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Alejandro Valverde, La Fleche Wallonne, the Mur de Huy, etc, etc
Last year, I wrote: “La Fleche Wallonne pretty much always amounts to a hill climb after a 200km warm-up. Alejandro Valverde is still the fastest hill climber, just as he was last year and the year before.” This year, I’ll write: La Fleche Wallonne pretty much always amounts to a hill climb after a 200km…
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Philippe Gilbert has a colourful time at Amstel Gold
Ardennes Week (which is actually eight days long) is when we segue from one-day racing to stage racing. Amstel Gold, La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege involve much of the hurly burly of the cobbled classics – including that peculiar phenomenon where riders actually race to win, rather than conserving energy for the following day. However,…
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Greg Van Avermaet is King of Spring
If you’re accustomed to the cautious watchfulness of the Tour de France, the relentless violence of Paris-Roubaix can be a bit of an eye-opener. In July, commentators can spend three weeks discussing which mountain stage will see an attack from one of the favourites and some years the answer turns out to be ‘none of…
