Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
The 2012 Velominati Super Prestige kicks off in proper form this season with the debut of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as part of the series. I’m tempted to stubbornly refer to this race as Het Volk, but I’ll toe the line and refer to the race by its bewildering new(ish) name.
This is a tricky race to predict because the big races in April are a funny distance away; they are close enough that riders wanting to do well there should be in good enough form to be competitive now, but far enough off that a win here could indicate a rider hitting their peak too soon.
In fact, the latter seems to be the case: riders who show brilliance here rarely shine in April when the Monuments of Vlaanderen and Roubaix are contested. De Vlaeminck, Museeuw, Van Petegem, Vandenbroucke – all champions of the Cobbled Classics and all men who never succeeded to win Het Volk/Het Nieuwsblad in the same year as either of the big cobbled classics; in fact, a cursory study of past results lists reveals only Merckx and Ballerini as being able to pull this particular double.
This timing makes Het Nieuwsblad a particularly difficult race to predict; in addition to the wily nature of any cobbled classic, the big names may not quite have the eye of the tiger while riders with an outside chance at victory in April may be focusing their early season on glory in this minor classic which covers many of the sacred roads as de Ronde.
With that we kick off the first event of the 2012 VSP; up for grabs is the personalized Velominati Shop Apron to the contestent who wins the season-long competition. Check the Main VSP page for scoring guidelines and rules. As a sidebar, we’ve also made lots of changes to the VSP engine; despite my usual nonchalant approach to production-testing, I’ve actually done my best to test the system this time around. There are, however, too many scenarios to be sure I covered them all, so I strongly encourage you to enter your picks early, knowing that you can make changes all the way up until the VSP closes. If you notice something behaving strangely, please let us know and we’ll have time to resolve the issue or let you know precisely why you’re crazy.
Picks close at 5am Pacific time on Saturday, and since last year’s VSP taught us that our readership sucks at time zone calculations (I’m looking at you, Bretto), we’ve introduced a countdown clock which should make even the most bone-headed of contestants aware of how much time they’ve got left to enter their losing picks (now I’m looking at you, Ron).
Good luck, and stand by for the VVomen’s Het Nieuwsblad VSP, scheduled to go live tomorrow.
@Ron
Niiiiiiice.
As soon as I say that the break starts cooperating and the chase lets up. The podium is chosen, now who stands on what step…
Those strips are the same from behind. Good work, designers.
Man, I cannot believe that Flecha has not taken, or at least tried, a flyer yet?!?!??!
Boonen Vanmarke Flecha?
Flecha attacks!
Peleton’ll catch them if they don’t keep the pace up!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
First VSP race of the year is in the books!
Damn.
@Buck Rogers
Agreed.
@Buck Rogers
I feel your pain.
That’s what I wanted to happen but I’m disappointed in Gilbert and hushovd for not turning up for the 4th and 5th sprint. (With regard to my VSP picks)
Great pair of cyclists to beat for your first pro win. Disappointing that Flecha didn’t give 100% to any final kilometer attacks.
Well Boonen in P2; at least I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice.
Loved that Boonen was still smiling wide when Vanmarcke won. Too bad my pick was Boonen.
Heh. Picked Flecha third and Heinrich fourth. Better if Boonen first had come good, though.
I got 4 out of 5 but Boonen blew an otherwise glorious race for me…
well I picked one right…….
@Erik
Agreed; class act. Nice to see him patting Vanmarcke on the back and congratulating him again as SVM choked back tears in the winner’s circle, as well.
Boonen and Flecha in the correct positions, although I haven’t a clue to be honest.
Who got 4th/5th? Congrats to the next holder of the jersey.
Well, 3 of 5 in the correct place and 4 of 5 overall in my first VSP…not gonna complain about that.
And chapeau to young Sep.
Sooooo bummed that Tomeke didn’t win, and not b/c of the VSP. DAMN I was hoping that he’d win. As for VSP, who took 5th and when does the women’s race start? I’ve got three in the top 5 of the men’s that I know of, although all in the wrong order!
@Nate
4th: Haussler
5th: Van Avermaert (I think)
Me and my 1 point are off to bed. Good race.
Ahh, I see Gre Vam Avermaet took 5th. Oh well, just need to work on my order and keep praying for TOMEKE!!!
Kid’s got a future. Great job Sep!
van Avermaet was the BMC rider in 5th.
4 out of 5 but no one in the right spot, so 4 points? I’ll take what I can get for now.
Great ride from SVM. Surprising to see Tomeke out sprinted give his Qatar form. Not surprised to see Flecha lacking. Haussler should be embarrassed contesting a sprint for 4th…
@harminator
Completely agree about Tomeke being outsprinted given his form from the Middle East. I thought it was a foregone conclusion when they all came into the final 500m together. Maybe that’s what Boonen thought as well and that was his mistake?
Great race. That was a well fought and deserved win, especially after his 2 stong attacks.
@Erik
He was not smiling, cramps all the way, even in his cheeks!
@Buck Rogers
it finished around 15h CET
1.Loes Gunnewijk (Ned) – 119km in
2.Eleonora van Dijk (Ned) – z.t.
3.Trixi Worrack (Dui)
@King Clydesdale
3 of 5 all out of place. It’s a long season.
@Buck Rogers
I was surprised by that. Seems like Tommeke either went too early or perhaps decided to shut it down and not dig too deep this early in the season.
@Nate
Probably the former. I doubt he worked to stay up front the entire race and then shut it down in the last 50m.
@Nosyt
This.
@tifosi
Note Frank’s conspicuous silence. Word is he hopped an early flight to Belgium to recon the Keepers’ Tour and decided to take in today’s race. And, yes, stepped out into the road again. Not to worry, our fearless leader is fine. Just a little embarrassed that history should repeat itself…
Come to the think of it: it s Vanmarcke with a V!
@5.28, cramps @6.26 and guess who came in second after Eisel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgO-9YSCvXE&feature=related
or this one:
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/MG_sportnieuws/MG_wielrennen/1.1102391
@steampunk: Yeah, I saw Fronk in the main field of the peloton, he was chattin away about beer and frites w/gilbert….me thinks
@RedRanger
How crazy is this sport where my favorite rider comes second in a field of, what, around 200 and I am devastated and walking around for the last hour all depressed. Man, what a ride. Hopefully he’ll be completely peaked in 5 weeks!
Close finish in the mens event, with @mattd taking the win over @ Nosyt and @Calmante who rounded out the podium with 2 and third, respectively.
[vsp_results id=”14592″]
[/vsp_results]
The overall after the first two VSP events is close as expected, with @Nosyt taking the lead over @scaler911 by a single point, and a 3-way tie for third.
[vsp_gc]
[/vsp_gc]
@frank
Fronk: Strong work on posting results so fast!
Also, where did the 2012 VSP page go? Trying to look ahead and plot my stratedgy for the next race (like that will help!)
@Buck Rogers, @Blah
Look at it this way: if he’d have won, he’d be jinxed for April. I’m stoked to see him on form and can’t wait to see him take his forth Roubaix!
@Buck Rogers
Good catch on the banner – its back now!
@frank
Ahhh, thanks for cheering me up! You must be right! The RDV equalizer is coming for Tomeke, I can feel it.
@Buck Rogers
That’s right brother!
B’ll’:ks Late swap of Millar for Flecha was a bit of an own goal.
@frank
Holy Smokes (trying to watch my language after Steamy called me out) I just realized that we had 139 people competing in the VSP. Is that a record, at least for just one race, Fronk?