BTW: Greg, who rode a more than decent race, was about to rejoin the groupe with Alaphilippe in the descent of the Roche aux Faucons. Untill Matthews fell and dragged him down with him.
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Should have said that in Innsbruck.Sestriere said:Apperently, when Alaphilippe was riding next to Fuglsang ahead of La Redoute he said to him: "I hope you win today.", as he felt he didn't have it today.
armchairclimber said:I sometimes wonder if some people have just watched the last 20km and then come on to denounce a bore fest. There were several breaks and attempted escapes beforehand ... they just didn't succeed. I used to like the finale in Ans but I thought today was a better race to watch.
Lequack said:Gesink sustains broken collarbone and pelvis in Liege-Bastogne-Liege crash
Jumbo-Visma rider forced out of upcoming Giro d'Italia
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gesink-sustains-broken-collarbone-and-pelvis-in-liege-bastogne-liege-crash/
And then the Dutch call Arjen Robben the 'the glass man'Lequack said:Gesink sustains broken collarbone and pelvis in Liege-Bastogne-Liege crash
Jumbo-Visma rider forced out of upcoming Giro d'Italia
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gesink-sustains-broken-collarbone-and-pelvis-in-liege-bastogne-liege-crash/
Haha, true.Alexandre B. said:Should have said that in Innsbruck.Sestriere said:Apperently, when Alaphilippe was riding next to Fuglsang ahead of La Redoute he said to him: "I hope you win today.", as he felt he didn't have it today.
This, if it's a steep climb and the effort is at least around 5min long he's beatable.Red Rick said:Alaphilippe is clearly overrated on climbs longer than a few minutes. He's still good but not world class.
I wouldn't count him unfortunate with the route change just yet. Fuglsang would've won on any route today.
Bardamu said:Grande Jakob, he had it coming. How did Danish television react to his near crash?
Pantani_lives said:So the two unhappy guys from the Amstel have both made up by winning an Ardennes classic. Today was a good race. I like it when the strongest guy wins. We've seen action from 100 km before the finish. Only La Redoute was tame, but that's tactically understandable. Wellens' attack looked good, but Astana controlled the gap and brought Birdsong in an ideal position at the foot of RaF. The moment when he dropped Formolo was superb. Until then I thought he would finish second again.
Gigs_98 said:The big Problem of this race is it's name. There are plenty hard climbs around La Redoute but because the race has to go all the way to bastogne and back they have to take a relatively straight forward route. Therefore the section before la redoute is way too easy and attacking there is suicide. Ditching RaF would clearly help but it's not as simple as that.Red Rick said:Ofcourse the solution is to ditch RaF.Valv.Piti said:Dno who to solve Liege. Maybe ditch Roche or make a route that's not including Redoute in some way to mix things up.
I'd love to see the section before La Redoute be made harder. Maybe take a few of the early hills out.
Pantani_lives said:So the two unhappy guys from the Amstel have both made up by winning an Ardennes classic. Today was a good race. I like it when the strongest guy wins. We've seen action from 100 km before the finish. Only La Redoute was tame, but that's tactically understandable. Wellens' attack looked good, but Astana controlled the gap and brought Birdsong in an ideal position at the foot of RaF. The moment when he dropped Formolo was superb. Until then I thought he would finish second again.
This, if it's a steep climb and the effort is at least around 5min long he's beatable.Mayomaniac said:[quote="Red Rick":33levx75]Alaphilippe is clearly overrated on climbs longer than a few minutes. He's still good but not world class.
I wouldn't count him unfortunate with the route change just yet. Fuglsang would've won on any route today.
Leinster said:Pantani_lives said:So the two unhappy guys from the Amstel have both made up by winning an Ardennes classic. Today was a good race. I like it when the strongest guy wins. We've seen action from 100 km before the finish. Only La Redoute was tame, but that's tactically understandable. Wellens' attack looked good, but Astana controlled the gap and brought Birdsong in an ideal position at the foot of RaF. The moment when he dropped Formolo was superb. Until then I thought he would finish second again.
I was pretty confident he could beat Formolo in a sprint. When he actually dropped Formolo, I was only ever so slightly concerned that it meant a coordinated Bora chase would run him down, so dropping his companion actually lessened his chances. But Schachmann's group never caught Formolo, and they all lost time the whole way in.
This, if it's a steep climb and the effort is at least around 5min long he's beatable.Mayomaniac said:[quote="Red Rick":tzekgear]Alaphilippe is clearly overrated on climbs longer than a few minutes. He's still good but not world class.
I wouldn't count him unfortunate with the route change just yet. Fuglsang would've won on any route today.
Up to 3min he's nearly undroppable.
Kwibus said:armchairclimber said:I sometimes wonder if some people have just watched the last 20km and then come on to denounce a bore fest. There were several breaks and attempted escapes beforehand ... they just didn't succeed. I used to like the finale in Ans but I thought today was a better race to watch.
To be fair the breakaway always consisted of the helpers of their leaders.
That's not what I meant.Vesica said:Gigs_98 said:The big Problem of this race is it's name. There are plenty hard climbs around La Redoute but because the race has to go all the way to bastogne and back they have to take a relatively straight forward route. Therefore the section before la redoute is way too easy and attacking there is suicide. Ditching RaF would clearly help but it's not as simple as that.Red Rick said:Ofcourse the solution is to ditch RaF.Valv.Piti said:Dno who to solve Liege. Maybe ditch Roche or make a route that's not including Redoute in some way to mix things up.
I'd love to see the section before La Redoute be made harder. Maybe take a few of the early hills out.
Well that doesn't make sense at all. If you have nice hills between Bastogne and Liege, you'll have the same nice hills between Liege and Bastogne. Of course you can make the route towards Bastogne harder. The easier first half (or 100 km better) is a choice. It's not that the hills are not there.
Gigs_98 said:Vesica said:Gigs_98 said:The big Problem of this race is it's name. There are plenty hard climbs around La Redoute but because the race has to go all the way to bastogne and back they have to take a relatively straight forward route. Therefore the section before la redoute is way too easy and attacking there is suicide. Ditching RaF would clearly help but it's not as simple as that.Red Rick said:Ofcourse the solution is to ditch RaF.Valv.Piti said:Dno who to solve Liege. Maybe ditch Roche or make a route that's not including Redoute in some way to mix things up.
I'd love to see the section before La Redoute be made harder. Maybe take a few of the early hills out.
Now compare that to say the Ronde. If they don't like the Kwaremont Paterberg combo close to the finish of the race anymore they could just move the finish further away. If they decide they now the Kruisberg as the final climb instead, they could just change the route in a way that the Kruisberg comes last. They can just shape the race in whichever way they want. The organizers of Liege Bastogne Liege can't do that, and that hurts the race.
Simurgh said:More Strides than Rides said:Sagan's bid doesn't seem so farfetched, had he been typical Sagan in 2019
Was thinking the same - a top form Sagan would still be (perhaps even sitting comfortably) in the peloton. Fuglsang won't win today, he should have attacked a lot earlier. It is too late for him now.
Gigs_98 said:I don't know. I admit the race was over the second Formolo couldn't hold Fuglsang's wheel but there was some action earlier (nothing huge but there was more going on prior to La Redoute than in previous years) and sadly I don't even think previous editions were always great from Saint Nicholas onwards. 2016, or whichever year it was when Poels won, riders didn't even attack there but waited for that added ramp 2 kilometers from the finish or so. Of course that was again a different route but even in the years with the classic Ans finish I can remember cases where you would just watch mediocre attack after mediocre attack knowing that the only ones who could possibly blow up the race were waiting for the uphill drag to Ans. In some of those post 2010 editions won by Valverde or Gerrans the race didn't really start until the 1 km marker and I think that was way worse than what we witnessed today.Brullnux said:Disagree. At least in past years there was usually action from saint-nicholas to the end, this was literally the second half of roche aux faucons to the little rise after the false flat. Not saying it's tthe route's fault, the shite weather played its part, but it was definitely on par, if not worse, to previous yearsGigs_98 said:Why though? The last esitions of this race were so much worse than todays race.fuiers said:Well done Jakob. On the other note I did prefer the previous final with climbs.