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Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Discussion
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| knockout |
Posted on 15-05-2014 12:32
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Grand Tour Champion
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Welcome to the first cobbled classic in this years Pro Tour: the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. All the Top Stars (except Bakari) are here and want to test their legs. It may not be the season's hardest classic as it isnt as hilly as the Ronde van Vlaanderen and not as cobbled as the Hell of the North and because of its short distance of 193km but it will surely be an interesting race.
It is the fifth time that the Omloop features in the PT calender and we still wait for the first double winner as the two wins of Roger Hammonds were still in continental division.
Let's take a look at the last editions of the Omloop:
The History
Back in 2010, it was the expected battle between  Tom Boonen,  Marcus Burghardt and  Fabian Cancellara who got rid of Nick Nuyens,  Alessandro Ballan,  Juan Antonio Flecha and all other opponents. Tom Boonen had the better end and outsprinted Burghardt for the win.
The next year, the same names were expected at the front and this time, German Marcus Burghardt surprised the others with 40 km to go with a very early attack over the last hill. He quickly catches all escapees and rides to the win on his own as the other favourites give him way too much freedom. Boonen finish second ahead of Cancellara who took 3rd again. On the places behind there is more or less the same group of riders like in the previous year but you can already find  Sam Bewley in the top ten and he should become one of the best cobblers over the next years.
In the next year, he was already belong the top favourites next to Boonen, Cancellara and Burghardt but it wasnt their race as an early attack of Stijn Joseph, who already tried it the year before, and 4 other riders finished ahead of the group of favourites.
In 2013, the fans could see very motivated top favourites who let their team mates chased hard all day long. Somewhere between the 20 and 15 km mark Tom Boonen decided to make his major move. The other favourites really struggled to chase him back as Boonen could defend his gap of less than half a minute for a long time but Franzoi, Cancellara, Burghardt, Bewley, Gusev and Vanspeybroeck all work well together so Boonen could be caught only two kilometres before the line. This made Sam Bewley the top favourite as he was expected the fastest sprinter for the upcoming sprint finish out of a group of 24 riders.
But he opened his sprint too early and the allmighty Spartacus could take the win.  Danny Summerhill completed the podium.
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | | 1. | Boonen | Burghardt | Joseph | Cancellara | | 2. | Burghardt | Boonen | Mertens | Bewley | | 3. | Cancellara | Cancellara | Fouquet | Summerhill |
As you can see Cancellara, Boonen and Burghardt are the most successful riders here but noone really tops the other two of them. This automatically leads us to the question of who can win this year.
The Favourites
Top Favourite is most propably  Tom Boonen. He was close last year with a surprising attack, has a fantastic Pokerstars.com team behind him featuring Frederick Nolf, Roger Kluge, Wim De Vocht and 4 other good cobblers to chase attacks and a fantastic sprint to finish the work. He tops the Preseason Power Rankings of The Cobbler with a reason.
If it comes to a final sprint out of a small group his main rival will be  Sam Bewley who finished second last year. But he has one main weakness: His team. He has not the lieutenant to pull back other attacks so he has to counter every dangerous moves on his own.
Last year's winner  Fabian Cancellara can never be underestimated as he is always under the bests but just like Bewley he misses the needed help in important moments.
The last of the four top favourites is  Marcus Burghardt. According to some, his main problem in the past was to chose of the right move at the right. His lieutenant Evert Verbist should be a good help to chase down some attacks but Burghardt cannot trust on his sprint against the other favourites.
But these 4 are not the only favourites. Never forget Pieter Vanspeybrouck from newly promoted  Team Bpost - Vlaanderen. Together with his co-leader Niels Albert and a great depth of domestiques they are considered as a very dangerous threat for all cobbled races.
 Danny Summerhill proved his good shape lately in Tirreno-Adriatico by taking the KoM Jersey. Now, he wants to defend his podium from last year.
Last year he got third in a group sprint. Some riders like  Adam Blythe or the  AMEXpc duo Breschel and Eisel hope for a similar scenery.
Other riders like  Gusev and  Sibilla prefer a selection before the finish line.
Other outsiders are  Sep Vanmarcke, Andrew Fenn, routinier Alessandro Ballan, youngster  Ruben Zepuntke and 2012 winner  Pieter Jacobs who wants to repeat his coup from two years ago.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| CountArach |
Posted on 15-05-2014 13:44
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Grand Tour Champion
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Our first win goal of the season, and while I don't expect Vanspeybrouck to achieve it, he should be able to challenge for the podium.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 15-05-2014 13:57
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Team Leader
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I decided to tone down my cobbled squad this year - I think Vangheel and Cominelli should be able to stick with it early on. I couldn't see Sibilla ever becoming a real factor so I sold him off, similar with Turgot.
Happy enough with my decision to try and build up a bit more stage racing and hilly depth to my team. This is where we feel a bit exposed - we would like to maintain the cobbled points with a fraction of the cost.
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-05-2014 15:49
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Team Manager
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Now my best races might come. Cobblers might not be the best but having up to for possible top 10-15 guys out should work well.
Top 10 must be the goal with at least three in top25. |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 15-05-2014 15:54
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Tour de France Champion
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This is kinda funny, I didn't realise I had a former Dwars Door Vlaanderen winner in my team, and now I have a former Omloop winner as well. Anything else I should know about? 
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| ember |
Posted on 15-05-2014 16:15
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Team Leader
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Smowz summed up my expectations for Sibilla quite nicely, there are basically none. Same goes for Kruijswijk, but I hope one of them will feature in an attack or something.
And that's what makes this cobble season great compared to the previous season, now I can hope to at least feature in a screenshot or two 
Hopefully the AI puts up a nice race, classics are always great races when AI decides there should be some proper action from the big guns. |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 15-05-2014 16:48
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World Champion
Posts: 13564
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Oh yeah, it's time for the classics 
Hopefully Sinkeldam will be able to pull off a top 10 in one of the cobbled one day races.
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| Heine |
Posted on 15-05-2014 17:27
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Will be interesting to see what Zepuntke are able to do this year, really looking forward to him maxing out
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 09-12-2025 04:48
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| beagle |
Posted on 15-05-2014 17:45
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4235
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Really need some big result after frustrating triple header and MSR recently.
I need hard and fast race to isolate Bewley and Cancellara asap. And pleeeeease, no desperate too early attack like in last edition. 
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:12
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Protected Rider
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AMEXpc is very excited to make it to our first PT race in just our 3rd season. We will be contesting four Pro Tour cobble races this season. These races will be a scale on which our current cobble squad can be measured.
Here is a brief preview of our Omloop squad.
The team has 2 riders who can be the leader on any given day. Austrian Bernhard Eisel has 3 wins for AMEX, 2 last season and 1 this season. Eisel has two modes of success. At the PCT level he is a strong sprinter and 2 of his 3 wins for AMEX have been sprint finishes. Eisel will also jump to attack in the late stages of shorter races.
Matti Breschel won once in 2013. His real strength is as Eisel's pacer to make sure Eisel is fresh and with the leaders at the 1K marker.
Stijn Devolder, Michael Kurth and Sven Krauss are the squads workhorse domestiques. Marko Kump, Robert Bush and Arnaud Godet are still developing and we hope one of them can get into the break.
I hope we do not loose our composure in the presence of the cobbling elite!
Thanks for the opportunity to race with the best of the best.
=========================================
Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:14
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Classics Specialist
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A surprising result for Kozontchuk, rooting for Gusev!
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:59
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Team Leader
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OlegTinkov wrote:
A surprising result for Kozontchuk, rooting for Gusev!
Me too
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 16-05-2014 14:24
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Team Leader
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Go Allonca, it's your time to shine
Great preview knockout.
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| SotD |
Posted on 17-05-2014 07:52
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World Champion
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So the horror begins. David come on for top 50!
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 21-05-2014 20:50
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2774
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wackojackohighcliffe wrote:
OlegTinkov wrote:
A surprising result for Kozontchuk, rooting for Gusev!
Me too
Still rooting nonstop!
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 21-05-2014 23:22
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2774
Joined: 31-12-2007
PCM$: 450.00
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Zubov 
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| Smowz |
Posted on 22-05-2014 05:41
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Team Leader
Posts: 6386
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Some surprises here - I am not too disappointed with 4th, I hope for a few podiums over the cobbled season but in Belgium it will be tough.
I see the cobbled winners coming from Burghardt, Boonen, Bewley and Cancellara, behind these four the secondary men didn't do that well. Bpost and Wiki had a saver from the break but for riders like Gusev, Sinkeldem, Vanmarke and certainly Sibilla this was a disappointing race.
for teams like Aker this was real bonus points!
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| roturn |
Posted on 22-05-2014 05:43
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Team Manager
Posts: 22045
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12th normally is a decent result. But in the cobbles I need far more.
Ballan crashing and Boom, Nooytens apparently waiting for him doesn't help neither.
Had hoped for a mid stage attack with one of those.
So next race hopefully a bit better. |
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| dave92 |
Posted on 22-05-2014 06:17
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2856
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2 in the top 10 is hard to be upset with, especially with the unpredictability of the race. Nice to see Eeckhout riding aggressively.
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| beagle |
Posted on 22-05-2014 08:04
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4235
Joined: 06-10-2007
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Boonen still has something in his pockets to offer, great win! Another 3 riders in bottom top20 is nice addition, especially when race was as hard as I wished before.
Thanks for report knockout!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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