Winning at monuments is so complicated that doing so decisively has double value
I love the Italian expression “capolavoro” to portray those victories that leave their mark on the fan. Victories that, if they occur in any of the five monuments, are worth two or even three, if they are achieved without doubts or hesitation, demonstrating superiority in an environment of total competitiveness.
In these years I think there have been days in which the winner was seen from afar.
The three Lombardies by Tadej Pogacar or the two Lieges by Remco Evenepoel are at that level, but we wanted to go a little further and remember those days in which the winner was already considered certain from afar…
Valverde’s La Liege 2015
It is true that Alejandro Valverde’s four victories in Liège-Bastogne-Liège have been to framein terms of strategy and sprint in conditions of maximum fatigue, but the one that wins in 2015 is a resounding exhibition.
The way in which the Murcian controlled the outcome, knowing that he was the favorite and watched, was supreme, one more point in his greatness.
He controlled them from the front on the Ans Wall, he let Dani Moreno do it and 500 meters from the finish he went for him, closed the gap and prepared to launch the sprint that he ended up winning.
It seems simple, because it does so, but without a doubt the complexity of those moments explains the enormity of winning in the monuments.
Gilbert’s La Liege 2011
That year there was a bogeyman in the platoon and he responded to the first and last name of Philippe Gilbert.
The Belgian wedged himself between the two Schlecks and kept them at bay until the final sprint itself.
There was never an option for the Luxembourg brothers, that Gilbert had just won Amstel and Flecha, he was a favorite and acted as such.
Incontestable.
Alaphilippe’s San Remo 2019
This Alaphilippe is far from the one from five years ago, but that cyclist was superlative, especially those days.
His wheel was marked, he had just won Strade and beaten the sprinters in a sprint in Tirreno, but this was not enough for him to exercise reliably until Via Roma itself.
He literally played with his rivals in a race that boasts of being the most complicated to win among the monuments.
La Roubaix 2015 de Degenkolb
What a cyclist that John Degenkolb was in 2015, before that damn accident training.
Winner in Sanremo, he doubled Roubaix within a few weeks like Van der Poel last year.
That day the German took the corner and was cut off in the first place, but came back from behind, taking the first group and beating them at a sprint.
Kristoff’s San Remo 2014
The Norwegian had very good years and especially in that cycle, when everything worked out for him.
Their victory in Milan-San Remo was an exhibition of teamwith an exceptional Luca Paolini on Via Roma to pave the way for him.
How unaesthetic Kristoff has always been, with that crooked helmet, but what a fucking force of nature when he was inspired.
This year, in Flanders and Roubaix, I have once again had that feeling of witnessing something unique and brutal, the control and annihilation of competition that Mathieu Van der Poel has exercised in that sense, has rescued those moments in which winning one of the five monuments seems like the simplest thing in the world.
2024-04-17 22:36:25
#Winning #monuments #complicated
