Simon

Looking ahead to Liège on Sunday. 259.5 km, around 4300-4400m elevation, 11 classified climbs. The full route is hard, obviously, but I keep coming back to the last 34 km: La Redoute: 1.6 km at 9.4% Côte des Forges: 1.3 km at 7.8% 🚨Roche-aux-Faucons: 1.3 km at 11% That is where the race should really start. La Redoute is far enough out that an attack still needs commitment. Forges then comes before anyone has properly reset. And Roche-aux-Faucons, after nearly six hours, is just a horrible place to find out you do not have one more effort left. So for me this is less about the first acceleration. It is about who can still answer the second and third one when Pogačar goes.

Imagine The Birth of Venus as a Japanese Edo-period scroll. Edo-period reinterpretation of The Birth of Venus, a celestial courtesan amid cranes and golden sea mist.