wow, it had to happen sometime. solid golf clap for him.

indeed! about damn time. difficult to understand his positioning though. seems like he borrowed a page from Dan Martin's Huy playbook

Matthews, what a ride! And to think he'd beat Gilbert. Even Gerrans never did this well on the Huy. Impressive ride

Guarnier did well in the women's race. She might do quite well on Sunday

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7 points! well played

You should come around more often! 14 points from just two races (Roubaix and Wallonne). Would probably pull an Alaphilippe on the rest of us if you submitted more picks


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Super ride by Alaphilippe. I'm even happier he could hold off Valverde.

ouch............Matthews is a very consistent rider

if Valverde caught Alaphillipe I'd be screaming, J'accuse! J'accuse!...............nice to see him be 38, sort of

Thanks! I forgot to send my picks for some races unfortunately, I didn't think I'd do this well either.. All the more reason to keep playing until all the classics are finished!

its going to be a nice day in Liege. maybe some showers at the finish. I am therefore going with the predictable picks. its Valverde until he tells us otherwise. Alaphilippe will put in a good ride, ditto Kwia, but that only means that they'll see Piti cross the line. I would LOVE to see Nibs or Phil take a flyer and I think both are crazy enough to try, but they will be marked.

Valverde
Alaphilippe
Kwiatkowski

Gilbert
Nibali

thanks for a good season echappist.

LBL.

Martin, Gilbert, Mathews
Kreuziger, Valgren

i hate going with favorites all the time so once again throwing darts on the wall
Bardet, Moser, Valverde
Mathhews, Ion Izagirre

nice picks.............thanks, Echap for hosting, this was fun

you are welcome; great to have a group of folks to banter with, and thanks to all who participated! Maybe i'll get on with the times and look into Velogames next year

this is the highest participation in the thread going all the way back to 2013; well done, guys!

i'm thinking

Alaphilippe, Valverde, Nibali
Matthews Bardet

Nibali would dearly like to win this one. He was sooooooo close in 2012. That moment when one get reeled in on the finishing hill, I think any racer who's rolled the dice only to get dragged back can commiserate. The weekend afterward, I rolled the dice and appeared to be on track to finish on the podium, only to be overhauled 600m from the line on the uphill finish. Just like that, kaput, nothing more left in the legs to give; forget about effort at 120% FTP, I was having issue with generating 90%... A potential 2nd or 3rd place all the way down to 13th. That one stung. I hope he can pull a special one and bag this.

Funny that I used to like races with uphill finishes (both for spectating and in my own racing), but the more I think about it, the more I find them to be trite and boring. Organizers at Amstel did a great job by making the finale easier, but placing the hardest obstacle at more than 10km out. Still helped to make it a selective race, but now people aren't getting penalized for going early (Wellens at 2016 Amstel comes to mind). I look forward to when Liege reverts back to a flat finish in Liege proper.

ditto. this was a fun season. I always watch, but this was the first year I made picks all the way through. I really enjoyed the banter and the insights.

the TdF, the Giro, etc, those are great events. the best man wins the war of attrition. but these one-days, these are human drama. watching someone hang it out there, a solo effort from 10K, 20K, 30K ... that's amazing. and yes, watching them get reeled in by the bunch with a few 100m to go .... whooof.

thanks everyone.

Impressed that Vanendert came back from the dead (ie his 2017) to have a really strong Ardennes season. Would he have been able to win Fleche if he was being led out instead leading Wellens? Probably not, but it would've been interesting to see.

yes thanks for setting this up again. it's been a joy to participate and out think myself with picks :(

most exciting racing of the year, and i count on you guys each year to help me sort out whats what and whos who heading into the summer. I always learn a lot from this thread, how many years has it been now? great stuff guys, thank you!

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http://www.PatGriskusTri.com USAT Certified Race Director
2024 Races: USAT State of CT Age Group Championship/State of CT HS Champs/ CT Club Championship - Sat June 15th (Oly/Du/Sprint) Hopkins Vineyard Tri at Lake Waramaug Saturday July 13th http://www.HopkinsVineyardTri.com

I was thinking the other day that this is quite possibly the most civil post in ST history. Sad that the end of spring classics is upon us but thanks for organizing.

Alaphilippe, Valverde, Matthews
Nibali, Gilbert

Picks for LBL:

Alaphilippe, Valverde, Bardet
Izagirre, Benoot

Would be exciting to see if Benoot can compete, being on the heavier side of the peleton. But for some reason I'd put him above Wellens this weekend..

LMAO, take it over here buddy!!!

Truth. Hope we can keep spitballin' and bantering through the GT's etc.

Nice seeing lots of Yanks in the race- Larry Warbasse, Benny King, the Boz, Craddock, Howes, Rosskopf, Haga (doing the work, always). I see Joey Rosskopf in the break.

Hard not to pick Alaphilippe, Valverde. I think QS will ride hard for Gilbert as at 35 his season and really nice run is over and he's been a good team guy for them. Would love to see him, Wellens, maybe Woods get away but unlikely although I sure don't see Wellens or PG waiting around. They're going to go long-ish.

Alaphilippe, Valverde, Matthews
Martin, Kreuziger

Thanks for organizing this. Nice to be able to chat with fans of cycling.

Like someone else mentioned, it would be nice to continue the talk through the GTs.

Dumoulin is racing Liege, curious to see how he does.


My picks for La Doyenne.

Alaphilippe, Benoot, Kreuziger
Matthews, Nibali

This is pretty close to what I'm thinking. Alaphilippe looked super strong in the Basque country, and his win in Fleche Wallonne was pretty decisive. I think Matthews is on great form too - I'm hoping for a good Green Jersey battle between him and Peto at La Tour. Valverde is obviously a contender... but maybe he's finally appearing mortal in the Ardennes.

So...

Alaphilippe, Matthews, Valverde
Kreuziger, Wellens

This was my first season watching the classics and while I didn’t participate, I did check this thread several times per week and thoroughly enjoyed it! Looking forward to next year!

i left Nibs off, but i think he's going to light it up....just betting he gets caught

I forgot to get picks in for Fleche; kin hav xtras 2day? ;^>

Valverde, Alaphillippe, Martin

Valgren, Gilbert

Yeah, Vinnie is bound to lob a grenade at some point and I'm looking forward to it!

It would be awesome to see him win, and you know he wants to add a 3rd Monument to his tally. But there aren't that many scenarios where he can win, especially given his team.