their best bet to get the podium. Haha. Clueless team.

Stop crying. That "attack" on the 2nd Mur was Lambrechts own choice and in the end Lotto's plan was to be in front with all 3 of them and Vanendert in first position (as said before the race). Wellens literally dropped back just before the Mur to get Lambrecht to the front but he didn't follow all the way through. Not the teams fault.

That being said, he impressed me even more then in the Amstel today. Being one of the strongest uphill is what I like to see. I'm just hoping that his back problems aren't gonna **** up his progression in the future. Liege next, should suit him but weather is expected to be pretty bad.

It's my party and i'll cry if i want to.

It shouldn't have been his "choice" to do something stupid like that, but ofcourse, he's part of the dumbest outfit in cycling, so it was to be expected. Just like Vanendert telling him to go "early" two weeks ago. Team should have clearly said that he of ALL of them, should have been the one to wait as long as possible. And if he wanted to be in front, that's still something else than actually attacking. He would have been 100% on the podium (he didn't only attack at 30k, he also was riding in the front of the break) while Wellens was at the back. Wellens, the guy you knew (or at least, i knew) would never be able to compete for a podium here, was the only one out of the three that should have attacked. Not Lambrecht. Hope he leaves Lotto ASAP.
 
Re: Re:

Logic-is-your-friend said:
Samamba said:
Logic-is-your-friend said:
Lambrecht 4th, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

great tactics, as predicted by Lotto. Making him work at 30K from the finish, their best bet to get the podium. Haha. Clueless team.

Stop crying. That "attack" on the 2nd Mur was Lambrechts own choice and in the end Lotto's plan was to be in front with all 3 of them and Vanendert in first position (as said before the race). Wellens literally dropped back just before the Mur to get Lambrecht to the front but he didn't follow all the way through. Not the teams fault.

That being said, he impressed me even more then in the Amstel today. Being one of the strongest uphill is what I like to see. I'm just hoping that his back problems aren't gonna **** up his progression in the future. Liege next, should suit him but weather is expected to be pretty bad.

It's my party and i'll cry if i want to.

It shouldn't have been his "choice" to do something stupid like that, but ofcourse, he's part of the dumbest outfit in cycling, so it was to be expected. Just like Vanendert telling him to go "early" two weeks ago. Team should have clearly said that he of ALL of them, should have been the one to wait as long as possible. And if he wanted to be in front, that's still something else than actually attacking. He would have been 100% on the podium (he didn't only attack at 30k, he also was riding in the front of the break) while Wellens was at the back. Wellens, the guy you knew (or at least, i knew) would never be able to compete for a podium here, was the only one out of the three that should have attacked. Not Lambrecht. Hope he leaves Lotto ASAP.

Lotto's plan before the start was to save both Vanendert and Bjorg for the last climb of the Mur. Bjorg needed to try to follow and wait for the last 150m. Wellens was instructed to follow attacks on the Cherave (if possible). There's absolutely nothing wrong with those tactics, you're naive if you think so. Wellens couldn't attack on the Cherave because there was a headwind and Bjorg himself said he chose to attack on the 2nd climb of the Mur because he thought he was gonna save more energy in front in the windy part of the local part then in the bunch trying to fight for position. I don't think Lotto made a mistake. I don't think Bjorg missed the podium because of that "attack", but because of his position at the bottom of the last ascent. Wellens dropped back to pick him him, Bjorg followed but was cut of. Wellens started in like 4th position, Bjorg in like 15th because of that. Unlucky.

I agree that Lotto's tactics have been horrible in the past, but today's tactics were fine.
 
Re: Re:

tobydawq said:
Danskebjerge said:
Lol, nobody voted for Fuglsang in the poll. I wonder how many top results he needs to be considered a favourite for the classics.

He does lead the LBL poll quite comfortably now.

Would you have considered him a true puncheur before today?
When I saw Martin, Woods and Yates not there, and considering it had been a relatively hard race and Fuglsang has been on fire, I would have been surprised had he NOT cracked the top-3 today in the bottom of Huy (only ranking Alaf and Valv higher). You can do quite well despite not being a puncheur i youre a climber on great shape.
 
Boonen-Cancellara rivalry is nothing compared with Fuglsang/Alaphilippe :)))

Letting the jokes aside, Fuglsang is incredibly strong this year but what I love about him is the way he's racing. The guy is always on the first step. He's always making the race.
 
Re:

fuiers said:
Watched the last 15km. Such a snooze fest. All the top riders just rode like a bunch just for them to watch Ala and Fuglsang go at it. Zzzzz.....
By then there had already been quite some damage, the "peloton" was reduced to maybe 40 riders? With the attack at 30k instigated by Lambrecht on the 2nd climb of the Mur, the peloton was split in two, and there were guys blowing up in the break and in the chase. Movistar was chasing, and mainly Bora was leading the break.
 
Re: Re:

Logic-is-your-friend said:
fuiers said:
Watched the last 15km. Such a snooze fest. All the top riders just rode like a bunch just for them to watch Ala and Fuglsang go at it. Zzzzz.....
By then there had already been quite some damage, the "peloton" was reduced to maybe 40 riders? With the attack at 30k instigated by Lambrecht on the 2nd climb of the Mur, the peloton was split in two, and there were guys blowing up in the break and in the chase. Movistar was chasing, and mainly Bora was leading the break.

Yeah, I didn't find it too bad either. It wasn't as memorable as last year but still one of the best editions of recent years.
 
Re:

red_flanders said:
They can't all be Amstel Gold...

A finish like this just doesn't allow for something like that. You either need a bigger break, of probably at least 5 guys, with at least half a minute headstart, assuming they aren't cooked by the time they reach the bottom of the Mur. Else they probably need more than 1 minute. It's just how races like this are won. It was the same with AGR before they changed the finish. And i'm fine with a few races like that. But it gets tedious when they (organizers) all try to do the same thing.
 
Re: Re:

Logic-is-your-friend said:
red_flanders said:
They can't all be Amstel Gold...

A finish like this just doesn't allow for something like that. You either need a bigger break, of probably at least 5 guys, with at least half a minute headstart, assuming they aren't cooked by the time they reach the bottom of the Mur. Else they probably need more than 1 minute. It's just how races like this are won. It was the same with AGR before they changed the finish. And i'm fine with a few races like that. But it gets tedious when they (organizers) all try to do the same thing.

Agreed. I'm fine with Flèche being what it is.
 

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