Liège-Bastogne-Liège *spoiler thread*

frenchfighter

“It’s one thing, if you make a mistake, or you know what you’ve done. But I just fell out of a tree, basically,” Martin said. “You look at the road, I think there’s a batch of oil or something. Yeah, I think I pretty much had tears in my eyes before I hit the floor.

“It’s hard — there’s not really words. To race seven hours like that and just for it to happen on the last corner? Yeah. It’s poetry.”

“I didn’t know what was going on behind, I didn’t know how close the group was. All I know is that I was feeling pretty good still and I was very relaxed. I was 250 meters. Podium was definitely on the card. I don’t know if maybe Gerro would have caught me. I don’t know. There’s no way of knowing, you know?”

“The team rode unbelievably well all day. Everybody was so relaxed going into La Redoute. I rode a perfect race. I suffered a bit on [Côte de la Roche-aux]-Faucons, and had a bit of a difficult moment there and just really stayed relaxed and let the other guys attack and saved everything for one last effort in the last kilometer. And it nearly paid off. That’s the way it goes,” he said.

“It’s only a bike race, really. It’s still only a bike race. After Lombardia last year — I need to start getting used to falling off on the last corner, it appears. Hopefully that’s the last time. I don’t want to make a habit of it. But yeah. It just sucks. But that’s life.”


Slagter in 6th. Proper little racer that guy is. Respect.

Omar Little

Pretty dull race but it was a worthy winner in Gerrans. He gets far too much stick for playing to his strengths and getting the results - he has excellent racing nous and thats deserves some respect rather than abuse for that.

Wonder if it was the vector pods rather than the pedal that hit the ground with Martin?

tuneskyline

The benefit of speedplays

frenchfighter

Omar Little wrote:

Wonder if it was the vector pods rather than the pedal that hit the ground with Martin?

I thought this myself (he certainly has them - can be seen in the photos) but they shouldnt be an issue.



Funnily enough he doesnt mention anything about a pedal in his interview...he does mention a slick piece of road though.

frenchfighter

Respect to Samu - done a great job for Gilbert in Amstel and LBL. So pleased he ended up getting a ride for a big team - was very close to retiring.

blazing_saddles

The Tour of Turkey was the most exiting race of the day.
Gerrans beat Valverde at "Chicken".
The End.

Wheelspinner

Meanwhile, over on the PTP thread for LBL,

Wheelspinner wrote:

Gerrans please, mainly to p1$$ off Frenchie!

Two lots of win today for me I'd say.

Anonymous

frenchfighter wrote:

Omar Little wrote:

Wonder if it was the vector pods rather than the pedal that hit the ground with Martin?

I thought this myself (he certainly has them - can be seen in the photos) but they shouldnt be an issue.



Funnily enough he doesnt mention anything about a pedal in his interview...he does mention a slick piece of road though.

Why does Dan "rides on feel and is a true racer, no numbers just how he feels on the day" Martin got a bike fitted with a power meter?

Anonymous

"Postby frenchfighter » Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:00 pm

I doubt it was Dan Martin - he wouldnt look down on someone for not using an SRM given that he himself rides on feel. For more info see the Pure Climbers thread."

It's like that time with Contador and the power meter.

Richmond Racer

After a skinful of utter mawkishness on the Twatters about Dan Martin (yes, terribly unlucky - but that's sport)...

WELL DONE GERRANS

Plus OGE who worked bloody hard for him

You don't want Gerrans to be there for you to sprint against? then don't bloody well leave it to the final minutes of one of the longest 1-dayers in the calendar.

rick_chasey

Yup. Don't understand why no one tried to shake the tree sooner.

Paul 8v

sjmclean wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Omar Little wrote:

Wonder if it was the vector pods rather than the pedal that hit the ground with Martin?

I thought this myself (he certainly has them - can be seen in the photos) but they shouldnt be an issue.



Funnily enough he doesnt mention anything about a pedal in his interview...he does mention a slick piece of road though.

Why does Dan "rides on feel and is a true racer, no numbers just how he feels on the day" Martin got a bike fitted with a power meter?

Because he is sponsored by Garmin?

frenchfighter

Rick Chasey wrote:

Yup. Don't understand why no one tried to shake the tree sooner.

Did you watch the race?

frenchfighter

rick_chasey

frenchfighter wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Yup. Don't understand why no one tried to shake the tree sooner.

Did you watch the race?

Yup.

frenchfighter

Maybe you missed the multiple attacks in the last 50km. Obviously they didnt come to much other than the Pozzo / Caruso one, but they were there.

Garry H

Great day for Gerrans. Not too dissimilar to how Valverde won Fleche. Shame for Martin though

mechanism

A bit bizarre but possible?

knedlicky

Mechanism wrote:

A bit bizarre but possible?

"The pen is mightier than the sword"

Richmond Racer

l'Equipe not impressed with how yesterday's race was...raced...

www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Actua ... -ca/460590

frenchfighter

Richmond Racer wrote:

l'Equipe not impressed with how yesterday's race was...raced...

http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-rout ... -ca/460590

Kind of what I was saying - they soft pedal most of the race until 100km to go so they are not tired which is why the stages with climbs from the off or a long final climb with a very tough beginning will whittle the team leader's support down. I am in favour of smaller teams and somehow a point structure making it less important if you try all out then fail.

salsiccia1

Mechanism wrote:

A bit bizarre but possible?

Perhaps it's a disguised syringe, and fell out of his pocket when he crashed*

*Joke aimed at the P-R dropped tablets story

frenchfighter

OPQS supporting Kwiatek in numbers:

Richmond Racer

Decent analysis of the Classics season in VeloNews - and why we're seeing different racing now

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/04/ ... ity_325593

Crozza

frenchfighter wrote:

OPQS supporting Kwiatek in numbers:

no-one seems to have mentioned that Kwiatkowski had to go the long way round the outside of Dan Martin when he hit the deck, whilst Gerrans, Valverde et al nipped up the inside. nothing much in it but meant a small gap opened up, just as the other two started to kick and he was never coming back from there

frenchfighter

Crozza wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

OPQS supporting Kwiatek in numbers:

no-one seems to have mentioned that Kwiatkowski had to go the long way round the outside of Dan Martin when he hit the deck, whilst Gerrans, Valverde et al nipped up the inside. nothing much in it but meant a small gap opened up, just as the other two started to kick and he was never coming back from there

I thought that when I watched it back and Cosmo catalan also pointed it out. I suspect it wouldn't have made the difference - do you reckon it could have pushed him back a spot or two?

tailwindhome

Note pen on ground behind Dan

adr82

His pedal is already ridiculously close to the ground there...

frenchfighter

TailWindHome wrote:

Note pen on ground behind Dan

Ah. Good catch. So was too far behind. given he crashed a few m later on.

tailwindhome

Can't say they weren't warned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... Rp758#t=92

"What the plan of attack?"
"The plan is not to attack"




(via Inner Ring)


ETA - Reminds me of Mourinho's word to the Chelsea team IIRC before the FA Cup final against Man U....."You can enjoy the match or enjoy the celebration after the match."