2016 Dwars door het Hageland Fri 5th Aug 1.1

[Flamin]

Probably very few abroad have heard of this race, but it promises to become the best addition to the professional racing calendar since Strade Bianche. Cobbles, hills and... unpaved roads!

Dwars door het Hageland is part of the Napoleon Games Cycling Cup. 10 (small) one-day races in Belgium, all broadcasted live. It used to be a 1.2 race but from this year it has been updated to 1.1. Organizers and designers of the parcours are Nick Nuyens and Niels Albert. And boy, did they do an amazing job.

Route

The race kicks off in Aarschot at 13h10. The finish is 194 kms later, on the citadel of Diest. In total there will be more than 20 km of cobbles and unpaved roads. In the final 20 k, there's numerous unpaved sections. The final kilometer is uphill and cobbled.

Also some 10 hills are included, with the famous Poggio di Molenstede aka Grasbos at nearly 5 km from the finish.

Weather

The weather forecast says 60% of rain, and a 3 bft wind from the west. This could be totally epic if it does indeed rain.

Broadcast

Live from 16h25 on VTM in Flanders, RTBF in Wallonie.

Favourites

Boonen, Terpstra and Van Aert, the latter especially if it rains of course with his cx background. Other contenders: Vandenbergh, Trentin, De Bie, Wallays, Senechal, Van Bilsen and Pozzato.

Links

Provisional start list

Technical guide (all detailed info about the route)

 

[GP Blanco]

I hope the roads are better than last year's Schaal Sels.

 

[Samamba]

I did the last 100k of the route yesterday. Two words: f*cking brilliant!

 

[robin440]

unpaved? so dirt sections?

 

[Samamba]

Re:

unpaved? so dirt sections?

Yes, some cobbled section and some dirt sections.
When i rode it, it was pretty dangerous. A few unpaved descents... It looks like it's not gonna rain on Friday though.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

I can't believe I'm on the plane at that moment I hope my connection will be strong enough.

Edit: Boonen will devour the competition.

 

[Samamba]

Some of the dirt sections

Finish on the Citadel of Diest, this is 400m before the finish

 

[Kwibus]

This is clearly the direction in which cycling has to go

Not really serious, but this looks really good. Thanks for pointing it out to us!

 

[trevim]

The belgian answer to Tro Bro Leon?

 

[markene2]

Holy ***, this looks amazing. Have to catch this somehow when its on

 

[BalearicBeats]

Re:

The belgian answer to Tro Bro Leon?

It's not that extreme I think!
The parts that I have done:

- The cobbles of the Bevekomsestraat are not that extreme but quite long. I might try to watch the riders there.
- The Kauterhof cobbled descent is horrible, I did it yesterday and there's only one good line over these cobbles.
- The Demerdijk is easy gravel but narrow!
- Grasbos is short but brutal because there's an annoying corner in it, group rides over it have shown me that if you're not in a good position there you will not win the race.

Overall it will be a really exciting race I think, I hope I will be able to watch it.

 

[postmanhat]

Cheers! Looks like my sort of cycling as well.

It's live on Eurosport

 

[trevim]

Re: Re:

The belgian answer to Tro Bro Leon?

It's not that extreme I think!
The parts that I have done:

- The cobbles of the Bevekomsestraat are not that extreme but quite long. I might try to watch the riders there.
- The Kauterhof cobbled descent is horrible, I did it yesterday and there's only one good line over these cobbles.
- The Demerdijk is easy gravel but narrow!
- Grasbos is short but brutal because there's an annoying corner in it, group rides over it have shown me that if you're not in a good position there you will not win the race.

Overall it will be a really exciting race I think, I hope I will be able to watch it.

Looks pretty great I hope I can catch some highlights

 

[El Pistolero]

Hopefully Boonen takes this!

 

[Kwibus]

Boonen to complain about rider safety after the race.

 

[Billie]

Anyone knows who is 'leading' the Napoleon games Cup? Cannot find it on the site.

 

[Samamba]

Re:

Anyone knows who is 'leading' the Napoleon games Cup? Cannot find it on the site.

1. Groenewegen
2. De Bondt
3. Terpstra

Look at the last page of the technical guide

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Somehow I didn't know about this race, but it looks very nice!

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Also, I'm currently located at the western fringes of the Hageland and past two days it rained copious amounts; even withoout rain today and tomorrow, I will be very surprised if all the cobbled sections an unpaved roads will be completely dry.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Also, I'm currently located at the western fringes of the Hageland and past two days it rained copious amounts; even withoout rain today and tomorrow, I will be very surprised if all the cobbled sections an unpaved roads will be completely dry.

2 sunny days in August have no problem with drying up wet dirt roads though.
It doesn't look like there will be 2 sunny days though . Today some more rain expected, but nothing too extreme and tomorrow most likely sunny with a very small chance of some minor rain, but I expect no rain tomorrow.

Roads could be very tricky though. Bit like p-r this year, mostly dry with muddy/wet spots which is really hard to anticipate for.

 

[Kwibus]

just realised that we will have 2 racing days ahead of us which are opposites of eachother, but should be really good.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Re: Re:

Also, I'm currently located at the western fringes of the Hageland and past two days it rained copious amounts; even withoout rain today and tomorrow, I will be very surprised if all the cobbled sections an unpaved roads will be completely dry.

2 sunny days in August have no problem with drying up wet dirt roads though.
It doesn't look like there will be 2 sunny days though . Today some more rain expected, but nothing too extreme and tomorrow most likely sunny with a very small chance of some minor rain, but I expect no rain tomorrow.

Roads could be very tricky though. Bit like p-r this year, mostly dry with muddy/wet spots which is really hard to anticipate for.

It really depends on the road. Hills can do miracles for keeping dirt roads muddy. I didn't study the route so much in depth though, but roads that are kept out of sunshine by trees, or roads that are in a holleweg or at the bottom of a hill won't dry so easily. Of course scorching August sun can be disastrous for keeping them wet. But as you say, today and tomorrow will have little sunshine and a decent chance of rain. I haven't seen the sun yet today.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this race. I was even thinking of going to the race design thread with a cobbled race in the Hageland recently, but it looks like Nuyens and Albert did a mighty fine job for me already.

 

[Flamin]

Could a mod sticky this race? Deserves attention and it's live on Eurosport

 

[Samamba]

Good race to see some stagiaires too. Ivan Cortina, James Shaw & Jenthe Biermans are some interesting guys.

 

[Vladivar]

Re:

Cheers! Looks like my sort of cycling as well.

It's live on Eurosport

Ta for the heads up. Vuelta Burgos on BIKE channel has been finishing around the time the Eurosport coverage starts.

Best get my beers in early