La Fleche Wallone - !!warning contains unmasked spoilers!!

sy

A tougher classic finish than this ?
The Mur de Huy is an iconic climb and the final kick in this famous Ardennes Classic. Won by Gilbert in style last year but who do you fancy today? On Eurosport Wednesday afternoon. Gilbert still not firing on all cylinders but he will be there at the end. Rodriguez is favourite followed by Jelle Vanendertand then Gilbert. Evans has pulled out due to illness so BMC will be under pressure to get a result today or Sunday. Vanendert was impressive in Amstel but this might be too steep for him and Valverde has won here before. Sagan is not riding as he is resting after is brilliant opening to the season and not sure if Gasparatto has it in him again. Should be exciting finish but my outside bet is that the young Dutch rider Bauke Mollema might just sneak it from a possible Rodriguez Gilbert Valverde Vanendert Anton uphill battle!! :pac:

RobFowl

+1
TBH it's my favourite classic.

The tax man

Heading over to watch this. Hope to get a few snaps worth posting.
My first pro race since the Nissan Classics.:D

Taxuser1

MOD VOICE: If you have an issue with any decision or action taken by a mod please PM us to discuss. Please also familiarise yourself with the rules, tone and content of this forum before posting. If you have an issue with my action or the actions of a mod on this forum please feel free to PM me.

Morrisseeee

Yep, love this race, especially the finish.........
There's a chance of rain aswell, yikes, 20% gradient with rain!!
My money is on Vanendert, agonising 2nd last weekend, 6th in this last year.

It's steep alright !



Zulle, Pantani and Bartoli go head-to-head in 1997, (Pantani never won it):



Some more (interesting-ish) stats:
(I've done 1km climbs at this average gradient, but to do it at that speed................phenominal) :

2011:1 km@11,8%---2:44---average speed 21.95 km/h(Philippe Gilbert)
2010:1 km@11,8%---2:45---average speed 21.82 km/h(Evans-Rodriguez-Contador)
2009:1 km@11,8%---2:46---average speed 21.67 km/h(Davide Rebellin)
2008:1 km@11,8%---3:02---average speed 19.78 km/h(Kim Kirchen)
2007:1 km@11,8%---2:45---average speed 21.82 km/h(Davide Rebellin)
2006:1 km@11,8%---2:51---average speed 21.05 km/h(Valverde-S.Sanchez-Kroon-F.Schleck)
2005:1 km@11,8%---3:01---average speed 19.89 km/h(Di Luca-Kirchen-Rebellin)
2004:1 km@11,8%---2:46---average speed 21.67 km/h(Davide Rebellin)

The tax man

Weather here is overcast with light brief showers. Sun then comes out and it's dry in no time.

Morrisseeee

Update:
13:29:01 CEST
Jens Voigt led the peloton over the top of Huy, with teammate Andy Schleck very close behind him

I wonder is Andy thinking about having a go later on, mmmmmmmmm, meh, probably not :pac:

sy

The tax man wrote: »

Weather here is overcast with light brief showers. Sun then comes out and it's dry in no time.

Lots of photos please !! Enjoy

The tax man

sy wrote: »

Lots of photos please !! Enjoy

Plenty form the women's race which finished about 10 mins ago. It's now raining hard on the final climb. Should make things interesting. Atmosphere here is great. Well worth getting up early for.

ROK ON

Morrisseeee wrote: »

2011:1 km@11,8%---2:44---average speed 21.95 km/h(Philippe Gilbert)
2010:1 km@11,8%---2:45---average speed 21.82 km/h(Evans-Rodriguez-Contador)
2009:1 km@11,8%---2:46---average speed 21.67 km/h(Davide Rebellin)
2008:1 km@11,8%---3:02---average speed 19.78 km/h(Kim Kirchen)
2007:1 km@11,8%---2:45---average speed 21.82 km/h(Davide Rebellin)
2006:1 km@11,8%---2:51---average speed 21.05 km/h(Valverde-S.Sanchez-Kroon-F.Schleck)
2005:1 km@11,8%---3:01---average speed 19.89 km/h(Di Luca-Kirchen-Rebellin)
2004:1 km@11,8%---2:46---average speed 21.67 km/h(Davide Rebellin)

Given the dodgy past of Rebellin, De Luca, Valverde etc - then the times from 2010 and 2011 are fascinating to say the least. I wonder did weather play a part?

Morrisseeee

^^ and that's not all, interestingly times before 2004 were much slower, but that's mainly down to the fact that breakaway's stayed away, except for one particular year, when a certain TDF multiple (*7) winner broke the mould :rolleyes:
I'm guessing lighter bikes & a more competitive field has pushed up times !

Morrisseeee

.........and the winner is: Rodriguez.
Fair play to him, after so many 2nds last year.
Gilbert was 3rd,
Vanendert 4th,
Dan Martin 6th (@9secs)

ednwireland

beaten to it

ROK ON

When you look at the results thus far in Ardennes week, I would imagine that Gilbert really misses Vandenert and to a lesser extent Van Den Broeck.

That was some kick by JROD however.

crumliniano

Fair play to Dan Martin. A decent outside bet for LBL?

Bunnyhopper

That's a nice result for Dan Martin. Well done him.

manwithaplan

Was at the finish today. There was a great party atmosphere with beer tents every all the way up the Mur and, predictably, a bigger cheer for Gilbert on the podium than the winner. Rodriguez won very easily I thought. Great ride by Dan.

The Mur smelled strongly of burnt clutch. Some great cheering and hollering for a few youngsters that rode up after the bunch on the second time up.

A strange moment for me was meeting Gay Howard at the finish (I don't want to sound too matey - I had no idea who he was before the weekend). I told him he had called me home in sixth place in Stamullen on Sunday and he said that if it was good enough for Dan, it should be good enough for me! I told him the Mur had nothing on the uphill finish in Stamullen! He had Joe McNally's brother with him, no doubt adding to the family's media celebrity following the AIB ad and the future in-law's Olympic qualification.

I was going to look for the lend of a bike to ride up the Mur in sympathy with my clubmates in Ardgillan tonight. But I had a pain saucisse and a biere blonde instead.

No photos sorry - they all would have been of drunk middle-aged Belgians anyway.

The tax man

Should have a link up soon to photobucket with a shed load of pictures.
Good shots from the women's race but as manwithaplan said alot of my pictures from the main event are full of middle-aged drunk Belgians.
We found a good spot just after the switch backs with great views for taking pictures. About 10 minutes before the race arrives you're just swamped by people and your great view becomes useless.
For the first pass I just held my camera up in the air and shot a video instead,it was impossible you take any pictures. Might upload to youtube later.

Had to laugh about the smell of burnt clutch,after the women went through for the first time the Mavic service car stalled on the first hairpin and couldn't get the car moving forward,it just spun it's front wheels and kept rolling back and nearly into the car behind. Finally got going to a rapturous cheer from the crowd.

Great day out and thoroughly recommend it.Total cost of flights/train and a hotel for the night was €95.

dave_o_brien

Now, was it just me or did Garmin kind of miscalculate their efforts? Of course they couldn't head to the front with Hejsedal up the road, but Dan plus two other Garmin riders appeared to be poorly placed at the foot of the Mur. He seemed to come from very far back to get sixth, and do people think he could have done better had he been better positioned? 6th is a phenomenal result, but I just feel like he probably finished quicker than one or two people better placed than him, and could have made a push for a podium with different tactics. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the roads leading into the Mur, coupled with Hejsedal's nearly brilliant break meant he had to stay where he was, but just watching it again last night, I was left wondering what he could have done if he was put in the front 6-8 riders at the foot of the Mur.

Great racing though, and while I wouldn't be the biggest of Rodriguez fans, chapeau.

ROK ON

dave_o_brien wrote: »

Now, was it just me or did Garmin kind of miscalculate their efforts? Of course they couldn't head to the front with Hejsedal up the road, but Dan plus two other Garmin riders appeared to be poorly placed at the foot of the Mur. He seemed to come from very far back to get sixth, and do people think he could have done better had he been better positioned? 6th is a phenomenal result,

Given that he started toward the back of the main bunch, he was (other than Rodriguez maybe) the fastest ascent of the Mur yesterday. Hesjedal was plucky and they nearly held it. I think that if Gilbert hadnt attacked to bring them back then he may have just held on - but they were clearly struggling at that stage. Yep Garmin should have had more men near the front. Martin admitted himself that he felt fine on Sunday but was very poorly positioned. He said that yday he didnt feel good at all, but despite that he pulled out a very strong finish considering where he started from. I couldnt see him at all in the final bunch that chased the two escapees.

dave_o_brien

ROK ON wrote: »

Given that he started toward the back of the main bunch, he was (other than Rodriguez maybe) the fastest ascent of the Mur yesterday. Hesjedal was plucky and they nearly held it.

That's what I was thinking, but apart from Roubaix last year, Garmin seem to be putting all of their eggs in one basket too frequently in the classics for a squad with such strength in depth, IMHO. The best tactic seemed to me to be have Dekker and Dan well positioned in case Hesjedal was caught and have whoever feels strongest go for it. As it turns out, their under card (cause that's clearly how they felt about Dan) finished really fast, and could have been in the mix for a podium had they played the finale differently.

The tax man

The good,bad,in focus,out of focus,strange men holding beers,team cars,oh and some bike riders.
Mur de Huy 2012 pictures

Short video clip of the bunch on the climb. Autofocus on camera had a mind of it's own.:(
Youtube clip

Enjoy!;)

dastardly00

The tax man wrote: »

The good,bad,in focus,out of focus,strange men holding beers,team cars,oh and some bike riders.
Mur de Huy 2012 pictures

Short video clip of the bunch on the climb. Autofocus on camera had a mind of it's own.:(
Youtube clip

Enjoy!;)

Some cracking photos there, cheers for uploading them!

TheBlaaMan

Great pics !!!

Do you think she needed the directions !

ROK ON

Bunnyhopper wrote: »

That's a nice result for Dan Martin. Well done him.

manwithaplan wrote: »

Was at the finish today. There was a great party atmosphere with beer tents every all the way up the Mur and, predictably, a bigger cheer for Gilbert on the podium than the winner. Rodriguez won very easily I thought. Great ride by Dan.

The Mur smelled strongly of burnt clutch. Some great cheering and hollering for a few youngsters that rode up after the bunch on the second time up.

A strange moment for me was meeting Gay Howard at the finish (I don't want to sound too matey - I had no idea who he was before the weekend). I told him he had called me home in sixth place in Stamullen on Sunday and he said that if it was good enough for Dan, it should be good enough for me! I told him the Mur had nothing on the uphill finish in Stamullen! He had Joe McNally's brother with him, no doubt adding to the family's media celebrity following the AIB ad and the future in-law's Olympic qualification.

I was going to look for the lend of a bike to ride up the Mur in sympathy with my clubmates in Ardgillan tonight. But I had a pain saucisse and a biere blonde instead.

No photos sorry - they all would have been of drunk middle-aged Belgians anyway.

dave_o_brien wrote: »

That's what I was thinking, but apart from Roubaix last year, Garmin seem to be putting all of their eggs in one basket too frequently in the classics for a squad with such strength in depth, IMHO. The best tactic seemed to me to be have Dekker and Dan well positioned in case Hesjedal was caught and have whoever feels strongest go for it. As it turns out, their under card (cause that's clearly how they felt about Dan) finished really fast, and could have been in the mix for a podium had they played the finale differently.

The tax man wrote: »

The good,bad,in focus,out of focus,strange men holding beers,team cars,oh and some bike riders.
Mur de Huy 2012 pictures

Short video clip of the bunch on the climb. Autofocus on camera had a mind of it's own.:(
Youtube clip

Enjoy!;)

What is absolutely amazing about Dans ride is that the Taxman, caught the exact point where Hesjedal was finally reeled in by the chasing pack. From Taxmans photos 161 thru 170 there is no sign of Dan Martin at all. Remember we are inside the last 1km at this stage.

In photo 171 at the inside corner there is a rider with the Garmin blue helmet (face is obscured). This could be Martin, This rider is not in the top 20. I reckon he is the 23rd rider on the road.
If this is Martin, then a 6th place is a stunning move in the final few hundreds of meters. If you enlarge the picture it is the only other Gramin rider, but face is obscured. From the time that Albasini and JRod caught Hesjay for the second time there was only 53 seconds remaining in the race. On that basis, if Martin was better placed at earlier, who is to say that he would not have one the Fleche.

TheBlaaMan

A great ride from Dan, would a podium have been within reach if he went a bit earlier - or the finish line was 100m further away?

He just retweeted at pic taken just after the end of the race - looks like a tough day at the office!!

http://twitpic.com/9bllw5

He caught someone right on the line. Here's a pic of 2/3/4th with Dan making up ground in the back of the pic.

The tax man

If you look at picture #176 you have Nicki Sorensen in Danish champ kit,behind him is a Sky rider and behind and to the left as you look at the pic is Dan Martin. 99% sure that's him.
Zooming in on pictures is crap on photobucket.:(

ROK ON

Taxman - great photos. What a location. How far from the finish were you?

That photo you link above, Dan is 6 or 7 riders behind Igor Anton. At that time, Anton is about 9th on the road. A stunning move.

I cant believe that you got there and back for under 100 quid. When compared with a lot of sporting events, that is great value for money.

happytramp

Dan really seems to be finding his rhythm in these classics. How do you think Sunday's finish will suit him? Seeing as he was clearly plan b yesterday, will he really go for it in Leige do you think?

SARBOY

I think Dan has earned his right to be a protected rider In Liege for Garmin..

The tax man

ROK ON wrote: »

Taxman - great photos. What a location. How far from the finish were you?

That photo you link above, Dan is 6 or 7 riders behind Igor Anton. At that time, Anton is about 9th on the road. A stunning move.

I cant believe that you got there and back for under 100 quid. When compared with a lot of sporting events, that is great value for money.

The first lot of photos where taken just before the first hairpin bend where it goes to 20+%. The 500mtr marker was just below us. The rest where taken around the second hairpin about 30mtrs up the hill.



I didn't spot him going by,it was only after going through the pictures and seeing where he was and the amount or riders ahead of him,he certainly put the hammer down. That road is quite narrow and with riders slowing+weaving
you'd easily get boxed in.



Sorry the total price was more than €95. I was owed a few quid so that was taken off my bill.Was up @4.30am for the past two mornings so the brain ain't working at full tilt. Just need to find out what the flight cost but train was 20 return and hotel 27pp.

NEVER EVER stay at the Etap hotel beside Charleroi airport unless your idea of food is a pizza machine in the car park.:eek:
We ended up walking to a Best Western hotel up the road to get some proper food. Don't forget to bring money for the lovely Belgian beers.:D