Yay for the Dutchmen

Yes, it is the golden age of the Dutch climbers. If there were not enough now Ten Dam has joined the party.

About Gesink, who was your top pick. I can't say that he didn't try but he was just not strong enough in the mountains. Maybe I was a little too optimistic to add him among the top favorites.

One of the most interesting points of the season, the cobbles season, starts with the Gent - Wevelgem this year. We will only enjoy other race, the Ronde van Vlaanderen, in Belgium before the Ardennes. The selective Kemmelberg will again be the main focus of attention this year. The climb often filters the groups with subsequent chases in the flat kilometers towards Wevelgem.

The race has traditionally not only suited cobblers, as the route is not so hard. The outcome of the race is normally decided in a sprint of a small group, as last year when a group of 9 riders battled it out. Therefore, a good sprinting speed is also necessary to win. The wins of Oscar Freire and Tom Bonnen make that point quite clear. This also means that the race is more unpredictable than other tougher races, like the Ronde.

Favorites:

- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Belisol): Leukemans is the current best cobbler rider, as proven by his wins last year in the E3 and the Paris - Roubaix. He is by far the biggest favorite both for the Gent - Wevelgem today and the Ronde next Sunday. However, he still has to win in Wevelgem, where he has been second twice in a row. Last year he was beaten by Tom Boonen in a very close final sprint.
- Johan Vansummeren (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Johan Vansummeren is, like Leukemans, not very fast in the final sprint so this Gent - Wevelgem is probably trickier for him than the Ronde. His cobbles campaign last year included a 2nd place in the E3 and a third in Roubaix. However, he was outside the top 10 in Wevelgem. The Belgian will probably have to look for a hard pace in the cobbled hills to take out the main sprinters.
- Tom Boonen (Team Saxo - Tinkoff): The third Belgian in the favorites list is last year's winner of the race. Tom Boonen was the only rider that could stop Bjorn Leukemans from taking the win in all the cobbled races last season. He was also second in the Paris - Roubaix. As with the rest of the favorites, his season has only been focused on preparing for the classics season and has not had any results.
- Gregory Rast (Sky Procycling): Gregory Rast is the last of the main favorites and the only foreigner. The Swiss does not have as big a record as his rivals, but was 6th last year when he arrived in the front group. His main problem will probably be the lack of any decent cobbles riders in his team.

Other notable riders that will have a chance are the World Champion, Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing), Lloyd Mondory (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack - Leopard), Oscar Freire (Belkin ProCycling), Gerain Thomas (HTC - Highroad) and Matthew Goss (Lotto - Belisol).

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2011	Oscar Freire	Bjorn Leukemans	Sylvain Chavanel
2013	Tom Boonen	Bjorn Leukemans	Alessandro Ballan

Startlist

Will it be third time lucky for Bjorn Leukemans at Gent - Wevelgem

Bjorn is going to get second

Gent - Wevelgem



The route of the Gent - Wevelgem has not changed a lot from the previous years. The iconic Kemmelberg will be raced twice, but that will not be the only cobbled climb of the race, as the Casselberg will also have cobbles. The route is quite long at 232 kilometers and the last climb is 46 kilometers from the finish line. An attack from a rider is very unlikely to succeed from the Kemmelberg to the finish, but it is usually the place to filter the race.



The weather was horrible at the start in Deinze, the rain was pouring and the wind was quite hard. It would be a long day for the riders. The break of the day had 7 riders, including Marcel Kittel (Discovery), Borut Bozic (HTC), Lars Boom (Belkin) and Samuel Dumoulin (Euskaltel). They got to the Casselberg, the first cobbled climb of the day, with a gap of 6 minutes on the main bunch but they still had 102 kilometers to the finish line. Among the favorites Johan Vansummeren crashed without consequences in the first part of the race.



Sylvain Chavanel was very brave and attacked in the Casselberg with 100 kilometers remaining. After a good effort he managed to bridge the gap to the break and in the first climb to the Kemmelberg Bart de Clercq also joined the break. Lars Bak, another attacker, was 1' 15'' behind and the main bunch was losing 4' 15''. The main bunch will have to increase the pace if they don't want to lose the race as Sylvain Chavanel is a very dangerous rider. The bad part for the French is that few riders want to collaborate with him in his group.



There were several attacks in the first climb to the Kemmelberg and riders like Bernhard Eisel, George Hincapie and Tyler Farrar missed the move. At the second climb Alessandro Ballan decided to go on the attack seeing that he lost many teammates. He is the one setting the pace at front. Among the leaders, Sylvain Chavanel went alone and he currently has 15 seconds on a group of 5 including De Clercq and Kittel; Bak is losing 1' 10'', the favorites group is 2' 15'' behind.



The race was turned upside down by Ballan's pace in the last climb. Lots of small group resulted and in the subsequent chase the early break and Sylvain Chavanel were caught. With 30 kilometers to go a very important attack was made by Fabian Cancellara. He dragged Bjorn Leukemans with him and the two of them soon started collaborating. At the town of Ieper they had 45 seconds on a group of 24 riders including most of the favorites and 1' 30'' on a group of 11 that was trying to join them including Heinrich Haussler, Maarten Tjallingii and Taylor Phinney.



The attack by Leukemans and Cancellara was reeled back in after Vansummeren and Boonen joined forces and in the calm after being caught the chasing group managed to bridge the gap. However, the pace picked up again with 15 kilometers remaining as Maarten Tjallingii attacked as soon as he joined the group. The rain and wind started to see how tired some riders were and they slowly started dropping from the back of this group.



The wind was playing a role again in the last kilometers of the race and a break reappeared in the front group. Only 8 riders are ahead with 5 kilometers remaining and it looks like they are going to fight for the win among themselves. Lotto is the only team with two riders, Matthew Goss and Bjorn Leukemans. In fact Goss is one of the fastest of the group with Tom Boonen.



Bjorn Leukemans jumps from the group with almost 2 kilometers remaining and he effectively starts the final sprint. His teammate Matthew Goss let him go seemingly without any more energy. Leukemans leads the way under the flame rouge but Tom Boonen, Johan Vansummeren and Gregory Rast are chasing close behind and closing in on the Belgian.



Leukemans will have to wait to win the Gent - Wevelgem as he was clearly overtaken by Tom Boonen and Johan Vansummeren inside the last kilometer. With 500 meters remaining Vansummeren is holding on to Boonen, but the latter one should beat him fair and square thanks to his sprinting speed. Behind them, Gregory Rast is fighting to take Bjorn Leukemans outside of the final podium.



Tom Boonen wins in Wevelgem! Second win in a row for the Belgian, who places his bid to win the Ronde on Sunday. It was a Belgian party again in the cobbles as Vansummeren comes home second and Bjorn Leukemans is third. Leukemans takes his third podium in as many appearances in the race but he is yet to win.

6 riders made it to the finish line on the same time, Gregory Rast was fourth; Oscar Freire fifth and Fabian Cancellara sixth. It is amazing how Freire, without making any noise, was able to filter himself in the main group of the day. It would be good not to forget him, being himself the first winner of the Gent - Wevelgem in the story. The most notable loser of the day was Alessandro Ballan and the BMC team in general. The World Champion is a renowned cobbler and he could only be 10th after messing the final move.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Tom Boonen	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	5h50'22
2		Johan Vansummeren	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
3		Björn Leukemans	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
4		Grégory Rast	Sky Procycling	s.t.
5		Oscar Freire	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
6		Fabian Cancellara	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
7		Matthew Goss	Lotto Belisol	+ 46
8		Geraint Thomas	HTC - Highroad	s.t.
9		Greg Van Avermaet	Vacansoleil - DCM	+ 3'10
10		Alessandro Ballan	BMC Racing Team	s.t.

Good win for Boonen

But it looks like Leukemans is destined never to win this race

He has won the Paris - Roubaix, Liege - Bastogne - Liege and the World Championship. I am sure he is not that bothered with the Gent - Wevekgem

We'll see what he does in the Ronde, I would say that he will get at least a podium. The last time he was fifth but due to a mechanical.

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Gent - Wevelgem)

1		Bauke Mollema	Vacansoleil	190.87
2		Laurens Ten Dam	Cannondale	186
3		Peter Stetina	BMC	172.07
4		David Lopez	Euskaltel	136.1
5		Hubert Dupont	Belkin	130.25
6		Simone Ponzi	Katusha	120.5
7		Tejay Van Garderen	BMC	98.12
8		Rob Ruijgh	Belkin	83.79
9		Tom Boonen	Saxo Bank	80.37
10		Andrew Talansky	HTC	75.62
11		Sacha Modolo	Euskaltel	74
12		Fränk Schleck	Radioshack	68.12
13		Ben Swift	Sky	68
14		Robert Gesink	Belkin	65.84
15		Johan Vansummeren	Quickstep	61.64

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Gent - Wevelgem)

1		BMC Racing Team	402.15
2		Belkin Pro Cycling Team	340.3
3		Euskaltel - Euskadi	274.6
4		Vacansoleil - DMC	256.2
5		Cannondale Pro Cycling	187.65
6		Lotto - Belisol	173.3
7		Sky Procycling	159.65
8		HTC - Highroad	146
9		Team Saxo - Tinkoff	142
10		Omega Pharma - Quickstep	132

Boonen has started his chase of that numer one spot in the Rankings

We already talked about Dries Devenyns in here

Dries Devenyns is one of those riders that always looks threatening but has a great difficulty winning races. Having said that, it is also true that lots of riders would change their whole careers for a win in the Liege - Bastogne - Liege, especially being a Belgian. That win was the biggest he got in the four years he spent in the Quickstep team, the other being the Fleche Wallonne and a stage in the Tour of Poland.

Probably Dries Devenyns suffered an indefinition on the way he was going to ride. He could not decide whether he was a Grand Tour rider, a one week races rider or a hilly classics rider. Therefore, his services sheet is plagued with top results but few wins. It might well be due to the fact that he arrived in Quickstep at the time when the team was created and had the responsibility to perform well wherever they were racing in the first two years there.

When last year Quickstep had being converted into a powerhouse with winners of the Giro (Weening), Ronde (Vansummeren) or the Tirreno - Adriatico (Menchov) it looked like Devenyns would have to focus on the hilly classics. He had a solid season but nothing outstanding. Not even a single podium place in the whole season is something that a rider that had been 3 straight years in the top 10 of the World Tour can't allow. At the end of the year his contract expired and he decided to go back to his roots and return to BMC.

Devenyns changed one powerhouse for another but in BMC his mandate was clear for day 1: he would focus on the classics, especially the Ardennes and San Sebastian. He will also have the chance to prove himself in Plouay and Montreal. Even his 9th place in the final GC in Nice didn't taste bad. The team was working for Peter Stetina and the American took the overall win. Devenyn's time will come in a few weeks time and we will see how the teams change was for him.

Best results:

Tour de France	8th (2009)
Giro d'Italia	6th (2011), 8th (2013)
Road World Championship	4th (2013)
Ronde van Vlaanderen	4th (2012)
Liege - Bastogne - Liege	1st (2010), 5th (2012)
Giro di Lombardia	4th (2013), 7th (2011)
Criterium du Dauphine	9th (2011)
Tirreno - Adriatico	5th (2010), 10th (2013)
Paris - Nice	9th (2014)
Vuelta al Pais Vasco	5th (2011)
Volta a Catalunya	6th (2011)
Tour de Pologne	5th (2010), 6th (2012), 1 stage (2012)
Amstel Gold Race	2nd (2012), 5th (2009)
La Fleche Wallonne	1st (2012), 3rd (2011)
Gent - Wevelgem	4th (2011)
GP Ouest France - Plouay	2nd (2012)
Clasica San Sebastian	10th (2012)
GP Cycliste de Montreal	3rd (2010), 8th (2012)
GP Cycliste de Quebec	3rd (2011)

UCI World Tour Rankings:

- 2009 BMC Racing Team: 20th (122.11 pts)
- 2010 Quickstep: 7th (288.55 pts)
- 2011 Omega Pharma - Quickstep: 5th (422.44 pts)
- 2012 Omega Pharma - Quickstep: 4th (402.71 pts)
- 2013 Omega Pharma - Quickstep: 12th (246.8 pts)

Devenyns has had some decent top ten finishes over the years

Hi never followed this far back but i like this, what is the gameplay like with this matrix, do you get any wierd results.

Yes, but considering his talent he should have won far more often...



It used to work fine in PCM09 with the attributes at low numbers but in PCM12 I have to trick the numbers when I create the database for the races. I am currently bumping all the numbers by around 14 to have a good gameplay. When I do that everything is fine, except when the peloton decides to stop riding. Fortunately it does not happen too often.

The Ronde is the second highlight of the year. It is the toughest and most famous race in Flanders and, given that the three best cobblers in the World are Belgian, everyone in Belgium seems to have taken part for one of their national heroes. After a first win in 2009 by Peter Kennaugh the defending champion is now Johan Vansummeren. Two years ago he attacked in the Kapelmuur to take a solo win in Meerbeke.

However, the route has completely changed with the finish line now in Oudenaarde. The main two climbs of the route will now be the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg. They will be climbed three times each and the last climb of the Paterberg is 10 kilometers from the finish line. The race will probably be very different to the Gent - Wevelgem, as the accumulated climbing and cobbles will not allow big groups to rejoin in the final part of the race. Small group or even a solo victory is likely be the outcome of the race.

Favorites:

- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Belisol): Bjorn Leukemans has been the best cobbler in the World for the past 3 years but a mechanical failure didn't let him win the Ronde two years ago. Therefore, he will be very determined to add his third monument to his palmares. The Lotto rider already won in Liege and in Roubaix, so if he wins he will have a bigger advantage as the man with the most monuments.
- Johan Vansummeren (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Vansummeren is the defending champion of the Ronde. However, he will have no Kapelmuur to attack this year. The Belgian is the strongest flat rider among the favorites, so a windy day could play in his favor when the race breaks and the small groups have to go chasing each other.
- Tom Boonen (Team Saxo - Tinkoff): Boonen will still be celebrating his win in Wevelgem when the race starts in Brugge. The Belgian's strategy should be fairly simple, follow the wheel of his best adversaries and reach the final sprint in the front group. If he can do that his chances of taking the win will grow exponentially as he is by far the fastest in a final sprint.
- Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team): BMC messed it big time in the Gent - Wevelgem, so they will surely want to turn their luck around in the Ronde. The World Champion is their best rider in the cobbles, but we should not forget that their team also has George Hincapie and Berhard Eisel. The Italian is maybe a step behind the trio of Belgians, but the kind of support he is going to enjoy could make up for some of the difference.

Other notable riders that will be in the start in Brugge will be Gregory Rast (Sky Procycling), Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack - Leopard), Lloyd Mondory (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Oscar Freire (Belkin ProCycling), Geraint Thomas (HTC - Highroad) and George Hincapie (BMC Racing Team).

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2009	Peter Kennaugh	Oscar Freire	Jean-Christophe Peraud
2012	Johan Vansummeren	Alessandro Ballan	Oscar Freire

Startlist

Got a feeling we may be seeing Boonen win this

Brugge - Oudenaarde



The route of the Ronde van Vlaanderen is what you expect in terms of difficulty from a monument. It is 260 kilometers long with plenty of cobbles, hills and the weather can also play a role in the outcome. Fortunately for the riders, the day is beautiful in Flanders and that will make the race slightly easier. As I said in the presentation of the race, the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg will be the key climbs in the race. Both are cobbled and climbed 3 times in the last 70 kilometers of the race.



The first part of the race was not too hard on the riders. Only Bart de Clercq suffered a crash without consequences among those that are able in the cobbles. The break of the day was made of 6 riders, including Cameron Meyer (Quickstep), Marcel Kittel (Discovery), Kenny van Hummel (Belkin) and Samuel Dumoulin (Euskaltel). However, the Australian stopped relaying at the first cobbles part as his team was chasing in the main bunch along with Saxo Bank and Lotto. They had a gap of 7' 30'' with 126 kilometers to go.



Saxo started to make things hard from the first climb to the Oude Kwaremont. They managed to break the pack into pieces soon enough. Boonen and Vansummeren managed to stay in the front group every time, but Bjorn Leukemans has been caught with the wrong foot a couple of times already. Among those that don't seem to be having a good day are Bernhard Eisel, George Hincapie and Heinrich Haussler as they are already quite far behind with 58 kilometers remaining.



The first serious attack was made by Johan Vansummeren. The Quickstep rider took off in the descent towards the second climb to the Oude Kwaremont and has a gap of 40 seconds at the climb. There are only 17 riders chasing him, already with Leukemans back among the best. However, not all of the favorites are in there, as Alessandro Ballan, Lloyd Mondory and Sylvain Chavanel are in a group that is losing 2' 40''.



Bjorn Leukemans' pace could only be followed by Tom Boonen and Oscar Freire in the Oude Kwaremont. The Spaniard would be subsequently left behind in the Paterberg. That left only Boonen and Leukemans on the chase. However, their understanding was not the best and the gap to Vansummeren had grown to 1' 05'' 27 km to the finish line. Behind them the race is a one on one effort, as Freire is losing 2' 15''; Cancellara, 3' 45'' and Paolini 4' 20''.



Tom Boonen managed to attack and leave behind Leukemans on the run to the last climb to the Oude Kwaremont. The top is 18 kilometers to the finish line and Vansummeren's gap has already started decreasing. He has 25 seconds on Boonen and 40 on Leukemans. The rest of the field is already well outside of the fight for the race and it is more than probable that we will have a full Belgian podium.



Leukemans managed to catch Boonen again at the top of the Oude Kwaremont and they reached the Paterberg 30 seconds behind Vansummeren. Boonen seems to be suffering a bit in the hills, as he is the less able of the three in that area, but in the flat he has proven to be the strongest today. It is difficult to say if the 13 kilometers to the finish in Oudenaarde will be enough to catch Vansummeren.



Vansummeren looks strong enough to narrowly hold on to his gap and goes through the 5 kilometers banner 25 seconds ahead of Boonen. Leukemans was again not able to follow him on the flat and crossed the flag 40 seconds behind the leader. It looks like it is not the best day in the career of the Lotto rider and that he will miss in the Ronde being the hottest favorite for the second time in a row. The best of the rest is still Oscar Freire, but he is already 3' 25'' behind Vansummeren.



Vansummeren has a gap big enough as the riders go under the flame rouge. The Belgian is going to take his second Ronde van Vlaanderen in a row and record his second monument. The three riders that will be in the podium look fairly matched in these last flat kilometers and the order is not going to suffer any changes.



Johan Vansummeren wins in Oudenaarde! A cracking victory by the Quickstep rider after a 40 kilometers attack. He departed the favorites group before the second climb to the Oude Kwaremont never to be seen again. It was not the best start of the season in terms of results for the Belgian team but they have greatly made up for the poor results in the early season with this win.

The podium was again all Belgian like in Wevelgem. Tom Boonen was second ahead of Bjorn Leukemans. Leukemans finishes the cobbles classics with 2 podiums, both in the third spot, a not so good result for him considering the expectations. The top 5 of the race was completed by Oscar Freire and Fabian Cancellara. The Spaniard is no longer one of the top riders in the Belkin squad, but he has surely proved this week that he is keen to be considered important in the team again.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Johan Vansummeren	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	6h36'43
2		Tom Boonen	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 26
3		Björn Leukemans	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
4		Oscar Freire	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 3'33
5		Fabian Cancellara	RadioShack - Leopard	+ 4'51
6		Grégory Rast	Sky Procycling	+ 5'56
7		Luca Paolini	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 7'16
8		Lloyd Mondory	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
9		Maarten Tjallingii	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
10		Tyler Farrar	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 11'13

A nice Belgian 1-2-3

And my choice got second

I have to say that the three Belgians are the strongest but the gaps are just laughable. 11 minutes to the 10th rider? Come on Cyanide...

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Ronde van Vlaanderen)

1		Bauke Mollema	Vacansoleil	190.87
2		Laurens Ten Dam	Cannondale	186
3		Peter Stetina	BMC	172.07
4		Johan Vansummeren	Quickstep	141.64
5		Tom Boonen	Saxo Bank	140.37
6		David Lopez	Euskaltel	136.1
7		Hubert Dupont	Belkin	130.25
8		Simone Ponzi	Katusha	120.5
9		Björn Leukemans	Lotto	100.25
10		Tejay Van Garderen	BMC	98.12
11		Rob Ruijgh	Belkin	83.79
12		Oscar Freire	Belkin	76.25
13		Andrew Talansky	HTC	75.62
14		Sacha Modolo	Euskaltel	74
15		Fränk Schleck	Radioshack	68.12

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Ronde van Vlaanderen)

1		BMC Racing Team	402.15
2		Belkin Pro Cycling Team	380.3
3		Euskaltel - Euskadi	284.6
4		Vacansoleil - DMC	256.2
5		Omega Pharma - Quickstep	227
6		Lotto - Belisol	223.3
7		Team Saxo - Tinkoff	204
8		Cannondale Pro Cycling	187.65
9		Sky Procycling	179.65
10		HTC - Highroad	146