2016 Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Feb 27th, 200.8km, 1.HC

[MatParker117]

Re:

Even if he would start, it would not be to lead the team.

Yeah it would be as a lead out man for dvp or viviani.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Even if he would start, it would not be to lead the team.

Yeah it would be as a lead out man for dvp or viviani.

For Kuurne or Omloop? Leader for Omloop I'd imagine, had he been in the team.

 

[sir fly]

Wait... You're saying Stannard's not defending the title?!

 

[barmaher]

This is why we need to focus on Sky's team in depth in every race thread.

 

[harryh]

Re:

This is why we need to focus on Sky's team in depth in every race thread.

https://twitter.com/TeamSky/status/702171602574823424

 

[Flamin]

Weather update:

It could be pretty windy (3-4 bft). Temperatures around 7°C though the wind will likely make it feel colder. Wind coming from the north-east, which means headwind-ish on the way back to Gent.

 

[postmanhat]

With Thomas and Wiggins out of the way, Stannard will presumably be leader for Paris-Roubaix, with Rowe as backup. Would love to see him and Boonen get away, and Stannard somehow managing to outsprint him

And in other news...

 

[Taxus4a]

Obviously one of the most memorable races in recent history, with Stannard humiliating Quick Step.

1.STANNARD Ian 4:58:41
2.TERPSTRA Niki
3.BOONEN Tom 0:08
4.VANDENBERGH Stijn 0:15
5.VANMARCKE Sep 1:24
6.VAN AVERMAET Greg
7.STYBAR Zdenek 1:29
8.GILBERT Philippe 4:35
9.ROWE Luke 4:55
10.DEMARE Arnaud

Stannard didnt colaborate with Etixx, he was almost 30 Km at his back, and Etix needed to push becouse BMC was quite close, so it was a great victory, but he didnt humillate anybody. The 3 Etix riders were working, it is true that specially one, but the others as well, it would be humillating of Boonen if his attack would have droped Stannard.

Maybe Ettix didnt play very well their cards, maybe an sprint woul have been better, but Stannard had the perfect situation to win that day.

 

[samhocking]

You think Boonen would have collaborated if 3 Sky riders were there and himself alone like Stannard - It would never happen. Ettix problem was all 3 riders wanted to win, all 3 left it too late and all 3 burnt themselves out before the line. All they had to do was use two riders and have one sheltered from the wind like Stannard and the result would have been much different i'm sure.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

You think Boonen would have collaborated if 3 Sky riders were there and himself alone like Stannard - It would never happen. Ettix problem was all 3 riders wanted to win, all 3 left it too late and all 3 burnt themselves out before the line. All they had to do was use two riders and have one sheltered from the wind like Stannard and the result would have been much different i'm sure.

The weirdest thing was seeing Boonen try to rejoin Stannard and Terpstra. Always about two seconds behind, he looks so uncomfortable and so spent, each painful pedal exaggerated by his bright white footwear.

 

[jaylew]

Obviously one of the most memorable races in recent history, with Stannard humiliating Quick Step.

1.STANNARD Ian 4:58:41
2.TERPSTRA Niki
3.BOONEN Tom 0:08
4.VANDENBERGH Stijn 0:15
5.VANMARCKE Sep 1:24
6.VAN AVERMAET Greg
7.STYBAR Zdenek 1:29
8.GILBERT Philippe 4:35
9.ROWE Luke 4:55
10.DEMARE Arnaud

Stannard didnt colaborate with Etixx, he was almost 30 Km at his back, and Etix needed to push becouse BMC was quite close, so it was a great victory, but he didnt humillate anybody. The 3 Etix riders were working, it is true that specially one, but the others as well, it would be humillating of Boonen if his attack would have droped Stannard.

Maybe Ettix didnt play very well their cards, maybe an sprint woul have been better, but Stannard had the perfect situation to win that day.

Sorry, not buying it. Just watched it again yesterday. No excuses, Etixx f'd up and Stannard made mincemeat of them.

 

[samhocking]

I think they just assumed if each of them attacked and counter-attacked Stannard in turn in the last few km, Stannard would just get spat out the group leaving them the 123. They looked like they were either riding for 123 finish or underestimated Stannard. Thing is he's a past winner and was sat on their wheels saving energy, so I believe it was the former and simply burnt all their matches and then realised they had no plan B.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

I think they just assumed if each of them attacked and counter-attacked Stannard in turn in the last few km, Stannard would just get spat out the group leaving them the 123. They looked like they were either riding for 123 finish or underestimated Stannard. Thing is he's a past winner and was sat on their wheels saving energy, so I believe it was the former and simply burnt all their matches and then realised they had no plan B.

I think there was no collective plan, and it's largely Boonen's fault. Fair enough, he was anxious to finally win it, but he wasn't up against Stybar, GVA, EBH, or anyone who you can imagine giving Boonen a run for his money. He was up against a pure track-background diesel engine. It was bizarre for Boonen to attack from 4km out and think that was a more likely path to victory than leaving it to the sprint finish. And how quickly the attack come to nothing... even if he had only enough left to sprint for the final 50m, it should have been enough.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

You think Boonen would have collaborated if 3 Sky riders were there and himself alone like Stannard - It would never happen. Ettix problem was all 3 riders wanted to win, all 3 left it too late and all 3 burnt themselves out before the line. All they had to do was use two riders and have one sheltered from the wind like Stannard and the result would have been much different i'm sure.

The weirdest thing was seeing Boonen try to rejoin Stannard and Terpstra. Always about two seconds behind, he looks so uncomfortable and so spent, each painful pedal exaggerated by his bright white footwear.

The weirdest thing was Stijn closing the gap to Terpstra for Stannard.

 

[samhocking]

Just a combination of every rider making tactical errors. You could argue, Boonen should have been kept fresh if it came to a sprint, Stijn I think was simply spent, but he shouldn't have tried to go with Terpstra anyway as this killed Boonen and although I can see Terpstra probably wanted to go for the long sprint against Stannard, with his previous attacks and workload in the group, his legs clearly weren't capable of doing that. The stronger rider won, it was pretty obvious, but it still made for great racing.

 

[Lexman]

Regarding last year : Boonen said that because they lost a sprint in Qatar (?) earlier on that year, they decided not to let it come to a sprint in Omloop.

Maybe he should have said in the particular situation that they should have had to do the sprint instead of attacking last year...

 

[Hugo Koblet]

That excuse of Boonen is pretty rediculous. He would have beaten Stannard in the sprint 9/10 times. No, Boonen decided to attack because he so much wanted to win the race he's never won. He didn't want to risk Terpstra og Vandenbergh attacking and Stannard not being able to bring them back.

 

[Bushman]

Re:

That excuse of Boonen is pretty rediculous. He would have beaten Stannard in the sprint 9/10 times. No, Boonen decided to attack because he so much wanted to win the race he's never won. He didn't want to risk Terpstra og Vandenbergh attacking and Stannard not being able to bring them back.

Exactly.

Vandenbergh also rode like his mission was to make Boonen win the race, not Etixx. It was quite funny to see him react to Terpstra's attack immediately after Boonen was brought back.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Re:

Regarding last year : Boonen said that because they lost a sprint in Qatar (?) earlier on that year, they decided not to let it come to a sprint in Omloop.

When did he say that. In the post race interview he said the should not have attacked at all, and just have sprinted

 

[Lexman]

Re: Re:

Regarding last year : Boonen said that because they lost a sprint in Qatar (?) earlier on that year, they decided not to let it come to a sprint in Omloop.

When did he say that. In the post race interview he said the should not have attacked at all, and just have sprinted

I read it somewhere this week, here it was :
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/1.2581510

"Misschien moeten we dit jaar voor de sprint kiezen"

Vorig jaar had Etixx-Quick Step alle troeven in handen om de Omloop te winnen, maar de drie renners lieten zich aftroeven door de vierde hond: Stannard. "Het ging al een paar weken daarvoor mis in Qatar."

"Ook daar reden we met drie ploegmakkers de finale in. We beslisten om voor de sprint te gaan, maar ik werd geklopt. De afspraak was dus om volgende keer voor de aanval te kiezen. En die volgende keer was de Omloop. Iedereen had daar evenveel recht om zijn kans te gaan."

"We waren iets te zelfzeker. We hadden onderschat hoe sterk Stannard was, hoewel hij zelfs niet sterker was. Hij had gewoon 55 kilometer in het wiel gereden. Nu koersen we weer met oortjes, maar zoiets kan nog altijd gebeuren. Misschien moet ik dit jaar zeggen: we gaan voor de sprint."

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

This is what he said last year:
http://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20150228_01554319
We hebben één fout gemaakt’, reageerde een duidelijk teleurgestelde Boonen. ‘We hadden nooit mogen beginnen aanvallen. We hadden gewoon naar de meet moeten blijven doorrijden en hadden moeten sprinten, dan was er geen probleem. We hebben het gewoon uit handen gegeven: we hebben chaos gecreëerd terwijl we de controle hadden. We moeten dit nog eens goed analyseren maar zo vroeg op het seizoen is het altijd moeilijk koersen.’

So I guess it was not really 'a decission', it was just that Terpstra (first attack) did not trust in Boonen's sprint based on his defeat in Qatar.

 

[Walter Morgan]

Who will be the Trek's leader? Stuyven or Theuns? Stuyven seems to be in good shape.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Stannard didnt colaborate with Etixx, he was almost 30 Km at his back, and Etix needed to push becouse BMC was quite close, so it was a great victory, but he didnt humillate anybody. The 3 Etix riders were working, it is true that specially one, but the others as well, it would be humillating of Boonen if his attack would have droped Stannard.

Maybe Ettix didnt play very well their cards, maybe an sprint woul have been better, but Stannard had the perfect situation to win that day.

Who are you trying to fool?

 

[Flamin]

Obviously one of the most memorable races in recent history, with Stannard humiliating Quick Step.

1.STANNARD Ian 4:58:41
2.TERPSTRA Niki
3.BOONEN Tom 0:08
4.VANDENBERGH Stijn 0:15
5.VANMARCKE Sep 1:24
6.VAN AVERMAET Greg
7.STYBAR Zdenek 1:29
8.GILBERT Philippe 4:35
9.ROWE Luke 4:55
10.DEMARE Arnaud

Stannard didnt colaborate with Etixx, he was almost 30 Km at his back, and Etix needed to push becouse BMC was quite close, so it was a great victory, but he didnt humillate anybody. The 3 Etix riders were working, it is true that specially one, but the others as well, it would be humillating of Boonen if his attack would have droped Stannard.

Maybe Ettix didnt play very well their cards, maybe an sprint woul have been better, but Stannard had the perfect situation to win that day.

Don't take it too seriously. It's called dramatizing.

 

[VanBsr]

Re:

Who will be the Trek's leader? Stuyven or Theuns? Stuyven seems to be in good shape.

According to this interview Stuyven has his chance at Omloop and Dwars

https://rouleur.cc/journal/riders/jasper-stuyven-interview