Dit is een drama

Not this kind of drama--although one of the Schlecks was at the centre of it all. Rather, we finally got the drama in the 2009 FGBC Spring Classics Pool that Mike has been denying us since Milan - San Remo. Over 1200 points back of the leader just over a week ago, Rachel made a furious charge to the line to give us all the sense of excitement we so rightly deserve. After Amstel, she cut that gap to just over 600 points. But with her Ardennes guy, Gesink, having hurt his knee and skipping Fleche Walone, her deficit was the same heading into yesterday's season finale. Mike's team had been limping along since the start of the Ardennes classics. Rachel and King Andy, on the other hand, were flexing their slow twitch muscles over the race-ending climbs and coming on strong. Unfortunately, Andy didn't rise to the occasion yesterday. But Rachel was right there. Gilbert and Ivanov finished 4th and 5th to take home 775 points between them. At one point, when only the top 10 had been announced, Rachel was the virtual leader of the race. But then Mike fought back to stave her off. Oscar Freire, back from his early season injury, finished 14th for 180 points to take the lead back for Mike. Gesink was racing, but didn't crack the top 30. So in the end, Mike was able to hold on to a narrow 85 point overall victory.

Congratulations Mike! Nicely done. Too bad it doesn't count toward the FGBC - RRR FGD Challenge.

Not to be overlooked, Naomi won her second consecutive race. Her team was clearly built for the hillier races of the final week. Too bad she dug herself such a big hole early on. Her 1305 points were impressive, but still left her just shy of emerging from the cellar. She holds onto the lanterne rouge by just 120 points over Craig, who clearly sensed what was about to transpire and responded with an impressive showing of his own--995 points and second on the day. Rachel rounded out the podium with 780 points.

As for the race itself, surf on over to CN or Pez to read all about it. And then watch the final kilometres here:



Thanks for playing, everyone. It was fun. We get to do it all again soon with the 2009 Giro d'Italia pool. Stay tuned for more information.

The top 30:

A. Schleck 500
Rodriguez 450
Rebellin 425
Gilbert 400
Ivanov 375
Gerrans 350
Cunego 325
Vaugrenard 300
Kolobnev 280
Sanchez 260
Hesjedal 240
Carrara 220
Pineau 200
Freire 180
Nocentini 160
Evans 150
Dekker 140
Di Gregorio 130
Valverde 120
Efimkin 110
Le Lay 100
Iglinsky 90
F. Schleck 80
Moreau 70
Vanendert 60
Sorensen 50
Moncoutie 40
Sastre 30
Wegmann 20
Mazzanti 10


Liege Results

Naomi 1305
Craig 995
Rachel 780
Matt 720
Brad 720
Chris A 705
Vic 685
Chris O 660
Jonny G 645
Hal 640
Adam 575
Darryl 545
Rick 520
Jonny M 505
Ian 420
Andy 350
Chris H 335
David 300
Bill 280
Donna 245
Mike 205
Paddy 150
Luke 120
Kevin 100
Dallas 85


Final Standings:

Mike 7275
Rachel 7190
Andy 6885
Adam 6535
Rick 6365
Chris O 6115
Ian 5840
Bill 5785
Matt 5755
David 5715
Hal 5235
Brad 5220
Paddy 5120
Chris A 5020
Donna 4680
Kevin 4575
Vic 4515
Jonny M 4440
Dallas 4240
Darryl 3970
Chris H 3815
Jonny G 3720
Luke 3520
Craig 3250
Naomi 3130