2015 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, 28th Feb, 200km, 1.HC

[ILovecycling]

OMGOOOOOOOdness!!!!


icnredible!!!

 

[ChewbaccaD]

I have never seen that before 3 against 1 and the 1 wins.

Unreal. Strong.

Sky, doing it the right way.

 

[deValtos]

They were right to start attacking, but using the sprinter as the attacker is just dumb.

 

[Arredondo]

Kristoff poor too.

 

[reallystupid]

What spectacularly bad tactics from EQS. Inspirational really.

Kudos to Stannard though, took his chance when it was presented to him.

 

[woodenswan]

Beaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast

 

[PremierAndrew]

Stannard owes Vanmarcke a lot for that victory though haha

 

[Miburo]

You've by far the best sprinter and 2 teammates, but no let's attack in the last 5km with that sprinter

 

[jaylew]

Vandenberg screwed up. When Terpstra went after Boonen was brought back, Stannard was distanced. Vandenberg was a little off the wheel. If he had let the wheel go, I don't think Stannard wouldn't have made it back and Niki would have won.

 

[Roude Leiw]

Before the steppers get trashed here, let us remind that it was them who blew this race apart

 

[Hugo Koblet]

All Tom had to do was to stay in Stannard's wheel until 200m to go.

This exactly.

 

[DFA123]

stannard. brilliant letting boonen go. the one guy who could beat him in the sprint. let him tire out in front. brilliant.

etixx. stupid. should have had anyone but boonen attack first.

lol.

Unbelievably poor tactics. Boonen should always have been left as the back up option in case Stannard didn't tire.

 

[Miburo]

Before the steppers get trashed here, let us remind that it was them who blew this race apart

No they're idiots, that's all you should remember here

And Stannard is a beast of course

 

[theyoungest]

Oh man, I love this. Such complete, utter tactical idiocy and egoism by the Quicksteps. And such a strong Stannard. Wonderful win.

 

[mrhender]

Stannard 1

Epic-Failsteppers 0

Damn He was strong.....!

 

[pastronef]

wow, 2 years in a row. but this year was just the BEST. Stan alone beating them. huge

 

[goggalor]

This last 5km's shall forever be known as going "full tactical ***"

Yeah, way to get absolutely everything wrong. Was laughing my head off when Terpstra lead out the spring, poor guy must've known what a giant **** up he was in the middle of at that point.

 

[May0maniac]

That was an awesome race and yes, Ian should pay Sep a few beers

 

[happytramp]

Before the steppers get trashed here, let us remind that it was them who blew this race apart

Way too late for that i'm afraid.

 

[PremierAndrew]

I really don't understand how a professional cycling team could play that so poorly. It's 3v1 for goodness sake. Sprinter (Tommeke) stays on Stannard's wheel whole time. Vandenberg attack, wait for Stannard to catch, Terpstra attack, wait for Stannard to catch, Vandenberg attack again etc. If Stannard doesn't let one go for the victory, Boonen is on hand to clean up in the sprint. I guess EQS were too obssessed with trying to make sure Boonen was the one who'd win, and by the time they realised Terpstra was stronger once Boonen had attacked, it was too late. Not to mention that Terpstra made a howler when he went in front of Stannard

 

[jaylew]

Maybe we have to reconsider Stannards rep as a slow sprinter?

Grantd he was sprinting against Terpstra. Best possible scenario for him.

Corrected that for you.

Agreed. I meant Niki didn't play it right in the finale. See my post above; I agree, Vandenberg definitely messed it up earlier.

 

[Netserk]

Seriously, all three of them made huge tactical fails. It's cringeworthy

 

[skidmark]

All Tom had to do was to stay in Stannard's wheel until 200m to go.

Yeah they must have just freaked out about the possibility of a sprint and then that was that. Like, when Boonen dropped behind Stannard I was like 'smart move, he has good enough acceleration to cover a move and can wait for the sprint if not', and then Boonen went? And then Terpstra countered before Boonen could catch his breath - that was the real mistake I think, if the Boonen move wasn't, to let your best sprinter go into the red so far (which, maybe Boonen did himself on the attack). And then Vandenbergh realized 'oops, I don't have anything left' and then it was chaos. Just all fell apart.

Fantastically cool headed approach by Stannard, though. Definitely a QuickStep fail, but also a huge Stannard win.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Terpstra's sprint was also really bad. Stannard was riding to keep Boonen at bay, perfect position to force Stannard to start the sprint early on, but still Terpstra started the sprint head on too far out.... why oh why??

 

[WildspokeJoe]

Vandenberg screwed up. When Terpstra went after Boonen was brought back, Stannard was distanced. Vandenberg was a little off the wheel. If he had let the wheel go, I don't think Stannard wouldn't have made it back and Niki would have won.

This nails it. He gave Stannard just that little bit to bridge. Stannard was boxed in. Horrible Horrible execution by QS.