Liège–Bastogne–Liège **Spoilers**

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Comments

  • Crozza
    Crozza Posts: 991
    Fantastic last hour to watch, especially since I had Martin at 18/1 :D
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    A giro and a monument in 12 months.

    Not bad for a team on a small budget.
    _
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,661
    There would appear to be a simple answer to all the good race/bad race stuff...

    Any race that ddraver can't watch is a classic!

    :(
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • pollys_bott
    pollys_bott Posts: 1,012
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    Was I the only person to pick Martin for PTP?

    He also made me about £90!

    Nope! :D

    But I didn't go to the bookies... :(
  • cogidubnus
    cogidubnus Posts: 860
    Where did Schleck place? was he in the chasing peleton or dnf?...
  • milton50
    milton50 Posts: 3,856
    Cogidubnus wrote:
    Where did Schleck place? was he in the chasing peloton or dnf?...

    41st at 1:20 back apparently. At least he's going in the right direction.
  • cogidubnus
    cogidubnus Posts: 860
    Yup a step in the right direction I guess. I hope he has a good Tour as he's been pretty woeful so far this season
  • dolan_driver
    dolan_driver Posts: 831
    exlaser wrote:
    he is about as lrish as me and he and i have other things in common. we were both are born in the the midlands and speak with a brummie accent!. :D

    wish i was half as good as he is on a bike!!!!!!!! :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

    chapeau dan martin.

    That is correct but for whatever reason, he decided to declare for Ireland and we are happy to have him. It is a victory that both the Brits and us Paddies can take pride in.

    Did anyone notice Sean Kelly "disappeared" for the last 500 metres of the race on Eurosport, presumably out of his seat and craning his neck out of the commentary booth trying to see Martin coming up the finishing straight. Thoroughly unprofessional! But brilliant. :D

    DD.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,710
    Just watched the lot.
    Personally, I wasn't as impressed as some, here.
    The replacement climb wasn't up to par.
    Also, the race was ruined for me by Kirby.
    He works on the principle that the more random, unconnected words he spews,
    the more chance he has of getting something right.


    Great result, though.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • inkyfingers
    inkyfingers Posts: 4,400
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    Just watched the lot.
    Personally, I wasn't as impressed as some, here.
    The replacement climb wasn't up to par.
    Also, the race was ruined for me by Kirby.
    He works on the principle that the more random, unconnected words he spews,
    the more chance he has of getting something right.


    Great result, though.

    I thought the new climb was going to be a bit soft, but it actually saw the race split up nicely, with the Hesjedal/Uran group going up the road and loads of guys dropped. La Redoubte and before was a disappointment, but the last 25km was very good.

    Agree on Kirby though.
    "I have a lovely photo of a Camargue horse but will not post it now" (Frenchfighter - July 2013)
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,163
    I'm claiming Dan as an honorary club member. His mum and dad used to attend all our club dinners in the late 80s and 90s. Great ride by Ryder, I hadn't realised he hung on to finish so high up. Good to see Schleck at least lasting the course and showing signs he may actually still want to ride a bike for a living.
  • Squaggles
    Squaggles Posts: 875
    Carlton Kirby , why ?
    The UCI are Clowns and Fools
  • mroli
    mroli Posts: 3,622
    Can I just say that I thought Garmin rode brilliantly. Hesjedal went off and Martin was "spoiling" on the peleton. Then when the chase group went and caught Hesjedal, Martin took it up so Hesjedal could recover. He then did a big turn and Martin got it back so he could go and pass Rodriguez.

    Least ways that's what I saw. A fantastic example of a team working together and instead of worrying about playing 4/5 cards, they played 1, then another and played them very well.
    http://www.georgesfoundation.org
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  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    Great win for Dan Martin.

    You're welcome back any time you want Dan!
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • LeicesterLad
    LeicesterLad Posts: 3,908
    Milton50 wrote:
    Cogidubnus wrote:
    Where did Schleck place? was he in the chasing peloton or dnf?...

    41st at 1:20 back apparently. At least he's going in the right direction.

    Schleck finished well ahead of Contador, thats it: Schleck for the Tour! :D
    http://www.twitter.com/InTheGC http://www.InTheGC.com http://www.facebook.com/intheGC
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/ive-won-the-biggest-classic-of-the-year-clean-its-an-incredible-feeling-im-stunned/

    Nice piece here, not enough riders say it out loud.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,235
    Chuffed with that result. Dan Martin really seems to be coming of age this year. He now sits third in the UCI WorldTour Ranking behind only Sagan and Cancellara.

    Impressive couple of weeks from young Betancur too. He's proving to be a brilliant acquisition by AG2R.
  • roypsb
    roypsb Posts: 309
    Great last hour. Congrat to Martin, brilliant win.

    Can't see why anyone has a problem with Kirby - I really like him and Harmon. Both are considerably better that Hatch and others IMHO.
  • Crozza
    Crozza Posts: 991
    when the Eurosport moto-camera was tracking Rodriguez up the final climb, I could just see a front wheel bobbing in-and-out of shot. when it became clear that the wheel belonged to Martin I shouted out, and my 18 month old son promptly burst into tears!
  • philbar72
    philbar72 Posts: 2,229
    Kirbys the best of a bad bunch. I like his enthusiasm, and he's far better than that fool liggett. as for the race, Hesjedal put in an almighty turn at the front, loved his time trialling at what 240km into the race!

    Chapeu to Dan Martin as well, fantastic ride. and to Purito for giving it a go at the end. Has to be said Betancur looks likely to be the real deal, reckon he'll have a great season.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Wow, what a race. I really enjoyed that and massive hats off to Dan Martin. Although he did nothing of solo note he still was clearly the strongest and rode very well in the last 30km. Any guy who is at the sharp end of that race deserves respect.

    Hesjedal put a big smile on my face. Proper big ring attack that was. Pain face properly in place and churning in the 53x11. Then still strong enough to ride his legs off for Martin.

    He has been aggressive the past week or so and I expect he is honing his legs to reach the pain cave and stay there come the Giro.

    Very pleased Valverde suffered - the guy makes it his speciallity to let others close down gaps. It has to be said though that he continues to perform at the highest level.

    Contador - nice attack when he went but looks like he didn't have the legs to sustain it. Hopefully he

    Sky were nothing but that is to be expected in these races.

    Gilbert looks fat and slow. He needs to find his A game pretty quickly as he is looking pretty average. That being said, he did finish only down 18 secs! I suppose it is all relative to how he was before.

    Loved Joaquim's attack - very solid and wouldn't have minded if he won, although I did prefer Martin bagging the biggest race.

    Good to see Andy finish and finish well. A super long and hard race - he may well have a great Tour. Would love to see him go awol for the Polka dots.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    LeicesterLad wrote:
    Milton50 wrote:
    Cogidubnus wrote:
    Where did Schleck place? was he in the chasing peloton or dnf?...

    41st at 1:20 back apparently. At least he's going in the right direction.

    Schleck finished well ahead of Contador, thats it: Schleck for the Tour! :D

    Haha, I'll take your money on that one :-)
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  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Very pleased Valverde suffered - the guy makes it his speciallity to let others close down gaps. It has to be said though that he continues to perform at the highest level.
    Valverde supposedly had a problem in the last kms with the electronics of his gears, them not shifting properly and eventually preventing him counter Rodriguez's attack.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Interesting. He didn't look flustered or annoyed. He was sat calmly with no last km fire. However he did finish strongly.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Photos from the race are not so good. Martin didn't look too cool, he had his ear-piece hanging out, Liege is ugly and Valverde was wearing leg warmers but no arm warmers again.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • skylla
    skylla Posts: 758
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Photos from the race are not so good. Martin didn't look too cool, he had his ear-piece hanging out, Liege is ugly and Valverde was wearing leg warmers but no arm warmers again.

    Was thinking that too. Nice race though, great win. Credits to itv4 for the highlights.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    tumblr_mlmxu3kxIL1qesi6wo1_1280.jpg
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    From Gerrans Q and A:

    Q: How do you respond to the criticism of LBL (not your ride so much) as “boring”… are the Ardennes classics too hard to encourage riders to “have a go” and is it just a case of “so hard we only have one shot”? Fabulous win and please, not denigrating it in any way, but it was a bit of a dull watch, especially when compared to the “northern Classics” – as was Fleche, and Amstel to a degree. If we want to encourage others to watch our beautiful sport, what would you suggest to make races such as this more interesting?
    A: I think the criticism of the race being boring is a little harsh. In all the classics this year we saw large groups getting very close to the finish. These races are so long and hard, it is pretty rare these days that someone has the legs to attack from a long way out and stay away to take the win. In order to win you really can’t afford to be wasting energy unnecessarily.
    There is so much tradition in these races, so I don’t think we will see a change in parcours or distance to make the race more exciting. I think the addition of on bike cameras (MotoGP style) would give the viewer a much better insight to what is happening during the race, making it more interesting and exciting for the TV audience.
  • Macaloon
    Macaloon Posts: 5,545
    sjmclean wrote:
    From Gerrans Q and A:

    Q: How do you respond to the criticism of LBL (not your ride so much) as “boring”… are the Ardennes classics too hard to encourage riders to “have a go” and is it just a case of “so hard we only have one shot”? Fabulous win and please, not denigrating it in any way, but it was a bit of a dull watch, especially when compared to the “northern Classics” – as was Fleche, and Amstel to a degree. If we want to encourage others to watch our beautiful sport, what would you suggest to make races such as this more interesting?
    A: I think the criticism of the race being boring is a little harsh. In all the classics this year we saw large groups getting very close to the finish. These races are so long and hard, it is pretty rare these days that someone has the legs to attack from a long way out and stay away to take the win. In order to win you really can’t afford to be wasting energy unnecessarily.
    There is so much tradition in these races, so I don’t think we will see a change in parcours or distance to make the race more exciting. I think the addition of on bike cameras (MotoGP style) would give the viewer a much better insight to what is happening during the race, making it more interesting and exciting for the TV audience.

    Good stuff that, cheers. For a sport that embraces the cutting edge in technology through participants and sponsors, it's incredibly conservative in its coverage. The 4 Jours de Dunkerque camera work is amazing. The roads are narrow, riders strung out and the bikes get incredibly close, capturing a much greater sense of speed. Maybe one of these upcoming movies with on-bike cameras will do a Gravity job on what is possible.
    ...a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.
  • deejay
    deejay Posts: 3,138
    Macaloon wrote:
    sjmclean wrote:
    it more interesting and exciting for the TV audience.
    Good stuff that, cheers. For a sport that embraces the cutting edge in technology through participants and sponsors, it's incredibly conservative in its coverage. The 4 Jours de Dunkerque camera work is amazing. The roads are narrow, riders strung out and the bikes get incredibly close, capturing a much greater sense of speed. Maybe one of these upcoming movies with on-bike cameras will do a Gravity job on what is possible.
    All that is needed is some camera man with a bit of intelligence to show a cycle race and not some idiot that can only show pictures that are no better than watching a wheel or handlebar that could be on a turbo trainer.
    Where is that wheel running on that road. ?
    Answer that it could be anywhere or the leg and crank going round and round is so boring that the general public would rather watch the "Tick-Tock" tennis match over 5 sets.
    The Italians had camera's on riders in the peloton some 10 years ago and that was boring also.
    quote above, wrote:
    The roads are narrow, riders strung out and the bikes get incredibly close, capturing a much greater sense of speed.
    "Agree with that" because on wide roads those idiot cameramen will get along side with no sense of speed or of the terrain the riders are having to graft over or indeed the scenery.

    I Love watching the Giro d'Italia because it is so often through those narrow streets and the camera has to follow to also show me the body language of the riders.

    The pictures you enjoy watching are from the front or the back of the riders and I'm not against an occasional side view look at a rider's pain.
    Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 1972

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