World Ports Cycling Classic (new ASO race)

[Moondance]

Link (Dutch)
It's already been mentioned in the General News Thread but I decided that this deserved a thread of it's own.

So, today we say hello to a new 2.1, organized by the ASO, the World Ports Cycling Classic, a two day sprinters 'tour' between Rotterdam and Antwerp. Stage 1 goes from Rotterdam, via Zeeland and Noord-Brabant to Antwerp. Stage 2 returns from Antwerp to Rotterdam via Noord-Brabant and Zuid-Holland. Exact parcours or length of the stages is not yet known. Always nice to see a new stage race arise when so many are dying off. It'll be a sprinter's paradise, with perhaps the 1st stage offering up the chance of echelons.

I imagine the stage 1 will be mostly like stage 1 of last year's Tour, although they'd be smart to change it up a little. Rather than going straight from the Delta Works via Goes, Hoogerheide and onto Belgium, to loop around Walcheren like the Giro stage to Middelburg did before going back towards the mainland. Would result in a stage of around 210 kms.

Stage 2 is more of a gamble to predict. Would be nice to see them go a bit further East in Belgium, towards Turnhout, then cut up and bisect Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau for a bet of Belgo-Dutch history, past Breda and perhaps finish by going through Hoeksche Waard back to Rotterdam (about 170kms).

Sounds like fun

 

[El Pistolero]

Yup, we definitely needed more sprinter races with horrible names.

 

[Moondance]

Yup, we definitely needed more sprinter races with horrible names.

Well, ENECO delivers the €€€ so they can call the race whatever they like. I mean, Omloop 'het Nieuwsblad' also reeks of corporatism.

 

[hrotha]

Yup, we definitely needed more sprinter races with horrible names.

Yup, this retroactively justifies the sack of Antwerp.

Just kidding, even if it's a boring race, it's still a race. The more, the better.

 

[Thomsena]

Yup, we definitely needed more sprinter races with horrible names.

Aren't you getting tired of bashing flat stages constantly? You have been busy

 

[El Pistolero]

Aren't you getting tired of bashing flat stages constantly? You have been busy

I'm bashing the name actually. Eneco Tour, Ster ZLM Toer, World ports cycling classic, Dutch Food valley classic, Vattenvall cyclassics, Grote Scheldeprijs, etc

I'm still waiting for a simple race called Ronde van de Benelux/Tour de Benelux instead of all the crap they've been producing over the years.

 

[William H]

Food Valley Classic is a great name.

I don't know why you have a problem with the Grand Prix of the Scheldt. Other than perhaps it's tendency to be won by Cav.

 

[Thomsena]

I'm bashing the name actually. Eneco Tour, Ster ZLM Toer, World ports cycling classic, Dutch Food valley classic, Vattenvall cyclassics, Grote Scheldeprijs, etc

You know what I mean.

 

[Thomsena]

I'm bashing the name actually. Eneco Tour, Ster ZLM Toer, World ports cycling classic, Dutch Food valley classic, Vattenvall cyclassics, Grote Scheldeprijs, etc

I'm sure you know what I mean.

 

[El Pistolero]

Food Valley Classic is a great name.

I don't know why you have a problem with the Grand Prix of the Scheldt. Other than perhaps it's tendency to be won by Cav.

The problem I'm having now is you trying to give a Flemish race a French name and even fail at that. Grand Prix de l'Escaut would be the correct French name.

 

[El Pistolero]

I'm sure you know what I mean.

Yes, and we don't need another Dutch-Belgian race in August. We have the Eneco Tour for that.

Besides, flat stages can be interesting if they can create echelons. But it looks to me like they're going to copy the Tour stage of last year.

 

[William H]

The problem I'm having now is you trying to give a Flemish race a French name and even fail at that. Grand Prix de l'Escaut would be the correct French name.

I'm not giving a french name, I'm giving it an english name.

 

[Havetts]

A race I wont even have to travel longer than 15 minutes to visit it, hopefully it passes Zwijndrecht!

 

[Descender]

A sprinters race! Two of them actually! Yayness! Made my day!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If they copied the GIRO stage in the area (the Amsterdam-Middelburg one) I might be interested.

Don't we already have a tour of Zeeland, and isn't it already terrible?

It's nice to see more races set up to give the sprinters a chance to pick up some wins. Those guys must be so tired of the role they play being underappreciated and other riders hogging the limelight. It's about time they got a chance to show what they can do in the spotlight.

 

[El Pistolero]

If they copied the GIRO stage in the area (the Amsterdam-Middelburg one) I might be interested.

Don't we already have a tour of Zeeland, and isn't it already terrible?

It's nice to see more races set up to give the sprinters a chance to pick up some wins. Those guys must be so tired of the role they play being underappreciated and other riders hogging the limelight. It's about time they got a chance to show what they can do in the spotlight.

They actually got inspired by the Tour stage last year

 

[Anonymous]

For the Brits, the more races within a quick ferry crossing, the better.