2014 Liège-Bastonne-Liège
Today is the day of King Philippe times two
Our cycling highness and royalty who'll view
Philippe Gilbert brought in 10, 000 fans
The King, son of Albert, is here to shake hands
Two hours in and the pace is high
The sprint intermediate is a lush piece of pie
5,000 euros is not liver chopped
Which of the five leaders will end up on top?
Cannons' Michel Koch takes the purse
He'll have to buy the pizza
But it could be worse
Sky's Chris Froome has a bad cough
For reasons of health he has the day off
This is Gilbert country --the land of his birth
He's feeling strong and is failure adverse
Valverde is the fave if you're laying a bet
But do not count Philippe out yet
The third hour of racing goes by like a minute
A number of teams have men who can win it
The race is still young and the pace crazy
Add in 10 climbs there's no time to be lazy
Jakobs looks strong on the Côte de St-Roch
T. Voeckler has problems and has to stop
Today marks this race's 100th edition
A physical nightmare if not in condition
If I were having a problem staying awake
Some riders veer off for a natural break
Speaking of breaks the gap is shrinking
Heads up for all no time for blinking
Omega P, Movistar, and BMC
Share work in the bunch happily
Out for the count is Andy Schleck
Another disappointment for Trek
Purito is not feeling too swift
Europcar is too far up to notice this
Rui Costa is down with others three
They all went down quite heavily
The racing conditions today
Are nothing short of parfait--parfait!
It's curtains for Rui
Unfortunate bwoy!
Eurocar takes the lead
The zone awaits second feed
The terrain angles up
No time to sup
Just gobble what you need
With km sitll at 65
It's a struggle just to stay alive
Tinko-Saxoff takes a turn
I hope they've energy to burn
Pieter J dominates the break
A sterling effort he does make
The Côte de la Redoute
Is La Doyenne's brute
Everyone is very worn
Miles and hills they have borne
I, myself, am fading fast
But not because of no breakfast
La Doyenne exacts her toll
She's tough! That's no hyperbole
OPQS supports Kwiatkowski
They charge the slope with Martin, T.
The road is painted
stroke by stroke
'Go Phil!' it says
We can but hope!!
"Phil", "Phil", "Phil", "Phil"
Hope that helps him up the hill
Venter and Bono are hanging in
showing strength 'tho they can't win
Bono for Lampre reps the break
The charging remnant of escape
Three more big climbs for La Doyenne
Her appetite--she likes big men!
A warrior queen at 100 years
She brings so many lads to tears
Jan Bakelants has to change his bike
He won't give up without a fight
Matteo Bono refuses to quit
You want perseverance
This is it!
20 KM! Zoot alors!
Who will find an open door?
Ag2R with Possovivo
Arredondo?
Sammy S steps up
And shows some brio
Is he fronting for our Phil?
Or merely racing up a hill?
Nibali takes his chance to fly
Valverde flies like a butterfly
Kreuziger is there and Moreno
Gilbert's involved--is he ready to go?
The two tiny dancers clamber uphill
Only to be swallowed up at will
Kilometers remaining 10
A danger zone for all strong men
At spitting distance from Ans
A large lead group respect demands
Côte de St-Nicolas
It's heads up for Green-Orica
Possovivo small but plucky
Will his race today be lucky?
Caruso is his right hand man
This was not a thought out plan
Caruso does the humping
Dan Martin goes and takes a fall
Garrans wins!
Congrats to GreenEdge
Valverde came two
Kwaitkowski came third
La Doyenne made us sweat
True to her word!
Philippe G. came in eight
His race today
brought Belge heartache
