Michael Valgren thread

[Broccolidwarf]

Being a contract year for him, rumours are heating up.

Astana might be hard pressed to keep him, if one of the big classics teams come calling, though he has said, he prefers to stay with Astana, if possible.

However, an outright captaincy for selected classics for him, I believe might do the trick, so that he stays

 

[Velolover2]

From what I know, Brailsford tried to him a couple of years ago.

A new man in the Sky jersey?

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

From what I know, Brailsford tried to him a couple of years ago.

A new man in the Sky jersey?

Wouldn't think so.... too many chiefs on that team - and too much focus on GTs..... then he is better off staying with Astana.

- and then, with all the drama he suffered on Tinkoff, I think he would shy away from Sky currently

Also, I think his only motivation to move, will be is he is offered an outright captaincy for a number of big races, and that will not happen with Sky.

 

[Velolover2]

He will win De Ronde solo next year.

Great perfomance today.

 

[gerundium]

Re:

He will win De Ronde solo next year.

Seeing the winner of omloop so strong in the final of a climby worlds i have no doubts. New classics star in the making, huge engine.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

They had an internal joke on a danish cycling podcast this year, where they called the Fuglsang/Valgren duo from Amstel "FuglGren". Maybe it was the FuglGren-version of Valgren we saw today, borrowing some of the climbing prowess from Fuglsang.

Certainly I did not expect him to finish 7th on a course this tough. The result really makes me wonder if Liege would be an even better target for him than Ronde van Vlaanderen? He's not that explosive compared to Sagan, Stybar etc

 

[SKSemtex]

Re:

They had an internal joke on a danish cycling podcast this year, where they called the Fuglsang/Valgren duo from Amstel "FuglGren". Maybe it was the FuglGren-version of Valgren we saw today, borrowing some of the climbing prowess from Fuglsang.

Certainly I did not expect him to finish 7th on a course this tough. The result really makes me wonder if Liege would be an even better target for him than Ronde van Vlaanderen? He's not that explosive compared to Sagan, Stybar etc

Definitely.

 

[Velolover2]

Re:

They had an internal joke on a danish cycling podcast this year, where they called the Fuglsang/Valgren duo from Amstel "FuglGren". Maybe it was the FuglGren-version of Valgren we saw today, borrowing some of the climbing prowess from Fuglsang.

Certainly I did not expect him to finish 7th on a course this tough. The result really makes me wonder if Liege would be an even better target for him than Ronde van Vlaanderen? He's not that explosive compared to Sagan, Stybar etc

Strade Bianche might be the ideal race for Valgren. The strongest rider always win. Unlike Liege, where a strong team is important, SB is about pure endurance in hilly terrain.

 

[Velolover2]

I have the feeling that he will focus more on the cobbles than the Ardennes next year since they also brought Gasparotto and Kreuziger. He could still ride Amstel but I'm sure sure about Liege after a long classics season.

I'm sure EBH want to lead DD in Roubaix, so he will only be the main captain in De Ronde.

 

[MuskyOurSaviour]

Lol. EBH and leading classic. Name a more failed duo.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Valgren really is a nice rider, extremely suited to hard and long races. Had it rained today and been freezing, Im not joking when Im saying he possibly could have won the whole damn thing. Today was way too controlled for him to ever stand a real chance, but in a 260 km race with rain all day, his great motor would had come even more on display.

 

[Velolover2]

Re:

Lol. EBH and leading classic. Name a more failed duo.

I'm sure Valgren would do better, even in Roubaix. But when you race on a team, you have to make compromises.

l'm sure Edvald will be happy in his new role as a dom for Valgren in most of the classics if he gets a chance in the race he hold the most dear: P-R.

 

[Andy262]

Great ride today, shame about the murito. Having had a couple of quid ew at 125-1 I was watching him closely all the way up Igls the last couple of times and he always looked to be going really well. Strong attack and descended well. Looking forward to next spring's classics now...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Valgren was screwed by the organization that decided to add the extreme climb. Pretty certain he would've been very close to gold today with just the Igls climb

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Valgren was screwed by the organization that decided to add the extreme climb. Pretty certain he would've been very close to gold today with just the Igls climb

Pretty certain the race might have been raced slightly differently with just the Igls climb.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Valgren was screwed by the organization that decided to add the extreme climb. Pretty certain he would've been very close to gold today with just the Igls climb

Pretty certain the race might have been raced slightly differently with just the Igls climb.

Also pretty sure the organisers didn't add the Höll climb just to screw Valgren.

 

[GuyIncognito]

So close and yet so far. If only his name was Valgrøn he'd literally be the danish Valverde.

 

[movingtarget]

He was very good. Gutsy ride.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

So close and yet so far. If only his name was Valgrøn he'd literally be the danish Valverde.

But could you imagine the problems the poor international commentators would have then?

 

[el chava]

I try not to be too patriotic and often do not even cheer riders from my home country, but that Valgren just oozes class, he is a really really smart rider. He will win the WC next year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Was so impressed by him yesterday. Really developing into a class rider.

 

[Bardamu]

The sort of rider who can win every monument from Sanremo to Liège. Hope he atleast manages to win a few, he's a great, attacking rider.

 

[tobydawq]

He really has improved massively this year. Yesterday was always going to be impossible but with Kragh, Mads Pedersen, Asgreen and Cort, the Danish team will be violently strong in the coming years and that simply must result in a rainbow jersey for one of them some day. And Valgren was already close in 2014 but in the future, he will have better chances, I think.

I hope he will carry on and ride Lombardia. With his current shape it would be a waste not to do it, since his climbing has become pretty excellent for a rider of his stature.

 

[RedheadDane]

I think it was stated somewhere that Montreal was his last race in the Astana jersey, with the World Championship being his last race of the season.
And there's also the little business of getting married.

 

[MADRAZO]

Re:

I have the feeling that he will focus more on the cobbles than the Ardennes next year since they also brought Gasparotto and Kreuziger. He could still ride Amstel but I'm sure sure about Liege after a long classics season.

I'm sure EBH want to lead DD in Roubaix, so he will only be the main captain in De Ronde.

In a very recent interview, I think it was on danish TV since I can't recall where, he sounded like Liege Bastogne Liege was his topgoal next year. He said something like "its a cool race and I would like to win it".