- Mar 13, 2009
- 29,413
- 3,482
- 28,180
Route
Pretty meh. No real good Ardennes stage this year. There is the cobblen stage and some chance of echelons, but most likely we'll see a lot of bunch sprints and the TT / Cobble stages will decide everything.
Stage 1: Heerenveen - Bolsward (177km)
Flat. Not even a speed bump. It's in the north of the Netherlands. Mass sprint.
Stage 2: Venray (13km ITT)
Time trial in the region Wout Poels originally comes from. Don't be mistaken, even though it's part of the province that is the most hilly of the Netherlands (Limburg), it's actually in the flattest part of Limburg (northern Limburg), so a nice speedy flat ITT.
Stage 3: Aalter - Antwerpen (174km)
Another flat stage, first one in Belgium. Again not very inspiring. Mass sprint
Stage 4: Blankenberge - Ardooie (166km)
Flat but near the Belgian coast. Maybe some chance of echelons but it seems too twisty for that.
Stage 5: Sint-Pieters-Leeuw Lanaken (204km)
We don't have profiles yet but assume this one is at least going to be a little selective since it's partly through the Ardennes and Dutch Limburg (Maastricht). Lanaken is the home of a lot of pro cyclists who train in the Ardennes or in southern Limburg (Amstel Gold area). This will probably be a selective group sprint. But no differences between any gc contenders I think
Stage 6: Riemst - Sittard Geleen (182km)
Another possibility of a nice stage ruined by finishing in Sittard, which is too flat to be interesting. Maybe some selection but most probably, you guessed it, a mass sprint
Stage 7: Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure - Geraardsbergen (215km)
The queen stage, with the finish on the Veste of the Muur. The decider. Only decent stage basically.
The field
*provisonally
1 Team Sunweb (Matthews, Theuns)
2 Quick-Step Floors (Terpstra, Stybar)
3 Mitchelton-Scott (Hayman, Ewan)
4 Team Sky (van Baarle, Wisniowski)
5 BORA - hansgrohe (Oss, Bodnar)
6 BMC Racing Team (Van Avermaet, Ventoso)
7 Movistar Team (Bennati, Amador)
8 Astana Pro Team (Grivko, Gatto)
9 Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team (Bozic, Navardauskas)
10 AG2R La Mondiale (Naesen, Vandenbergh)
11 Team LottoNL-Jumbo (Boom, Groenewegen)
12 Lotto Soudal (Wellens, Debusschere)
13 UAE-Team Emirates (Ulissi, Swift)
14 Team EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale (Breschel, Vanmarcke)
15 Trek - Segafredo (Stuyven, Pedersen)
16 Groupama - FDJ (Ladagnous, Morabito)
17 Team Katusha - Alpecin (Kittel, Planckaert)
18 Team Dimension Data (Slagter, Janse van Rensburg)
19 Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise (Sprengers, Rickaert)
20 Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij (van der Lijke, Reinders)
21 Wanty - Groupe Gobert (Dupont, Van Keirsbulck)
22 WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic (Dehaes, Vantomme)
23Vérandas Willems-Crelan (Devolder, de Bie)
The favorites
Strong TT men and strong classic riders. Maybe even a really allround sprinter. Don't be surprised if Kragh Andersen or Matthews takes the win. They both have an excellent (short) ITT and can pretty much survive any terrain. And pick up bonis in the sprints. The terrain is not hard enough for a GVA, Stybar, Naesen, Vanmarcke type to make up for losses in mass sprints and the short ITT.
Pretty meh. No real good Ardennes stage this year. There is the cobblen stage and some chance of echelons, but most likely we'll see a lot of bunch sprints and the TT / Cobble stages will decide everything.
Stage 1: Heerenveen - Bolsward (177km)
Flat. Not even a speed bump. It's in the north of the Netherlands. Mass sprint.
Stage 2: Venray (13km ITT)
Time trial in the region Wout Poels originally comes from. Don't be mistaken, even though it's part of the province that is the most hilly of the Netherlands (Limburg), it's actually in the flattest part of Limburg (northern Limburg), so a nice speedy flat ITT.
Stage 3: Aalter - Antwerpen (174km)
Another flat stage, first one in Belgium. Again not very inspiring. Mass sprint
Stage 4: Blankenberge - Ardooie (166km)
Flat but near the Belgian coast. Maybe some chance of echelons but it seems too twisty for that.
Stage 5: Sint-Pieters-Leeuw Lanaken (204km)
We don't have profiles yet but assume this one is at least going to be a little selective since it's partly through the Ardennes and Dutch Limburg (Maastricht). Lanaken is the home of a lot of pro cyclists who train in the Ardennes or in southern Limburg (Amstel Gold area). This will probably be a selective group sprint. But no differences between any gc contenders I think
Stage 6: Riemst - Sittard Geleen (182km)
Another possibility of a nice stage ruined by finishing in Sittard, which is too flat to be interesting. Maybe some selection but most probably, you guessed it, a mass sprint
Stage 7: Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure - Geraardsbergen (215km)
The queen stage, with the finish on the Veste of the Muur. The decider. Only decent stage basically.
The field
*provisonally
1 Team Sunweb (Matthews, Theuns)
2 Quick-Step Floors (Terpstra, Stybar)
3 Mitchelton-Scott (Hayman, Ewan)
4 Team Sky (van Baarle, Wisniowski)
5 BORA - hansgrohe (Oss, Bodnar)
6 BMC Racing Team (Van Avermaet, Ventoso)
7 Movistar Team (Bennati, Amador)
8 Astana Pro Team (Grivko, Gatto)
9 Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team (Bozic, Navardauskas)
10 AG2R La Mondiale (Naesen, Vandenbergh)
11 Team LottoNL-Jumbo (Boom, Groenewegen)
12 Lotto Soudal (Wellens, Debusschere)
13 UAE-Team Emirates (Ulissi, Swift)
14 Team EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale (Breschel, Vanmarcke)
15 Trek - Segafredo (Stuyven, Pedersen)
16 Groupama - FDJ (Ladagnous, Morabito)
17 Team Katusha - Alpecin (Kittel, Planckaert)
18 Team Dimension Data (Slagter, Janse van Rensburg)
19 Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise (Sprengers, Rickaert)
20 Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij (van der Lijke, Reinders)
21 Wanty - Groupe Gobert (Dupont, Van Keirsbulck)
22 WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic (Dehaes, Vantomme)
23Vérandas Willems-Crelan (Devolder, de Bie)
The favorites
Strong TT men and strong classic riders. Maybe even a really allround sprinter. Don't be surprised if Kragh Andersen or Matthews takes the win. They both have an excellent (short) ITT and can pretty much survive any terrain. And pick up bonis in the sprints. The terrain is not hard enough for a GVA, Stybar, Naesen, Vanmarcke type to make up for losses in mass sprints and the short ITT.
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