Fleche-Wallonne 19th April---**Contains Spoilers**

cunavalos

I know the midweek races do not always attract a large following here but anyway.
Today is the turn of the semi classic finishing on the Mur de Huy with gradients close to 20% which the riders will have to tackle 3 times in total




Valverde will start as favourite having domiated the race recently but will face competition from Dan Martin and the Sky duo of Henao and Kwiatowski.

Outside of these i will put my ass on the line and predict an appearance of a Cannondale rider on the final podium in the form of Uran or Woods as well as an AquaBlue Rider to get in the breakaway
Pre-race odds shown below

Coverage due to get underway on Eurosport shortly with an expected finish time of 15.30

Thud

Tracker is up for this:
http://racecenter.flechewallonne.fr/#/stageprofile


Daniel Pearson of Aquablue in the 5 man break 3mins up the road with 67kms to go

dastardly00

Thanks Cunavalos for setting up the thread

I can't see anybody beating Valverde. His form is great, and he hasn't won the previous three editions for no reason.

Maybe, just maybe Kwiatkowski could beat him.

I think Dan is riding for second place. He should make the podium anyway (and that would be a decent result).

pelevin

Betancur alive & well & gone to keep lone ranger specialist De Marchi company off the front.

dastardly00

Carlos Betancur! Jaysus! :eek:

dastardly00

The second ascent of the Mur de Huy is next up

Good to see Quick-Step trying something. Martin looks good.

dastardly00

Less than 10km to go for anyone thinking of tuning into Eurosport.

dastardly00

Jungels is seriously motoring

pelevin

Just come back to this & Jungels looks like he's putting in a great ride.

pelevin

Seemed to lose about 20 seconds in about 20 seconds there though!

dastardly00

pelevin wrote: »

Seemed to lose about 20 seconds in about 20 seconds there though!

If he had hopped off the bike and stood still, he would've probably just lost the same amount of time

dastardly00

Hopefully Dan is in a good position at the bottom of the climb.
I think he has one team mate with him

dastardly00

Dan is well up near the front

pelevin

The Luxemburger looks cooked.

robyntmorton

2nd for Dan. Left it a little late to get a move on.

pelevin

Ah Dan, looked great but too far back. Very positive looking towards Liege though.

cunavalos

Dan surely has to position himself better than that

mcgratheoin

dastardly00 wrote: »

Thanks Cunavalos for setting up the thread

I can't see anybody beating Valverde. His form is great, and he hasn't won the previous three editions for no reason.

Maybe, just maybe Kwiatkowski could beat him.

I think Dan is riding for second place. He should make the podium anyway (and that would be a decent result).

Good prediction....

dastardly00

robyntmorton wrote: »

2nd for Dan. Left it a little late to get a move on.

deja vu!!!!!

Bambaata

This Valverde stuff this year is just getting ridiculous!

Macy0161

Poor position from the bottom by Dan. Again.

robyntmorton

Valverde went, and nobody knew who wanted to go after him. By the time anyone did it was all over. Everyone needs to be a bit more proactive in the attack.

pelevin

Looking at that, wonder was it an error for Sky & Kwiatkowski not to even ride Flanders in favour of the Ardennes races. He wasn't really in the mix meaningfully there at all.

On the Valverde side of things, he didn't do any more than expected. Looked like Dan could genuinely have been able to beat him if placed better.

dastardly00

Bambaata wrote: »

This Valverde stuff this year is just getting ridiculous!

What's getting ridiculous is Dan's positioning.

I know, I know, I said second place would be a decent result for Dan...

but Jesus H. Christ he really should be stuck to Valverde's back wheel at the bottom of the climb, rather than 10-15 riders back and then having to pass so many in the last few hundred metres.

irishrover99

Valverde wasn't even out of breath at the end.Too easy for him

dastardly00

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Good prediction....

In fairness, it's probably the easiest first and second position to call in a race on the whole calendar

pelevin

I'd imagine unlike with Garmin/Cannondale, QSF management wouldn't be saying "Well done, unlucky," to Dan. Wins for them are in the DNA.

Macy0161

pelevin wrote: »

I'd imagine unlike with Garmin/Cannondale, QSF management wouldn't be saying "Well done, unlucky," to Dan. Wins for them are in the DNA.

Well they positioned him just as well as slipstream always did!

pelevin

Macy0161 wrote: »

Well they positioned him just as well as slipstream always did!

It's not like they lower him from a helicopter!

dermabrasion

Valverde encore ......pas normal.