Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2012

[maltiv]

Yeah, except for the fact that Boom crashed in front of him.

How someone who's finished 2nd in San Remo, Flanders and Het Volk can be overrated as a classics rider is beyond me.

Well, since 2009 people (including myself) have been tipping him to win various monuments every year, but he hasn't been anywhere close. So I guess that could mean he's overrated, although there's no doubt that he's had a lot of bad luck.

 

[red_flanders]

Just saw this video of Boonen allowing Boom to put himself in the ditch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnCEU9OGR4Q

Hilarious. Painful. Awesome.

Looks like I missed a great race this morning.

 

[hrotha]

Yeah, except for the fact that Boom crashed in front of him.

How someone who's finished 2nd in San Remo, Flanders and Het Volk can be overrated as a classics rider is beyond me.

It's been a while. It had also been a while since his Vuelta victory. Injuries aside, Haussler isn't the consistent type.

 

[Cult Classics]

Yeah, except for the fact that Boom crashed in front of him.

How someone who's finished 2nd in San Remo, Flanders and Het Volk can be overrated as a classics rider is beyond me.

Because in only one of those he finished with the winner. When the winning move is made he's not there, with the exception of San Remo where he actually way vying for the win.

 

[virandociclista]

resume of post race

I like to saw the race and then go here to read the prediction posts during the race...

The peloton has taken back 20-30 seconds over the past few kilometers. Without any more climbs, there is the chance that this could all come back together before the finish. I guess it will largely depend on how motivated the peloton is over the last 30+K.

BMC chasing?wtf???????????????????

If BMC chase, Hushovd can be passive in the front. Boonen has to push the pace and tire himself.

Vanmarcke is the strongest out of the front group.

hushovd dropped lol lol

Hushovd called back to help the chase.

wow. Vanmarcke drops hshvd and breschel? on the flats.

That's ridiculous. He's not Serge Pauwels.

Thor and Breschel are in no man's land. Just close enough to see the front group, not strong enough to reach them.

Sep Vanmarcke is one to watch,

It would be great (but damn hard) if he could pull this one.

Would be nice for his breakthrough win. But it looks pretty much impossible vs 2 guys with a domestique each.

Vanmarcke is a beast!

vanmarcke suicide mission

He was the first guy on the ticker - he had a flat at the start and had to chase back on to the péloton.

Well, I don't see Boonen being caught off guard by an attack, and I don't see these guys being strong enough to drop him. These guys are good, but it isn't Gilbert in Paris-Tours 2010 level - that's the only combo of tactics and power that can shake Boonen at this point. Still, hats off to Vanmarcke for doing everything possible to increase his chances. A podium is just reward... and you never know, no matter how sure it seems...

Vanmarcke looks cooked

Boonen too strong or Flecha and Vanmarcke too weak to make concerted attack. Looks like sprint.

Wow. Boonen went too early.

What just happened

Unreal!!!!!

This one of the best races that I saw until now.. great start of the season so far.. new names...

Tomorrow I will race.. I'm not the favourite but I think that I have good chances... this thing that SAP VanMarcke did today is very inspirational!!

 

[greenedge]

Haussler? He was nowhere, I wouldn't really call it nice work. Searching his name on the cyclingnews live feed, he was mentioned at the start, announcing it was his birthday, and next mentioned when he came 4th. Brilliant. Winning a bunch sprint by the time the race is well over doesn't count for much in my book. And the top riders would agree, I think - if Gilbert is in such a situation he nearly always eases off in the final km and just rolls home. 4th might as well be 44th in such a scenario. It's like the time Haussler came 2nd in Flanders. Looks good on paper, but when you see he basically just nipped off the front of the bunch once Devolder was already home and dry, it's not so impressive anymore - I personally don't value that 2nd place as highly as I would Chavanel's at last year's Flanders, for example. 4th at the finish in a 4-man escape group is better than sitting in the bunch all day and coming 2nd a minute behind the winner.

At races leaders are supposed to not waste energy till the end ( the Sniper Nuyens was not seen last year at RvV till the last 100 metres ). The sprint to me shows he has good form ( though neither of us know if he does/ does not since he was not in the lead group )/ Garmin had good tactics. The fact he won the bunch sprint ( whilst usually not counting ) caps off a great day for Garmin. It's not as if he could chase his own teammate ( Garmin had a plan/ executed it well, but also had a good back-up plan )

 

[Libertine Seguros]

This one of the best races that I saw until now.. great start of the season so far.. new names...

Tomorrow I will race.. I'm not the favourite but I think that I have good chances... this thing that SAP VanMarcke did today is very inspirational!!

I wouldn't really call Sep a new name (unless by misspelling his first name this was a joke in that "Sap VanMarcke" is a new name), he's been on the cusp of breaking out for a while, after that 2nd in Gent-Wevelgem 2010 and doing the dragging job for Hushovd's epic sit-on at Roubaix last year.

So he's been "arriving" for a while, but now, he quite clearly has "arrived".

 

[Cult Classics]

At races leaders are supposed to not waste energy till the end ( the Sniper Nuyens was not seen last year at RvV till the last 100 metres ). The sprint to me shows he has good form ( though neither of us know if he does/ does not since he was not in the lead group )/ Garmin had good tactics. The fact he won the bunch sprint ( whilst usually not counting ) caps off a great day for Garmin. It's not as if he could chase his own teammate ( Garmin had a plan/ executed it well, but also had a good back-up plan )

Well I guess we'll have to see - but if he can't ever arrive in the leading group at the line his chances of winning a race are, obviously, zero. You can't compare it to Nuyens - Nuyens got in the winning move of three, for a start, he didn't just sit in that bunch of 12 waiting for a sprint. And Nuyens won. It's a little different when you win.

 

[virandociclista]

I wouldn't really call Sep a new name (unless by misspelling his first name this was a joke in that "Sap VanMarcke" is a new name), he's been on the cusp of breaking out for a while, after that 2nd in Gent-Wevelgem 2010 and doing the dragging job for Hushovd's epic sit-on at Roubaix last year.

So he's been "arriving" for a while, but now, he quite clearly has "arrived".

You are right!

 

[El Pistolero]

He was second at G-W at age 21(or 22). That's pretty impressive especially because it wasn't an easy edition. I already knew for quite a while, that if nothing bad happens to him, he will one day win Roubaix and probably even Flanders. He has impressed me more than Sagan for the classics.

 

[maltiv]

He was second at G-W at age 21(or 22). That's pretty impressive especially because it wasn't an easy edition. I already knew for quite a while, that if nothing bad happens to him, he will one day win Roubaix and probably even Flanders. He has impressed me more than Sagan for the classics.

Sagan is almost 2 years younger though.

 

[theyoungest]

Sagan is almost 2 years younger though.

It's just a rather circumspect way of saying "Sagan isn't as good as Gilbert, and never will be". That's what 50% of Pisti's posts boils down to.

What I don't understand is that Sagan seems to have Paris-Roubaix as his main target of the season... okay, he's a former 'crosser, but his strengths seem to lie more in the hills.

 

[El Pistolero]

It's just a rather circumspect way of saying "Sagan isn't as good as Gilbert, and never will be". That's what 50% of Pisti's posts boils down to.

What I don't understand is that Sagan seems to have Paris-Roubaix as his main target of the season... okay, he's a former 'crosser, but his strengths seem to lie more in the hills.

It's me saying Sagan hasn't done sh*t in the classics and I'm waiting for his first good result there, before I start the hype. I fail to see how he's only competition to Gilbert by the way? Clearly lacks in the big hills so far. I see him more as a Milan-San Remo, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix and AGR kind of guy.

 

[Lanark]

A better example would probably be Boasson Hagen, but that can be a bit sensitive on this forum

There's no doubt Vanmarcke has impressed more in the (spring) classics than Sagan, but then again, Sagan has shown pretty much nothing in those.

 

[theyoungest]

A better example would probably be Boasson Hagen, but that can be a bit sensitive on this forum

There's no doubt Vanmarcke has impressed more in the (spring) classics than Sagan, but then again, Sagan has shown pretty much nothing in those.

There's also no doubt Vanmarcke has impressed more than Boasson Hagen in those races

 

[maltiv]

There's also no doubt Vanmarcke has impressed more than Boasson Hagen in those races

Of course, but Vanmarcke has the advantage of actually having done those races the last 2 years. Hard to make an impression when you're not on the start list.

 

[Panda Claws]

Actually Gilbert has stated multiple times that he sees Sagan as his biggest challenger in a couple of years.

 

[theyoungest]

Of course, but Vanmarcke has the advantage of actually having done those races the last 2 years. Hard to make an impression when you're not on the start list.

Sorry, it was too easy

Of course you're right, but then again, Vanmarcke hasn't exactly been free of injury himself. He's proven he has the stamina for those really hard classics.

 

[Echoes]

And say that Hushovd won that in a bunch sprint, a few years back.

Radioban and antidoping rule !