roturn - Happy to hear you find it an enjoyable read! I'm not as frequent with the reports as in past stories, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing - given that the quality was much lower back then.
Oh, and I really like that screen too!
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La Flèche Wallonne April 17th, 2014
In contrast to the group of four we saw in Amstel, there's a big breakaway today. Bardiani's Angelo Pagani is part of this one too, as is Yates - albeit Simon this time - and Thomas Rostollan, to name a few.
The first time up the Mur is upon the riders, and it is Lampre, Astana and Trek's Luxembourgian champion Bob Jungels setting the pace at the front end of the main field.
They're not going fast at all, but the peloton still gets stretched out when they pass the finish line - showing just how hard these final kilometers are.
Not much has changed 100 km later, except that BMC have ordered a couple of riders to take turns too. As a result of that addition, the break have been brought within two minutes.
Still barely any gaps in the peloton, though. It is stringed out to a long line once again, but only the heaviest riders have been unhitched.
Luckily, Astana seem to have had enough of this sleeping pill of a race and rallies at the front - perhaps to set up an attack from Nibali?
It might have been their intention, but Rui Costa gets there first and attacks with 13 km to the finish. Nibali himself is chasing.
Costa's move isn't going anywhere, but both he and Nibali join when various other riders bolt away on the ensuing descent.
Belkin and Sky try to contain the venturers, but Costa and Nibali have managed to pull out a gap with only 6 km to go. Along with Ulissi, Kiserlovski and Betancur, they start picking up the remaining early escapees.
After a couple of intense minutes, Sky manage to pull everything back together right at the bottom of the Mur. It's going to be a traditional Flèche finish after all, I guess.
First favourite to go: Ulissi. Still a very long way to the top!
He has good speed, and gains 100m almost instantly - causing countryman Nibali to go into chasing mode.
Lampre appear to have planned this perfectly, though. Tired from chasing Costa around earlier, Nibali can't seem to close the gap to Ulissi!
It is instead Kiserlovski who charges into second, followed by Betancur, Kwiatkowski and BMC duo Gilbert/Atapuma.
They gap is coming down, but is it quickly enough? Nibali, Betancur and Atapuma are spent and Kiserlovski is starting to lose momentum, so it is up to Amstel's first and second once again...
There's nothing left in their legs either - Diego Ulissi takes the biggest win of his career, and also disproves the myth that you can't win by attacking at the foot of the Mur. Full on domination on the final climb!
Surprise of the day, Kiserlovski gets 2nd, barely ahead of Kwiatkowski. Then another 4th place for Nibali, followed by Gilbert in 5th.
Behind them - believe it or not - Andy Schleck! There are small gaps all over the place, but nothing even remotely close to Ulissi's.
The results file went corrupt again, unfortunately. Top 25:
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Yeah, seems like a win is now in order after finishing two times on the podium. Kwiatkowski real strong here, continues his amazing early season form. Ulissi real strong, although his blue pants don't really match the rest of his outfit.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Again, thanks for the support. I'll try my best to get to the top at LBL!
Shonak - Good spot - it has been taken care of
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Liège - Bastogne - Liège: Preview April 21st, 2014
Time to fully wrap up the classics season with the oldest of them all, 'La Doyenne'. Always one of the biggest races on the calendar, but this year it's even more prestigious than usual - the 100th edition!
Mollema claimed the win in a close sprint against Cancellara last year, after most of the top favourites were run tired from chasing when they were caught behind a split on the early Côte de Saint-Roch.
The chances of such an early selection occuring again are of course small, but we're still hopefully in for a challenging day. Lets at least cross our fingers that the Colonster/Roche-aux-Faucons swap wont play out for the worse!
Bauke Mollema, Rigoberto Urán, Richie Porte, Simon Spilak, Rafal Majka, Jurgen Van den Broeck... although it might seem like the whole list of contenders, it's actually only those who have joined since Flèche!
I find LBL the most annoying stage to play on PCM...get stuck once and your race is over
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Discounting the quickly closed gaps in the peloton that inevitably appear after climbing Côte de Saint-Roch, nothing whatsoever has happened when Astana start cranking up the pace with La Redoute approaching and the starting point for the important part of the day.
Things do indeed look set to explode from here onwards, with La Pomme Marseille's Kangert and Kwiatkowski making their way to the front at the very bottom of La Redoute - knowing that position is key here.
The two team mates set a very high pace up the steep slope, and Kangert - likely a month away from top form - soon starts to fall back.
Kwiatkowski then keeps drilling on his own, and actually reaches the top with a small gap back to a peloton that has been reduced to less than 30 riders. In spite of that, Astana still have enough firepower to bring the Polish champion back.
Next up is the 'new' Côte de Colonster, where other big names feel it's time to get involved as well - Gerrans and Nibali go on the attack
Kwiatkowski tries to contain them at first, but eventually falls back a few positions to force Lampre and Belkin to chase down the two leaders instead.
With 15 km to go, they have around 20 seconds.
They are brought back at the base of Saint-Nicolas, but a determined Gerrans bounces off once again.
Funnily enough, it is Nibali who responds by upping the rhythm - bringing only 4 riders with him: Niemiec, Mollema, Urán and Gilbert
Kwiatkowski, Costa and Bakelants follow a few meters behind.
They are entering Liège now, and Gilbert feels it's go-time!
It looked like a potentially decisive move at first, but Nibali manages to run down the Belgian - causing the group to come to a slowdown, which lets the previously unhitched Kwiatkowski and Costa to re-enter.
It looks like we have a sprint between these eight at our hands, and it is Nibali who launches it when the climb to Ans begins. Gilbert, Gerrans and Kwiatkowski are closest to him.
It could well be Nibali vs. Gerrans yet again, as the Australian now pushes his way past the Astana rider under the kite. Costa has followed in the slipstream, and looks like the only other contender along with Gilbert and Kwiatkowski.
Might've been a slightly premature move from the Orica-GreenEdge rider. He starts to slow down as the road flattens out with 500m to go.
Nibali starts to make headway again, but it's Costa who takes the lead.
And it's Costa who takes the victory!
He clearly made the right decision to ride within himself on Saint-Nicolas, while the others appear to have broken each other. Nibali manages to passs Gerrans too, for 2nd, whereas Gilbert and Kwiatkowski were completely spent.
So, that's it for the Ardennes. Next stop: Romandie!
Really like that Ulissi won LFW and a 3rd for Kwiat is very good! Lampre seem like major players in the Ardennes classics, and its shown with Costa's win at LBL. Kwiat can be proud of another Top 5 too!
Ha! Gilbert's Attack and then Sprint didn't work this time
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
La Flèche Wallonne
