It’s been a busy week for Alejandro Valverde, the Astana team and Lee Rodgers; all for different reasons. Now that the dust (or street detritus) has settled on the roads of the Ardennes, Lee looks back on Flche and Lige to give us his take on the Valverde ‘Domination’.It was another close call with double-barreled embarrassment on Sunday at Lige-Bastogne-Lige as the men in Kazakh blue yet again missed out on a Classics win despite taking over the television screens for most of the 253 km race. Its amazing what the threat of being kicked out of cycling will do for a team. Maybe Trek Factory Racing could give it a try. At least its a change from being charged up on EPO and HGH, and no doubt healthier for the riders too, if they can stand the embarrassment, which I am sure Jakob Fuglsang can.Jakob Fuglsang, not know to keep his head downFrom a pure tactical point of view however, Astanas tactics were most impressive, sending the Grivko off up the Cte de Stockeu, with his teammates parking not just one bus across the road, as they fanned out like a police riot line, but their team coach and a Hummer too. There wasnt space there for even a UCI official to wiggle through. Not content with having one man bridge to the early lead, two more of Vinos boys then jumped over, the experienced Michele Scarponi and irrepressibly named Tanel Kangert of Estonia. Kangert and Scarponi; irrepressibleKangert and...
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