Buy your tickets to the Ardennes roller coaster
Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège make up the triptych of the Ardennes, something similar in format to the Flemish cobblestone week, as also in this case the big emotions come last, in this case, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The fourth monument of the year is, undoubtedly, the most important of them 3 races in terms of history, as it’s the hardest refering to parcours. The three appointments are characterized by being mined of small hills, which at the end of the day accumulate quite a respectable amount of meters uphill (more than 4000 in the case of Liège-Bastogne-Liège).
Amstel Gold Race’s tinny roads
In Amstel Gold Race, the constant up and downs and the narrowness of the roads through which the final part of the route travels favor the attacks and make the work of the peloton harder. It is important to be well placed and have the intuition to know how to handle face to face battles. Last year Michael Valgren (800) took the Amstel by taking advantage of the numerical superiority of Astana in the selected group. Together with Valgren and his partner Jakob Fuglsang (800) were Peter Sagan (1200), Alejandro Valverde (1200), Julian Alaphilippe (1200), Roman Kreuziguer (600), Enrico Gasparotto (600) and Tim Wellens (1000).
The uphill end of la Flèche
La Flèche Wallonne is the softest in terms of hight, but it has the peculiarity of ending up in the Huy hill (1.3 km to 9.8%), land paid so that Julian Alaphilippe (1200) revalidates the title achieved last year. After a brilliant start this season, it will be necessary to see how the French man arrives after the crash that made him leave Itzulia before the end.
Valverde, dominator in Liège
Although last year Bob Jungels (800) took the Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the showcases of Quickstep Floors, the great dominator of the race is undoubtedly Alejandro Valverde (1200), who already has four and is just one to match Eddy Merckx’s record, achieving his 5th.
Many favorites
The three races share practically the same startlist. Apart from Valverde, among the favorites we must name the Belgian Philippe Gilbert (800), who already knows what to win in Liège and last week took Paris-Roubaix brilliantly. Another winner in the start line will be Wout Poels (600). More cyclist to keep in mind: Mattieu Van der Poel (200), Michael Matthews (1200) Jakob Fuglsang (800), Peter Sagan (1200), Julian Alaphilippe (1200), Michael Valgren (800), Roman Kreuziguer (600), Enrico Gasparotto (600), Tim Wellens (1000), Alberto Bettiol (200), Matej Mohoric (1000), Michael Woods (800) or Nathan Haas (800), among others.