La Flèche Wallonne -predictions?

TinyExplosions

It's tomorrow, so who'd you fancy?

I'd say Andy Schleck, Cunego or Gilbert

Raam

Is Valverde racing?

TinyExplosions

Yes...
start list here

Provisional start list

Team Columbia - Highroad Silence-Lotto
1 Kim Kirchen (Lux) 11 Cadel Evans (Aus)
2 Michael Albasini (Swi) 12 Christophe Brandt (Bel)
3 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) 13 Francis De Greef (Bel)
4 Craig Lewis (USA) 14 Thomas Dekker (Ned)
5 Tony Martin (Ger) 15 Philippe Gilbert (Bel)
6 Maxime Monfort (Bel) 16 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel)
7 Marco Pinotti (Ita) 17 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel)
8 Frantisek Rabon (Cze) 18 Jelle Vanendert (Bel)
9 *Morris Possoni (Ita) 19 *Pieter Jacobs (Bel)
10 *Michael Rogers (Aus)

Lampre - N.G.C. Rabobank
21 Damiano Cunego (Ita) 31 Robert Gesink (Ned)
22 Matteo Bono (Ita) 32 Mauricio Ardila (Col)
23 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) 33 Stef Clement (Ned)
24 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) 34 Oscar Freire (Spa)
25 Manuele Mori (Ita) 35 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa)
26 Daniele Righi (Ita) 36 Koos Moerenhout (Ned)
27 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) 37 Grischa Niermann (Ger)
28 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) 38 Bram Tankink (Ned)
29 *Simone Ponzi (Ita) 39 *Paul Martens (Ger)
30 *Volodymyr Zagorodny (Ukr) 40 *Pieter Weening (Ned)

Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli Liquigas
41 Davide Rebellin (Ita) 51 Roman Kreuziger (Cze)
42 Rubens Bertogliati (Ita) 52 Valerio Agnoli (Ita)
43 Francesco Ginanni (Ita) 53 Aleksandr Kuschynski (Blr)
44 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) 54 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita)
45 Nazareno Rossi (Swi) 55 Ivan Santaromita (Ita)
46 Michele Scarponi (Ita) 56 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo)
47 Jose Serpa (Col) 57 Brian Vandborg (Den)
48 Luca Solari (Ita) 58 Frederik Willems (Bel)
59 *Murilo Fischer (Bra)
60 *Daniel Oss (Ita)

Caisse d'Epargne Barloworld
61 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) 71 John-Lee Augustyn (RSA)
62 Rui Da Costa (Por) 72 Francesco Bellotti (Ita)
63 Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) 73 Patrick Calcagni (Swi)
64 Alberto Losada (Spa) 74 Giampaolo Cheula (Ita)
65 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) 75 Marco Corti (Ita)
66 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) 76 Steven Cummings (GBr)
67 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) 77 Christopher Froome (GBr)
68 Rigoberto Uran (Col) 78 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita)
69 *Imanol Erviti (Spa) 79 *Diego Caccia (Ita)
70 *Xabier Zandio (Spa) 80 *Carlo Scognamiglio (Ita)

AG2R La Mondiale BBox Bouygues Telecom
81 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) 91 Yury Trofimov (Rus)
82 José Luis Arrieta (Spa) 92 Olivier Bonnaire (Fra)
83 Hubert Dupont (Fra) 93 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra)
84 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) 94 Cyril Gautier (Fra)
85 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) 95 Vincent Jerome (Fra)
86 Julien Loubet (Fra) 96 Laurent Lefevre (Fra)
87 Christophe Riblon (Fra) 97 Pierre Rolland (Fra)
88 Nicolas Roche (Irl) 98 Matthieu Sprick (Fra)
89 *Renaud Dion (Fra) 99 *Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn)
90 *John Gadret (Fra) 100 *Evgeny Sokolov (Rus)

Landbouwkrediet - Colnago Euskaltel - Euskadi
101 Bert De Waele (Bel) 111 Samuel Sanchez (Spa)
102 Dirk Bellemakers (Ned) 112 Inaki Isasi (Spa)
103 Jonathan Bertrand (Bel) 113 Inigo Landaluze (Spa)
104 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) 114 Egoi Martinez (Spa)
105 Benjamin Gourgue (Bel) 115 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa)
106 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) 116 Alan Perez (Spa)
107 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) 117 Ruben Perez (Spa)
108 Geert Verheyen (Bel) 118 Gorka Verdugo (Spa)
109 *Mathieu Drouilly (Fra) 119 *Aitor Galdos (Spa)
110 *Martial Ricci Poggi (Fra) 120 *Aitor Hernandez (Spa)

Quick Step Team Katusha
121 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) 131 Serguei Ivanov (Rus)
122 Carlos Barredo (Spa) 132 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus)
123 Dario Cataldo (Ita) 133 Pavel Brutt (Rus)
124 Allan Davis (Aus) 134 Nikita Eskov (Rus)
125 Dries Devenyns (Bel) 135 Serguei Klimov (Rus)
126 Addy Engels (Ned) 136 Luca Mazzanti (Ita)
127 Francesco Reda (Ita) 137 Christian Pfannberger (Aut)
128 Kevin Seeldrayers (Bel) 138 Ben Swift (GBr)
129 *Davide Malacarne (Ita) 139 *Alexander Serov (Rus)
130 *Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) 140 *Maxime Vantomme (Bel)

Astana Française Des Jeux
141 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) 151 Sandy Casar (Fra)
142 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) 152 Jerome Coppel (Fra)
143 Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kaz) 153 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra)
144 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) 154 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra)
145 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) 155 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra)
146 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) 156 Francis Mourey (Fra)
147 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) 157 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra)
148 Benjamin Noval (Spa) 158 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin)
149 *Valeriy Dmitriyev (Kaz)

Team Milram Agritubel
161 Peter Velits (Svk) 171 Christophe Moreau (Fra)
162 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) 172 Maxime Bouet (Fra)
163 Christian Knees (Ger) 173 Sylvain Calzati (Fra)
164 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) 174 Rémi Cusin (Fra)
165 Ronny Scholz (Ger) 175 Romain Feillu (Fra)
166 Paul Voss (Ger) 176 Yann Huguet (Fra)
167 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) 177 David Lelay (Fra)
168 Peter Wrolich (Aut) 178 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra)
169 *Dominik Roels (Ger) 179 *Freddy Bichot (Fra)
170 *Martin Velits (Svk) 180 *Christophe Laurent (Fra)

Cervelo Test Team Garmin - Slipstream
181 Simon Gerrans (Aus) 191 Jason Donald (USA)
182 Philip Deignan (Irl) 192 Thomas Danielson (USA)
183 Xavier Florencio (Spa) 193 Lucas Euser (USA)
184 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) 194 Ryder Hesjedal (Can)
185 Ted King (USA) 195 Daniel Martin (Irl)
186 Daniel Lloyd (GBr) 196 Christian Meier (Can)
187 Serge Pauwels (Bel) 197 Thomas Peterson (USA)
188 Marcel Wyss (Swi) 198 Ricardo Van Der Velde (Ned)
189 *Inigo Cuesta (Spa) 199 *Timothy Duggan (USA)
190 *Daniel Fleeman (GBr) 200 *Huub Duyn (Ned)

Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne Team Saxo Bank
201 Julien El Fares (Fra) 211 Frank Schleck (Lux)
202 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) 212 Jakob Fuglsang (Den)
203 Leonardo Duque (Col) 213 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus)
204 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) 214 Karsten Kroon (Ned)
205 Maryan Hary (Fra) 215 Gustav Larsson (Swe)
206 Amaël Moinard (Fra) 216 Andy Schleck (Lux)
207 Nico Sijmens (Bel) 217 Chris Sørensen (Den)
208 Rein Taaramae (Est) 218 Nicki Sørensen (Den)
209 *Christophe Kern (Fra) 219 *Michael Mørkøv (Den)
210 *Sébastien Minard (Fra) 220 *Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel)

Skil-Shimano Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
221 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) 231 Jan Bakelandts (Bel)
222 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) 232 Johan Coenen (Bel)
223 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) 233 Tom Criel (Bel)
224 Theo Eltink (Ned) 234 Thomas De Gendt (Bel)
225 Simon Geschke (Ger) 235 Ben Hermans (Bel)
226 Floris Goesinnen (Ned) 236 Sven Renders (Bel)
227 Thierry Hupond (Fra) 237 Preben Van Hecke (Bel)
228 Albert Timmer (Ned) 238 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel)
229 *Steve Houanard (Fra) 239 *Maarten Neyens (Bel)
230 *Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) 240 *Geert Steurs (Bel)

Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
241 Matteo Carrara (Ita)
242 Reinier Honig (Ned)
243 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned)
244 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb)
245 Clément Lhotellerie (Fra)
246 Gerben Löwik (Ned)
247 Marco Marcato (Ita)
248 Wouter Poels (Ned)
249 *Wouter Mol (Ned)
250 *Frederik Veuchelen (Bel)

Raam

In that case, I'm going for Valverde.

Junior

I'm thinking Rebellin might get away for this one ..

Chips Lovell

It's much the same guys who were favourites at the weekend that will be contending today and Sunday. Cunego vs Valverde seems to be the key battle to me. Rebellin looked a bit cooked at Amstel.

I think Nicolas Roche might be planning on trying something tomorrow. Gerard Cromwell said he just got a text from him asking for people to bring Irish flags to the Mur de Hoy tomorrow.

Raam

My Name is Mario wrote: »

It's much the same guys who were favourites at the weekend that will be contending today and Sunday. Cunego vs Valverde seems to be the key battle to me. Rebellin looked a bit cooked at Amstel.

I think Nicolas Roche might be planning on trying something tomorrow. Gerard Cromwell said he just got a text from him asking for people to bring Irish flags to the Mur de Hoy tomorrow.

Was overjoyed when they had him as 7th on Sunday, then not so when it transpired that he actually was a DNF. I hope he does well in this one
Go Rochie!

Billy Whizz

Yeah it's pretty much the same guys who are the big favourites.

I'm going to go for Cadel Evans.

sy

The Mur has to be te toughest finish of all the classics. It is always exciting as you can never tell, until the last 200m, who really is the strongest. ( Assuming no breakaway!) The duel between Valverde and Cunego might be overshadowed by Kirchen or Gesink. Rabobank looked strong on Sunday so maybe Gesink might be the alternative to Cunego. He has always featured well in this race.
Not sure if Valverde is as strong as last year, seemed to be struggling at times on Sunday. Still think he has his mind set firmly on Liege and may be just pacing himself? Likewise I think Cunego has targeted Liege as his main goal.

Chips Lovell

Gesink is out. His knee is banjaxed.

Junior

Anyone got a weather forecast for over there for tomorrow ?

Chips Lovell

Junior wrote: »

Anyone got a weather forecast for over there for tomorrow ?

Looks that it willl be only partly cloudy with temps up to 18.

Junior

My Name is Mario wrote: »

Looks that it willl be only partly cloudy with temps up to 18.

No need to bring a heavy jacket then, I'll try report back with some images :D

smithslist

Junior wrote: »

No need to bring a heavy jacket then, I'll try report back with some images :D

I'll see you somewhere on the Mur de Huy

DirkVoodoo

This is great, I don't need to know a thing about cycling. I just read what El Tonto posts and nod my head in agreement.

Is it on eurosport?

TinyExplosions

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

This is great, I don't need to know a thing about cycling. I just read what El Tonto posts and nod my head in agreement.

Is it on eurosport?

I think it is on Eurosport

smithslist

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Is it on eurosport?

yeap from 1pm, and highlights that nite

Junior

My Name is Mario wrote: »

It's much the same guys who were favourites at the weekend that will be contending today and Sunday. Cunego vs Valverde seems to be the key battle to me. Rebellin looked a bit cooked at Amstel.

I think Nicolas Roche might be planning on trying something tomorrow. Gerard Cromwell said he just got a text from him asking for people to bring Irish flags to the Mur de Hoy tomorrow.

Well what a brilliant day ! Slightly sun burnt, the Mur de Hoy, some f*ckin animal of a climb ! So great to see the irish boys to the fore most of the day, every time up the Mur we got some acknowledgement from them, first time up Daniel Martin got a little shock to hear Irish lads screaming at him to go on.

Thanks to all the lads for organising this !

Viva la Ventoux !

Oh yah - ye can all pay me for my tip as well

sy

Nice call Junior;) Rebellin timed his move to perfection. Loved his gesture at the line when he pointed to his head. Wiley old warrior whom I was delighted to see winning again. He had so many close finishes last year (apart from Paris NicE) and I thought he was past his best. Seems he had a bug last Sunday and wasn't feeling too good. Cunego and Sanchez look like they might be in contention this weekend and of course Valverde. But don't write off Rebellin doing the double.

Great ride from Dan Martin and the other lads

What did you think of Cadel Evans lads. I sometimes wonder about his tactics. I know he was riding for Gilbert and Lotto are desperate at this stage, but he looked incredibly strong over the last few kms and possibly could have won if he had saved himself?

Poor old Andy Schleck just doesn't have a decent kick as is the case with his brother Frank. It can make such a difference in these Ardenne Classics

Junior

sy wrote: »

Nice call Junior;) Rebellin timed his move to perfection. Loved his gesture at the line when he pointed to his head. Wiley old warrior whom I was delighted to see winning again. He had so many close finishes last year (apart from Paris NicE) and I thought he was past his best. Seems he had a bug last Sunday and wasn't feeling too good. Cunego and Sanchez look like they might be in contention this weekend and of course Valverde. But don't write off Rebellin doing the double.

Great ride from Dan Martin and the other lads

What did you think of Cadel Evans lads. I sometimes wonder about his tactics. I know he was riding for Gilbert and Lotto are desperate at this stage, but he looked incredibly strong over the last few kms and possibly could have won if he had saved himself?

Poor old Andy Schleck just doesn't have a decent kick as is the case with his brother Frank. It can make such a difference in these Ardenne Classics

As one of the wise old heads said after seeing Andy Schleck lose again, if he doesn't win on Sunday he should pack it up, he's just a fred. (this was said part in jest, part in truth)

Cadel Evans, it's not the first time he's mistimed something - he really tried to go at the right point on the Mur, but maybe he hadn't enough in the tank to keep the kick on.

sy

Junior wrote: »

)
Cadel Evans, it's not the first time he's mistimed something - he really tried to go at the right point on the Mur, but maybe he hadn't enough in the tank to keep the kick on.

He did too much in the few kms before the Mur (helping Gilbert)
I suppose he has to, if he expects the Team to ride for him in July.

Chips Lovell

sy wrote: »

He did too much in the few kms before the Mur (helping Gilbert)
I suppose he has to, if he expects the Team to ride for him in July.

Gilbert and Evans are both passing the buck to eachother today.

sy

So it was Gilbert and not Evans doing most of the pulling towards the end? Difficult to tell from Eurosport highlights as a lot of aerial shots.

Sounds like Lotto have a problem when Gilbert says about Evans "but we knew that he was not good enough to win. It is not easy for us to have a leader who does not know what he wants." Doesn't look promising for the team at Liege.

Junior

I'll try stick up some irish photos shortly..