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Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Discussion Thread
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| roturn |
Posted on 26-02-2013 04:43
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The cobbled season in the Pro Tour starts with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. It`s not the hardest as it`s not as hilly as the Ronde and not with as many cobbled sections as Paris Roubaix.
Still it should show us the strength of the division`s top cobblers.
Last season  Tom Boonen was nearly unbeatable winning Gent-Wevelgem, the Ronde and Paris Roubaix. But the Omloop was going to surprising winner  Stijn Joseph as only of the four cobbled classics.
Will Boonen again dominate the classics this season or might he be beaten by others? Frederik Nolf surely will help him here as one of the top 3 helpers here.
Best chances for the young Kiwi  Bewley to take over from ageing Boonen. Both have the big advantage over the others that they combine the cobbled strength with their great sprint.
Two more riders need to be named as top favourites as well. First the 2011 winner  Burghardt, who is one of the very few riders beating Boonen in any cobbled race. Another one is  Cancellara, even though he never was able to win this race here. Therefore he has a luxury team mate with Sibilla behind him, who surely could go on his own as well, but as helper he is worth a lot.
Behind these 4 there is a long list of favourites, who can be expected to fight for the win as well.
Starting with wildcard rider  Vanspeybrouck, who was a great cobber in PCT last season and also this year won the first cobbled classic with the Bahir Dar already.
 Blythe is a smaller version of Boonen/Bewley. He also is a decent sprinter but lacks the strength of the others. With Fenn and Rowe behind him they have a dangerous trio.
 Summerhill is a young talented rider with the potential to be a win contender for the next years.
Franzoi is the last of this row of favourites. He might be Italians biggest cobbler at the moment and surely wants a good result here.
 Nuyens,  Steurs and  Gusev don`t belong to the very best but with all their experience they can still perform on top level here. Same counts for  Ballan, another rider, who once was able to beat Tommeke on his best. The Italian is slowly losing his strength but should still be watched.
Next to some mentioned co-leaders we have some more outside favourites such as Albert,  Vanmarcke or  Drucker. All of them will need a perfect day.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 26-02-2013 05:46
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Grand Tour Champion
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Obviously no pressure here, but a top 10 would be great for Vanspeybrouck. I really want to see how he will compete at this level in case I promote this year.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 26-02-2013 05:53
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The 'win' goal for us, selected when I thought I would be housing Boonen.
I'll have to make do with Fab. Hope it's a reasonably selective one.
Sorry for missing you and others out in the other thread just goes to show what a great team of rosters we have now. Clearly roturn you are a fantastic reporter mate 
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| ember |
Posted on 26-02-2013 06:11
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This is where my team will start to drop in the overall rankings. Will be interesting to see how AI plays it out on the cobbles.
And nice preview, roturn! |
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| SotD |
Posted on 26-02-2013 07:21
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World Champion
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Do we have any cobbled races as a benchmark? What can we expect? Are the cobbles like they usually are, or will it be a sprint from a fairly big group like the lesser hilly stages?
I have Steurs here who did an immense job of keeping our head above water last season, and I hope he can continue to take a bundle of top 10s in the cobbled season. I'm also interested in seeing how Lebris will fare. He's not all that but my best domestique, so he might be able to support Steurs into the final 4th of the race.
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| Heine |
Posted on 26-02-2013 07:29
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In the C1 Bahir Dar I think the gameplay was pretty good, so I got hopes for the cobble-season. (small group of 7 (I think) in the end, favorites attacking alot)
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| CountArach |
Posted on 26-02-2013 07:30
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SotD wrote:
Do we have any cobbled races as a benchmark? What can we expect? Are the cobbles like they usually are, or will it be a sprint from a fairly big group like the lesser hilly stages?
https://www.pcmdai...d_id=28270
There it is. Just read it.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 26-02-2013 09:13
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Classics Specialist
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CountArach wrote:
SotD wrote:
Do we have any cobbled races as a benchmark? What can we expect? Are the cobbles like they usually are, or will it be a sprint from a fairly big group like the lesser hilly stages?
https://www.pcmdai...d_id=28270
There it is. Just read it.
Cobbled race on PCM12 are a group of around 5-20 of the strong guys attack everyone else sits up basically. |
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| Kami |
Posted on 26-02-2013 09:14
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I'd really like a top 5. Hopefully this cobbled season will go better then the last one.
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| SotD |
Posted on 26-02-2013 09:31
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Okay so it will be interesting to see if Steurs will go with the attacks here. He have been attacking on several occassions already, so let's hope he gets into a favorites group of not too many. A sprinters group of 20 odd people is destined to go wrong
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| p3druh |
Posted on 26-02-2013 10:04
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Top-10. That's all I ask.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 14:56
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 26-02-2013 11:43
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Tom Boonen is off to a great start with two wins already in the victory ledger. He is looking like Superman and anybody who wants to win a PT cobble race this season will have to make thier plans to beat him. Let's look at the top contenders and what they are likely to have to do to unseat King Tom.
The PCT's star cobbler Pieter Vanspeybrouck won the first cobble race of 2013, the Bahir Dar in Ethopia. Is he ready to be a PT level contender? To do that he will have to get seperation from the sprinters. His best chance to do that will be early well before the final cobble climb. Attack and then hope the PT boys underestimate him. Another veteran cobbler who is likely to attack early is Fabien Cancellara. Once on the front he can be the devil to ride down. Big strong and a great solo rider. If Vanspeybrouck and Cancellara both got away early it would force all of the contenders to counter immediately and that could dramatically change the race.
This could be a benchmark race for the Aussie Sam Bewley. He has already tallied a couple of 2nd places, but the question of stamina still lingers. Sam will not attack here, he will shadow Boonen and pray that Nolf will fade and Boonen will be forced to work too early and too hard, allowing "Sudden Sam" to steal a sprint.
Marcus Burghardt has a large tool bag. He can sprint, he can attack early and he can play the mini-attack then ease up punishing game (as we saw in Bahir Dar). Look for him to be a counter puncher waiting to see what others do or do not do and waiting for just the perfect timing to get his advantage. Marcus is smart enough to know when to just ride for the podium while other implode trying to win.
Alessander Ballan is a very smart veteran cobbler, with many podiums to his credit. Like Burghardt he understands how to ride smart while others go for broke. This could be a perfect set up for Ballan to end up on the podium. Danny Summerhill is a young promising cobbler, but he does not appear to be quite ready to challenge these elite cobblers, especially with little team support.
In long races top level teammates could make a difference. Nolf for Boonen, Sibilla for Cancellara, could help them or hurt them if they have an off day.
In The Cobbler [Issue #2] they predicted that by the final cobbled climb the selection would be down to 5 or 6 serious contenders. Three who appear as possible winners Boonen, Bewley and Burghardt and three who will challange for the podium Ballan, Cancellarana and the PCT's Vanspeybrouck.
If the weather is wild and harsh then an early attack could have a better chance, but poor weather plays into Boonen's talents better than any of the others.
It looks to be a very telling race and hopefully an challenging one as well. For those of you worried about the cobble AI - Bahir Dar was a very exciting race with crashes, punctures, attacks and a sprint.
[As a PCT manager, I will be rooting for Pieter Vanspeybrouck to ride himself on to the podium and make his PT mark early in the season.]
Edited by Mhaley45 on 26-02-2013 11:49
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Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| Roman |
Posted on 26-02-2013 13:55
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Exactly how you write that, mhaley. 'Wheelsucking' 'Tommeke' all day long should be a good tactic for 'Sudden Sam' (I quite like that nickname tbh  ) as he probably won't have a rider who will lead-out him for the final sprint and so he could potentially have to lead-out himself alone and so in the end it would be my leader who could say he has a perfact lead-out in this race. 
Anyway, I think podium would be a good result for Sam, as that will be his goal in every cobble race in this season for him and some of these cobble races are his actual goals as well.
But clearly, the biggest favourite here is Boonen and hopefully Bewley can beat him in at least one cobble race already in this season, but I wouldn't be too much surprised if Boonen can win all PT cobble races in this season. The next season, well, everything could be a little bit different, I hope.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 26-02-2013 15:32
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There are 7 riders I consider better than Nuyens, so I expect a lower Top10 result.
Though that obviously depends on the race situation at the end.
In a larger group, he might suffer from his weak sprint, but his national bonus could get him in a small break with only the very best, from which a satisfying result would be certain.
There's definately no way to name anyone but Boonen favourite, Bewley might win if Roman's prediction comes true, which is far from being unlikely.
Burghardt and Cancellara need quite a gap to them if they want to survive in the sprint, as I doubt the course is difficult enough to weaken the sprint of the three B's.
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| Crommy |
Posted on 26-02-2013 15:40
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Hoping for Cancellara, but I reckon Boonen is going to do the quadruple crown this year
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 26-02-2013 15:45
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Let's see what our fledgling cobbles program can accomplish. Danilo Wyss, Top 25 maybe?
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| beagle |
Posted on 26-02-2013 21:37
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And the most important part of season for my team just begins 
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| tyriion |
Posted on 27-02-2013 08:29
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Sprinter
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Nice report, but the result is the wrong way around. Boonen attacking? Cancellara winning the sprint ahead of Bewley? Fun nonetheless.
And Trentin in 15th is really nice, can't wait to get him back next year
Check out my ManGame team here
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| Heine |
Posted on 27-02-2013 08:32
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Suprising result, I think Pokerstars did some mistakes there, should've sent Nolf on the attack and let Boonen sit on the wheel of Spartacus or Bewley... Interesting race nontheless, and a great victory for Fabian
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 27-02-2013 08:47
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Hopefully this race is indicative of how the cobbled classics will work. Pozzato has a chance in bigger groups. 4th is a fantastic result.
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