Liege Bastogne Liege 2018

harringtonp

Start list

https://www.cyclingstage.com/liege-bastogne-liege-2018/riders-lbl-2018/

See Eddie Dunbar is in it, along with Dan Martin

1bryan

Dan doesn't seem to be having much luck this year. I wonder if family distractions are affecting him. Will be hoping he has a good outing on sunday. I'd imagine this is his big target for the whole year.

Macy0161

Yep, really hope the held up by a crash stuff was real and isn't just bluffing and his legs are as good as he claimed. Looking forward to saying goodbye to this finish too!

Lusk_Doyle

Hard to see past everyone's favourite rider, Valverde, matching Merxck with 5 wins tomorrow. No doubt will be close given what happened on Wednesday but that will only have spurred him on to make this his again.

Raam

http://www.velonews.com/2018/04/commentary/commentary-how-to-make-liege-great-again_463805

Two Aqua Blue riders in the break of 9. 5:40 up the road.

brocbrocach

Hopefully we get loads of stickybottle articles telling us how strong they were in the break....

Anna van der Breggen takes the womens race. Such a talent.

MPFGLB

I dont know why there is all the hate on here on AquaBlue

They are a team that going in breaks because they dont have the riders who can challenge for the overall win from the peloton..unless Dunbar can do something today

They are doing what they can do and doing it well

One man has put his own money into cycling (which badly needs it) and is tying to make it a viable project , he is employing Irish riders who would never get to ride on this stage at thi point ...youd swear he was doing some awful attack on cycling as a whole

godtabh

AquaBlue are in the break to raise their profile after not getting into races. Fair play to them. Getting lots of mentions. Its good for Irish cycling

godtabh

Some sky riders really suffering

retalivity

No sign of dan anywhere in that latest shakeup - 20k to go

retalivity

retalivity wrote: »

No sign of dan anywhere in that latest shakeup - 20k to go

nevermind there he is in the second group on the road, 20s behind jungels

bazermc

Ah FFS Dan

dahat

Mechanical for Dan, looks to be his day done.

godtabh

Dan with a puncture. Looks fed up

retalivity

not sure on the timings, jungels lost 30s+ on that climb!

godtabh

Bob of the Jungles has this

godtabh

Bob of the Jungles has this

Quigs Snr

Is pro cycling starting to get boring ? Fellas seem to be more interested in finishing second that actually trying to finish first of late.

Raam

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Is pro cycling starting to get boring ? Fellas seem to be more interested in finishing second that actually trying to finish first of late.

UCI points, innit?

MPFGLB

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Is pro cycling starting to get boring ? Fellas seem to be more interested in finishing second that actually trying to finish first of late.

Dont think its they are more interesed in finishing second...just alot of teams do not want to tow Valverde or Allaphillipe to the line

Also alot of the helpers are not as good as Quick Step's 2nd, 3rd, 4th rider who can all win

Its a problem when one teams dominates as we saw with SKY at the Tour

Everyone is scared of the ods

Quigs Snr

Well fair play to Dan Martin having a few death or glory cuts off it anyway. He must be one of the unluckiest cyclists.

Dan looked to be in better shape today than in recent times.

velo.2010

Might not be everyone's favourite but I have to say that I much prefer the Tour of Flanders over every other Spring Classic. Just seems a much more dynamic race that is on the go from much further out than other races. Roubaix is a great race too but I don't warm to it in the same way as I do Flanders.

The Ardennes classics promise so much but are sometimes a bit of a let down. The finish of Fleche Wallonne is an exception.

Miklos

Go on Jungle Bob! One of my favourite racers.

brocbrocach

MPFGLB wrote: »

I dont know why there is all the hate on here on AquaBlue

They are a team that going in breaks because they dont have the riders who can challenge for the overall win from the peloton..unless Dunbar can do something today

They are doing what they can do and doing it well

One man has put his own money into cycling (which badly needs it) and is tying to make it a viable project , he is employing Irish riders who would never get to ride on this stage at thi point ...youd swear he was doing some awful attack on cycling as a whole

I don't see "all the hate" you speak of. I don't like the excessive praise irish riders or riders on an irish team get for doing what all pro conti teams are expected to do. In the case of Eddie Dunbar it's reached sickening levels, especially when it's clear he has a problem staying in the peloton and using his gifts to take a competitive part in a race. But he's young so hopefully he'll be learning.
Rick Delaney deserves great credit for what he's doing. But slating the same system that gave his team a ridiculous leg up just last year is classless.

Amprodude

brocbrocach wrote: »

I don't see "all the hate" you speak of. I don't like the excessive praise irish riders or riders on an irish team get for doing what all pro conti teams are expected to do. In the case of Eddie Dunbar it's reached sickening levels, especially when it's clear he has a problem staying in the peloton and using his gifts to take a competitive part in a race. But he's young so hopefully he'll be learning.
Rick Delaney deserves great credit for what he's doing. But slating the same system that gave his team a ridiculous leg up just last year is classless.

Harsh there on Dunbar. It's his first season racing at this level and he is doing pretty good if you ask me.

Macy0161

velo.2010 wrote: »

The Ardennes classics promise so much but are sometimes a bit of a let down. The finish of Fleche Wallonne is an exception.

I think Fleche is (generally) the most boring one tbh. I'm hoping that a change back to a flat run in will help Liege from next year on, but I think this years Ardennes week shows it's the riders that make the race not the route - Fleche shook up by Nibali on the attack, relatively long range attack winning Liege after plenty of action from La Redoute....

brocbrocach wrote:

In the case of Eddie Dunbar it's reached sickening levels, especially when it's clear he has a problem staying in the peloton and using his gifts to take a competitive part in a race.

Incredibly harsh on Dunbar - at this stage of his career it's better to be out front and visible in a break, than be anonymous in the bunch. If nothing else for potential career progression in terms of teams.

brocbrocach

Macy0161 wrote: »

Incredibly harsh on Dunbar - at this stage of his career it's better to be out front and visible in a break, than be anonymous in the bunch. If nothing else for potential career progression in terms of teams.

I don't want it to sound like an attack on Dunbar, he's obviously a star. But these articles are way over the top. The breakaway is not bad but it's not where the good riders are.

harringtonp

brocbrocach wrote: »

I don't want it to sound like an attack on Dunbar, he's obviously a star. But these articles are way over the top. The breakaway is not bad but it's not where the good riders are.

No but the whole point is that each year he has progressed. Cycling is not like gymnastics or olympic snowboarding where the top level stars peak at a young age. No matter how good somebody is it takes years to be able to race hard after 250km of road which is undoubtedly why there is a specific U23 category in cycling.

The real benchmark is how he compares with the other U23 riders who enter these classics.

brocbrocach

harringtonp wrote: »

No but the whole point is that each year he has progressed. Cycling is not like gymnastics or olympic snowboarding where the top level stars peak at a young age. No matter how good somebody is it takes years to be able to race hard after 250km of road which is undoubtedly why there is a specific U23 category in cycling.

The real benchmark is how he compares with the other U23 riders who enter these classics.

Agreed. I genuinely feel he might be able to win a classic one day so I'm judging him to those standards. I'm not expecting him to be in top rank of racers at all yet, but the hyping is stupid and counterproductive.
He's getting stronger and starting to get a feel for elite racing but there's no evidence that he's progressing in learning how to read a race or trying to hang with better racers. I think it's known for years that he needs to get better at just riding in the bunch.

harringtonp

brocbrocach wrote: »

Agreed. I genuinely feel he might be able to win a classic one day so I'm judging him to those standards. I'm not expecting him to be in top rank of racers at all yet, but the hyping is stupid and counterproductive.
He's getting stronger and starting to get a feel for elite racing but there's no evidence that he's progressing in learning how to read a race or trying to hang with better racers. I think it's known for years that he needs to get better at just riding in the bunch.

Yes remember the days was in the same races as him and the only time you'd see him was at the start. That characteristic is still strong and will perhaps always to some extent be there. When used at the right times though I'd view it as a positive and Amstel Gold was one of those right times.

Lumen

brocbrocach wrote: »

He's getting stronger and starting to get a feel for elite racing but there's no evidence that he's progressing in learning how to read a race or trying to hang with better racers. I think it's known for years that he needs to get better at just riding in the bunch.

Right, but he did smash his head in last year and take a few months off to recover, so his previous fear of riding in the bunch turned out to be completely rational!

brocbrocach

“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.

Amprodude

brocbrocach wrote: »

I don't want it to sound like an attack on Dunbar, he's obviously a star. But these articles are way over the top. The breakaway is not bad but it's not where the good riders are.

The breakaway is exactly where Dunbar needs to be. He is never going to beat the likes of Sagan, Griepel, Cavandish, in a sprint in the peloton but he has plenty of climbing legs to hurt the best on a climb. We even saw that last week at the Amstel race. A bit more development and experience and I think Dunbar will be a future star exceeding that of Dan Martin and Nicholas Roche I feel.

Amprodude

harringtonp wrote: »

Yes remember the days was in the same races as him and the only time you'd see him was at the start. That characteristic is still strong and will perhaps always to some extent be there. When used at the right times though I'd view it as a positive and Amstel Gold was one of those right times.

I raced against him in A3 and he always was 7-8 mins up the road nowhere to be seen. He has potential I knew he be a very good future star that would take him as far as a pro career and at 21 he can only better stronger and better at this level. He raced brilliantly in the Amstel for his first go. He was dropped with 18km to go. Not a bad effort at all at this level. Some lads love having a go at Dunbar and saying he not good in bunch but he is still one of best riders this country has produced as of late. He will make it all he needs is time and experience.

Plastik

I hate being in the bunch. It's a terrible pity I'm not strong enough to be anywhere else.

Macy0161

Has he been on the attack in all races this year? It's Normally Connor Dunne in the races I've seen!

Lumen

Amprodude wrote: »

Some lads love having a go at Dunbar and saying he not good in bunch

This isn't something that's been made up. I can't find the interview but I'm sure there was one on StickyBottle a couple of years ago where he said he was happier up the road because it was terrifying (or words to that effect).

Amprodude

Lumen wrote: »

This isn't something that's been made up. I can't find the interview but I'm sure there was one on StickyBottle a couple of years ago where he said he was happier up the road because it was terrifying (or words to that effect).

We be all happier to be up the road if we were good enough.

brocbrocach

Seán has made the calculation:
http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/sean-kelly-eddie-dunbar/

Lumen

Amprodude wrote: »

We be all happier to be up the road if we were good enough.

That's not how bicycle racing works.

wirelessdude01

Lumen wrote:

This isn't something that's been made up. I can't find the interview but I'm sure there was one on StickyBottle a couple of years ago where he said he was happier up the road because it was terrifying (or words to that effect).

The King has spoken today and said that he needs to learn how to ride a bunch inorder to progress. More or less said that those that coming the early breaks aren't really up to much.

Raymzor

I think Eddies team will be happy with the exposure he has brought them.

Anyone else think he should relax his neck a bit!

Amprodude

Lumen wrote: »

That's not how bicycle racing works.

Well sometimes up the road can win races if you stay clear from the peloton for long enough.

Lumen

Amprodude wrote: »

Well sometimes up the road can win races if you stay clear from the peloton for long enough.

I'm sure you know that's not really why riders are in the breaks. They're mostly there so that the rest of the team don't have to waste energy chasing. It's still an important job but difficult to make a career out of it and a waste of talent.

1bryan

Lumen wrote: »

I'm sure you know that's not really why riders are in the breaks. They're mostly there so that the rest of the team don't have to waste energy chasing. It's still an important job but difficult to make a career out of it and a waste of talent.

In a one-day race, yes, but there's always a chance something might happen (such as a crash in the bunch) that might mean a break could stay clear.

I can't think of one single instance in a classic where this has happened, mind you.

Macy0161

1bryan wrote: »

I can't think of one single instance in a classic where this has happened, mind you.

Crash or a breakaway rider winning? If the latter, Matt Hayman (and Dillier second this year) in Roubaix from the break.

1bryan

Macy0161 wrote: »

Crash or a breakaway rider winning? If the latter, Matt Hayman (and Dillier second this year) in Roubaix from the break.

breakaway rider winning. Good calls.

Lumen

Macy0161 wrote: »

Crash or a breakaway rider winning? If the latter, Matt Hayman (and Dillier second this year) in Roubaix from the break.

I think Hayman's break only formed after two hours of >45kph racing. He was quoted as saying something like his move into that break was the first big effort of the day. So whilst it's an amazing achievement, it doesn't support the contention that you can avoid peloton riding as a pro.

TV coverage often doesn't start until the early break has formed, so we don't that that much of this part of racing.

edit: I think this is Greipel's ride from that race. https://www.strava.com/activities/542002786/analysis