Liege-Bastogne-Liege

disgruntledgoat
disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
edited February 2016 in Pro race
Bit early on this one, but as part of the modern trend of fixing what ain't broke, Stockeau is gone

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/02/news/new-cobbled-climb-may-shake-up-liege-finale_396362

Ridiculous.
"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

Comments

  • Richmond Racer 2
    Richmond Racer 2 Posts: 4,698
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    Bit early on this one, but as part of the modern trend of fixing what ain't broke, Stockeau is gone

    http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/02/news/new-cobbled-climb-may-shake-up-liege-finale_396362

    Ridiculous.



    Now just a cotton pickin' minute.....WHAAAAAT?
  • milton50
    milton50 Posts: 3,856
    I'll be honest, I quite like it.
  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    I've seen a couple of reports about how this is supposed to be bad for Valverde.

    Can't see it myself, it's hardly as if he can't climb.
  • dish_dash
    dish_dash Posts: 5,647
    The velonews report called him a sprinter... which I thought was odd...
  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,317
    When Valverde wins Flèche W again it'll be sort of a sprint - just a bit uphill. And his win at Ruta last week was simply a very long sprint on his own up a 14km climb...
  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    OCDuPalais wrote:
    When Valverde wins Flèche W again it'll be sort of a sprint - just a bit uphill. And his win at Ruta last week was simply a very long sprint on his own up a 14km climb...

    He'd positioned himself well coming into the finale, jumped off Tejay's wheel and went for the line.
  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,317
    Joelsim wrote:
    OCDuPalais wrote:
    When Valverde wins Flèche W again it'll be sort of a sprint - just a bit uphill. And his win at Ruta last week was simply a very long sprint on his own up a 14km climb...

    He'd positioned himself well coming into the finale, jumped off Tejay's wheel and went for the line.

    Exactly.
    Although, to be fair to Teejay - he's only a lead out man for Porte.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,708
    On the one hand I don't like the tweaking of monuments, but on the other hand LBL has consistently been the most god-awfully boring race of the spring (if not the year) for the past few years so perhaps it's a good thing to shake it up a bit...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,317
    ddraver wrote:
    On the one hand I don't like the tweaking of monuments, but on the other hand LBL has consistently been the most god-awfully boring race of the spring (if not the year) for the past few years so perhaps it's a good thing to shake it up a bit...
    I agree. Until about 8 years ago, L-B-L was always my favourite classic. Apparently the hardest classic (in a proper sense - rather than the circus difficulty of P-R) - in theory, it was the first big opportunity of the year for the GT GC-ers (Indurain, Ullrich, etc) to show these one day Charlie's how it's done (they never did).
    I think cycling fans are starting to understand that cramming a race with ever more brutal climbing doesn't result in the best racing.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    But if you're going to get rid of a climb, why get rid of one in the prettiest portion of the race in the middle of a succession of 3 climbs with a monument to Eddy sodding Merckx at the top? Just drop out Ancienne Barrierre or some other straight-away A Road instead!
    "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
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,708
    well true, as in all cases I assume the answer is money and that there is ample space for a VIP tent over flowing with Primus all the way up the new climb...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • philbar72
    philbar72 Posts: 2,229
    last few years its just been about the last 3 climbs and the attrition beforehand. no change this year.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    ddraver wrote:
    well true, as in all cases I assume the answer is money and that there is ample space for a VIP tent over flowing with Primus all the way up the new climb...

    Either that, or Cancellara is planning to race this year and has been doing his shop steward bit... It was that descent he neutralised back in the 2009 Tour. The road is, to be fair, appalling on the way down.
    "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
  • Richmond Racer 2
    Richmond Racer 2 Posts: 4,698
    dish_dash wrote:
    The velonews report called him a sprinter... which I thought was odd...


    What a very poor bit of cycling journalism. If something is good for Purito, its gonna be good for Piti
  • milton50
    milton50 Posts: 3,856
    Richmond Racer 2 wrote:
    dish_dash wrote:
    The velonews report called him a sprinter... which I thought was odd...


    What a very poor bit of cycling journalism. If something is good for Purito, its gonna be good for Piti

    Yeh, I didn't understand that bit either.
  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,317
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    But if you're going to get rid of a climb, why get rid of one in the prettiest portion of the race in the middle of a succession of 3 climbs with a monument to Eddy sodding Merckx at the top? Just drop out Ancienne Barrierre or some other straight-away A Road instead!

    In that case, "why" indeed! I thought you were just bemoaning any changing of the route whatsoever.
  • dish_dash
    dish_dash Posts: 5,647
    Milton50 wrote:
    Richmond Racer 2 wrote:
    dish_dash wrote:
    The velonews report called him a sprinter... which I thought was odd...


    What a very poor bit of cycling journalism. If something is good for Purito, its gonna be good for Piti

    Yeh, I didn't understand that bit either.

    quite
  • The_Boy
    The_Boy Posts: 3,099
    Tbf, the new climb is very pretty. Unless the article I was reading was doubt the Modern Journalism trick of just using a stock image which looks like it might or might belong next to the article.
    Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,823
    I'd rather lose Haute Levee than Stockeu but if it makes the finale more interesting I'm all for it.

    As mentioned, LBL has been the most boring classic for a number of years

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