Doppio: 05

a weekly double-shot of road racing

Wednesday 17th April 2013

issue 05

rapha.cc

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 SUNDAY

SATURDAY

MONDAY

—Amstel Gold Race —Tro-Bro Léon

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

—Giro del Trentino

—Giro del Trentino —La Flèche Wallonne

THURSDAY —Giro del Trentino

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

—Giro del Trentino

SUNDAY

—Liège-Bastogne-Liège

amstel gold race review

la flèche wallonne preview

quote:

Saxo has them in Czech

Huy’s the Daddy

I never felt such pain and ecstasy at the same time

Alejandro Valverde MOVISTAR

2

Roman Kreuziger SAXO-TINKOFF

1

Simon Gerrans ORICA-GREENEDGE

3

Saxo-Tinkoff ’s Roman Kreuziger timed his attack precisely on the Bemelerberg and snatched a solo victory from the chasing pack, who had counted on the decisive move happening on the final ascent of the Cauberg. Here are three things we learnt from last weekend’s Amstel Gold: Moving the finish changes the race Last year, the finish line was at the top of the Cauberg; this time around, it was 1.2km on from the summit, on a Liège-style uphill drag. It introduced enough uncertainty to the rollercoaster closing stages for almost every team to chance an attack, and took the advantage away from the explosive climbers.

Gilbert uphill causes fireworks Philippe Gilbert replicated his Worlds-winning manoeuvre on the Cauberg, although to slightly less explosive effect. But when he turns on the afterburners, slung forward over the bars, teeth clenched, looming up towards the cameraman as the moto accelerates away, it’s still an impressive sight to behold. Gerrans clung on, though he was scorched in the blast. Valverde, too, withstood the acceleration and both snuck round the Belgian to deny him a podium place.

Looking good makes you go faster Czech rider Roman Kreuziger looked in peak condition, and while he pulled some fine pain faces as he powered on for victory, kept his form on the bike. Some of his chasers – notably Igor Anton and Andriy Grivko – were surely hampered by their hunched, crablike positions.

Like all the great climbs of the Classics, the legend of the Mur de Huy far outstrips its physical size.

From the stats, it appears to be the sort of short, sharp climb that riders in the UK know well: 1.3km long, rising about 120 metres – an average just under 10% – up the side of the Meuse valley but that is to underestimate the difficulties it poses for the riders of La Flèche Wallonne. It’s the steepest finishing climb in the Classics and after a deceptively shallow start, the gradient heads north of 20% at the famous and often decisive S-bend in its middle.

It’s axiomatic, usually trotted out by commentators at the Giro or the Vuelta before a similarly wicked climb, that when the road goes up in such brutal fashion, the riders start racing in slow motion. In stage races, riders rarely ignite all their powder on these climbs, so the Mur is unique in that it dangles absolute victory tantalisingly above the riders’ noses. So close and yet so far, it encourages an all-out effort, a frantic, slow self-combustion, where each must measure his available reserves against gravity, against the last few metres of tarmac and against what he knows of his rivals around him.

The ‘Walloon Arrow’ has finished on the Mur de Huy every year since 1983, when Bernard Hinault smashed his way to victory. These days, the arrow’s course runs crooked towards the end, swinging back round to take the Mur in twice before the final push. Joaquim Rodríguez was a worthy winner last year, as was Phillippe Gilbert the year before that. Purito’s participation is in doubt after his crash in the Amstel Gold. Even if injured, it will take someone with an almighty punch to land the race – and PhilGil might just be that man.

are p hil gil ’s white shorts # pr ost y le?

Mario Aerts, winner of La Flèche Wallonne in 2002.

doff of the cap Hats off to Roman Kreuziger who, by winning the Amstel Gold, has reignited a stuttering career.

For his escape to succeed he needed courage and good legs, and he has proven his many detractors wrong.

bigringriding award THOSE ‘BLEEDING CARROTS’ HAVE BEEN TURNING A FEW GOOD RESULTS RECENTLY AND MIKEL ASTARLOZA’S MOVE 30KM OUT – THOUGH DOOMED – GAVE THE FAVOURITES SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.

a weekly double-shot of road racing

Wednesday 17th April 2013 weekend weather

liège–bastogne–liège feature

The Hills Have Eyes

Bastogne and Back race type: Monument distance: 261.5km region: Wallonia, southern Belgium

49 8m Cô t e de W a n ne

45 6m Cô te de S a i nt -Ro c h

5 1 7 m B a s t o gn e

4 5 5 m D oc h a m p s

439m Manhay

3 99 m W e r b o mo n t

LIÈGE 75m 0km

4 0 0 m C ô te d e l a Roche-en-Ardenne

This week will see the changing of the flags: no more lions of Flanders, rampant on the sides of cobbled roads; instead, the bold rooster of Wallonia, the coq hardi, will be strutting his stuff over the wooded hills of the Ardennes. In the northern stages of this Sunday’s race, he’ll be emblazoned on the red and yellow colours of Liège; in the south, against the blue and white stripes of Luxembourg. His appearance in this week of hilly Classics is a sign of the peloton’s slow procession across Europe and, for the one-day specialists, that they can prepare to hang up their Sidis: after Liège, the season’s focus tips decisively towards stage racing.

Before that, there’s the small matter of La Doyenne’s 261.5km outand-back from Liège, an unremittingly tough trawl through the Ardennes, with most of the race’s famous climbs stored up for the lengthy return leg. With winter’s icy embrace of Western Europe loosening, it seems unlikely the peloton will have to contend with the blizzards that turned 1980’s edition into such an epic. That race, perhaps more than the two Tour de France wins he already had under his belt, sealed Bernard Hinault’s reputation as a hard rider and le patron of the peloton. As snow coated the roads, a balaclavaed Hinault rode away from the few men brave enough not to abandon and soloed for 50 kilometres, putting nine minutes into the eventual second-placed rider, Hennie Kuiper.

This year, Alberto Contador will be testing his legs at the highest level for the first time but, for now, he is demurring and pointing to Joaquim Rodríguez, Philippe Gilbert and Alejandro Valverde as favourites. His team-mate Roman Kreuziger is also in fine form.

ANS 184m 261.5 km

3 13 m C ôt e de la Re do ut e

liège–bastogne–liège preview

3 3 2m M on t- The ux

Sunny, 12C but a 20kph wind in your face.

Wind Jacket, Pro Team Bib Shorts, Knee Warmers

3 70m Cô t e du M a qui sa r d

Liège

Cloudy Saturday, showers Sunday, 16-19C. Trade Team Jersey, Arm Warmers, Rain Jacket

56 5m C o l du R os i er

Osaka

Sunny and in the high 70s. Get out over that bridge and ride!

Club Jersey, Classic Bib Shorts

50 6m Cô te de l a H a ute -Le v é e

San Francisco

40 5m C ô te de St o c ke u

London Not bad at all: up to 15C and some sun.

Long Sleeve Pro Team Jersey, ¾ Bib Shorts

Former pro Tom Southam recalls his first sighting of the hills of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in 2006, and why he believes it is the hardest – and potentially the most beautiful – of the Classics.

Paris-Roubaix and Flanders have their obvious hardships; the batterings, the crashes and the misfortune all show up well on TV. But for all that, luck and an ability to hold on to your bike while it behaves like a pneumatic drill both play a key role in those races; in the Ardennes there is no place to hide. In Liège it is man against man, and man against hill.

Normally, when the road turns uphill, the battle against gravity is pure and simple. A race will stretch out over the length of a climb and that will be that: you survive or you don’t. In Liège, the hills are viciously sharp and yet so short that they require an act of balancing, between weight and strength, and leverage against the unrelenting gradient.

On the Friday before I rode the race in 2006, as we reconnoitred the route, this was what I saw: I saw hills that were the shape of time; hills that weaved through the dark forests and carried on their rutted shoulders so many stories of so many battles.

And yet there was no foxhole, no shelter. I felt stranded, surrounded by hills in which there lurked enemies, watching and waiting. My heart sank into my slightly too small Italian cycling shoes.

When we arrived in Liège on race day and signed on in front of the cathedral, instead of a sense of occasion all I could think of were those hills, out there waiting, one after another after another.

As the time to the start ticked down and our bus driver Gianni busied himself with making each of the riders their final espresso – a job he took as seriously as driving the bus itself – I thought about previous winners of the race. No chance victors, no flukes, just a list of the strongest riders of their time. Proof that the hardest races are the ones that reward only the greats.

Read Tom’s full feature online at rapha.cc from Friday 19th April.

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are phil gil ’s whi te shorts # p r ost y le?

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