Velominati Super Prestige: Mens Omloop Het Volk (Nieuwsblad) 2015
The real Velominati VSP will not begin until La Primavera. Het Volk will be a one-off warm up for the big show, no points, just some bragging rights and a V-musette. All that time wasted watching “racing” in Qatar and Oman (sorry @ChrisO) will not be in vain. Every contender for Het Volk can still find some middle eastern wind driven sand in his shoes and all the riders who want to win the Ronde will be in Gent. Those who get shelled off the hellingen too soon will know they have their work cut out for them to make the Ronde start.
This race starts and ends in Ghent; 198 km of cold, wind, rain, climbs and cobbles. The weather may not suck for this Saturday but that’s OK, the wind and rain is being banked for Paris-Roubaix. A start list is here.
With equal doses of cobbles and climbs, Het Volk is the opening of the season for us who love the Spring Classics. Up until ten years ago, Belgians won this race, almost exclusively. Ten years ago no one was racing in Dubai as preparation. The Belgians were out there, in Belgium, armed with embrocation and the big ring, killing themselves all winter to come out strong when the bell was rung. The bell will be rung on Saturday, round one.
Look to the countdown banner to know when the betting window closes. Refresh your browser or your name will be Pedro.
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@Mikael Liddy
Was thinking the same thing whilst watching and not quite believing what I was seeing.
As others have said Id like to be a fly on the wall in the team bus after.
I was just thankful that Stybar didn’t get back on and win with a Rule #82 violation.
(Or GvA with his fucking toe covers.)
Toe covers – that’s why Cavendish had to pull around Kristoff, couldn’t let K-B-K be won by a guy from Norway who heads south and still needs artificial help to keep his piggies warm.
@Ron
And is it crappy looking helmet season, too?
@brett
There should be a rule against riding on smooth surfaces to the side of a cobbled secteur. It could be called the O’Hearn Directive. Stannard shows the peloton how it’s done here:
Man, totally Delgado’d this one. Oh well, just giving you chaps a wee head start before I begin blasting my way up the rankings with stunning picks. Or maybe not.
Yup, Lefevre must have been pretty pissed after the race. 3 guys in a four man break and you finish 2,3,4. Huge props to Stannard though. That was masterful riding all the way. Thankfully Cav saved their weekend on Sunday.
Ok, these two races are semi-classics, but when was the last time, if ever, that two Brits won both major races on a single weekend?
It used to be sooo much easier to predict the winners when all the riders were doped. It’s way harder now that only half of them are.
From K-B-K but a pretty good Man with the Hammer poster:
http://instagram.com/p/zurUYUoyfp/
Great pic of Terpstra and Tommeke post race.
Been lurking for the past year or so and decided to join my fellow V followers. Glad we had a proper start to the Classics.
I’ll spot you all a few points!
@Drew
Welcome, glad that you have taken the plunge. Ah sorry, we should not plunge………..
@Drew
By Delgadoing the first two VSP events, I’ve spotted everyone a few points already! I wish my scores at Trivia Monday were the same as my VSP picks.
@wiscot
proof once again that no one reads the articles, these events aren’t counting towards the overall (which starts at MSR), I suspect they were run to make sure it still works with the new site structure.
@Mikael Liddy
Yeah FFS guys, should we even bother writing anything and just post a photo? It’d save us a lot of time!
@brett
I read it, otherwise I might have had a proper moan about the entry window which pretty much coincided with me going to bed, getting up for a ride and coming home to find there had been a VSP.
To which the correct response would have been that I’m fucking useless at the VSP anyway so whether I missed none, one or ten would make very little difference.