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Bichot insists
Exactly like a year ago, the 189 riders of the Fleche Wallonne took off under a bright sunshine. Great
conditions and an extremely fast pace straight from the start (47km covered during the first hour). After only four kilometres
three men managed to take off: Freddy Bichot (Agritubel), Morris Possoni (Lampre-Fondital) and Paul Manning (Landbouwkrediet-Tönnissteiner).
But there efforts proved to be vain with the pack closing the gap just a few kilometres later. In the early stages of the
event, Frenchman Bichot was to be the main actor, trying again to take off at kilometre 25 with three companions – again
caught by the pack - before eventually jumping in the good attempt at kilometre 40 alongside Verdugo (Euskatel), Loosli (Lampre-Fondital)
and Le Mevel (Credit Agricole). The gap rapidly started growing: 2’05 at km 44, 3’20 at km 47 and then up to a
maximum 7’10 at km 54.
Bichot goes for climber’s points
Getting closer to the first of the three climbs
up the Mur de Huy, the pack slowly started reacting and the gap dropped down to 5’50 at the top (km 65.5). Well aware
that the pack would eventually catch them, Bichot focused on capturing as many climbers points as possible. He made it first
at the top of the Côte d’Ereffe (km 84.5).
At kilometre 110, Russia’s Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff) broke clear from
the pack in a counter-attacking position. But his effort only lasted 15 kilometres while the pack remained 2’50 adrift
at km 126. The situation changed completely in the climb up the Côte de Peu d’Eau with Le Mevel and Loosli failing to
follow Verdugo and Bichot. The Spaniard continued on his own in the downhill portion. Despite several counter-attacks including
those of De Schrooder (Chocolade Jaques) and Mertens (Predictor-Lotto), Verdugo remained in the lead until the demanding climb
up the Côte de Bonneville where he was eventually caught by a group of 19 men including the likes of Rogers (T-Mobile), Vila
(Lampre-Fondital), Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) and Lovkvist (FD Jeux).
Di Luca and Valverde attack
With under
40km to go, Vasseur (Quickstep-Innergetic) gave it a go and broke away from this group. Once caught back, it was Gilbert’s
(FD Jeux) turn to enjoy a few kilometres on his own. The mouth-watering action and ever increasing attacks eventually stopped
– for a while – with 30kms to go as the greedy pack caught up with all the leading men.
With 25 kilometres
to go, Sergei Ivanov managed to take off enjoying a maximum 35” advantage over the pack. He was first to be caught in
the penultimate climb up the Côte de Ahin by Juan José Cobo (Saunier Duval-Prodir) and then by Kim Kirchen (T-Mobile) and
Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas). With these strong men in the race leadership, Alejandro Valverde decided to react taking with him
his team mate Joaquin Rodriguez. Both men caught up with the dangerous escapees. With two Caisse d’Epargne riders up
front, Rodriguez was sent alone in the lead. A smart move that however proved to be vain as all the front men were caught
back by the main field with just over two kilometres to go.
Rebellin drops Kessler
In the final climb up the Mur
de Huy, Kessler (Astana) was the first to attack immediately chased and caught by Rebellin. The Italian carried on alone to
capture his second Fleche Wallonne after 2004. With a 10 metre advantage Rebellin beat birthday-boy Alejandro Valverde while
Danilo Di Luca had to settle with third spot.
Rebellin said todays second win was harder to get as his win at 2004: "I was actually very worried when I saw riders
like Danilo Di Luca and Alejandro Valverde break away with 15 kilometres to go. But I decided to remain calm and I knew that
I could count on a very strong team. I just had to stay patient. For me, the more there were attempts, the more I had chances
to win. The team really managed a great job to catch the escapees in the last kilometres and I was very luccky that the main
field bunched together again before the Mur de Huy. I could then focus on the final climb. It is always tougher to win a race
for the second time especially today with the hot weather conditions and the very fast pace straight from the start. To win
the Fleche Wallonne again is a confirmation.
Valverde was my main rival today and he remains the biggest threat for Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
But it’s a totally different race, it’s a lot longer. Now I just have to focus on resting."
Results:
1 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
4.48.06 (42.173 km/h)
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
0.06
3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas
4 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Astana
0.08
5 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
6 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Ag2r Prévoyance
0.13
7 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team CSC
0.16
8 John Gadret (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance
0.19
9 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
10 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Lampre-Fondital
11 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner
12 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
13 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 0.23
14 Benoît Salmon
(Fra) Agritubel
15 Manuele Mori (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
0.25
16 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Bouygues Telecom
0.27
17 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
18 Eduardo Gonzalo (Spa) Agritubel
0.29
19 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française Des Jeux
0.31
20 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
21 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole
0.35
22 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Barloworld
23 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Quickstep-Innergetic
0.38
24 Patxi Vila (Spa) Lampre-Fondital
0.40
25 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic
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