There is something to love about a race that makes a deviation to its route for the simple joy of sending a fleet of professional riders up a fiendishly steep and narrow ramp. The Cote du Stockeu offers zero benefit to the route from a logistical standpoint – in fact, all it does is complicate things. On the way down from the Cote de Wanne – usually at breakneck speed – the race enters the small down of Stavelot. Just before hitting the town proper, you make a right turn and ascend a wall that does little more than become steeper as it twists it way up for 2.4km. Riding the route with Museeuw during Keepers Tour, he quietly tried to dissuade us of riding it, “You don’t need to do this for me; I’ve never enjoyed this one.”
At the top lies the monument to Merckx and his 525 victories. Upon reaching it, the route takes a sharp left turn and descends right back down to exactly the same spot from which it climbed up. This is why I love this climb so much; its just free pain for the racers – a steep climb just for the sake of making their legs hurt a bit more. Shortly thereafter, the route rolls down a few valleys and arrives at the Cote de la Redoute (The Fearsome), which signals the beginning of the finale. Its too far from the finish to make a winning move, but if you’ve got bad legs, you’ll be left behind to suffer all the way to Ans.
Amstel has been sorted, as has La Fléche. Both were won by an outsider. I don’t think the big names will let that happen again. Surely Gilbert and the Sag Wagon will have their act together this time around.
Check the start list and enter your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight on Sunday morning Pacific Time. The winner of this monument will post for the next year with the LBL Winners Badge. Good luck.
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View Comments
Why's Peter not on the start list?
VSP PICKS:
1. Gilbert
2. Gerrans
3. Martin
4. Nibali
5. Froome
@Deakus Funny you should say so, before 2011 his biggest criticism was he had no idea when to use his obvious strength & he ended up attacking too early. On that note, slight change to have PhilGil leading it out & Gerro pulling an MSR and coming over the top.
VSP PICKS:
1. Gerrans
2. Gilbert
3. Valverde
4. Nibbles
5. Cothodor
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. Gilbert
3. Gerrans
4. Martin
5. Rodriguez
@Mikael Liddy
OMG! You should never actually listen to me.....! Now I am responsible if he goes Ten Dam on us but succeeds and takes the solo win!!
I promised to give up on Sky, but I reckon they are now ravenously hungry for a win in a spring classic and this is last chance saloon. Trouble is there are a shit load of people who could take this one and a lot of teams have pairs that could go for it so it is really hard to make the VSP pick...e.g you could easily go for Astana and Iglinsky and have Nibali take it (and he is in form!), the same goes for BMC, Garmin Sharp, Sky, Katusha, Movitstar etc etc etc...
Fuck I have no idea what I am burbling about so I am going to have a cup of tea, check out the leaves and roll dice...this should at least assure me 1 point somewhere in the mix!
VSP PICKS:
1. Froomedog
2. Dirty Bertie
3. Dan Martin
4. Nibbles
5. Phil Gil
@Deakus & @Mikael Liddy:
Gilbert strikes me as more of an independent rider, attacking on feel rather than based on a voice in his earpiece: take away the race radios, and I suspect it would work in Gilbert's favour. He's out of form, but he's still been in the mix over the past week or so. Certainly not as invincible as 2011, but he's never been a one-trick pony. Rather, I think he's a cagey guy. Compare his 2011 with Sagan's 2013. Who's stronger? And who's smarter? I'd wager that Sagan v.2013 is stronger; Gilbert v.2011 was quite the puppet-master.
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. Nibali
3. Martin
4. J. Rod
5. Gerrans
VSP PICKS:
1. Mollema
2. Froome
3. Nibali
4. Valverde
5. Ryder
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. Froome
3. Valverde
4. Gilbert
5. Hesjedal
Free pain? Ah, if only other things in life were free, like a lugged carbon frame & an 11-s Super Record gruppo...
Awesome monument to the Prophet! What is the news on his health these days?
Tough picking on this one. Yes, another outsider or do the Big Shots get it right. Tough to call it, especially if any of the racers get weak Saturday night & enjoy a 4/20 puff!
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. Dan Martin
3. Valverde
4. Moreno
5. Gilbert