not according to steephill
http://www.steephill.tv/...ics/fleche-wallonne/

They're only showing 6 riders - that's not likely.

Meanwhile, http://www.cyclingpub.com/...s+at+Fleche+Wallonne

I'll bet you 5 Echappist points that Gilbert is riding! :-)

wow, i can see how Nibs could be intrigued. i had him picked for the Olympics too. and i see this as the end of the Sagan run. ain't no 4-in-a-row here.

hey hey!!! keep your filthy gambling out of my internet pool!

yea, Steephill was my source. given his close-but-not-quite in the heavy classics it jived to see him out of these too. the fan-boy is strong in me, perhaps i will have to add him now.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the climbers. The last truly proper mountain course was in Colombia back in the 90s. The Olympics course was hard, but it doesn't come close to this one.

Gnadenwald (climb at 60 km) is 2km at 10.5%; basically just to soften things.
Each of the 6 ascents of Igis is 8km at 5.7%; a category 2 climb on the TDF.
Final climb of Gramartboden is 2.8km at 11.5%; insanely steep at this stage of the race. Maybe the top 20 or so riders actually climb this; most will drop out. Those foolish enough and looking merely to finish will be paper-boying this one.

I guess if pure sprinters get a shot at wearing rainbow stripes once a decade, pure climbers should get a shot once a generation, but a course this hard removes tactics from consideration, and it'll just go the the best climber who could descend. I hope Esteban Chavez takes this one over Nibali, as sort of a "payback" for Nibs beating the former in the 2016 Giro. Chavez actually has the chops to win a hard classic.

A race this hard would be almost comical in its savageness, if it weren't so brutal. The longest grand tour climbing stages are at ~220km; this one tacks on another hour... And winners of the last two ultra long grand tour climbing stages? Nibali in 2017 and Chavez in 2016, both at the Giro, on the other side of the Tyrolean Alps.

Good point about Chaves. From the Orica-Scott videos, I like him as a rider and person. But he seems to be lacking something. Hopefully he gets his groove back.

Only way Sagan contends for WC is if he retires now and goes on the Zakarin diet then unretires in time for Austria. Or something along those lines.....

i think you mean the wiggo diet ;)

Struggling with my picks for Fleche Wallonne.

I cannot see past Valvarde for the win, but for some reason, just not a fan. From the various interviews which I seen, he is a nice person and obviously a talented rider. Argh.

RE: WC
Froome has a good shot at this too I think, assuming he sorts out his asthma issue.

Picks for Fleche Wallonne

Alaphillippe
Wellens
Henao

Gilbert, Matthews

Agree on Valverde, tough to look past him with what he showed at Amstel and how much the Fleche finish suits him.
Valverde, Alaphilippe, Gasparatto
Teuns, Matthews

Bowsell for sentimental pick.

it's one of those hold your nose and pick sort of deals

Valverde, Martin, Alaphilippe
Henao and Teuns

Might cost me some spots but I can't go with Valverde. Charming, loved by fans and his teammates but still.
He can't win this this every year. Can he??
Or Zakarin. Or Martin who gets lazy loses position and then has to fight his way back up and then come up short.

I'm going with the good guy, Rigoberto Duran Duran Uran. He caught a bad break last week, and has a strong team.

Uran, Teuns, Henao, Barguil, Matthews, who also caught a bad break last week and was clearly sandbagging in pre race interviews, which I liked.

The Boz is the sentimental pick. Nice kid, another USA Bontrager development team product. And Wellens but a lot of mid week climbing for him to not get popped off.

I raced against Boz when he was a junior mopping up the floor with all us. Talked to him on our podcast next week, such as solid, grounded guy.

Given Valverde's history here and the form he seems to be in, I can't bring myself not to pick him for this one. But I'll temper my distaste by putting hometown hero Rusty Woods on the podium. His form is pretty questionable right now, but he's always seemed well suited to this race, so maybe this year he'll manage to get on the podium.

Valverde, Alaphillipe, Woods
Teuns, Matthews

Martin always has to fight from way way back. Was like this when he was at Garmin, and was like this with Quickstep. Dude doesn't hold his position well. One strong teammate who could shepherd him so that he's fifth wheel with about 700m to go will do wonder to his chances

There's times, like LBL 2014, when he's not far back at all. Yet still manages to have Bad Things Happen. Now that was a heartbreaker.

https://www.youtube.com/...v=gABPpzfqVbs[/font]

gots to go with Valverde but other choices are just darts


Valverde, Bardet, Izagirre G
Kwia, Barguil

he probably couldn't have held off the rampaging Gerrans anyway, but that was super unfortunate

I liked how in 2014 Lombardia, he took the final turn with an abundance of caution. Dude certainly is tactically aware. Incidentally, Martin also fell like 300m from the finish line in the 2013 Lombardia

but nothing beats this though, escaping the clutches of the mythical and dangerous panda of Wallonia.

I’ll check it out. He’s stayed buddies with Joe D, who used to just ride away from us here as an 18 year old on his way to being discovered. Both very solid young guys who seem to keep it all in perspective. Both former Sky kids too.

I don’t want to break any rules by posting a link but you can find it on site— pic of the tall(est), skinny(est) guy on there. Thanks for checking it out and let us know what you think.

He and Joe D were roomies I think too.

Picks for today:

Alaphilippe, Valverde, Wellens
Teuns, Matthews

i've got an old Bontrager poster of the team with Joe up front, their skinny arms are crossed, stern looks on their baby faces....it's hilarious

i think Nibs attacks his group sooner than later....he's that guy

Suck it, Piti!