La Fleche Wallone

1

Decent field for this Classic tomorrow. Very similar to the field at the weekend.

Features the Mur de Huy climb 3 times.

The Mur de Huy fascinates, impresses and transcends the riders. It starts with a right turn that means the beginning of the battle. Its characteristics give shivers.

While the climb lasts 1300 metres, it is at the start of the Chemin Des Chapelles, on a portion of over 800 metres, that the legs suffer the most: the slope average if close to 13% and reaches a maximum 26% in the famous chicane, 400 metres from the line. Champions have been preparing for weeks this rendez-vous that becomes a fire lightning when comes the final explanation.

For the 73rd edition, the prize at the top is once again coveted by the best punchers of the pack. Kim Kirchen, who had entered the Great Classics winners circle last year thanks to an impressive final acceleration, will need to be just as impressive to beat the many contenders. On the list of those who dream of the Fleche are the likes of Damiano Cunego, closely followed by Cadel Evans, one of the main actors in last years final climb. His team mate Philippe Gilbert recently 4th of the Amstel Gold Race will also be part of the outsiders to keep an eye on. Robert Gesink, 4th in 2008 has won himself during the Amstel (3rd) a clear favourites status. The young riders havent however totally outclassed the former winners who should once again play a part in the battle: Alejandro Valverde and Davide Rebellin are present to make the best of their experience.

Profile


Starters

Team Columbia - Highroad Silence-Lotto
1 Kim Kirchen (Lux) 11 Cadel Evans (Aus)
2 Michael Albasini (Swi) 12 Christophe Brandt (Bel)
3 Thomas Lvkvist (Swe) 13 Francis De Greef (Bel)
4 Craig Lewis (USA) 14 Thomas Dekker (Ned)
5 Tony Martin (Ger) 15 Philippe Gilbert (Bel)
6 Maxime Monfort (Bel) 16 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel)
7 Marco Pinotti (Ita) 17 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel)
8 Frantisek Rabon (Cze) 18 Jelle Vanendert (Bel)
9 *Morris Possoni (Ita) 19 *Pieter Jacobs (Bel)
10 *Michael Rogers (Aus)

Lampre - N.G.C. Rabobank
21 Damiano Cunego (Ita) 31 Robert Gesink (Ned)
22 Matteo Bono (Ita) 32 Mauricio Ardila (Col)
23 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) 33 Stef Clement (Ned)
24 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) 34 Oscar Freire (Spa)
25 Manuele Mori (Ita) 35 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa)
26 Daniele Righi (Ita) 36 Koos Moerenhout (Ned)
27 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) 37 Grischa Niermann (Ger)
28 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) 38 Bram Tankink (Ned)
29 *Simone Ponzi (Ita) 39 *Paul Martens (Ger)
30 *Volodymyr Zagorodny (Ukr) 40 *Pieter Weening (Ned)

Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli Liquigas
41 Davide Rebellin (Ita) 51 Roman Kreuziger (Cze)
42 Rubens Bertogliati (Ita) 52 Valerio Agnoli (Ita)
43 Francesco Ginanni (Ita) 53 Aleksandr Kuschynski (Blr)
44 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) 54 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita)
45 Nazareno Rossi (Swi) 55 Ivan Santaromita (Ita)
46 Michele Scarponi (Ita) 56 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo)
47 Jose Serpa (Col) 57 Brian Vandborg (Den)
48 Luca Solari (Ita) 58 Frederik Willems (Bel)
59 *Murilo Fischer (Bra)
60 *Daniel Oss (Ita)

Caisse d’Epargne Barloworld
61 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) 71 John-Lee Augustyn (RSA)
62 Rui Da Costa (Por) 72 Francesco Bellotti (Ita)
63 Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) 73 Patrick Calcagni (Swi)
64 Alberto Losada (Spa) 74 Giampaolo Cheula (Ita)
65 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) 75 Marco Corti (Ita)
66 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) 76 Steven Cummings (GBr)
67 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) 77 Christopher Froome (GBr)
68 Rigoberto Uran (Col) 78 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita)
69 *Imanol Erviti (Spa) 79 *Diego Caccia (Ita)
70 *Xabier Zandio (Spa) 80 *Carlo Scognamiglio (Ita)

AG2R La Mondiale BBox Bouygues Telecom
81 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) 91 Yury Trofimov (Rus)
82 Jos Luis Arrieta (Spa) 92 Olivier Bonnaire (Fra)
83 Hubert Dupont (Fra) 93 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra)
84 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) 94 Cyril Gautier (Fra)
85 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) 95 Vincent Jerome (Fra)
86 Julien Loubet (Fra) 96 Laurent Lefevre (Fra)
87 Christophe Riblon (Fra) 97 Pierre Rolland (Fra)
88 Nicolas Roche (Irl) 98 Matthieu Sprick (Fra)
89 *Renaud Dion (Fra) 99 *Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn)
90 *John Gadret (Fra) 100 *Evgeny Sokolov (Rus)

Landbouwkrediet - Colnago Euskaltel - Euskadi
101 Bert De Waele (Bel) 111 Samuel Sanchez (Spa)
102 Dirk Bellemakers (Ned) 112 Inaki Isasi (Spa)
103 Jonathan Bertrand (Bel) 113 Inigo Landaluze (Spa)
104 Sbastien Delfosse (Bel) 114 Egoi Martinez (Spa)
105 Benjamin Gourgue (Bel) 115 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa)
106 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) 116 Alan Perez (Spa)
107 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) 117 Ruben Perez (Spa)
108 Geert Verheyen (Bel) 118 Gorka Verdugo (Spa)
109 *Mathieu Drouilly (Fra) 119 *Aitor Galdos (Spa)
110 *Martial Ricci Poggi (Fra) 120 *Aitor Hernandez (Spa)

Quick Step Team Katusha
121 Jrme Pineau (Fra) 131 Serguei Ivanov (Rus)
122 Carlos Barredo (Spa) 132 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus)
123 Dario Cataldo (Ita) 133 Pavel Brutt (Rus)
124 Allan Davis (Aus) 134 Nikita Eskov (Rus)
125 Dries Devenyns (Bel) 135 Serguei Klimov (Rus)
126 Addy Engels (Ned) 136 Luca Mazzanti (Ita)
127 Francesco Reda (Ita) 137 Christian Pfannberger (Aut)
128 Kevin Seeldrayers (Bel) 138 Ben Swift (GBr)
129 *Davide Malacarne (Ita) 139 *Alexander Serov (Rus)
130 *Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) 140 *Maxime Vantomme (Bel)

Astana Franaise Des Jeux
141 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) 151 Sandy Casar (Fra)
142 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) 152 Jerome Coppel (Fra)
143 Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kaz) 153 Frdric Guesdon (Fra)
144 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) 154 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra)
145 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) 155 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra)
146 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) 156 Francis Mourey (Fra)
147 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) 157 Benot Vaugrenard (Fra)
148 Benjamin Noval (Spa) 158 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin)
149 *Valeriy Dmitriyev (Kaz)

Team Milram Agritubel
161 Peter Velits (Svk) 171 Christophe Moreau (Fra)
162 Johannes Frhlinger (Ger) 172 Maxime Bouet (Fra)
163 Christian Knees (Ger) 173 Sylvain Calzati (Fra)
164 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) 174 Rmi Cusin (Fra)
165 Ronny Scholz (Ger) 175 Romain Feillu (Fra)
166 Paul Voss (Ger) 176 Yann Huguet (Fra)
167 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) 177 David Lelay (Fra)
168 Peter Wrolich (Aut) 178 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra)
169 *Dominik Roels (Ger) 179 *Freddy Bichot (Fra)
170 *Martin Velits (Svk) 180 *Christophe Laurent (Fra)

Cervelo Test Team Garmin - Slipstream
181 Simon Gerrans (Aus) 191 Jason Donald (USA)
182 Philip Deignan (Irl) 192 Thomas Danielson (USA)
183 Xavier Florencio (Spa) 193 Lucas Euser (USA)
184 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) 194 Ryder Hesjedal (Can)
185 Ted King (USA) 195 Daniel Martin (Irl)
186 Daniel Lloyd (GBr) 196 Christian Meier (Can)
187 Serge Pauwels (Bel) 197 Thomas Peterson (USA)
188 Marcel Wyss (Swi) 198 Ricardo Van Der Velde (Ned)
189 *Inigo Cuesta (Spa) 199 *Timothy Duggan (USA)
190 *Daniel Fleeman (GBr) 200 *Huub Duyn (Ned)

Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne Team Saxo Bank
201 Julien El Fares (Fra) 211 Frank Schleck (Lux)
202 Mickal Buffaz (Fra) 212 Jakob Fuglsang (Den)
203 Leonardo Duque (Col) 213 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus)
204 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) 214 Karsten Kroon (Ned)
205 Maryan Hary (Fra) 215 Gustav Larsson (Swe)
206 Amal Moinard (Fra) 216 Andy Schleck (Lux)
207 Nico Sijmens (Bel) 217 Chris Srensen (Den)
208 Rein Taaramae (Est) 218 Nicki Srensen (Den)
209 *Christophe Kern (Fra) 219 *Michael Mrkv (Den)
210 *Sbastien Minard (Fra) 220 *Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel)

Skil-Shimano Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
221 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) 231 Jan Bakelandts (Bel)
222 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) 232 Johan Coenen (Bel)
223 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) 233 Tom Criel (Bel)
224 Theo Eltink (Ned) 234 Thomas De Gendt (Bel)
225 Simon Geschke (Ger) 235 Ben Hermans (Bel)
226 Floris Goesinnen (Ned) 236 Sven Renders (Bel)
227 Thierry Hupond (Fra) 237 Preben Van Hecke (Bel)
228 Albert Timmer (Ned) 238 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel)
229 *Steve Houanard (Fra) 239 *Maarten Neyens (Bel)
230 *Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) 240 *Geert Steurs (Bel)

Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
241 Matteo Carrara (Ita)
242 Reinier Honig (Ned)
243 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned)
244 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb)
245 Clment Lhotellerie (Fra)
246 Gerben Lwik (Ned)
247 Marco Marcato (Ita)
248 Wouter Poels (Ned)
249 *Wouter Mol (Ned)
250 *Frederik Veuchelen (Bel)

2

I love this race. The Mur de Huy is the business. I was a big fan of Francesco Casagrande when I was younger, I remember he won a great edition of this.

Who do you fancy?

3

It’s a top class field. I suppose Valverde has a decent chance. So do na dearthaireacha Schleck. I’d just go for Gessink though.

Roche, Deignan and Martin all racing again which is great for Irish cycling.

Is this on Eurosport do you know?

4

[quote=“therock67”]It’s a top class field. I suppose Valverde has a decent chance. So do na dearthaireacha Schleck. I’d just go for Gessink though.

Roche, Deignan and Martin all racing again which is great for Irish cycling.

Is this on Eurosport do you know?[/QUOTE]

I dunno. I don’t have Eurosport so I’ll probably watch a feed from myp2p.eu

I’d like to all those Irish boys would have a chance of winning this someday if one/all of them progress as they possibly will. I don’t think there’s ever been an Irish winner. One of the few big races where that’s the case.

5

It’s on Eurosport tomorrow yeah. Frank Schleck had big fall on Sunday so he won’t be racing. Very hard to pick a winner but Kirchen, Kreuziger and A Schleck are decent value imo. Valverde and Cunego looked a little off the pace on Sunday.
D Cunego 11 - 2
T Dekker 40 - 1
X Florencio 66 - 1

J Rodriguez 7 - 1
D Cataldo 40 - 1
T Danielson 66 - 1

C Evans 8 - 1
J Pineau 50 - 1
A Moinard 66 - 1

A Valverde 9 - 1
R Kreuziger 50 - 1
O Pereiro 80 - 1

S Sanchez 12 - 1
V Efimkin 50 - 1
F Willems 80 - 1

A Schleck 12 - 1
A Botcharov 50 - 1
N Roche 80 - 1

D Rebellin 14 - 1
M Albasini 50 - 1
D Martin 80 - 1

P Gilbert 16 - 1
J Veikkanen 50 - 1
E Martinez 80 - 1

K Kroon 20 - 1
G E Larsson 50 - 1
B Swift 80 - 1

S Ivanov 22 - 1
C Moreau 50 - 1
H Zubeldia 80 - 1

C Pfannberger 25 - 1
R Hesjedal 50 - 1
S Casar 80 - 1

M Scarponi 28 - 1
Y Trofimov 66 - 1
B Vaugrenard 80 - 1

V Nibali 28 - 1
D Devenyns 66 - 1
D Lloyd 100 - 1

A Kolobnev 28 - 1
C Knees 66 - 1
P Deignan 100 - 1

F Wegmann 28 - 1
R Nocentini 66 - 1
L Duque 100 - 1

T Lovkvist 33 - 1
S Gerrans 66 - 1
J Fuglsang 100 - 1

K Kirchen 33 - 1
J Hivert 66 - 1
C Barredo 125 - 1

K Seeldrayers 33 - 1

6

[media=youtube]9bH4Pvrkx_g

7

Rebellin has a hell of a palmares. Spans from the last generation of cycling too. I don’t know much about him, he was just always there.

8

At 38 his performances seem unbelievable. Thought A Schleck looked a bit fearful in end there. Too much pondering and looking at Rebellin. Said afterwards that he knew from a while back that Rebellin was going to sprint. A Schleck should have just put the head down and gone himself imo

9

Schleck just doesn’t have a kick it seems. Always in contention but just can’t get away from anyone.

10

And there we go.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/apr09/apr29news

Cycling News Flash, April 29, 2009

Cyclist named in Olympic CERA positives

Two cyclists have been implicated in new doping positives which have come out of retroactive testing of samples from last year’s Beijing Games.

The Associated Press reported that two cyclists, three track and field athletes and one weightlifter are the six Olympians who the International Olympic Committee said tested positive for the EPO variant CERA.

La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that one of the positive cyclists is Davide Rebellin, who took second in the road race in Beijing. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has confirmed only that one of the athletes is from Italy, but has not given a name.

Rebellin’s former trade teammate Stefan Schumacher tested positive for CERA following retroactive testing of Tour de France samples last October. The tests were completed after the German had already participated in the Olympic time trial.

AP reports also that two of the six were medalists, one in cycling, the other a gold-medal winning track and field athlete.

The IOC began performing retroactive testing on the Beijing Olympic Game samples in January using a newly developed test for the recently introduced EPO drug Mircera. Several riders tested positive for the same drug during the 2008 Tour de France.

Seven samples of 847 total tested from the Olympic Games turned up positive for CERA. Two of the positives were from the same athlete.

The ICO confirmed that it used the same blood test which the French anti-doping agency AFLD used last year to declare Stefan Schumacher, Bernhard Kohl and Leonardo Piepoli positive following retroactive testing of Tour de France samples.

Rebellin, Kohl and Schumacher were teammates on the now-defunct Gerolsteiner squad.

In the re-testing, the ICO said it “focused primarily on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics.”

“Most of the work was conducted at the WADA-accredited laboratory in Lausanne, in close collaboration with the accredited labs in Paris and Cologne,” the IOC announced.

According to CONI, the positive was on the ‘A’ sample only. Any positive athlete has the right to request confirmation testing of the ‘B’ sample.

“The further analysis of the Beijing samples that we conducted should send a clear message that cheats can never assume that they have avoided detection,” said Arne Ljungqvist, Chairman of the IOC Medical Commission. “The vast majority of athletes do not seek an unfair advantage. We intend to do all we can to ensure that they have a fair environment for competition.”

The IOC said it is notifying the athletes of any “adverse analytical finding” through their National Olympic Committee (NOC).

CONI announced that it had forwarded the IOC documents onto its Antidoping prosecutor. Athletes from Italy signed a declaration before participating in the Olympic Games promising not to violate the World Anti-Doping Agency’s rules.

The IOC allows retroactive testing of samples up to eight years after collection, allowing athletes to be tested for substances as newly validated tests are developed.

The first rider to test positive for CERA was Italian Riccardo Ricc. He was kicked out of the Tour de France following the test. The AFLD performed retroactive testing on blood samples of riders who it had targeted for having either suspect performances or suspicious blood values or urine test results.

And over on http://twitter.com/cyclingfansanon they had a link to this 2004 article

Rebellin and 19 others on trial
Gerolsteiner’s Davide Rebellin has, along with 19 others, been put on trial in the Italian town of Este, Padova, accused of receiving prohibited pharmaceutical substances, and violating the Italian anti-doping and sporting fraud laws. The trial commenced on Wednesday morning, November 10, and most of the accused are cyclists: Dario Acquaroli, Filippo Baldo, Ramon Bianchi, Mauro Busato, Matteo Cacco, Davide Casarotto, Nadia Dandolo (athletics), Gianni Faresin, Andrea Ferrigato, Marco Fincato, Martin Hvastija, Petr Klasa, Fabio Marchesin, Mirco Marini, Selina Martinello (Rebellin’s wife), Uros Murn, Gorazd Stangelj, Marco Villa and Matteo Zendron.

The trial was initiated on the basis of phone tapping and video surveillance on the riders in question. During May, 2001, Rebellin was allegedly filmed receiving a syringe containing a banned substance, while at the end of the month, he was allegedly videoed injecting himself with EPO in his hotel room in Bassano del Grappa. Rebellin has always maintained his innocence.

11

Not really surprised but glad to see the fucker caught.

This will get more bad press for cycling but again it’s cycling leading the way in catching dopers and the French labs in particular.

12

Fancy that, another cheating Italian

13

Glad he has been caught. Never believed in him. Schumacher has been confirmed as the second positive from the Olympics. With the closening relationship between UCI and ASO I fear the fight against drugs won’t be so vigorous in Le Tour.

14

Dani Martin came in 18th in this today, just 19 secs back from the winner, Cadel Evans, with Roche coming 30th. I thought Deignan was riding but I didn’t see his name in the results. Anyway, been following the lads over the last while and they’ve been getting consistently good high placings but have yet to convert their obvious good form into a win. Hopefully that won’t be too far away.

15

Two good performances there alright. Be nice to see them convert that to wins but they’re impressively aggressive the three of them, so it’s not like they’re content with top 20 finishes or whatever.

16

True and I wouldn’t be worried as I think a strong, injury-free year of consistent riding will benefit them hugely and next season they’ll be even better. Unless you’re a prodigy or doped to the gills it seems, to me anyway, to take a few years in cycling to build up the strength necessary to get the big wins.

17

Cyclingfansanon on Twitter’s latest post is “Giro del Trentino results are hilarious”, which they are: Vinokorouv, Ricco, Basso, Scarponi, Petrov, Frei (who tested positive for EPO yesterday with a sample from a different race, I think) all in the top 7 :smiley:
The Italians must be the kings of turning a blind eye.

18

http://taiwanease.com/art/pill-article.jpg

19

I see Radioshack have had their first positive test too. Quick off the mark.