La Fleche Wallonne * Contains Unmasked Spoilers *

GetWithIt

No doubt someone at home with their feet up (teachers and students I'm looking and you) and can give a running commentary.

Glass Prison 1214

I reckon Michał Kwiatkowski has a good chance of winning this one.

MPFG

Glass Prison 1214 wrote: »

I reckon Michał Kwiatkowski has a good chance of winning this one.

He will defo win in one day but Im not sure its today .....

I'd have my money on one man , and he wears blue and has an interest in wild life

Glass Prison 1214

MPFG wrote: »

He will defo win in one day but Im not sure its today .....

I'd have my money on one man , and he wears blue and has an interest in wild life

I'd love for Dan to win but it's hard to know what his form is like considering he has no notable results this year.

Glass Prison 1214

50k to go, breakaway is 4'27 ahead of the peleton.

happytramp

Glass Prison 1214 wrote: »

I'd love for Dan to win but it's hard to know what his form is like considering he has no notable results this year.

Yeah, Dan is a complete unknown quantity at this stage. He could be flying or maybe not, there's just know way of knowing right now. We'll have a very good indication in about an hour and a half though. Really hoping for a top 5.

killalanerr

waffle waffle waffle.not much to report just now

happytramp

killalanerr wrote: »

waffle waffle waffle.not much to report just now

Nothing ever happens until the last 2k. It's arguably the most boring 'big' one day race of the year.

happytramp

MPFG wrote: »

He is looking good not far off the front

Not sure. Thought I saw him bobbing his head about half way down the bunch.

Peterx

15k to go. The two man break has nearly had it. 24 seconds. The Eurosport men don't think Martin has the condition for today.

happytramp

Peterx wrote: »

The Eurosport men don't think Martin has the condition for today.

They've just changed their minds Come on Dan!!!!

MPFG

I thought I saw him near the front on Kwia wheel ...then Dan Llyod said otherwise so I doubted .....

Glass Prison 1214

I thought Dan looked like he was struggling a little bit up that last climb so I don't think he has it in him today. Hopefully I'm wrong.

happytramp

Ouch, very far back

Pudsy33

Commentars just said he's there so here's hoping he figures

Glass Prison 1214

Pudsy33 wrote: »

Commentars just said he's there so here's hoping he figures

He was a good fifty riders back though in a strung out peleton. Doesn't look good for him.

Pudsy33

He looks to be in about 15th to me

There he is, in the middle of the group. Looks to be comfortable but he won't be involved at the end.

happytramp

Mon Dan!!!!!

Glass Prison 1214

Dan Martin approaching the front!

Pudsy33

Can't see him hah

Glass Prison 1214

Second! Great performance!

happytramp

God I hate Valverde so much

Dcully

So close Dan so close ,I reckon he will win on Sunday

killalanerr

super finish good mad Dan just piped

Peterx

great finish from Dan, and Valverde obviously!

Darkglasses

Super finish Dan, bit unexpected!

MPFG

Oh ye of little faith .....just had to work a bit too hard and then maybe went too early after Kwia......but hopefully gives him confidence for LBL on Sunday

happytramp

He'll win it next year for sure. He's been 6th, 4th and now 2nd.

Stokolan

Nice finish for him. He's showing good form. Hopefully he'll do well on Sunday.

I'd say ho would have had a bit more of a push only for he was slowed a bit by a rider sitting up in the last few hundred meters.

dastardly00

Great result from Dan.

We should see a repeat of last year's LBL finale with Dan battling Purito for the win!

MPFG

Dan Llyod is nearly as bad at Carlton Kirby for calling riders....Eurosport should not put these 2 together ...Hopefully Sean is back on Sunday

MPFG

dastardly00 wrote: »

Great result from Dan.

We should see a repeat of last year's LBL finale with Dan battling Purito for the win!

I don't think so ...J-Rod came in 8 minutes down today and looks the worst for wear with his bruised ribs
If I were him I'd rest as he won't win on Sunday and save himself for the Giro

My money on Sunday is on our boy , maybe Nibali or Kreuziger will also be up there

dastardly00

MPFG wrote: »

I don't think so ...J-Rod came in 8 minutes down today and looks the worst for wear with his bruised ribs
If I were him I'd rest as he won't win on Sunday and save himself for the Giro

My money on Sunday is on our boy , maybe Nibali or Kreuziger will also be up there

The injury is no doubt having a negative effect, but Moreno was team leader today, not Purito. So he wasn't going to be up there with Valverde and Dan etc. Also Purito has said a few weeks ago that LBL is his number one goal for the season.

MPFG

dastardly00 wrote: »

The injury is no doubt having a negative effect, but Moreno was team leader today, not Purito. So he wasn't going to be up there with Valverde and Dan etc. Also Purito has said a few weeks ago that LBL is his number one goal for the season.

well that was before the crash

We'll see on Sunday but I thought he didn't look good

mistermatthew

Dan had the form. Some poor positioning or else he got slowed slightly in the crash and lost the garmin wheel taking him to the front. Had a lot of ground to make up on Valverde as a result. Rode very strong to get to the front. Looking good for sunday, should win if he positions correctly, well him or valverde, or Purito if he isn't hurt

Darkglasses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbXDvRAE4fw

Final 10k

dooverylittle

Have you seen the war of tweets between Vaughters and Dans dad.
I wonder is someone's contract up for renewal?

Dr. Bre

great to see Dan back in form

ednwireland

Dr. Bre wrote: »

great to see Dan back in form

+1 great ride today, had a day off managed to catch the eurosport coverage

MPFG

dooverylittle wrote: »

Have you seen the war of tweets between Vaughters and Dans dad.
I wonder is someone's contract up for renewal?

Neil obviously not happy with the teams support ....and probably wouldn't have said it if Dan didn't agree......Vaughters seems like some distant academic (don't like him to be honest)
Dan is by far Garmin's best rider...they need to rally round him
Strange that Vaughters uses the defense that the team chooses the leader ....as if team don't choose Dan...Noticed he is not top billing in the team for Giro ??

ZiabR

Where did Dan come from, one minute he was sitting in 8th the next he was racing ahead... great to see it.

Inquitus

Just watched the end of this and Dan had the best form in the bunch finish but came into the Mur with too much to do in comparison to Valverde, form looks very good for Sun, fingers crossed.

ROK ON

Inquitus wrote: »

Just watched the end of this and Dan had the best form in the bunch finish but came into the Mur with too much to do in comparison to Valverde, form looks very good for Sun, fingers crossed.

For the past three years he has been very poorly positioned going into the final Huy. Arguably in each year he has had the quickest ascent, but simply too much to do.
I don't see that he will win LBL, will be marked. FW suits him more but he simply hasn't won it yet.

MPFG

I don't know why Slaghter did not work to bring Dan into a better position....Garmin needed to believe he coudl win it and thus work for one leader

Vaughters still at it on internet about Dan & leadership and the need for 'helping out the team, even when ill and not quitting '.......

dooverylittle

MPFG wrote: »

I don't know why Slaghter did not work to bring Dan into a better position....Garmin needed to believe he coudl win it and thus work for one leader

Vaughters still at it on internet about Dan & leadership and the need for 'helping out the team, even when ill and not quitting '.......

I think tinkov has robbed vaughters twitter account.

Lusk_Doyle

Eurosport seems to think the race was done on both a snooker table and later in rally cars. Typical.

Bukman13

I was getting worried for Dan with about 14km's to go, he was at the back of the bunch and even when it flattened out he wasn't moving up, when the Garmin rider came to the front with no one on his wheel with 2km to go I thought his chances was gone.

Fantastic ride up that final hill, maybe with better positioning or a stronger team he might have won it, but Valverde put in an amazing performance.

That was the fastest ever ascent of Mur de Huy by Valverde, and Martin beat the previous record too, with the 2nd fastest time ever.

I'm delighted he got a good result, his season has been quiet so far, and he stated that this, along with LBL and the giro where his main aims, so it would have been a huge dent in his confidence if he didn't have the legs today.

XtotheZ

Did Haas not try and bring Martin up but he dropped the wheel? Also Vaughters is ment to be checking dans power to weight for the Muur today, that'll be interesting.

For Sunday it's hard to look past Valverde. Unless Garmin do what Saxo Bank did in 09 and start launching riders from a long way out to burn out the other teams it's not going to happen. That said Moviestar and Katusha looked incredible strong yesterday

dave_o_brien

XtotheZ wrote: »

Did Haas not try and bring Martin up but he dropped the wheel? Also Vaughters is ment to be checking dans power to weight for the Muur today, that'll be interesting.

For Sunday it's hard to look past Valverde. Unless Garmin do what Saxo Bank did in 09 and start launching riders from a long way out to burn out the other teams it's not going to happen. That said Moviestar and Katusha looked incredible strong yesterday

I thought that's what Haas was doing too. Think Dan might have gotten a bit muscled out of it. What I didn't understand was why Slagter and Dan were seemingly racing separate tactical finishes. BMC this year, Garmin last year and Saxo previously, have shown the benefit of having a few guys attacking in sequence, whereas Garmin this time seemed to go for a "whoever's left can do what they want" attitude. Maybe it was a lack of confidence (in Dan, from Dan, who knows), but it was odd. Vaughters is a bit of an eejit though when it comes to Twitter.

Sunday will be great.

gordongekko

For us non twits is there a link to the twitter spat.

dave_o_brien

gordongekko wrote: »

For us non twits is there a link to the twitter spat.

I'm not a twittererer eitherer, but I do have Google, and have read previous form from JV.

https://twitter.com/Vaughters