The Accountant Hearts the Mur de Huy

by ursula on Oct 21, 2008 12:26 PM EDT

Per CN today is this heart-warming tale of a Grand Tour stud who looks for some other type of action:

"What other races would I like to win? The Flèche Wallonne, climb on the Mur de Huy is so hard. Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the most complicated of the Classics. The Worlds, if they have an edition for climbers like the 1995 edition in Duitama, Colombia."

I for one would like Contador to spread his talents to other challenges. He has done the Ardennes before, La Fleche and LBL in 07 and 06 so I don't think he's just blowing smoke. (His best showing was a 26th at LBL in 07.) Anything to get more of the top riders racing each other- and the Ardennes, more than either on the Belgian cobbles or the Grand Tours, seems to be the place that comes the closest to happening.

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Attaboy

How many Spanish regional tours does he need to win? A lot, maybe, if he wants 100% of his fans to be from Spain. but for the rest of us, it would be nice to see the sport’s premier athlete (maybe) show us he’s a full-on cyclist, not just a grand tour guy. He can be the latter, that’s his right. But the sport is bigger than the Tour, despite what some think. Hell, even Versus is bumping up its classics coverage, and they have to sell to North Americans.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Oct 21, 2008 1:01 PM EDT 0 recs

Versus is bumping up its classics coverage

since when?

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Oct 21, 2008 1:06 PM EDT 0 recs

yeah that's another one of those "I'll believe it when I see it"

by lyne on Oct 21, 2008 1:11 PM EDT up 0 recs

I doubt it too...

Although with Lance coming back, you just never know.

by dwilson on Oct 21, 2008 5:47 PM EDT up 0 recs

Lombardia

I can’t recall everything everyone has said, but I do seem to recall some increased commitment. 2 hrs for Lombardia was nice.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Oct 21, 2008 2:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

same as last year

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Oct 21, 2008 4:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

It should also be noted

that Sastre is saying he’s targeting next year’s Giro and Valverde is REALLY trying to win next year’s Tour. VDS owners should take note.

by ursula on Oct 21, 2008 1:21 PM EDT 0 recs

Yes, as in REALLY REALLY, unlike this year when he just REALLY tried.

by Albertina on Oct 21, 2008 2:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

and that's why we need to go to Murcia...

…to help him try even harder -wink-

by steph- on Oct 21, 2008 4:30 PM EDT up 0 recs

Oh I feel sure he'll do just what we say ;-)

by Albertina on Oct 21, 2008 4:52 PM EDT up 0 recs

strong enough to place, too slow to win

Conta doesn’t have the speed for these races. In this respect, he is similar to Basso. He can make the winning break, but someone faster will take his lunch money. Valverde, Cunego, Diluca, whathaveyou.

by gavia on Oct 21, 2008 1:23 PM EDT 0 recs

You don't think he'd have a shot at Liège?

He’d need some help, but I could imagine a scenario in which he was in a group of say 4 or 5, with at least one teammate, and attacked alone just before or at the bottom of the Côte de St.-Nicolas. I’m not saying I’d bet on him, and I know these aren’t the Alps or the Pyrenees, but he’s a pretty talented guy, couldn’t you see him pulling this off?

By the way I love his description of LBL as “the most complicated of the classics,” quite lovely.

by plinytheelder on Oct 21, 2008 2:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

LBL, maybe

He’d have to attack from an unmotivated break and win solo. I don’t see him winning any other monuments.

by Softie on Oct 21, 2008 2:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

Hm

You never know. The strongest guy usually wins, even when he’s not a renowned sprinter. But he’d still have to be in the right group, as in no DiLuca, no Cunego, no Rebellin, and definitely no Valverde.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Oct 21, 2008 2:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

exactly!

by steph- on Oct 21, 2008 4:26 PM EDT up 0 recs

eh, not so much

There’d have to be a stalemate behind him when he went up the road. I’m not chasing, no you chase, I’m not chasing. That does happen on occasion. I don’t think he could simply power away from those guys, if they wanted to bring him back, though. Cadel Evans tried that on the St Nicholas against Bettini and eh, I’m forgetting who else was in that break. Anyway, he didn’t get far, and got smoked in the final sprint. It would surprise the hell out of me if Contador found the finishing speed to win from the ol’ gruppo ristretto. Too many other guys can do that better than he can.

by gavia on Oct 21, 2008 3:11 PM EDT up 0 recs

Yeah, you're probably right...

…and like I said, I wouldn’t put money on Contador. Still, I don’t think it would be the weirdest thing ever – remember the guy’s a pretty good TTist, even on the flats. Maybe he could stay away just long enough. And then Levi, who’d been helping him, would come in second, and Contador would give an interview the next day about what an ass Levi was for being so close. ;)

Anyways I think I’m letting sentimentality cloud my objective vision – like Team Chef (below), I’d just really love to see a return to the days when it wasn’t either grand tour or classics. I’d love to see Contador turn into Hinault, just for a day (maybe if it snowed during LBL?). Hell, even Sean Kelly went for it in every grand tour, bless his soul.

by plinytheelder on Oct 21, 2008 3:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

Classic guys like...

Cunego and Valverde are trying….really trying to do both. I don’t see Contador able to do both.

by steph- on Oct 21, 2008 4:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

lol :-)

It’s mostly that I don’t think he has the speed to get a gap on the classics guys – or the speed to finish in a small group. And, I don’t really think he’s on a level where he can just ride away from anyone he wants.

It’d be cool to see him show up though. Strange things happen in bike races sometimes. And certainly, he could place.

by gavia on Oct 21, 2008 6:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

I want to see a return to the grand old days.

Never mind the Ardennes, how about PR or Flanders. The legends weren’t afraid to take on anything. Coppi, Bobet, Gimondi, Merckx, and Hinault were all PR winners. The greats find a way to win. Yeah, I know – there will be a winter freeze in hell before Bert will ever take the start in Compiegne.

by The Team Chef on Oct 21, 2008 1:48 PM EDT 0 recs

but Bert just can't handle the cobblestones, he's a climber...

in a recent interview he said he admired Boonen and Cancellara the most while watching races, but he knows his body can’t handle that kind of cycling.

by King of Doping on Oct 21, 2008 2:00 PM EDT 0 recs

Agreed.

Bert, or any other climber for that matter, is ill-suited for the cobbles. That said, Coppi was about as fragile as they came; he made a career out of breaking bones. Likewise, Hinault was not exactly a brute. They both found a way to win PR. The legends were keenly aware of Roubaix’s mystique and felt their palmares would be somehow incomplete without capturing the Queen of the Classics. It is that attitude, and reverence for cyling’s past, that has been missing from peloton since the early 90s.

by The Team Chef on Oct 21, 2008 2:58 PM EDT up 0 recs

nicely put.

by plinytheelder on Oct 21, 2008 3:22 PM EDT up 0 recs

Since many of the legends of the sport used to do it all...

it reminds me of other sports where several specialists now do what one athlete used to do. (Think baseball pitchers.) Sort of makes you long for the good old days…

by dwilson on Oct 21, 2008 5:53 PM EDT up 0 recs

indeed

“the old times were good times”?

by King of Doping on Oct 21, 2008 6:26 PM EDT up 0 recs

Remember that great picture of Lemond

Entirely covered in mud with a huge smile on his face after getting fourth at P-R? I totally agree – GT riders, to be great riders, should try every one of the monuments, at least once.

by Roadent on Oct 21, 2008 6:23 PM EDT 0 recs

Contador should come to TDU

I want him to come and kick Lances ass in his return race!!! hehehe

by CycleGirl on Oct 22, 2008 2:37 AM EDT 0 recs

now that would be hilarious -

if Contador were to obsessively follow Lance around all season, just do all the races he does, wait for the toughest climbs, then power past him if Lance is in anything but the absolute best of form.

Just kidding, mostly ;)

by plinytheelder on Oct 22, 2008 1:40 PM EDT up 0 recs