Fleche Wallone and Liège -Bastogne-Liège (1 Viewer)

[CinnamonBoy]

Dani is currently 7-1 with PP for both these races separately. I'm liking his form. He's showed well so far and now here are his two objectives for Spring.

What do you boys think? I'd very rarely bet but those odds are glorious, in my opinion.

 

[rettucs]

He has a great record in both races. Probably would have beaten Gerrans last year in LBL but for that ridiculous fall.

I think he'll top-5 in Fleche but there are always punchier climbers in that race that the Muur might suit better than him so I wouldn't fancy him for the win. In saying that, the first year he went top-5, he started the climb from miles down the field and zipped up past everyone.

LBL is a more attritional race and the dopers love it, probably cos of its high profile (remember Jonathan Vaughters saying he rated Dan's win in this race higher than when Ryder won the Giro). The problem with Dan now is that he's gonna be a favourite and the dope-boys will be watching him like a hawk. He won his Lombardy last year by catching everyone on the hop when they were looking at each other. His LBL came about because of Hejsedel riding his hole off, giving Dan an armchair ride up to the last few kms, and he ended up being much fresher than Purito.

What other combinations are PP giving? It'd nearly be worth and outside punt backing him for a Philly Gilbert-esque double.

I didn't see Amstel (I hate that race anyway, thanks to Lance Armstrong) at the weekend but saw he finished in the lead group. That means his form is deffo good.

If I was backing him to win either of these races, it'd be LBL, but at 7-1, fuck it, its worth a tenner on both.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

If I was backing him to win either of these races, it'd be LBL, but at 7-1, fuck it, its worth a tenner on both.

My thoughts exactly. But for sheer bad luck I think he'd have won both last year.

Amstel doesn't suit him (I was never a fan either though there was a good edition one year when Rebellin won it.)
But he was able to stay with the lead group fairly handy. We know he's climbing well and I think at those odds a tenner on both is mandatory.

 

[Cormcolash]

500 quatloos on the newcomer

 

[rettucs]

500 quatloos on the newcomer

I'd take Kwiatkowski and Valverde (doper) for a skydiver each.

 

[rettucs]

Dan just crashed and it doesn't look like hes gonna be getting going again anytime soon (86km to go)

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Shame. He's 16/1 now. I held off on my tenner to bet in play and make sure he got to the first 100km anyway.
Might throw a few pence at it.

 

[rettucs]

Shame. He's 16/1 now. I held off on my tenner to bet in play and make sure he got to the first 100km anyway.
Might throw a few pence at it.

hes back in the bunch, but hard to see him making any burst at the end after that happening.

 

[rettucs]

hes dropped. I stand by my predictions. Kwiatkowski and doper-boy Valverde.

 

[rettucs]

doper-boy Valverde.

a great day for dopers everywhere

 

[Cormcolash]

Does this mean Valverde currently has the 'best doctors' and I should stick a tenner on him for Le Tour?

 

[rettucs]

Does this mean Valverde currently has the 'best doctors' and I should stick a tenner on him for Le Tour?

tour of spain. Not tour de france. He gets outdoped in France

 

[IFF]

i think the current policy for tour and giro is "don't overdo guys on the dope" and that's where santambrogio, ullissi et al went wrong.

i think the big thing for valverde was he could stay upright yesterday

 

[rettucs]

i think the current policy for tour and giro is "don't overdo guys on the dope" and that's where santambrogio, ullissi et al went wrong.

i think the big thing for valverde was he could stay upright yesterday

well, either that or throw the occasional small fish to the lions. You rarely hear of the big names being done but frequently hear of nobodies. Could be the UCI/race organisers pick someone of no-consequence out, do them for doping, and make it look like they're making an effort to clean up the sport.

Whatever about ulissi, Santambrogio was a strange one, given his ties to Cadel Evans. I reckon with him it was something someone had personally against him.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

If Dani can have that perfect day on Sunday when the form is perfect, the legs feel strong, you don't miss the break, crash or puncture all the time and he wins........ I'll cry with happiness.

 

[rettucs]

If Dani can have that perfect day on Sunday when the form is perfect, the legs feel strong, you don't miss the break, crash or puncture all the time and he wins........ I'll cry with happiness.

he has the worst luck. You're dead right though, all he needs is that one day, just like at Lombardy.

 

[rettucs]

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[CinnamonBoy]

He'll start and win. That crash was hopefully a blessing in disguise as he said he was feeling leggy after Amstel where he noted he'd never finished with the leaders before. Why he did so is beyond me as why make yourself tired ahead of one of your main objectives.....but I guess a clean rider maybe felt he needed the tempo and the miles to ride into form.....

 

[nuke terrorist]

LOVE the Fleche and Liege - definitely my two favourite races.
pity about DM in Fleche, the race was littered with bad crashes after his one.
I would like the Fleche to be longer but if it was reasoning would be that many would just skip it and concentrate on the other two. it was a much more selective race at 230-240 km in the 80's.
actually until modern times it was common for classics (other than San Remo) to have about
30-40 finishers but during Kelly's career that changed a lot.
I'm going to go for Purito for Liege. he would have won before except for crashing in the Amstel the last two years which wrecked his Ardennes campaign.
he should have won than just one Fleche with his uphill finishing.

it will be a laugh to watch Astana from now on.
anymore doping positives and they're surely shagged.

 

[rettucs]

did Roche and Dan cause that crash?

would be the 2nd time they took each other out, if so.