Liège-Bastogne-Liège: April 28th, 2019

[Pantani_lives]

The spring classics have been breathtaking this year. There's just one more to go: the oldest classic or La Doyenne. The organizers have changed the course by moving the finish back to the centre of Liège. The Côte de Saint-Nicolas, where Frank Vandenbroucke launched his decisive attack in 1999, is no longer there. This could mean the Côte de la Redoute will regain importance and big names are going to attack earlier, but it also means that someone with a good sprint might hang on or come back after the climbs. Hopefully it will be just as thrilling as the races of the previous weeks.

Climbs:
1. Côte de la Roche-en-Ardenne (181 km) [2.8 km @ 6.2%]
2. Côte de Saint-Roch (135 km) [1.0 km @ 11.2%]
3. Côte de Mont-le-Soie (95 km) [1.7 km @ 7.9%]
4. Côte de Wanne (86.5 km) [3.6 km @ 5.1%]
5. Côte de Stockeu (80 km) [1.0 km @ 12.5%]
6. Côte de Haute-Levée (74.5 km) [3.6 km @ 5.6%]
7. Côte du Rosier (61.5 km) [4.4 km @ 5.9%]
8. Côte du Maquisard (49 km) [2.5 km @ 5.0%]
9. Côte de la Redoute (37 km) [2.0 km @ 8.9%]
10. Côte des Forges (25 km) [1.3 km @ 7.8%]
11. Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (15 km) [1.3 km @ 11.0%]

Recent winners:
2009 Andy Schleck
2010 Alexandre Vinokourov
2011 Philippe Gilbert
2012 Maxim Iglinsky
2013 Dan Martin
2014 Simon Gerrans
2015 Alejandro Valverde
2016 Wout Poels
2017 Alejandro Valverde
2018 Bob Jungels

 

[Laplaz]

Weather should be quite bad. Nibali ftw!

 

[Red Rick]

Anyone have a detailed profile of the last 40 km?

That being said.

Vincenzo Nibali will win this bike race.

 

[Movitrain]

Lotto-Visma to sign Mathieu van der Poel to a stagiaire contract that will allow him to start the race.

Obviously he will convincingly win it.

One can still dream right?

On a more serious note, I hope Schachmann can do some damage here.

 

[Climbing]

Nibbles obviously, outsprinting Fuglsang to the line (the sprint will take 20 minutes ofc).

 

[Singer01]

Should Valverde even be in the voting options? He's having a torrid time currently.

 

[johnymax]

Who would win in a sprint between Nibali and Fuglsang? Normally I'd say Nibali is a little better sprinter but in this kind of shape I can see Fuglsang winning.

 

[Climbing]

Re:

Who would win in a sprint between Nibali and Fuglsang? Normally I'd say Nibali is a little better sprinter but in this kind of shape I can see Fuglsang winning.

Probably somebody else a couple minute back would catch them considering how slow both are.

 

[gerundium]

the shark will swim this sunday. and it will be glorious.

 

[SafeBet]

Formolino to claim his first Monument with a 50km attack. Fuglsang will win the sprint for second over Alaphilippe.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Is Fuglsang getting the sympathy vote or do people really believe he's going to win this?

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Nibbles obviously, outsprinting Fuglsang to the line (the sprint will take 20 minutes ofc).

If that happens I will make good of that P-R Ringvejen bet! (Described somewhere in the... Flanders thread, I think).
And I mean every part, including the 20-minute sprint.

 

[WKA311]

Re:

Formolino to claim his first Monument with a 50km attack. Fuglsang will win the sprint for second over Alaphilippe.

If he has the Montjiuc shape I would love to see this.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Is Fuglsang getting the sympathy vote or do people really believe he's going to win this?

He's clearly the strongest guy around atm, so I guess that makes him a genuine contender.

 

[shalgo]

Re:

Should Valverde even be in the voting options? He's having a torrid time currently.

Can I petition that "torrid" no longer be used to describe an athlete's form? It is inherently confusing.

On the one hand, in the U.K. it indicates that an athlete is performing poorly (i.e. "full of difficulty," https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/torrid), while in the United States it indicates that an athlete is performing well (i.e. "performing or doing something extremely well," https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/torrid).

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Should Valverde even be in the voting options? He's having a torrid time currently.

Can I petition that "torrid" no longer be used to describe an athlete's form? It is inherently confusing.

On the one hand, in the U.K. it indicates that an athlete is performing poorly (i.e. "full of difficulty," https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/torrid), while in the United States it indicates that an athlete is performing well (i.e. "performing or doing something extremely well," https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/torrid).

From the context, I would hazard a guess that Singer01 was speaking British.


And what a useless word if it means one thing and its polar opposite :lol:

 

[Mayomaniac]

Formolo to outsprint Nibali and Fuglsang.

 

[Emotional Cobble Guy]

GVA is riding LBL. Quite impressive, racing from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad till now, doing the cobbles bit and barely missing out on the important one day races. Anyone else doing it old school as well this year? Gilbert too I can see.
I'm rooting for Nibbles and Fuglsang. Cant wait for sunday, hopefully some earlier decisive break.

 

[Koronin]

I voted other. I want to see a break stay away and win it.

 

[Red Rick]

Random question. How often have they used Côte des Forges before? I think they had like 3 different variants between Redoute and RaF?

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

Is Fuglsang getting the sympathy vote or do people really believe he's going to win this?

If you do not consider Fuglsang a contender after today, the poll might as well just be Alaphilippe

Actually, I think he will get him on Sunday..... the way Alaphilippe rides races, he will burn up his form faster than Fuglsang, and at the end of both their spring campaigns, I could see Fuglsang actually beating him on Sunday.

That being said, with everyone now expecting this great rivalry to continue for the 3rd race in a row, it will probably be someone completely different

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Is Fuglsang getting the sympathy vote or do people really believe he's going to win this?

If you do not consider Fuglsang a contender after today, the poll might as well just be Alaphilippe

Actually, I think he will get him on Sunday..... the way Alaphilippe rides races, he will burn up his form faster than Fuglsang, and at the end of both their spring campaigns, I could see Fuglsang actually beating him on Sunday.

That being said, with everyone now expecting this great rivalry to continue for the 3rd race in a row, it will probably be someone completely different

Legs will be a lot more tired at the start of the RaF than at the start of the Mur, and the RaF is a lot harder.

Honestly, Fuglsang reminded me of Andy Schleck at the Fleche in 2009.

 

[jflemaire]

Re:

Lotto-Visma to sign Mathieu van der Poel to a stagiaire contract that will allow him to start the race.

Mathieu isn't riding Liège because he doesn't want to, not because his team wansn't invited. Corendon has been invited to virtually every classic this season. Mathieu chooses his races carefully because he has other plans.

 

[Pantani_lives]

My stars:

*****Alaphilippe, Fuglsang
****Matthews, Kwiatkowski
***Nibali, Schachmann
**Gilbert, Bardet, Lambrecht
*Valverde, Vanendert, Wellens, Clarke

 

[cellardoor]

Re:

My stars:

*****Alaphilippe, Fuglsang
****Matthews, Kwiatkowski
***Nibali, Schachmann
**Gilbert, Bardet, Lambrecht
*Valverde, Vanendert, Wellens, Clarke

No stars for Jungels?