Also, it's worth mentioning that Slagter was outside top 20 and behind even Wegmann, so HA I told you guys. Not that I wanted him to do badly and he still has a lot of time to improve.
valverde321 wrote:
Is it just me or does Gilbert look thinner this year, than in recent years? Great effort by him, and great to see Arashiro so high up
Man what is up wiith the Schleck's their actually embarrasing it's that bad to watch. Andy is still young aswell yet he is just gonna chuck it away he would have become a Pantani like figure if he had actually had longgevity. I feel he would have become a top 10 climber ever probabaly higher.
atlanta wrote:
Man what is up wiith the Schleck's their actually embarrasing it's that bad to watch. Andy is still young aswell yet he is just gonna chuck it away he would have become a Pantani like figure if he had actually had longgevity. I feel he would have become a top 10 climber ever probabaly higher.
Again with this changed final, the race turned out into a boring parade untill the final ascend of the Cauberg. With lots of steep and probably decisive hills (Gulperberg-Kruisberg-Eyserbosweg-Keutenberg) way too long before the finish, all the favourites remain calm there.
In fact, except for the Keutenberg, it was a peloton barely ascending faster than I dit last year riding them without a good condition etcetera. These hills don't deserve this.
The organisation decided to create a fairly easy final with the Geulhemmerweg, a long flat part, the bairly ascending Bemelerberg, another long flat part...
So instead of getting a smaller group of 10-12 favourites together (like 10 years ago), we see a group of 50 (?) racing towards the Cauberg. Dont like it......
About the race: great ride by Gilbert, just knowing where to start his attack at the Cauberg. Vanendert surprised, taking 2nd out of nowhere, and he has to give a bg thanks to Gerrans-Valverde-Kwiatkowski who were a bunch of egos not even trying to get Gilbert back (okay, only Kwiat). Mollema scored a nice 7th, Dumoulin was 20th and realized that he was stupid to attack on the flat after the Bemelerberg.
So wednesday another "let's wait as long as possible, because the Fleche can only be decided at the Mur de Huy, not before-race". Hopefully LBL will be better, just as de Ronde.
dienblad wrote:
Again with this changed final, the race turned out into a boring parade untill the final ascend of the Cauberg. With lots of steep and probably decisive hills (Gulperberg-Kruisberg-Eyserbosweg-Keutenberg) way too long before the finish, all the favourites remain calm there.
In fact, except for the Keutenberg, it was a peloton barely ascending faster than I dit last year riding them without a good condition etcetera. These hills don't deserve this.
The organisation decided to create a fairly easy final with the Geulhemmerweg, a long flat part, the bairly ascending Bemelerberg, another long flat part...
So instead of getting a smaller group of 10-12 favourites together (like 10 years ago), we see a group of 50 (?) racing towards the Cauberg. Dont like it......
About the race: great ride by Gilbert, just knowing where to start his attack at the Cauberg. Vanendert surprised, taking 2nd out of nowhere, and he has to give a bg thanks to Gerrans-Valverde-Kwiatkowski who were a bunch of egos not even trying to get Gilbert back (okay, only Kwiat). Mollema scored a nice 7th, Dumoulin was 20th and realized that he was stupid to attack on the flat after the Bemelerberg.
So wednesday another "let's wait as long as possible, because the Fleche can only be decided at the Mur de Huy, not before-race". Hopefully LBL will be better, just as de Ronde.
TimoCycling wrote:
[quote]dienblad wrote:
Again with this changed final, the race turned out into a boring parade untill the final ascend of the Cauberg. With lots of steep and probably decisive hills (Gulperberg-Kruisberg-Eyserbosweg-Keutenberg) way too long before the finish, all the favourites remain calm there.
In fact, except for the Keutenberg, it was a peloton barely ascending faster than I dit last year riding them without a good condition etcetera. These hills don't deserve this.
The organisation decided to create a fairly easy final with the Geulhemmerweg, a long flat part, the bairly ascending Bemelerberg, another long flat part...
So instead of getting a smaller group of 10-12 favourites together (like 10 years ago), we see a group of 50 (?) racing towards the Cauberg. Dont like it......
About the race: great ride by Gilbert, just knowing where to start his attack at the Cauberg. Vanendert surprised, taking 2nd out of nowhere, and he has to give a bg thanks to Gerrans-Valverde-Kwiatkowski who were a bunch of egos not even trying to get Gilbert back (okay, only Kwiat). Mollema scored a nice 7th, Dumoulin was 20th and realized that he was stupid to attack on the flat after the Bemelerberg.
So wednesday another "let's wait as long as possible, because the Fleche can only be decided at the Mur de Huy, not before-race". Hopefully LBL will be better, just as de Ronde.
Nah, I wouldn't say that. Maybe the positioning of the hills could be changed to make it more interesting, yes, but indeed we had a nice group going for it and if things would have gone different, a smaller group in the end had a chance.
But the little flat part after Cauberg: I love it! I mean, when they were on top of it, you couldn't know if Gilbert just had won because when Gerrans-Valverde-Kwiatkowski had chased harder, there would have been a sprint. And f.e. I really appreciate that a guy like Vanendert could make profit on the flat, I think it is good for the race and makes the final more interesting than just "let's sprint uphill and see who is strongest".
About Dumoulin: You know that he was supposed to attack before the final as his captain Geschke should do it then? And, as a German, I really love that Geschke was able to get 6th btw, there are some German puncheurs coming their way finally
TimoCycling wrote:
[quote]dienblad wrote:
Again with this changed final, the race turned out into a boring parade untill the final ascend of the Cauberg. With lots of steep and probably decisive hills (Gulperberg-Kruisberg-Eyserbosweg-Keutenberg) way too long before the finish, all the favourites remain calm there.
In fact, except for the Keutenberg, it was a peloton barely ascending faster than I dit last year riding them without a good condition etcetera. These hills don't deserve this.
The organisation decided to create a fairly easy final with the Geulhemmerweg, a long flat part, the bairly ascending Bemelerberg, another long flat part...
So instead of getting a smaller group of 10-12 favourites together (like 10 years ago), we see a group of 50 (?) racing towards the Cauberg. Dont like it......
About the race: great ride by Gilbert, just knowing where to start his attack at the Cauberg. Vanendert surprised, taking 2nd out of nowhere, and he has to give a bg thanks to Gerrans-Valverde-Kwiatkowski who were a bunch of egos not even trying to get Gilbert back (okay, only Kwiat). Mollema scored a nice 7th, Dumoulin was 20th and realized that he was stupid to attack on the flat after the Bemelerberg.
So wednesday another "let's wait as long as possible, because the Fleche can only be decided at the Mur de Huy, not before-race". Hopefully LBL will be better, just as de Ronde.
Nah, I wouldn't say that. Maybe the positioning of the hills could be changed to make it more interesting, yes, but indeed we had a nice group going for it and if things would have gone different, a smaller group in the end had a chance.
But the little flat part after Cauberg: I love it! I mean, when they were on top of it, you couldn't know if Gilbert just had won because when Gerrans-Valverde-Kwiatkowski had chased harder, there would have been a sprint. And f.e. I really appreciate that a guy like Vanendert could make profit on the flat, I think it is good for the race and makes the final more interesting than just "let's sprint uphill and see who is strongest".
About Dumoulin: You know that he was supposed to attack before the final as his captain Geschke should do it then? And, as a German, I really love that Geschke was able to get 6th btw, there are some German puncheurs coming their way finally
Flat part after the Cauberg: didn't mention or mean that, makes the race a little bit more unpredictable, so a good choice.
Dumoulin: he tld himself for Dutch television that he made the mistake in attacking too early, even when there was headwind. Said he couldn't wait. But on the other hand: waiting and finishing in 10th, or try it more often and maybe 1 time it'll work out!
