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Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 01-09-2018 08:48
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Directeur Sportif
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 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
The cobbles season kicks off with this race, that has seen so many changes in it's MG history since 2008. Formerly run as a CT event back in 2008 and 2009, the Omloop used to be one of the prestigious ProTour's cobbled classics until 2014 - with big names like Tom Boonen (2010 and 2014), Fabian Cancellara (2013), Marcus Burghardt (2011) and also Stijn Joseph (2012) as the winners in those years. In 2015, the one day classic was replaced by a three-days-event: the Omloop Het Volk (with two road stages and a TTT) was won by Pieter Vanspeybrouck. Back on the schedule as a one day classic since 2016 (part of the PTHC calendar since last season), the previous two winners were Sam Bewley (2016) and Kris Boeckmans (2017).
It's the classic Omloop route again: just less than 200km in total, the profile features several cobbles sectors, but a flat final sector with no more pavé. Some hills, but flat rated and definitely suiting both pure flat and the more allrounded guys. It's a race, that can be selective, but that also used to produce winners from bunch sprints off a reduced leading group. Like last year, where Boeckmans played his sprint skills to to beat Van Avermaet and Senechal for line honours.
The Startlist
The Favorites | Favorites | FL | CO | SP | | Outsiders | FL | CO | SP |  Bewley | 78 | 83 | 83 | |  Spengler | 72 | 80 | 59 |  Summerhill | 78 | 83 | 70 | |  Thomas | 75 | 79 | 74 |  Senechal | 75 | 82 | 69 | | Sulimov | 73 | 79 | 65 |  Vanspeybrouck | 76 | 82 | 67 | |  Maes | 80 | 79 | 62 |  Kamyshev | 77 | 82 | 66 | | Zubov | 68 | 79 | 61 |  Stallaert | 77 | 81 | 79 | |  Gerts | 77 | 78 | 72 |  Trentin | 74 | 81 | 75 | |  Bush | 74 | 78 | 71 |  Altur | 75 | 81 | 72 | |  Van Keirsbulck | 72 | 78 | 70 |  Zepuntke | 72 | 81 | 72 | |  Rowe | 78 | 75 | 79 | | Sibilla | 71 | 81 | 66 | | Young | 74 | 75 | 78 |  Vanbilsen | 78 | 80 | 72 | | Matthews | 72 | 75 | 76 |  Vanmarcke | 76 | 80 | 70 | | Tsatevich | 74 | 75 | 75 |  Baugnies | 78 | 80 | 65 | |  Lander | 77 | 73 | 79 | | Burghardt | 75 | 80 | 65 | | Harrison | 72 | 73 | 78 | | Nolf | 74 | 80 | 63 | | Gaviria | 74 | 70 | 79 |
First of all, thre's Bewley. Nuff said? Probably yes. He does have all the things you would need to win the Omloop and after two runner-ups behind Cancellara and Boonen in 2013 and 2014, he finally won this race two years ago. The mission is clear: win it for the second time and become the race's tied record-winner with two victories (like Tom Boonen and Roger Hammond, who won the first two editions back in 2008 and 2009).
Summerhill had five consecutive Top-10 finishes from 2012 to 2016 (including a stage-win and the GC's 2nd place in 2015's stage race edition) and will definitely aim for another podium in this classic edition (like he did as 3rd in 2013). He may lack the sprint skills in comparison to Bewley or other cobblers, but he definitely knows the race pretty good and as one of the best cobblers in the world, he certainly deserves an early mention in this preview.
Let's now talk about the fast finishing guys though: Stallaert looks like one of the most dangerous contenders for Bewley. After finishing 5th last year, his goal for this year's edition may be the podium and given his sprint, he obviously should have a good shot at a great result here. The same goes for Trentin, who's becoming a great allrounder for cobbles races of all kinds. Just like Stallaert, he may play it rather less aggressive and wait for a possible sprint from a small leading group.
A few more less talented cobblers as possible dark horses for a bunch sprint decision: Rowe, Young, Matthews, Tsatevich, Lander, Harrison or maybe Gaviria (if the race is less selective overall). Those guys may struggle if the big guns make it a tough race over the cobbled sectors, but they will all target for an at least solid result somewhere behind the top favorites.
Speaking of favorites, there's of course some more names: Senechal, Vanspeybrouck, Kamyshev as the next best pavé specialists behind Bewley and Summerhill. Vanspeybrouck as a previous winner with certainly some good memories, even though he could only finish as 11th in his last outing back in 2016. Senechal, last year's 3rd, with some fresh memories though and a podium result will be possible again. Altur, Zepuntke, Vanbilsen and Vanmarcke all come with a decent kick and guys like Sibila, Baugnies (4th last year), Burghardt (previous winner, but feeling his age), Nolf or Maes could be potential Top-5/10 finishers as well.
Up and coming Gerts with outsiders' chances just like last season's CT forces Bush and Van Keirsbulck, who may be amongst those, who try to animate the race with rather early moves.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 01-09-2018 08:57
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World Champion
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Cool to see Rowe as the third-best guy if it's a 20-30 man sprint. But in classics on PCM15, that means nothing compared to positioning  Very excited for Rowe's debut as well as Debesay's first cobbled race! Happy to be here among such big names, our PCT presence is sinking in Fingers crossed that Jams or even our Fijian NC get a nice position on the startline for a breakaway also!
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 01-09-2018 09:05
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Young will win, obviously.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 01-09-2018 09:28
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World Champion
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This race can be a bit weird, so top 10 would be good enough here.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| ember |
Posted on 01-09-2018 09:39
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Team Leader
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Cobbles! 
Very excited to see what Trentin can do here, as it feels like he has improved during the offseason, but not due to training, but because some top cobblers went to PCT or decreased. And with no GVA here, a podium looks very doable, eventhough there are several riders who must fancy that third place, if Summerhill proves to be too strong for the others behind Bewley.
Really hoping we get a selective race and not a bigger group sprint, but you never know what the AI throws at you |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 01-09-2018 09:55
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Classics Specialist
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Couldn't get in the band, so we'll have to wait for our first cobbles race! Should be a win for Bewley in any scenario this ends up in. Hoping some of my former riders, Trentin, Rowe and Lander, can get a good result 
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 01-09-2018 10:14
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Classics Specialist
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Just here to score. Don't expect anything. Also Bewley should be the massive favourite for this race, noone should realistically beat him in a sprint.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 01-09-2018 10:54
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
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Let's see if Gerts' secondary stats will help him stay with riders slightly better than him on the cobbles. With a bit of luck he could hope for a top 15.
And tsmoha, I hope you will report all the cobbled races this year. You clearly have a thing for him and it will be awesome to see him mentioned once in a while
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| Booker |
Posted on 01-09-2018 11:33
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 873
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Jerome, time to shine son
Can't wait to see how he matches up against the best in the world, literally, as well as his PCT competitors. Thanks for the very nice preview tsmoha, and looking forward to this one.
Hopefully he can manage a top 10, and I'm holding out hope for a bit more than that as well. We'll see if I'm delusional or not.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 01-09-2018 12:21
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
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First test of the new, much more even, Ambition cobbles unit. Hopefully we can still use that two-prong method where Marcus can attack/cover moves with G sitting tight for a kick to the line. Also a tough test to see if the training on Matthews was worth it, although that will be better seen at C1 level.
Lets slip someone into the Top10 please, that would be brilliant!
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 01-09-2018 12:34
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Grand Tour Specialist
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First cobbled race for Vanmarcke in the team. He's shown a history of inconsistency in his results in the past years as a Top5/10 contender in the cobbles, but i think in any kind of race, he should finish in the Top10. If it's raced hard, not a lot of better cobblers are here, and if it's in a reduced sprint, his sprint is decent enough to get in the mix.
Great preview tsmoha!
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 01-09-2018 13:13
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
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With no real significant improvements over our previous CT cobbles unit, hard to expect too much in these PTHC outings from WCC with so many international superstar terrain-specific PT riders in attendance. Depth scoring the key target for WCC here, as with a decent slice of luck, over half of the squad should pick up points (even if just a trickle in some cases).
Unclear as yet how cobbled racing will play out this season, but after the AI was often very passive in 2017, expect MGUCI to have taken measures in an nattempt to toughen life up on the cobbles. If the 2017 formula was to be repeated, Harrison and Bush remain a nice duo. If tougher, switches to Bush and Bolivar to hang onto the coat-tails of the top performers as long as they can, then Harrison et al to mop up what they can further behind.
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 01-09-2018 14:12
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Sprinter
Posts: 1907
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Can't wait to see how Spengler does this year with 80 cobbles. Hopefully he will hang in the top-20 somewhere consistently. Looking forward to this one!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 01-09-2018 14:16
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Tour de France Champion
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I try to set modest goals so I will once again. Top 10? I'm excited but very nervous for our cobbles debut here. The PT field makes it less in our favor, but I still want a result. Hopefully the AI plays our cards well.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 01-09-2018 16:02
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4032
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We really need great results in every cobble races this season after the money we put on Stallaert in the off season so we definitely aim for podium in this race, Bewley is not realistic to harm but we really want to be close after him.
Looking very much forward to this! |
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 01-09-2018 17:32
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 29989
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Kamyshev tends to be a walking disappointment, but let's see... new season. Time to shine. |
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 01-09-2018 17:43
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Small Tour Specialist
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CrueTrue wrote:
Kamyshev tends to be a walking disappointment, but let's see... new season. Time to shine.
You might just have hit his problem on the head. Now that you are a PT outfit, I am sure that you can afford to isue him with a bicycle to see if that helps him keep up? 
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 01-09-2018 18:21
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Grand Tour Champion
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First race for Zepuntke. Everyone tells me he's crap so I'm counting on a surprise.
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| Roman |
Posted on 01-09-2018 22:20
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4386
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Cobbles are here!
Really looking forward to see Bewley back in action on his favourite profile as well as all the new or better boys like Stallaert, Kamyshev, Spengler or Gerts. New Tinkoff cobble team should hopefully be also exciting as well as the new updated profile of the classic.
Thanks for a really nice preview. Hopefully Bewley can get that 2nd win here.
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 02-09-2018 08:15
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Stacked field as per expectation, would love a rider in the early break to get some tv-time as that’s all that’s expected from us here
Would be surprised to see Slammin’ Sam not take this one.
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
