Phil Gil takes also Fleche:

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. I have no other words to describe Philippe Gilbert's latest victory (and the fact that I'm writing a new post just 3 days after the last one) :P
Fleche Wallonne is the strangest of the Ardennes Classics. The riders race for 5 hours and face the mur de Huy three times during it, but in the end the winner is always decided by the last 800 meters, the steepest ones that you can find in a Classic.
Marco Pastonesi from 'La Gazzetta dello Sport' once wrote a great description of the mur de Huy, saying that pilgrims used to climb it by foot during the Middle Ages. In fact, there are 7 little chapels on the road to the top of the mur and each of them is a different station of the via crucis. Talking about this fact, Pastonesi said: 'The pilgrims saw images of the Virgin Mary at every chapel. By the time the riders arrive on the top of the climb during FW, they see Virgin Mary in person'. I've never faced mur de Huy (I'm not fit enough :P), but I think that said climb can definitely help you if you want to have a deep, religious experience. In fact, here in Italy we usually say that someone 'has seen the Madonna' when that someone has done something very painful or very tiring. Painful and tiring like climbing the Mur de Huy, for example.

Talking about the race, nothing important happened before the beginning of the final km. The first breakaway du jour was formed by Paterski, Vantomme, Van Hecke and Helminen (and not 'Eminem', as someone said yesterday).
In the last 30 kms of race there was the second breakaway du jour, which was formed by Thomas Lovkvist (he's alive!!!), Alexandr Kolobnev, Enrico Gasparotto and Teejay Van Garderen. Also Kiryenka, Gorka Verdugo and Michal Golas joined the breakaway and eventually Kiryenka and Lolo (Lovely Lovkvist) said 'adieu!' to their fellows. Unfortunately, the couple was caught with 8 kms to go, as a consequence of the work made at the front by Omega-Pharma Lotto, Rabobank and Leopard Trek. At that point of the race, Pineau and Marcato attacked, but they arrived at the bottom of the mur with just 20 seconds of advantage. And to win on the mur, you need to arrive at its bottom with at least a minute of advantage on the peloton.
Before the beginning of the climb, Andy Schleck took a turn at the front before vanishing in the bottom of the peloton. He didn't feel well, but apparently his brother Frankie was doing fine. Also Rodriguez, Contador and Gilbert seemed to feel fine, since their men pulled hardly at the front.
During the first part of the climb, Wegmann pulled for some time, followed by Albasini and Le Mevel. Fabian kept on turning his head to see where Frank was, since it was very hard to spot him in the peloton chaos. Then, with about 300 meters, Gilbert launched a terrible attack and no one could follow him. Phil Gil started celebrating with about 15 meters to go and, in spite of this, he managed to finish the race 3 seconds before of Joaquim Rodriguez. Amazing.I was so amazed by Gilbert's strong attack that, when I saw the gap that Rodriguez had from him, my mouth fell open and remained so until the end of the race, when I whispered: 'How can he have done such a thing even today?' in a very allucinated way. I would have never bet on a victory by Gilbert yesterday and that's why I was so shocked. That boy has been winnng Classics since October 2010, isn't that amazing?

Talking about another Cannibal, the women race was won for the fourth (fourth!) time by the Wonder Woman of cycling, the 23 year-old Marianne Vos. Second was Emma Johansson, while 3rd was Judith Arndt and 4th a very good Elena Berlato.
Emma Pooley didn't take part in the race because she broke her collarbone last Tuesday, on a training ride in Switzerland. Hopefully she'll be back in good shape for the Giro Donne.

Back to the male FW, Omega Pharma-Lotto was, once again, the best team. Gilbert told the journalists that he thought that mur de Huy was too long for him and that he decided to try winning yesterday race just because his teammates suggested him doing so. As we could see, the guys were right.
Jelle Vanendert was amazing once again, since he helped Phil and he also managed to come in 6th. Also Van Den Broeck (17th) was really good, just like De Greef.
Second in the race was Joaquim Rodriguez. He was the main favourite, but for the second year in a row someone rode up the mur de Huy faster than him. Katiusha did a great work to help him and Kolobnev and Di Luca really did their best. Moreover, Moreno was a good 8th.
Third instead was Samuel Sanchez. Euskaltel, who was invisible in the North Classics and didn't shine in Amstel, worked really well yesterday and Samu was a surprising 3rd. In fact, I would have expected Igor Anton (5th) to ride better than the Olympic Champion, instead Sanchez managed to end up on the podium. Wow!
4th was Vinokourov (*chorus of joy coming from the AAVL sector*), whose team, Astana, worked well. Especially Iglinskiy and Gasparotto were good, while Vino was surprisingly faster than guys like Gesink, Contador and Hesjedal.

Giving a judgement about the teams in a race like FW is very hard, because in the end the team work doesn't count that much on the mur de Huy. In fact, in the last 300 meters of it (where the hardest part begins) the only things that count are the team leader's legs and his sense of timing. Therefore, the work that the team has done to help the leader until that point of the race doesn't always lead to a good result.
Leopard Trek, for example, did a great work yesterday, but Frank Schleck eventually ended up just 7th. He didn't sound very satisfied with his performance in an interview with Cyclingnews and he said that yesterday he made a mistake with timing. But still, I think that a 7th place in this race (which doesn't suit 'regular' climbers like him or his brother) isn't a very bad result.
As far as the rest of the team is concerned, Wegmann worked well on the climb, whereas Andy had a bad day at the office. "On the next to last climb I didn’t feel very good", Our Glorious Leader told Cyclingnews. "I'm not sure if it was due to the weather, but I had red eyes and some breathing problems. So I decided to work for the team and I did the best I could for Frank in the final kilometre". Hopefully our boy isn't experiencing 'allergy problems', since me perfectly knows that they're extremely disturbing and they can really limit someone's physical performances.
Another team who did well, although its team leader wasn't that strong, was Saxo Bank. Nicki Sorensen worked hard at the front, but Contador was just 11th, whereas Chris Sorensen was 24th. Allergy problems also for the Spaniard? I don't know.
Also Rabobank worked hard, although the best team rider, Martens, was 10th, whereas Gesink was 14th. However, I don't think FW suits Gesink, since he isn't a very explosive climber and mur de Huy is a bit different from the San Luca climb at Giro dell'Emilia (a race that Gesink loves and has already won twice).
Talking about other teams, HTC Highroad tried to do something with Van Garderen. The team leader, Toni Martin, was just 89th, whereas Albasini was 12th. This makes me wonder: why was the team pulling so hard at the beginning of the mur? Mistery.
Landbouwkrediet entered a breakaway too and Bert De Waele was a good 15th.
The climb was too steep for Simon Gerrans, whereas Ryder Hesjedal probably hasn't recovered properly from his stomach problems (he was 13th). Best Garmin rider however was Le Mevel, excellent 9th.
Talking about Italian riders, Cunego was just 61st, but he crashed with about 3 kms to go. Basso instead wasn't in a great form (moreover, the mur de Huy doesn't suit him), while Di Luca worked to help Rodriguez.
A disappointing rider, imo, was John Gadret, who should feel comfortable on climbs like mur de Huy. Still, he was invisible yesterday.
The same worths for the whole BMC team, who couldn't have Evans in the line-up. In spite of this, I think they could have showed themselves during the race, whereas me actually found out that this team was racing when I casually opened a 'start list' page on Cyclingnews a few seconds ago.

Before closing this entry, here's the link to Chris Anker Sorensen's latest blog entry: http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry401212.html . In it Chris says that he's asked himself whether Father Christmas has a holiday house in Italy. In fact one day Chris, while training, saw a man working in a field. Said man, according to CA, had the same belly, the same beard and the same face as father Christmas, although he obviously wasn't wearing the same clothes. That made him ask whether Father Christmas has a house where he can spend the summer and whether said house is in Italy.
Moreover, Chris wrote something about Jens Voigt in his blog. Unfortunately, Google Translater doesn't want to let me understand that part, so I beg one of you, dear Danish readers, to help me understand what Chris says in it. Every LT supporter out there would be very happy if you could me this favour!

So, that's all from me for the moment. Have a good time during the Easter holidays and let's hope that one Schleck will cross the finish-line before everyone else on Sunday!
(Pic by Bettini)