Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2013 – preview by George Scott georgetscott 19th April 2013 Share The Ardennes Classics season reaches it crescendo on Sunday with the 99th edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege. PCS Time 1 Martin Daniel Garmin Sharp 100 275 6:38:07 6:38:07 2 Rodr But unlike the stage race, Sunday’s event has steep climbs and twisting descents that test tactics and nerves too. It’s a supreme physical contest where there’s rarely a surprise win. Here’s a preview with the route, including details of the new Colonster climb, the riders (including the final start list), TV schedules, weather, what’s sweet and sour in Li. But that would be too easy as the towns are only 9. Instead the return leg is longer and includes a succession of steep climbs over the 2. The early part of the race is not flat but lacks the climbing of final return from Bastogne. An early breakaway will go and riders head to Bastogne where the feedzone is located. There’s even a roundabout permanently decorated in honour of the race that the race will use to turn back towards the north. Km 7. 0. 0 – C. From here onwards there’s a climb roughly every 1. These are not Alpine climbs engineered to reach a pass but instead follow steep river valleys and ridges and the gradient is forever changing. It’s hard work on the legs and gear choice is crucial to getting the balance right between momentum, power and the body’s limits. Get a problem and there’s little chance to pick your way past riders, positioning is everything.“a lot of riders mistakenly think you should attack on the hardest part, but in reality you hurt people on the slightly flatter section that comes after this”That’s former winner Moreno Argentin talking about La Redoute, one of the most important climbs whose name means “the redoubtable”. The climbs are exposed, simply getting to the top is hard work but having the energy to accelerate the moment the road levels out is often what determines the winner. In addition to these recognised climbs there are also the hidden climbs, stretches of road that rise notably but are not counted by the race. Route Changes: C. Podium joy: Dan Martin, nephew of 1987 Tour de France winner Stephen Roche, celebrates winning the Liege-Bastogne-Liege in Belgium alongside Joaquim By. Liege-Bastogne-Liege: moments in history The Ardennes Classics come to a close this weekend with the biggest and most prestigious of the three races: Liege-Bastogne-Liege. It's the fourth of the five 'Monuments' on the professional cycling calendar. With reasonable knowledge of cycling history, you may know this ride as La Doyenne. Around the world, it is commonly referred to the Li Il s'agit de la 13 e . Liege - Bastogne - Liege Paris - Roubaix Il Lombardia Rankings Individual Ranking Nation Ranking Team Ranking UCI WorldTour Ranking UCI Team. The hard, narrow and irregular C. As the image shows this is a wide open road that designed to allow allow traffic to speed along. Roche aux Faucons. Although by now the fatigue has accumulated and it could still be problematic. The finish. Deceptively the finish isn’t Li. Le dimanche 21 avril 2013 - 99eSBS in Australia: Liege-Bastogne-Liege will air at 11pm AEST on SBS ONE tv schedule(see comments) United States; delayed broadcast to air. Erkunde The Bike Lanes Pinnwand . Wouter Poels beat all the favourites and a snow covered course to win Liege. There is a climb to the finish line. This is very different to the previous climbs of the day being regular in gradient and wide, a suburban road rather than a rural lane. Riders climb together, often watching each other before the road flattens and turns left with 2. King of the Mountains competition. All the climbs have cash. The first rider gets . Anyone in the early breakaway is likely to fade in the late part of the race. I suspect a few teams will want to send riders up the road, if anything to remind us they exist. Even if the arithmetic means each team can’t win several squads have disappointed this year and will want to try something. Teamwork is needed to drop the leader into the right place for the climbs. Here a train of riders can be deployed but the longer the race goes on the more helpful having a “lieutenant” becomes, a rider able to stay with their team leader whilst other contenders flounder on the steep ramps. This opens up the chance of the “one- two” with team mates taking turn to attack; or having a team mate able to chase down rival moves. The narrow roads, twisting course and brevity of the climbs make it hard for the likes of Team Sky to control the pace. Normally the final selection comes with attacks on the climbs where the ability to accelerate has to be matched by the determination to drive the pace once the gradient eases. The final sprint is often a formality, there is often little tactical sophistication, it is just a test of who still has some power left. Contenders. Races like the Amstel Gold and the Fl. PDF. Maxim Iglinskiy rides away for the win in 2. You can spot Nibali on the right. For me there are three prime picks. Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) is getting stronger and grew up on these roads. The exclusion of the Roche aux Faucons suits him as he’s got a punchy sprint more than climbing legs right now. Next is Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) who has been discreet in the Ardennes so far but present each time and now the long course suits him. He can also finish fast when needed and has won the race twice before. Next comes Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) who was second last year and in great shape from winning the Giro del Trentino, the win will be his problem as fatigue from Trentino could take the zip out his legs. Next come a second tier of contenders. Chris Froome (Team Sky) is racing but nobody knows how he is going. Also the race requires experience and if he’s ridden the race three times his best place is 4. Sergio Henao. Another double act comes with Katusha with Joaquim Rodriguez and Dani Moreno with the latter clearly the strongest on the Mur de Huy, in fact he looked at ease. Simon Gerrans (Orica- Greenedge) was strong in the Amstel and one of the few daring to follow Gilbert whilst Roman Kreuziger is an obvious name to survey, more so as Saxo- Tinkoff team mate Alberto Contador seems to be tired. Below the race opens up to many more names. How will Carlos Betancur far with the distance? Pierre Rolland has been targeting this race but based on his riding in Trentino he’ll miss. Garmin have Dan Martin and Ryder Hesjedal, Euskaltel with Anton and Sanchez. Astana’s Gasparotto is returning to form. Rui Costa of Movistar could be there. Spring classics revelation Micha. Temperatures will be around freezing for the start of the race. During the day the thermometer will rise to 1. The cold means eating plenty will count. TVLive coverage should start at 2. Euro time with the finish expected between 4. It’s on Belgian TV and Eurosport is also live. Pirate internet feeds prevail as always, especially since it’s not live in North America. So cyclingfans. com and steephill. Li. It has given its name to Sirop de Li. There’s also the Gauffre de Li. Unemployment is around 2. History. The race was first run in 1. It has since acquired the name of La Doyenne, the old lady because of its longevity. Eddy Merckx – who else? Next is Italian Moreno Argentin and if Belgians hold the majority of wins the area is has an Italian influence after it sucked in many migrant workers in for the mines and steel mills of the nineteenth century. The industry has long since gone but the Italian influence in this area of Belgium lives on. Talking of diversity, the list of winners is interesting. We see classics specialist and grand tour champions on the list, it’s the kind of race where different riders can clash. This year’s classic season has been dominated by cold weather. But in 1. 98. 0 snow saw Bernard Hinault stay warm thanks to a giant solo breakaway, legend has it that he lost the use of several fingers for good. Some say this is a myth but the clip above shows him saying he’s never recovered the feeling in them again.
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