I did the race for a 2005 DB project and of course I also wanted to play it then. Probably not all of them are in top form yet like Roche or Martin in my team.
Züri - Metzgete
The hardest part is on the short circuit and must be ridden 4 1/2 times, while the long circuit on lap 1 is still pretty easy. Start and finish are in the city of Zürich next to the "Zürichsee".
A big group attacked pretty early. Maxime Bouet might be the best puncheur in this race and he showed in previous seasons, what he is capable to reach.
Katusha for Vorganov and Quickstep for Cataldo/Monfort are immediately sending some of their guys to the front and so the advance is never above 2min.
Reaching the see side for the first time at the end of the first longer lap the breakaway is already back in the peloton but these two teams are still doing a good pace, so no new attacks on the last 15km.
But on the finish line with 4 short laps to go Lampre`s Marzano and Adria`s Nose attacked and created a good gap.
3-4 more riders try to counter this attack. One of them surprises most experts. Dutch man Johnny Hoogerland was one of the race favourites and is trying it with the long way attack with more than 150km to go.
This changed also the situation in the peloton, where Garmin and Astana took control now after the first small lap. They do pretty well together and constantly hold the gap at 5-6min.
Hoogerland luckily had problems to reach the first group of 3 riders with Marzano, Nose and Rabottini and was a bit behind in another group of 3 together with Codol and Benenati.
Now with just 2 laps to go and still a good gap it`s Tour of Oman winner Ryder Hesjedal, who is doing a high pace, which leads to many riders falling back now.
On the last lap the gap is down to 2min and it`s Simon Spilak starting the final.
Roche and Wielinga immediately try to follow him, but they aren`t able to catch up and will fall back into the "peloton" soon again.
Garmin is again leading in the group of less than 30 trying to catch Spilak and parts of the former breakaway.
Sanchez is still supported by Roche, Hesjedal, Martin and Fuglsang. All of them are already doing the pace.
Riders like Cataldo or Masciarelli tried to attack, but the pace was far to fast and so nobody was able to get free on the longer climbs.
On the very last short climb LL Sanchez plays his card and attacks. Nobody can counter his attack immediately but some riders also distance the group.
Again Spilak, Tony Martin and surprisingly Masciarelli are the first followers. No sign of Astana`s other big man Contador or Schleck.
Another few seconds later it`s Vorganov and Visconti still ahead of the group with the other Garmin riders.
Surprisingly Frank Schleck, Monfort and Seeldreayers are already behind them. Also D.Martin, V.Efimkin and Hoogerland are behind, but worked hard today.
It`s really enough for Sanchez. He celebrates a great solo victory and already his 3rd race win in February. Definitely a candidate for the rider of the month award now.
34s later Masciarelli sprints on the 2nd ahead of Spilak and Tony Martin.
And Astana also wins the sprint of the next group. Vinokourov ahead of Contador leads the first bigger group over the line 56s later including Fuglsang as 11th, Roche as 16th and Hesjedal as 19th.
Thanks all of you.
I tried to control the race and luckily it worked out for me. Only short moment I thought, I totally failed was when Spilak attacked and I decided to send Roche with 60 fitness with him and wasn`t able to reach. There I expected Spilak to win the race.
Won`t be that easy after the preparation races.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is a Flanders Classics single day cycle race held in the Belgian province of East Flanders.
It uses some parts of the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and is a preperation race for the big cobbled classics.
It is characterised by cold weather and short cobbled climbs.
It`s the 2nd of 4 classics in the end of February we will participate in. It`s also the first cobbled race this season.
Profile
Result in 2012
1
Kevyn Ista
Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne
2
Gert Steegmans
Team RadioShack
3
Matti Breschel
Leopard Trek
4
Andy Cappelle
An Post - Sean Kelly
5
Filippo Pozzato
Astana
6
Juan Antonio Flecha
Sky Professional Cycling Team
7
Johnny Hoogerland
Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
8
Sebastian Langeveld
Rabobank
9
Staf Scheirlinckx
Omega Pharma-Lotto
10
Martijn Maaskant
Garmin - Cervelo
Garmin squad in 2013
Good for us that all our classic riders have a decent form of 80+.
With Maaskant we have one of the 5 best cobbler in professional cycling and so he will surely lead our team here. But also Haussler takes a leader role as he combines classic riding with a high sprint speed and might be Boonen`s biggest opponent.
Riders like two time winner of Gent Wevelgem Vansummeren or Boom have some kind of a free role. Felline and Van Der Velde are our luxury team mates and will try to be at their leader`s side until the end. Farrar has to see if he can survive the cobbled sections. If so, he will be another option in a sprint, but normally the race should be too hard for him. Bookwalter completes our squad and is the only one, who isn`t a specialist on this roads, so we expect a good first race half from him before falling back.
Without Paris Roubaix winners Cancellara and Breschel and also Pozzato, Nuyens and Gilbert not at the start line we miss some of the best cobblers.
But still it should be an exciting race here.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Gent - Gent
Several cobbled sections and short and hard hills expect the rider on the course around Gent.
Tom Boonen the big favourite of course but especially Garmin and Sky will try to beat him.
Some riders try it in a early breakaway. None of them is known as a good classic rider.
More dangerous the attack by Bert De Backer (Skil) with more than 150km to go. He is surely not the kind of rider, that usually wins big races, but he is capable to do very well in the cobbled classics.
He joined the breakaway and after the first pavement he even got rid of them and leads the race solo now. This will be a very tough job for him now.
Garmin and Sky share the work in the peloton. Quickstep is obviously still waiting.
On the 3rd section, which is going uphill, Sky is sending 7 guys in the train. Also Quickstep has one with Chavanel in there now. Horror scenario for many riders now.
Many splits afterwards. Lots of Garmin and Sky riders in the first group now. Also Burghardt is there. But Boonen is missing. The Belgium is in the next group a bit behind and also Boom missed the split and is even 2 groups back.
After the first groups came back together again World Champion Devolder attacks. He surely knows that he won`t have a chance in a sprint.
Boom is still far behind and won`t come back unfortunately. Luckily there are still a few Garmin riders in the top group including Maaskant, Haussler and Felline.
Maaskant, Flecha and Bert Scheirlinckx are all great classic riders but no sprinters, so they follow Devolder`s move in the hope to get rid of Boonen, Haussler and co.
Also Staf Scheirlinckx is making his move now and his the race leader now with 5km to go.
The sprinters are hanging on a long train now.
Barbe-Veelers-Traksel-Boonen-Haussler-Ista are just a bit behind the escapees.
Scheirlinckx is not giving up and holds a small gap on the last kilometers. Can he surprise the sprinters?
No chance for him. With 1km to go he was overtaken pretty quick.
It became a decision between Haussler, Boonen and Veelers.
The Australian waited longer and accelerated out of Boonen`s back with 600m to go and wins dominantly ahead of Veelers, who beated Boonen quite surprisingly.
In the sprint of the rest Ista takes another good 4th after his win last seasons ahead of Staf Scheilinckx, who at least got a nice top 5 here.
Maaskant as 9th and Vansummeren as 13th also finished in the first group, while Boom had a very bad day as 55th.
Thank you guys. @Spilak: It`s just the typical PCM pre-season problem. I use Lachi`s season planner and so my riders have good forms. The AI uses shit plans just for their highlight races like Ardennes, cobbles, GT`s. All other races are pretty much ignored and so they are not fit. Especially in the first 2-3 months and again due to the race days in the last 2 months including the Vuelta and Worlds.
Thanks all for the bananas and comments.
Took some days off for more important stuff, but here the next report.
The second cobbled classic this season starts in Western Flanders` city Kuurne goes to Bruxelles and back to Kuurne. The riders have to pass some hills, cobbles and might get problems with the heavy wind in general. As the cobbled parts are just a few the race can be won by less brilliant classic specialists.
Rosseler`s late attack blew up the whole favourite group. Felline chased him solo but wasn`t able to win the sprint then.
A few seconds later the next group arrived, where Hushovd won the sprint ahead of Farrar.
Garmin squad in 2013
It`s the same squad than yesterday in Omloop Het Volk. Due to the easier profile Haussler will be our main leader here and also Farrar proved last year that he can perform well here.
But also the rest of the team might do well here.
The favourites are pretty much the same. Cancellara, Breschel, Gilbert, Nuyens or Pozzato are also missing here, so it might again be a battle between Garmin and Quickstep. But also Sky, Vacansoleil, Skil and Cofidis have good teams here.
Kuurne - Kuurne
Some smaller hills and just a few pavement sections. So the weaker classic riders might still hang on in the big group. A sprint is expected today. But also the final circuit is perfect for a late attack as last year showed.
Valentin (Cofidis), De Maar (Quick·Step) and Ruijgh (Vacansoleil) are the first riders, who distance the peloton.
They are later joined by 5 other riders and together they build the group of the day with 110km to go.
On the way to the more hilly and cobbled mid stage part Skil and Landbouwkredit are controlling the peloton.
Nothing to see from the 3 big teams Sky, Garmin and Quickstep so far.
Also on the pavement it`s still Skil doing 90% of the work alone. The group is nearly caught now.
Sep Vanmarcke and Garmin`s Felline got a small gap after this section and are leading the race now. Again Felline, who is performing extraordinary well here in this race.
But they are chased down by the ~40 rider peloton. No chance for such an 60km attack today.
Bad luck then for Farrar. He punctured and falls out of the group. Good for us that all Garmin riders but Bookwalter are still in there.
Reaching the circuit it`s still Skil with many riders at the front. What are they planning today?
Good news as Farrar was also able to fight his way back into the group, but not sure how much energy he spent.
Offredo has seen enough. The French attacks out of the group and tries it solo with a bit more than 10km to go.
But he got caught again with 5km and immediately the next attack. It`s Bert Scheirlinckx, who was already pretty active yesterday.
Meanwhile Garmin and Skill are starting their big trains.
But the Belgium can celebrate a big win for him and his team. Somehow he had still a lot of energy in the end and kept a small gap to the closer coming sprinters.
At least Haussler as 2nd and Boom as 3rd fill the podium for us with Farrar being 5th completing a nice result. Other sprinters obviously haven`t been going at their limit after Scheirlinckx celebrated.
Surprise attack spoiled Garmin a great result...and this isn´t a race for Farrar......last year 4th and this year 5th...getting worst...but still a very good result.
Probably not all of them are in top form yet like Roche or Martin in my team.
!
...last year 4th and this year 5th...getting worst...but still a very good result.
