SPECIAL REPORT RONDE VAN VLAANDEREN
BRUGGE - OUDENAARDE
Today I can present to you my first special report! Even though I'm not participating in the Tour of Flanders this year (and am unlikely to in future years due to my complete lack of ability on the cobblestones) I thought I would give you a report on what happened as it was such an exciting race. This was meant to be a short report but I got so wrapped up in it that I thought I might as well tell you what happened!
We were looking for Nick Nuyens to do well here; after two 6th place finishes at E3 and Gent-Wevelgem he was in good form - let's see what he can do here. The favourites are Boonen and Cancellara, both in great shape; and also Flecha after his win in Gent-Wevelgem. And several others not to be underestimated like Breschel, Terpstra and Ballan.
There were lots of people looking to get into the breakaway so there were lots of attacks early on, including Morkov who is an excellent fighter
The break of 5 containing Morkov soon settled and opened up a 2 minute lead but that didn't prevent dozens of others from trying to get away from inside the pack.
The attacks kept coming as a group of 5 more decided to pursue the breakaway
These 5 succeeded in bridging the gap but that only made Radioshack, who seemed to actively dislike the breakaway, frantically increase the pace and reel all of them in So much action and we hadn’t got to the cobbles yet!
But eventually; after 80kms of racing, a breakaway of nine formed. (L-R) Martias, Schar, do Vreese, Casar, Knees, Morkov, Dall'Antonia, and Van Goolen
The peloton get stuck into the first cobbled section of the day
All sorts of things started happening: the peloton got split in half, half of the break got caught by an attacking group including pseudo-favourites like O'Grady while 3 riders had attacked off the front of the break and were building up a lead
A lead group including O'Grady and several others who were decent on the cobbles like Wynants, was established and pulled out a bit of a lead
A big split in the peloton occurred just while they were climbing the Paterberg and we could see Nuyens and Cancellara scrambling to get into it. The peloton was down to just 37 with the O'Grady group spread out between 4 and 5 minutes ahead
Spartacus leads an even-more thinned out group up the Oude Kwaremont at a mad pace. Containing just 19 riders, it meant that Terpstra, Pozzato, Devolder, Chavanel and others had all been dropped.
We went up another cobbled section and... Cancellara and Boonen were away. No stopping them!
35kms to go and the chasing group consists of Flecha, Vansummeren, Breschel, Ballan, Leukemans, Hoste and our Nuyens with Wynants and Willems there having been part of the breakaway.
Cancellara and Boonen are at the top of the hill and Flecha is making his move behind the motorbike. If you look closely you can see other groups of riders on the right hand side, they’re about 12 minutes behind and include Terpstra and Pozzato; an illustration of the hellish pace that Cancellara decided to set a little earlier on
25kms to go and Flecha has somehow caught up with Boonen and Cancellara and the trio has opened up a 4 minute gap on the Nuyens group
Nuyens goes on the attack up the Oude Kwaremont with 15kms to go!
Spartacus makes his move at the same time at the top of the Paterberg. You can see some lapped riders behind the chasing Boonen and Flecha
Cancellara is away and gone but Nuyens is reeled back in and it's Breschel who decides to go onto the offensive
Cancellara wins it by a mile (literally)! What a fantastic ride from the Swiss man; he completely destroyed the competition and finished 2 minutes and 14 seconds before Boonen.
Boonen comes home second, disappointed, unable to match Spartacus' pace and Flecha is fairly close behind in 3rd. The battle for fourth was on with the Nuyens/Breschel etc group still 4km away
Rather surprisingly, Hoste wins that battle easily and Nuyens has a disappointing sprint, coming home last out of that group; probably having expended too much energy attacking before.
What a race for Cancellara, though, not only did he take the victory by such a huge margin; he also set the pace in the lead group for a good 50-70kms or so before attacking. The whole race was raced at such a frantic speed, first under the helm of Radioshack as a team and then just Cancellara; meaning that only 76 riders finished the course inside the time limit out of the original 200 that started.
1
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
6h32'23''
2
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma - Quick Step
+2'14''
3
Juan Antonio Flecha
Sky Pro Cycling
+2'50''
4
Leif Hoste
Accent.Jobs - Willems Veranda’s
+8'25''
5
Matti Breschel
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
6
Alessandro Ballan
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
7
Johan Vansummeren
Garmin - Barracuda
s.t.
8
Björn Leukemans
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Nick Nuyens
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
10
Frederik Willems
Lotto Belisol
+10'37''
11
Staf Scheirlinckx
Accent.Jobs - Willems Veranda’s
+12'42''
12
Stijn Devolder
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
13
Sylvain Chavanel
Omega Pharma - Quick Step
+13'10''
14
Geraint Thomas
Sky Pro Cycling
s.t.
15
Stuart O'Grady
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
16
Maarten Wynants
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
17
Kevin Hulsmans
Farnese Vini Selle Italia
+13'41''
18
Sebastian Langeveld
Orica-GreenEDGE
+15'13''
19
Heinrich Haussler
Garmin - Barracuda
+18'36''
20
Sep Vanmarcke
Garmin - Barracuda
s.t.
Well, utter domination from Cancellara there, I'll be back with another special report - this time on Paris-Roubaix - let's see if Boonen can bounce back and Nuyens can push for a top 5 place perhaps?
Edited by Stromeon on 05-01-2013 13:00
@sutty: he did do well to finish in the top 10 but I think he would have finished maybe 6th or 7th if he hadn't done the attack before which drained a lot of energy from him
Just one race to update you on before we move onto Paris-Roubaix - the Tour of the Basque Country! It wasn't a particularly exciting race overall; but Alejandro Valverde seized the day on the stage with the uphill finish and beat Rodriguez in an action-packed finish and Luis Leon Sanchez had another great outing - a wonder season for him so far. Roman Kreuziger repeated the 7th place he got at Paris-Nice here, which was a nice result for him as he looks to build up some form before riding the Giro. And Philippe Gilbert did very well for a stage race; he looks in really ominous form just before the Ardennes classics!
Here's how the GC stacked up at the end:
1
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
19h54'41''
2
Luis León Sánchez
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 2'17''
3
Philippe Gilbert
BMC Racing Team
+ 3'11''
4
Joaquin Rodriguez
Katusha Team
+ 4'00''
5
Rui Costa
Movistar Team
+ 4'08''
6
Carlos Barredo
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 4'51''
7
Roman Kreuziger
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'29''
8
Denis Menchov
Katusha Team
+ 5'34''
9
Fränk Schleck
Radioshack - Nissan
+ 6'00''
10
Lieuwe Westra
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 8'10''
Points Classification: Alejandro Valverde
Mountains Classification: Rinaldo Nocentini
Young Rider Classification: Wout Poels
Team Classification: Movistar Team
Edited by Stromeon on 05-01-2013 18:48
Hopefully But because Contador is banned, he will have to lead the Giro and the Tour, so he is probably building up for the Tour more than the Giro, somehow! my schedule for the team apart from Matthias is a complete mess basically
@Jesleyh: Boom was 22nd and Terpstra 27th, both in the Haussler/Vanmarcke group - they didn't have great days
@juszta: maybe it sounds cooler? Kreuziger is doing quite well - I don't know how well Saxo Bank would be doing if I hadn't signed him at the start of the season Edited by Stromeon on 06-01-2013 14:26
SPECIAL REPORT PARIS - ROUBAIX
COMPIEGNE - ROUBAIX
Another special report here - this time it's the Hell of the North but I'm safe from hell in my hotel in the Amsterdam red light district preparing for the Ardennes Again this report is longer than anticipated
After the usual bickering and state of limbo; the break formed and it consisted of (L-R) Berthou, Plaza, Spilak, Robert, Petit and Spezialetti
And after the first 100km of racing produced practically no action at all, (added to the fact it was actually quite a nice day) it was time to get the race properly started - the cobbles!
The first few falls started to happen at the back of the peloton, here Benenati and Verdugo go down, this ended their race.
With 150km done and dusted; the riding was still very cagey and there hadn't been any attacks. No doubt that would change after the next few cobbled sections
Sky were looking to push the pace on a bit, under the stewardship of Juan Antonio Flecha
Finally a split occurred, with just 30 riders making it into the front group but the back group containing many favourites, meaning that it probably wouldn't stick
The break is absorbed back into the pack with 60kms to go
Lars Boom leads the main group over the cobbles, there having just been a big split; reducing the peloton down to 50 including most favourites and pseudo-favourites
The lead group had now been rapidly reduced down to 19
Soon it was down to just seven riders - Cancellara, Boonen, Chavanel, Brsechel, Nuyens, Terpstra and Boom
Flecha makes his move; trying to get back to the front group, who now held a 40 second lead over the second group
He bridged the gap, but it took a long time so he probably didn't have much energy left. As you can see here, Chavanel has taken up pacemaking duties
Breschel attacks! He looks round to see if anyone is following but no one is…
...except Cancellara, who makes a late bid to follow him. Also the lead group of 7 is pulled back by the chasing group and so the chasing group pursuing Breschel and Cancellara now swells to 16
Boonen and Ballan set off in pursuit of the two leading riders, whose gap is being significantly reduced
Boonen succeeds in bridging the gap and then opens fire, leaving Breschel and Cancellara behind; Ballan, however, doesn't and is left stranded in no-man's land
Boonen is now out in front with 10km to go! Breschel is rounding the corner and Cancellara is behind him on the very right of the picture
Boonen is into the Velodrome with a good 20 second lead over Breschel, who has a further 20 second lead over Cancellara, who has a minute over Ballan, who in turn has a minute over the chasers
The chasers come in and Boonen is about to lap them!
And Tom Boonen is the winner of this year's Paris - Roubaix! Breschel is 2nd, a fabulous ride from him; and a disappointed Cancellara is 3rd.
Ballan was fourth; and in the race for fifth, Terpstra took it ahead of surprise package Hincapie and Nuyens, who finishes in a really good 7th place
1
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma - Quick Step
6h44'41
2
Matti Breschel
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 41
3
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
+ 1'14
4
Alessandro Ballan
BMC Racing Team
+ 2'27
5
Niki Terpstra
Omega Pharma - Quick Step
+ 3'30
6
George Hincapie
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
7
Nick Nuyens
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
8
Björn Leukemans
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Frederic Guesdon
FDJ-BigMat
s.t.
10
Luca Paolini
Katusha Team
s.t.
11
Heinrich Haussler
Garmin - Barracuda
s.t.
12
Sylvain Chavanel
Omega Pharma - Quick Step
s.t.
13
Johan Vansummeren
Garmin - Barracuda
s.t.
14
Sep Vanmarcke
Garmin - Barracuda
s.t.
15
Juan Antonio Flecha
Sky Pro Cycling
s.t.
16
Stijn Devolder
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
17
Marcus Burghardt
BMC Racing Team
+ 8'15
18
Lars Boom
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
19
Sebastian Langeveld
Orica-GreenEDGE
+ 14'15
20
Filippo Pozzato
Farnese Vini Selle Italia
s.t.
I'll be back for some hilly action quite soon, but until then, bye!
Spoiler
I'm afraid due to time constraints etc the pace of the story will slow down quite dramatically probably starting from tomorrow, but I'll still keep going and I'm still full of motivation Don't expect more than two or three reports a week though. Oh and thank you everyone for following and supporting
Hello to you all! I'm back from my Amsterdam break and into some serious racing - today it's the Amstel Gold Race! Roman Kreuziger, while not one of the main favourites; would be looking to do well here and maybe push towards a top 10 placing. He would have plenty of help in the form of myself, the Sorensens, Karsten Kroon, Paulinho, and Navarro Garcia - all pretty good hill climbers (apart from me )
The hilly profile of this very long race
It was a very cold day today, luckily it wasn't raining, but you can see me here hunched over the handlebars with lots of clothing on to keep me warm
After the usual bombardment of attacks, the break formed and conisted of: Mate, Pinot, Proni, Marzano, Sohrabi and Kreder
After a solid and rather unspectacular 70kms of riding we encountered our first very steep hill, showing us what was to come
And shortly after that it was time for the first ascent of the Valkenburg - this would give a good taste to the favourites (including Roman) of what the finish would be like
The race was waiting to take off, but for now, it was just up, down, up, down and so on
Gradients of 12%! My legs weren't used to this but I kept going. Meanwhile the break had pulled out a handy 8-minute lead
After a lot more upping and downing there were just 55kms left to go and absolutely nothing had happened in the race so far; it had been pretty much pure tedium. At least I didn't have to do water duty
But as soon as I said that - action! Gerrans gets a puncture!
Tired of the tedium, team-mate Karsten Kroon decided to attack and try and bridge the gap to the breakaway, who were now about 1 minute 45 seconds ahead
It didn't take him long and he was soon there behind Kreder's wheel in the break
Karsten then attacked off the breakaway with Proni trying to follow him. Back in the pack, this news had obviously been relayed to the other riders as Nocentini and others decided to attack as well, but their attack was brought back very swiftly
The initial breakaway was caught and the pace was very hard. I was struggling a bit in the middle of the peloton
But look who's off! Valverde followed by Gesink! And then rather belatedly, by Martin and Poels
Valverde and Gesink streaked ahead but Martin and Poels were caught by Visconti, Gerrans, Schleck, and Gilbert with Kreuziger and Hesjedal in pursuit. I found myself on the wrong side of the split as the peloton accelerated to try and get the favourites back. Meanwhile Karsten Kroon was still up in front with a minute's lead - probably not enough with 15kms to go, but you never know…
Soon, with a mixture of acceleration and attacks, that group (including Valverde and Gesink) became a larger group of 31, chasing down Kroon. Kreuziger was joined by helpers Paulinho and Navarro Garcia
It didn't take long before an exhausted Kroon was virtually caught by Valverde and Gilbert, on the offensive again. De Gendt is just behind those two
But Valverde and Gilbert are reeled back in and at the foot of the Valkenburg an energy-less Kroon (who is somehow keeping going but lost all energy so no prospect of a win for him) and Kreuziger are there at the front with Valverde, Gilbert, Rodriguez et al ready for a sprint
400m to go and Gilbert is leading on the outside but Valverde is coming very fast around the oustide with Purito in the middle and Kreuziger by him, but Roman has started sprinting too early I think - it's going to be close! Schleck, Gerrans and Sagan are behind them, ready to pounce
But it's Philippe Gilbert who holds on to win the Amstel Gold race!
Valverde beats Rodriguez to second by a matter of millimetres, but what's this? Kreuziger has crossed the line in FOURTH POSITION, ahead of Sagan who finished fifth! What an amazing result for our Czech leader! Wow!
I come home in exactly 50th, 2 minutes and 26 seconds down in the second group to cross the line, feeling pretty good with the news of Kreuziger's great result filtering through to me via the radio
Here's how the results stacked up:
1
Philippe Gilbert
BMC Racing Teamm
7h01'15
2
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
s.t.
3
Joaquin Rodriguez
Katusha Team
s.t.
4
Roman Kreuziger
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
5
Peter Sagan
Liquigas-Cannondale
s.t.
6
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
s.t.
7
Luis León Sánchez
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Andy Schleck
Radioshack - Nissan
s.t.
9
Simon Gerrans
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
10
Rinaldo Nocentini
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
11
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
12
Tony Martin
Omega Pharma - Quick Step
s.t.
13
Joost Posthuma
Radioshack - Nissan
s.t.
14
Oscar Freire
Katusha Team
s.t.
15
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
16
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Barracuda
s.t.
17
Enrico Gasparotto
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
18
Tejay Van Garderen
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
19
Stefano Garzelli
Acqua Sapone
s.t.
20
Alexandre Vinokourov
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
...
50
Matthias Fischer
Team Saxo Bank
+2'26
Until later, when it's La Fleche Wallonne, where we will hope that Roman can repeat his performance from today! See you there
@sutty and @Freitas: Kreuziger doing very well at the moment
Sorry for delay between reports, literally have no time at the moment and any available time that I have is drafting and planning in the UCPCL but there should be a report of La Fleche Wallonne hopefully today
thanks for pointing out the mistake 
RONDE VAN VLAANDEREN
Don't expect more than two or three reports a week though. Oh and thank you everyone for following and supporting 
