"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - No cobbles on LBL? And why no Boonen?

clicking through the pics on Cyclingnews, I didn't see any cobbles....

and is the race not prestigious enough for the big guns like Boonen, or was his absence just
a workload thing?

thanks

I'm fairly sure that the town at the bottom of the la Redoute climb used to have a stretch of smooth pave, but no cobbles like in Flanders. I think they got ripped up or tarred over.

Boonen is having a little rest. He has said in interviews that he thinks he might be capable one day of winning L-B-L. Museeuw, who had similar abilities, came very close to making the break with Bartoli, Jalabert and Zulle the year he was World Champion. He couldn't quite latch on to the wheels over the top of la Redoute.

thanks dude

clicking through the pics on Cyclingnews, I didn't see any cobbles....

and is the race not prestigious enough for the big guns like Boonen, or was his absence just
a workload thing?

thanks

LBL is a totally different race than Flanders. Different part of Belgium, in the Ardennes where there are actual climbs, rather than the short steep runs like Flanders. That's why you saw climbers doing so well, (Cuenego for example)...
LBL is also the oldest classic.

Due to the length of the climbs in LBL, it tends to be more of a climber's race than a sprinter's...

The Ronde is basically in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium, NW of Brussels. (http://www.rvv.be/2006/pdf/rvv2006-parcours.pdf)It's in the older part of Belgium, near the sea and the cobbles were used as ballast on ships.

Liege-Bastogne-Liege (http://www.letour.com/2006/LBL/LIVE/us/100/carte.html) is southeast of Brussels and into the forest and Ardennes Mountains. The terrain is totally different, and I suspect was too far to haul ship ballast to build roads.

For perspective (http://www.trabel.com/belgie-imap.htm) here's a map of the country. If anyone goes there this time of year, it's easy to catch a big classic (RVV or LBL) and a "mini-classic" like Gent-Wevelgem, or Fleche-Wallone in the mid week. If planned, you can get two races and also see each race in several spots along the route.

If you want to see bike racing, this is the place to be.

because tommy don't climb.

and is the race not prestigious enough for the big guns like Boonen,

Did you look at the Top 10 finishers of LBL? It's a veritable who's who of the sport's current 'big guns:'

92ND LIÈGE-BASTOGNE-LIÈGE
BELGIUM, APRIL 23
1. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d'Épargne-Illes Balears, 262km in 6:21:32 (41.202 kph)
2. Paolo Bettini (I), Quick Step-Innergetic
3. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre-Fondital
4. Patrik Sinkewitz (G), T-Mobile
5. Michael Boogerd (Nl), Rabobank
6. Miguel Martin Perdiguero (Sp), Phonak
7. Frank Schleck (Lux), CSC
8. Chris Horner (USA), Davitamon, all s.t.
9. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas, at 0:04
10. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, at 0:07.

hmmmm, I see. Thanks for the detailed replies http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/images/smilies/thumb.gif