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Fleche Wallone Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-08-2015 15:43
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Preview written by Luis Leon Sanchez! Thanks for that
 La Fleche Wallone
La Fleche Wallone is one of the biggest one day classics of the Man-Game Pro Tour calendar. Taking place in the beautiful country of Belgium this race, as always, is bound to be a hotly contested one. This year's edition is as always a challenging one. At 197.2kms in length it may not be the longest of the classics but with the hills it contains it will as always be a great race to watch.
Obviously the hills are always a big deciding factor in this race but last year's edition came down to a 4 man sprint while the 2013 version saw a 23 man group finish together. Therefore having a good sprint/acceleration stat can be vital for those hoping to gun for the top spots in the finale.
Race History
| 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | | 1st |  Francesco Ginnani |  Edvald Boasson Hagen |  Sylvain Chavanel | | 2nd | Simone Ponzi |  Tejay Van Garderen |  Michael Albasini | | 3rd |  Yuri Trofimov | Dimitri Claeys |  Maciej Paterski | | 4th | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Jan Bakelants | Edvald Boasson Hagen | | 5th | Riccardo Ricco | Simone Ponzi | Riccardo Ricco |
Riders to look out for in 2015
| HIL | SPR | ACC |  Edvald Boasson Hagen | 85 | 73 | 79 |  Jan Bakelants | 84 | 73 | 78 |  Yuri Trofimov | 83 | 74 | 76 |  Francesco Ginnani | 83 | 66 | 74 |  Dimitri Claeys | 83 | 66 | 73 |  Simone Ponzi | 82 | 76 | 80 |  Tejay Van Garderen | 82 | 70 | 79 |  Toms Skujins | 82 | 68 | 76 |  Simon Spilak | 82 | 67 | 74 |  Ben Gastauer | 82 | 67 | 76 |  Chris Froome | 82 | 54 | 75 |  Maurice Schreurs | 81 | 71 | 74 | | Aleksandar Flügel | 81 | 68 | 74 |  Stefan Schumacher | 81 | 67 | 72 |  Diego Ulissi | 80 | 73 | 75 |  Cyril Gautier | 80 | 68 | 77 |  Rui Costa | 80 | 69 | 72 |
There would have to be 5 big favourites here who stand out above the rest. Boasson Hagen, Ponzi and Ginnani followed be Bakelants and Trofimov. They are the top riders in the hilly terrain and over the past few years have been the most consistent performers in this race. They are all in with a very good chance so this race will be a hard one to predict. There are certainly many other riders who could pull it out of the bag such as Van Garderen or the Volkswagen duo of Claeys and Flügel. Realistically, any of the top favourites could win this with a decisive attack or in the final sprint.
Edited by tsmoha on 04-08-2015 18:48
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 04-08-2015 15:51
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Another Top-15 will do 
The route may actually suit Bobridge more than Amstel, as it's significally shorter. But again no high expactations except of Top-20 as a must-achieve.
Should I call TVG for the win now? 
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 04-08-2015 15:55
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Froome to do better than 22nd..plis
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| Smowz |
Posted on 04-08-2015 15:57
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This should be more EbH here and barring breakaway which may be a risk for shorter race, he should be well suited.
It can be all about positioning in this one, have a feeling Ponzi could blast his way up again.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 04-08-2015 15:57
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Please do.  He has to have some leftover energy to use after his rather pathetic performance at Amstel. At least a top 5 is needed for sure.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 04-08-2015 16:10
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Vanendert will look to continue the trend set in Amstel.
Also, I don't think Chavanel won the race last year 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 09:16
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| beagle |
Posted on 04-08-2015 16:26
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With so many leaders around, I will only hope Ginanni will be lucky and set up by AI into group of contenders. At least he might be as a defending champion here
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| ember |
Posted on 04-08-2015 18:42
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I can only hope Boasson Hagen has better legs here compared to Amstel Gold Race. He did well here last year and won it in 2013, which should give some rightful hopes of a podium.
Martin is also here to add to Boasson Hagen's support, which can't be a bad thing. Obviously looking forward to the race, hopefully a better one for us than Amstel Gold Race considering the results. |
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 04-08-2015 18:46
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A prestiguous visit to the PT for Nutresa, paired with a start at LBL to follow . Have sent as strong a team as we have available in our roster, so should not disgrace the PCT or ourselves. The shorter distance here than LBL should be a little kinder for us where life may prove quite difficult. Presence in BoTD must be attempted and an outside chance of a top 20 with one of Klemme, Talansky or Chaves has some potential so fingers crossed!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 04-08-2015 18:49
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Fixed the preview (the startlist didn't show up, at least for me)
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 04-08-2015 18:54
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Not expecting much after AGR.
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| Kami |
Posted on 04-08-2015 18:57
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Joining the club.
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| Roman |
Posted on 04-08-2015 19:00
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Another Sagan miracle is totally unexpected, but I hope at least for one attack from him or a win in the bunch sprint on Mur for lower places.
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| Heine |
Posted on 04-08-2015 19:47
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Hoping that one of my riders attack a bit earlier. I feel they tried to late in relation to their stat in Amstel. If they can get 1 min + on the favorites with 10 km left they could give me surprise win.
Tbh, I will be happy with results like in Amstel, pretty much what I can expect
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| Crommy |
Posted on 04-08-2015 20:48
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I'm hoping Jan will continue to be aggressive here, but this time be the first to put in that final attack.
ALLEZ BAKELANTS
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 04-08-2015 21:09
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Glad to make another appearance in the Fleche. It's likely to be a very invisible race for us, but then if Costa were to fare well here I reckon I'd be pretty pissed
Anyway, given US Postal's bad luck in the Amstel I'll root for them here. Go Tejay!
Neat preview roturn. Thanks for it
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 04-08-2015 21:40
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5th, 10, 17th and 3rd are Trofimov's results in Fleche Wallone, not bad but I really hope he wins this time around, because that would mean he has won all 3 Ardennes classics.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 05-08-2015 06:49
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Top 30 this time...maybe?
Good luck to all!
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-08-2015 15:25
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Well Van Garderen seemed to listen to his manager now.
Also Sagan...wtf...
Congrats once again to rjc for another huge Ponzi performance. Also Festina will surely be happy with Spilak. Not wining yet but getting big points for the team.
Vesuvio, Becherovka again scoring similar. So Ardennes so far not making the difference, which must be a pity for SN as he clearly had expected to outscore Roman here. |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 05-08-2015 15:36
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I know Vanendert isn't a top rider, but this is low even for him.
Ponzi is having a great season in the hilly classics so far. 3 wins is impressive to say the least.
And to think people were expecting Becherovka to lose points in the Ardennes. And that's how it should have happened. But, boom! Sagan happened
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