LA fleche wallone thread

[Didinho]

Vansevenant makes every hill look like the Mur de Huy. Will he even be able to keep the rubber side down on the actual Mur?

The steeper the road, easier to slalom uphill! He’s a master, easy win.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Ulissi to work for Hirschi and Ayuso only for them to drop off, making us wonder if he would have been the man to ride for.

 

[Nick2413]

Ulissi to work for Hirschi and Ayuso only for them to drop off, making us wonder if he would have been the man to ride for.

Ayuso should be riding for both of them on this kind of finish, or at least Hirschi

 

[proffate]

I hope Sam Gaze does this race one day

 

[Samamba]

We might actually see weird things tomorrow with the expected weather. Possibly rain all race long, even some snow maybe. Combine that with 7-9 degrees and some guys are gonna be struggling.

Hopefully no big crashes tho cause ngl I don't really like the new circuit. Not hard enough and a long really fast descent to the Mur.

 

[Tim Cahill]

I hate that they've put climbs before the final ascent, it ruins the purity

It should be pan flat then one go, that's the whole point of the race

Roglic going with like 370 metres was a bold long-ranger as far as I'm concerned, remember laughing and thinking immediately yeah he's ****ed it.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

a long really fast descent

This made me think of what the afterlife might have in store for some reason, and I hope it's not a premonition

 

[proffate]

I hate that they've put climbs before the final ascent, it ruins the purity

It should be pan flat then one go, that's the whole point of the race

Roglic going with like 370 metres was a bold long-ranger as far as I'm concerned, remember laughing and thinking immediately yeah he's ****ed it.

I actually think if they did that we'd get a sprinter winning instead of GC guys. Or like a pursuiter/sprinter?
Let's see, you seem to need about 8.3 w/kg for 3 minutes... that's 622w for 3 minutes for a 75kg guy. It seems like that should be possible for a lot of guys in the peloton.

 

[tobydawq]

We might actually see weird things tomorrow with the expected weather. Possibly rain all race long, even some snow maybe. Combine that with 7-9 degrees and some guys are gonna be struggling.

Hopefully no big crashes tho cause ngl I don't really like the new circuit. Not hard enough and a long really fast descent to the Mur.

7-9 degrees and snow, mhmmm.

 

[Red Rick]

I hate that they've put climbs before the final ascent, it ruins the purity

It should be pan flat then one go, that's the whole point of the race

Roglic going with like 370 metres was a bold long-ranger as far as I'm concerned, remember laughing and thinking immediately yeah he's ****ed it.

You should check the Strava files of 2021 Fleche. Valverde set the record on the final minute of de Mur and he finished like 5-6 seconds down. Going earlier is better for the top climbers.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

FW is unique: 197 km of engines warm-up is needed to be perfectly prepared for 1 km of uphill drag racing. Hopefully I'll turn on TV on time not to miss the only 3 minutes of action!

 

[tobydawq]

It's a bit of a myth that nothing ever happens before the Mur. One year, Schachmann and Nibali almost made it. If Nibali had been in form, he probably would have. Vansevenant was also close one time. Remco could probably do it.

But this year, too many people will fancy their chances on the Mur so no chance for an early attack winning.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

You should check the Strava files of 2021 Fleche. Valverde set the record on the final minute of de Mur and he finished like 5-6 seconds down. Going earlier is better for the top climbers.

Yup but I do think he went a few dozens of meters too early and lacked a bit at the end.

 

[search]

Het Nieuwsblad's star ratings for today:

* **** Teuns
**** Pidcock, Skjelmose
*** Gregoire, Vlasov, van Gils
** Benoot, Cosnefroy, Hirschi, Gaudu
* Carapaz, THJ, van Wilder, Williams, Aranburu

I'd swap/downgrade some of the lower ratings (and add guys like Matthews and Ulissi), but generally agree with the favorites, I think.

 

[KZD]

Sad that Remco and Roglic can't take part due to their injuries.

Without a big favourite here, I think positioning in the beginning of Mur d'Huy will be even more important. It will be also interesting to see how UAE handles so many riders with goals in this race. I think Hirschi actually has a good chance of getting himself into the podium but I expect someone like Ayuso also going for it himself.

I am going with Skjelmose though, I was impressed with him last year and I think the rain should suit him a bit more than some of the others.

 

[Didinho]

What about Axel Laurence for today? Just saw him on the start list and thinking the finish could be something in his range.

 

[Gigs_98]

It's a bit of a myth that nothing ever happens before the Mur. One year, Schachmann and Nibali almost made it. If Nibali had been in form, he probably would have. Vansevenant was also close one time. Remco could probably do it.

But this year, too many people will fancy their chances on the Mur so no chance for an early attack winning.

I also think this race could easily be won by a move on an early Mur but it still never happens for two reasons:
1. For such a move to succeed you would need very strong riders and those riders probably rather take their chances in the final sprint because
2. The favorites for this race and in particular those who don't have the best kick fancy their chances in LBL just four days later and probably don't want to kill themselves in what is more of a preparation race to them. A succesful long range effort is both unlikely to end in a win and extremely intense, costing a lot of energy.

Maybe one day Remco will give such an attack a go. But today I don't see anyone strong enough interested in an early move.

 

[Samamba]

7-9 degrees and snow, mhmmm.

Yes that exists.

Anyways looks on the rain radar that the first 1 to 2 hours of the race will stay dry at least.

 

[Pantani_lives]

It's currently hailing in Belgium. Hail hail!

Bad weather makes it harder to organize a chase, so an attack might have a better chance than other years.

An early ascent of the Mur would be the worst possible place to attack. It's better to wait until just after the Mur. Then a group of outsiders can sneak away while no one wants to work hard in the bunch.

 

[Red Rick]

I also think this race could easily be won by a move on an early Mur but it still never happens for two reasons:
1. For such a move to succeed you would need very strong riders and those riders probably rather take their chances in the final sprint because
2. The favorites for this race and in particular those who don't have the best kick fancy their chances in LBL just four days later and probably don't want to kill themselves in what is more of a preparation race to them. A succesful long range effort is both unlikely to end in a win and extremely intense, costing a lot of energy.

Maybe one day Remco will give such an attack a go. But today I don't see anyone strong enough interested in an early move.

Mostly the Mur de Huy is just too easy to scatter a peloton. The local lap is also very long and the roads are big, etc.

There is no reason to believe it could work. Theres plenty of races on the calendar where a few muritos spaced apart dont do much before the final climb.

 

[search]

Those conditions today could suit Benoot, but his wife gave birth to their 2nd child yesterday. So he spent most of the day in hospital and didn't get much sleep.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

An open Fleche with no clear favourites has to be one of the most exciting finale in cycling, up there with Sanremo Poggio

 

[Samamba]

If the riders get the hail I'm getting right now this race is done. Straight up canon balls coming out of the sky.

They should be getting rain real soon. Gonna be a hard edition. Should suit guys like Skjelmose and Benoot. Teuns too i think. Not sure about Pidcock or Hirschi. Van Gils doesn't really like it.

 

[topcat]

An open Fleche with no clear favourites has to be one of the most exciting finale in cycling, up there with Sanremo Poggio

I'm excited that you're excited

 

[velaso montador]

im exicted that anyone is excited but im not excited enough to watch anything else than the last 15 that however im excited to see who will win this open race, gonne be exciting.