BPost Leads Out Sprint, Disappointed Van Loocke 12th
Before the Tour of Wellington, critics were saying that BPost did not have the depth of sprinting talent to create a lead-out train that could deliver Van Loocke into a good position to sprint from. Yesterday, we proved those people wrong.
With 10km to go in the first stage of the Tour of Wellington our team was on the front of the peleton, relaying to drag in the breakaway. With only 5km to go, they were caught and on the front of the peleton was us - Stenuit was leading out Stallaert and then Van Loocke was third in line.
Our lead-out train
Stenuit could not hold the pace forevver thougha dpeeled off with 3km remaining. Stallaert then pushed the pace for another 1.5km and then Van Loocke opnned his very long range sprint. As would be expected from such a long sprint, however, Van Loocke faded and ended up in a disappointing 12th.
The stage remains a valuable learning experience for the team, however, and on the pan-flat third stage we will be hoping for another chance to shine. This time, we expect other teams to contribute more to the chasing and sprinting. Van Loocke's goal remains to finish in the top 10 or, better yet, the top 5.
Wellington Wrap-Up Frison Shows Strong Early Signs
Well the Tour of Wellington is now completed and it has, unfortunately, not been a very successful first stage race for hte team. We suffered by not having a leader there who could contend on the hills and with Van Loocke not surrounded by other strong sprinters, he found himself isolated and disappointed.
The third stage that we had been hoping for ended in a mass sprint, as widely expected. Stallaert had been in the break of the day and showed himself to be a rising sprinter by taking placings in each of the bonus sprints. Van Loocke managed to get himself onto the back of one of the other longer trains and sprinted to a respectable 9th place. By doing this he escured one of our goals going in - a top 10 place on a stage.
Stage 4 was rather hilly and as such we fostered no ambitions. Our only hope was to get in a break and hope that it paid off. Frison missed the initial group of 4 riders but relayed up with Cooper of Jayco-Red Bull and then helped them stay away.
Frison assisting in the relays
Miraculously, the group stayed away, but Frison's inexperience showed and he was 6th of the 6 riders who were in the break, finishing 30 seconds ahead of the peleton. Regardless, it is an example of the success that this young rider has ahead of him.
The 5th stage had enough of a bump in the circuit that we were worried that Van Loocke could not remain competitive for a bunch sprint, so we took a risk and tried something new. Van Loocke and the Carmeuse loanee Van den Eynde both attacked out with Kirsch of Focused Cycling. They caught up to the lead group of riders and tried to hold on. Unforutnately, they were caught with 20kms remaining and Van Loocke was tired so did not sprint it out.
Van Loocke and Van den Eynde
Ultimately it was a rather disappointing stage race for us, with Frison's success the only light of hope. We believe that in all races for the rest of this season we can achieve more results than this. As shall be seen in our Tour Mediterraneen preview, we will not be riding without a leader again.
Tour Mediterraneen Stage 1-3 Wrap Up Poulhies Sprinting Superbly
After 3 successful days in France, I thought it was appropriate to give a bit of a status update on how the team is doing.
Stage 1 was a 98km pan-flat course and yet we decided to try our luck in the break anyway. Carmeuse loanee Van Den Eynde jumped into a breakaway. He is a very useful rider to have on a team thanks to his attacking nature, and if Carmeuse don't want him next season, we will consider keeping hold of him. Regardless, the break was always going to be doomed and were caught before the mountain points towards the end of the stage. The sprint openned up and Poulhies gave it everything, but started too far back to make a real impact. He achieved a very respectable 9th place.
Poulhies sprinting from further back, into 9th place.
The second stage was raced much more agressively, with attacks going off left, right and centre. Despite trying to get a rider into the early break, we were unsuccessful due to the 3 Focused riders in the group forcing the peleton to work. We didn't get into the second group which formed the BotD and instead we sat in the peleton conserving our energy. With a very agressive final several kilometres, Vanendert sat back and let some of hte other riders close down gaps. Ultimately, it came down to a sprint for the line and Vanendert came 10th on the stage, several of his key rivals having exhausted themselves.
The third stage, yesterday, was another sprint stage and once again Van den Eynde managed to get into the 5-man BotD. As I said, he is a very plucky rider. Once again though, the sprinters weren't going to let them have their day and both Saab and Tinkoff set a high tempo that dragged the break back in early. Both of these teams started to set up sprint trains, and Poulhies found a way onto the wheel of Cucinotto, who was on Hushovd's wheel. Hushovd had won stage one so this was a great piece of positioning. Sure enough, this turned out to be a great choice and Poulhies hit the line in 5th place!
Poulhies picks the right wheel and gets a well-deserved 5th.
Today's stage is rather hilly, which should suit Vanendert and Gautier, who both hope for top 10 positions. Vanendert even feels he can realistically target a top 5. The final stage consists of an ascent of Mt. Faron, which averages around 10%. Vanendert also believes he is one of hte favourites for this stage and wil do whatever he can to make a huge move there.
Interview With Stephane Poulhies CyclingNews.com sat down with Team BPost's Stephane Poulhies after the 3rd stage of yesterday's Tour Mediteraneen and asked him a few questions about his career.
CN: Hello Stephane, thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
SP: No problem, always happy to talk to you guys!
CN: You sprinted to 5th place today, which is a great result. Not many French riders are at this year's edition of the race, so how does it feel to be so high up the rankings representing your country?
SP: It feels great. I've had talks with the French media all afternoon and a couple after the first stage. They are just very excited for someone to be performing so well infront of their home crowd.
CN: Are there any other French riders in this race who you think can perform well?
SP: Oh for sure! Obviously there is Jeremy Roy, from Focused Cycling. But you don't even have to look at other teams! Cyril Gautier is here for BPost as well, and he is definitely capable of a very strong overall result, or at least ensuring that Vanendert can get a result like that himself.
CN: Hw are your friends and family reacting to you getting results, after a somewhat disappointing result last year?
SP: They are absolutely over the moon! After last year, a lot of them didn't think I would get a contract this year, but BPost came to the rescue and have given me a job for this season. The atmosphere in the team has just made a huge difference to my morale!
CN: How would you describe your role in the team?
SP: I was brought in to act as a lead-out man for Jurgen Van Loocke whenever he requires one, but because he is the team's only other sprinter I have been given a lot of chances to do my own thing, particularly on home soil.
CN: Are you riding any other home races this season?
SP: Yes I am! I'll be at the 5 Jours du Dunkerque supporting Van Loocke or taking my own chances if possible. I'll also be our lead psrinter at the Tour du Limousin, which isn't really a sprinter's course, but I hope to get a chance on at least one of the stages there.
Tour Mediterraneen Finale! Vanendert rides well, misses big move
After the first 3 stages of the Tour Mediterraneen, which were relatively flat and quiet, the final two stages saw absolute fireworks. Vanendert went into stage 4 as one of the three highest-listed favourites, along with Di Maggio and Ginnani, so the pressure was on him to perform well. It also meant that we did not put anyone in the break, though at the same time we were not required to relay at any point due to Saab once again doing the hard work.
With 27km to go Di Maggio attacked and this set off an absolute flurry of assaults from most of the best puncheurs on the day, and even the yellow jersey Thor Hushovd had a shot. Yet both Vanendert and Gautier were remarkably absent. It turns out that the slight kick in the final kilometre was enough to ensure that an attack could be successful and as such both Di Maggio and Ginanni gained time on our dual puncheurs. Gautier was our best placed rider on the day. In 45th place.
Leaving this disappointing stage behind us, we moved on to stage 5, including the climb up Mt. Faron. Vanendert went into this again as one of the top 5 riders mentioned for the win and his superior ability on the mountains was expected to help him to some degree. The starting flag was waved and everything just went wrong.
The very first 11km were up quite a tough climb, yet Vanendert was placed incredibly poorly and fell right off the back of the peleton.
Vanendert being paced back up the peleton
Thankfully he rejoined before the second climb of the day. Yet, probably tired from his exertions, when the attacks started, Vanendert disappeared. He did not react to any of them and our team was not helping out with the relays to try to save time. Finally, once the peleton hit Mt. Faron, already a fair distance behind the group of favourites, Vanendert attacked out.
He started the climb a fair way back with quite a number of riders in front of him, but after a magnificent display of strength he rode himself into 9th place, conserving his energy well enough to ensure that he could almost catch the group containing 5th place. If he had've done this, he would have been in the running for a 5th place in the overall GC, but instead, despite a magnificent ride, he came in an ultimately disappointing 8th.
Vanendert rides in, but too far behind
This race was ultimately a major disappointment for us. Our goal was to have Vanendert in the top 5 and possibly Gautier in the top 10 as well. Instead they were 8th and 17th respectively. We now look towards Mallorca, where we are simply hoping for any results at all. A preview will be forthcoming shortly.
Francis De Greef and Tom Stubbe will be working together as joint leaders in this team, though De Greef will be our main focus. The tough 3rd stage will hopefully rule out some of the pure puncheurs and make it easier for those who are more climbing-focussed, such as these two to make some sort of impact. Aggressive riding on the fourth and fifth stages could also possibly yield results.
Maesen and La Lavandier are both going to be acting as domestiques for the leaders, and getting a taste of CT climbs. Dillier will be looking for a break to join, or will just be fetching water for most of the race.
Poulhiès will be hoping to capitalise on the fact that the tougher course will deter some sprinters from entering and this will hopefully allow him to attain similar results to his recent rides in Tour Mediterraneen. He will be ably assisted by Joeri Stallaert.
This team can be competitive on several fronts, though is unlikely to take a win. We will be riding agressively and hoping that this pays off, whilst also hoping that De Greef can do something special on the third stage.
Vuelta a Mallorca: Stages 1-3 Mixed Results leave team in decent position
After three action-packed stages, Team BPost is left in a much better position than we thought would be possible, though at the same time there have been some disappointing signs on the Spanish roads.
The first stage was a relatively flat circuit with a slight kick. We were hoping that Poulhiès could pull out a top 10 result on this sort of course, given that it didn't seem too challenging. The early 11 man break contain 2 BPost riders, La Lavandier and Stubbe. We didn't expect it to go the distance, but if it had've we would have been in a fantastic position to get Stubbe a good overall result.
The break on stage 1
The break was caught with 31km to go, however, leading to a very nervous and long run in to the finish. The nervousness lead to crashes, with Bianchi's Cobo going down, taking about 40 riders with him. Fortunately, all the BPost riders were very well placed and everyone avoided the crash. That didn't help us in the chaotic sprint, however, with Poulhiès only managing 15th, 30" behind the duo of Ziegler and Quinziato who had broken away from the group in the finale.
The second stage was even flatter than the first, so we decided to avoid the break, leaving it to three riders who had crashed yesterday and lost time. As predicted the stage ended in a bunch sprint and once again Poulhiès had a disappointing performance, getting only a 16th place.
The third stage was the first of the truly hilly ones, involving two very tough climbs. We were hoping that either De Greef or Stubbe could pull something out here to get themselves into a good position in the overall. Because of this, Stubbe put himself in the early break once again, with 13 other riders. At the top of the first categorised climb, Stubbe came in second place behind Lloret, showing his climbing pedigree.
Stubbe comes in second on the first climb of the day.
Unforunately, the GC riders had far too much to gain, so the break was reigned in with 9km remaining on the climb. The peleton climb together for over 4km, when finally the GC favourites started attacking each other. De Greef did not try to go with the attacks at first, instead choosing to climb within his own abilities. He crossed the summit in a group 2'52" behind Samuel Sanchez and 15" behind a smaller group of riders like Hesjedal and Augustyn.
De Greef's group caught the group in front of them, creating a group of 16 that was 2'27" behind the leader. Riders such as Roy, Hermans, Lloret and Hesjedal were all in the group. Roy, Hesjedal and Augustyn bridged to the group in front of this, with De Greef trying to join in as well. His legs gave way though and he just couldn't make it, leaving him to ride himself down the mountain in a vain effort to attach to this group.De Greef was at 2'15" and the group in front was at 1'42" with 10km to go.
Ultaimtely, he never caught this group and lost some time to them. Still, he did keep himself away from the group behind him that he had attacked out of with the others. The results of the stage are below:
This ride coupled with missing the crash on stage 1 meant that De Greef is now in 18th on GC at 3'47 down on Alejandro Valverde, who wears yellow.He trails Hesjedal and several other riders by 1'12, which he can hopefully make up in one of the next two stages.
Stubbe also is 7th in the KOM competition and if he gets himself in a third break stands a great chance of doing really well in that competition. We wish all our riders the best of luck in the two coming stages!
Greetings again everyone! Sorry for not finishing the Vuelta a Mallorca report, but all that you need to know is that nothing much happened and so De Greef ended up with a solid 18th overall, which is what we were hoping for.
Two races approach in the coming days for us. First up on the last day of February is the GP di Lugano, the lumpy Swiss classic. It is a very trying course that takes in quite a number of loops of a tough cirtuit, perfectly suited to the likes of Vanendert who can climb mountains better than most puncheurs. Our team for the race is as follows:
Jelle Vanendert Cyril Gautier Johan Vansummeren William Maesen Maxime La Lavandier Mathieu La Lavandier Frederik Frison
All our efforts will be devoted to getting Vanendert into our first podium position for the season. We have several young riders here who will be looking for a break to join to stop us from having to work on the front. Gautier will be helping Vanendert towards the end of the race and Vansummeren will be doing what he does best - whatever needs to be done.
The next day, the 1st of March, sees the second cobbled race of the season after the CT Div 2 started with Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne. The Omloop Het Volk is our first ProTour race of the season and we are immensely excited to make this great cobbled debut infront of our home audience. Vanspeybrouck has been preparing for the entire pre-season to prepare himself for a huge performance here and we truly believe that a top 5 is within his capabilities in front of the home audience. Our team for the race is below, with few surprises:
Pieter Vanspeybrouck Nikolas Maes Niels Albert Remco Broers Johan Vansummeren Jurgen Van Loocke Francis De Greef Joeri Stallaert
We believe that this will be one of the strongest cobbling teams in the entire race. We have a depth of leaders - Vanspeybrouck is obviously our leader by Maes and Albert have both taken results in the past, though they aren't as good on the cobbled clims as Vanspeybrouck and so will certainly be working for him. Broers and Vansummeren will both help to toughen the race up and help out our protected riders. Francis De Greef and Van Loocke may surprise some people but it should be remembered that they are still at the heart of it Belgian riders, so they can certainly drive the pace on the flats and over the cobbles. Finally, Stallaert makes his ProTour debut in his first season to get a taste of what it is like to race at the very top.
We are immensely excited for this race and will keep you updated, as always, on the results.
We went into the GP di Lugano with great hopes of a top 10 or possibly even a top 5 result and were confident that Vanendert could deliver it. Vanendert, however, was complaining that he felt ill this morning and as such we tempered our expectations. After firing our cook we decided to think of a Plan B. We couldn't think of one, so we continued much as we had been planning.
What a mistake that was.
Vanendert failed to respond to the attacks of the big favourites and instead sat in the second big group on the road. Gautier was dropped form this group, though later rejoined it. The group never caught up to the favourites and so was lead over the road by Jayco-Red Bull's Amael Moinard 3'39" on winner Aleksander Flugel. The result concluded an immensely disappointing February for our team and we hope that Vanendert can find some form before the end of the season, otherwise we will continue to languish near the bottom of the table. Our next race sees our crack cobbling squad come into action, however, and we hope they can rescue our season thus far.
Mixed Fortunes For BPost In Algarve Elijzen Loses Time, De Greef Stuns
After a disappointing race in the Omloop Het Volk, in which the break won and the favourites group did very little, our team moved on to the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal. Our team for the race is as follows:
The plan going into the race was that Elijzen would try to defend his top 5 result from last season, with De Greef and Stubbe there to help him in the hills. Frison and Van Den Eynde would target breaks whilst Poulhiès and Stenuit would work on the two sprint stages.
The first stage was a straight-up sprint stage with very few doubts that it would end this way. CalGiant ramped up the pace and set up the sprint train, with Poulhiès taking 8th wheel behind Marinangeli.
The second stage was the first of two stages for the puncheurs who were present, though the final hill was a fair way out from the end. A break of five went free, including our very own Frederik Frison, who had success from a breakaway earlier this season with a 6th place on one stage in the Tour of Wellington. We were very pleased to have Frison in the break, thinking that on days like this breaks stood a decent chance, but lo and behold fortune did not smile on our rider.
Frison crashes out of the break
Of course, after Frison crashed out the break did not wait up and went on to win the stage. Frison has been cleared by the doctor to continue racing, but his pride remains injured.
Just as importantly, however, Elijzen lost contact with the peleton over the numerous bumps throughout the course. This meant that he lost 4'42", which also spelt doom for any chance of him performing well in GC overall. His hopes now rest on putting in a good time trial.
Stage three was yet another puncheur's stage, with a 2km climb to finish the day. With Elijzen now out of overall contention, our GC focus turned to De Greef, who can hold on with some of the puncheurs and can also put in a decent time trial. A top 20, or possibly even a top 15 ride is within his abilities.
Thankfully, De Greef seemed to be on absolute top form today, on the back of his surprise top 20 in Mallorca, and when the peleton crested the penultimate climb of the day De Greef tried a sneaky little attack of his own, hoping that the big favourites would let him go.
De Greef tries a move over the top of the penultimate climb.
The 26 man peleton caught him on the descent, however, but he was still well placed to ensure that he could get into a decent place on GC by the end of the day. The group also included Stubbe and, surprisingly, Elijzen. Before the final climb could even come into sight, the GC men started attacking each other, with most of the big favourites jumping off the front in two seperate groups.
De Greef managed to get himself onto the back of a group containing Pellizotti, Koren, Van Goolen and Kiryenka. Some of these are often considered better puncheurs, which is a testament to how underrated De Greef is as a rider, we feel.
All told, when the final gradient limbed, De Greef performed well and even had enough energy left to sprint for 9th place, though he ultimately ended up with 11th, 1'20" back on LL Sanchez. Given the number of high quality puncheurs who finished around him, we feel this was an excellent ride from a man who is often described as a climbing domestique. Elijzen was 23rd at 2'26" and Stubbe 24th at 2'37".
Our hope is that De Greef can move into a position around 12th place or, if he is able to continue his good run of form, into 10th. Stubbe will hopefully move into the top 20, which would be absolutely fantastic for him. Elijzen will aim for a podium place in the time trial and hopefully saving more energy than some of the puncheurs will have helped him. Poulhiès will target another top 10 tomorrow and we can hopefully get in the break too.
All in all we are rather pleased with most of this race, except for Elijzen's time loss, which can still be salvaged by a good TT ride.
The squad has just returned from a spectacular Corsica International, where we went in with no expectations and performed well beyond what anyone thought we could do.
Stage 1
The first stage was truly the queen stage of the race, with many climbs throughout the day including a long climb to the finish. Given that we didn't have any of the favourite climbers, we weren't expecting much today. De Greef was given free reign to try to hold on to the favourites when they attacked.
We didn't get anyone in the break, but with three climbs remaining the lead group still had 4 minutes over the pack and Vanendert was feeling on fine form. Given that he can't climb as well as some of the favourites, he attacked from a long way out and made an effort to drag himself forward.
Vanendert on the attack
Vanendert was pulled back with about 30km to go, but it is of great credit to him that he gave a strong effort on terrain that does not necessarily suit him. There is no victory without agression on stages like this. At the end of the stage De Greef finished in 22nd, with th esame time as 15th, putting him in a good position for a shot at the top 20 once again.
Stage 2
This was a 74km stage that was widely regarded as a sprinter's stage. We were hoping that Poulhies could do something on home soil, possibly fighting for a top 5 against much stronger sprinters. As such Hollister, Saab-Scania and CalGiant all controlled the pace for their respective sprinters, and with 18km to go the break was reeled in.
This led to a strange situation where, with plenty of racing still to go, none of hte teams wanted to use up their lead-out men and were looking at each other to control the pace. This led to a nervous peleton and as such 50 riders either went down or were delayed including our own Tom Stubbe, who avoided any serious injury.
Sensing a rare chance amongst the confusion, Vansummeren jumped off the front of the peleton. Coming off the back of a podium place at Strade Bianchi, Vansummeren wanted to take advantage of his great form.
Vansummeren attacks whilst the peleton is confused
Laidler and Schadlich chased after his attack whilst the pace remained slow, but neither of them proved up to the challenge. They didn't work together effectively and as such Vansummeren's form proved to be enough to take him all the way to the line for our first win of the season!
The hero of the moment - Johan Vansummeren takes our first win
Meanwhile in the peleton, realising they had lost their chance, no one set up an effective sprint train, which was ideal for Poulhies, who picked the wheel of L.S. Haedo's wheel, following it to the line. This meant that he picked up an incredible 6th and continued his strong run of form on home soil. Further, with the crash taking out some outside GC contenders, De Greef moved up to 15th on GC.
Stage 3
The final stage was a 7km flat time trial that favoured the TT specialists. We were looking to Elijzen to put in a strong performance as well as De Greef to stay in the top 20 and possibly even the top 15. The first strong time out on course was Schadlich who set 10:19 as the time to beat.
Elijzen went out shortly after him and came through at 10:24, which was enough to put him in a provisional 3rd place. Thankfully, most of those who came after him were the GC contenders who weren't specialists in the field, meaning that his time proved goood enough to guarantee him that podium place! A win and a podium exceeded all our expectations.
De Greef was placed 15th overall after yesterday. Unfortunately his exertions on the first day of the race had cost him valuable energy and as such he came through with a time of 10:46, putting him out of contention for a top 15. In the end he only dropped one place to 16th and that was an absolutely brilliant result for us. He is proving that he can rise to leadership roles in some of the tougher races if he has to.
Ultimately this was our best race of the season so far and with the cobbled season just kicking off as well, we are hoping our strong run of results can continue.
Our teams anticipated first cobbled season of all time has just concluded and so it seems appropriate to wrap-up the entire season (and thus the month of March) in two long posts. We saw some great results and some very disappointing and frustating ones.
The season kicked off with the ProTour classic Omloop Het Volk. This was our cobbled team's first time working together, and indeed the first race for several of our riders. It was also Vanspeybrouck's first big chance to sink his teeth into a ProTour cobbled race as a leader on a team and as such there was a great deal of nervousness.
Our riders avoided the breakaway, preferring to save ourselves for the anticipated showdown between the favourites over some of the tough final cobbled sections. The expected attacks never came however and the break of the day won the race comfortably. In the sprint for 6th place Vanspeybrouck was our best rider with a lowly 17th place but on the plus side we had 4 men in the 20 man lead group. This was what we had hoped - we had shown that our team could all work well together to get our big riders to the end.
Looking to put our first classic behind us, the next cobbled race two weeks later was Nokere - Koerse, which had a fairly rollin route and a small cobbled section that was riden 9 times in total. The race was one that our sponsor's had informed us that they would like us to do well in, and given that Vanspeybrouck went in as the overall favourite, we felt that we could certainly achieve at least a podium, though we were aiming for the win.
We teamed up with pokerstars.com to control the pace and managed to reel the breakaway in with 1 cobbled section to go, that came right at the end of the lap. Unfortunately we had not made the selection that we were hoping for and as such the bunch sprint was rather more hectic than we had hoped for, with Damien Gaudin escaping for the win.
The bunch sprint
Vanspeybrouck came in 5th, which is rather admirable for one who is not known for his sprinting ability. Once more we had many riders in the front group, but just couldn't convert that into the win. Regardless, we feel that 5th place was good enough to earn our sponsor's trust and they seem satisfied with the result.
The third cobbled classic of the month of March was the ProTour Gent-Wevelgum. We were not initially down to race this but were granted entry at the last moment. We gladly took up the opportunity, even thouh we felt that the course leant itself to more of a sprint finish than we would like. As it turned out, however, the old maxim that the riders make the race could not have been proven more true.
Despite the temptation, our team remained disciplined and did not enter the break. On the first of the two ascents of the mighty Kemmelberg Vanspeybrouck was dropped from the peleton and had to chase back on with Sam Bewley. They succeeded in this endeavour and when the decisive split was made by Carmeuse both Vanspeybrouck, Albert and Maes were up the front, fighting it out with the legendary names of the cobbled world.
Just as Albert was dropped back, Vanspeybrouck threw caution to the wind and leapt from the peleton.
Vanspeybrouck lighting the touch paper
With only 8km to go, Vanspeybrouck still had a lead over the peleton and so non other than Tom Boonan, with Fabian Cancellara in tow were forced to ride down our young leader. Vanspeybrouck did not make it easy for them, however, and with 5km to go he was caught but the effort had expended all of Cancellara's reserves. Boonan accelerated past and went on to take the win. Cancellara was still destroyed from his efforts by the end of the race and in the two-up sprint for second place Vanspeybrouck defeated Spartacus.
Vanspeybrouck takes second in the ProTour classic
Further behind, Nikolas Maes came in 12th, Remco Broers came in 23rd and Albert, having expended himself to put Vanspeybrouck in this position, managed 37th.
So those were the first three cobbled races completed, with one podium and in a ProTour race at that! We were thus-far winless, and went into the next two Continental Tour cobbled races with high hopes and higher expectations.
The Dwars door Vlaanderen was our first major goal for the entire season and we had set our hearts on winning this race. It is essentially a slightly easier version of E3 Prijs, and thus should suit our team down to the ground.
The first major sorting-out of the peleton occurred on the first climb of the day, when Pokerstar's put the pedal down and shed all but 27 riders. All 7 of our men were in this group, showing just how serious we were to win today. At the start of the third sector wetoughened things up even more, as Niels Albert came to the front of the group and put the hammer down.
Albert brings it down to 14 riders in the lead group, with Albert, Vanspeybrouck, Maes, Broers and Vansummeren being our men in there. Albert closed down the attacks from Van Impe and Langeveld. There was a 12 man group at the final srint then, with 4 of our riders.
However, the wind and rain made organising our sprint train into a difficult exercise, and as such all we could manage for our hard work was Vanspeybrouck in third place. Given the huge numerical advantage we had in the finale this was obviously far from good enough. We thus had only one last chance for a classic win on home soil.
E3 Prijs
Arguably the biggest CT cobbled classic, this was another race that our sponsors wanted us to do exceptionally well in. It is the cobbled race that suits us most, with lots of tough cobbled climbs that will sort the sprinters out.
We helped control the break early in the day, and Broers led the pack up the first climb, whittling it down to 37 men. Albert led the pack up the third to last climb and once again decimates thing, as he pulls it down to 17 men, inlcuding 6 of our own (the same 5 as in Dwars door Vlaanderen, as well as Polanc).
As the very last cobbled section ended, Maes attacked out of the peleton.
Langeveld responded for Koppert, and immediately Vanspeybrouck and Albert were both on his wheel as well as Lars Boom. These five men pulled out enough of a gap to ensurethat they could fight it out for the win. We had even better odds than at the Dwars Door Vlaanderen and things looked certain for the win!
Naturally, Boom took the sprint. We ended up with Maes in 2nd, Vanspeybrouck in 4th and Albert in 5th.
So that concluded the main part of the cobbled classics. Drenthe is still around the corner and there was still the KBC De Panne Tour, as well as the 5 Jours de Dunkerque, but our Belgian classics season had ended with no wins to our name.
The KBC De Panne Tour has recently wrapped up in our home country of Belgium and we are proud to say that we have achieved our big win in front of our countrymen. Here is how it happened, stage by stage.
Stage 1
This was always going to be the queen stage of the race, with quite a few tough cobbled sections, including two cobbled climbs, as well as other hills. A breakaway of five riders went and we decided as a team that we would try something different. As a reward for all of his immense work this season, Niels Albert was allowed to join them. The other four riders consisted of two young Focused riders, as well as Pokerstar's domestique Ingels and Trilux's Coyot.
The presence of a rider from both Pokerstars and BPost meant that there weren't many teams strong enough to chase the break effectively. Albert succeeded in taking enough KOM points along the way to guarantee us the jersey. Despite the best efforts of Rapha, the breakaway were allowed to decide the race.
Having already dropped the two Focussed riders and Ingels, Albert launched a blistering attack on the final categorised climb.
This proved to be enough and he came through 3 minutes ahead of Coyot and almost 6 ahead of the pack, all but guaranteeing him the overall victory. The crowd was in absolute rapture as Albert raised his arms well before the line.
Stage 2
Our goal today was just to control the race and force it in to a bunch sprint, with Van Loocke given free reign to try something in the sprint. There was one major obstacle today - a tough cobbled climb have way throught he stage. We forced the pace through this dropping such sprinters as Cavendish, Vantomme and Chicci. We also neutralised a last-minute break from renowned cobblestone rider Adam Blythe.
With 20km to go, having just pulled in this last minute attack, Frederick Nolf attacked, and we decided to let the sprinter's teams pull it back in. We had done our part and defended Albert's lead. As we slowed down, however, Coyot decided to attack again. We knew that this was neessary to shut down.
We managed to do this but allowed Nolf to stay away. None of the sprinter's teams had the domestiques left to form a sprint train for second so as the bunch came along the line, Van Loocke was in third place, behind Thor Hushovd! This is his best result this season and bodes well for his major goal this season - a top ten at the Circuit Franco-Belge.
Stage 3
This stage was only just under 100km long and had no difficulties at all, so the sprinters were happy to take over the pace-setting for the day. Our guys enjoyed the chance for a break before the time trial on the final day. Van Loocke was poorly placed for the final sprint and so did not even get into the top 10, though strangely Vanspeybrouck and Albertmanaged 9th and 10th.
Stage 4
We didn't really have a rider for the time trial so were expecting nothing. Of course Albert managed to hold on to his large lead, taking one of the biggest wins of his career.
In the end Van Loocke put in a strong time trial and ended up in a highly respectable 13th overall.
Without a doubt this is the best result of the entire season for us, even better than our strong showing at E3 Prijs.
This is a note from the CEO of BPost - the Belgian postal service. After the exceptional victory at the KBC De Panne Tour and consistently strong showings throughout the first part of the Belgian cycling season, as well as in Europe in general, we are excited to be able to make the following announcement already.
The Belgian Postal service can now announce that we will be renewing our contract with the team managed by Count Arach for next season. We cannot currently announce what the budget will be, but we expect it to be substantially increased. This early commitment from us will hopefully spur the riders on to better performances in current races, knowing that their future is secure with the team provided they can continue pulling in results.
