Velominati Super Prestige: Women’s Omloop Het Volk (Nieuwsblad) 2015

The Paterberg is a brute made easier by a comfortable, wide gutter.

I don’t know what it is about Belgian Race organizers, but I love those guys. Routes? The longer the better, please. The climbs? The steeper the better please, and as many as possible (which is very many). Cobbles? As many as possible, please. Cobbled climbs? The steeper, the longer the better. And as many of possible.

Oh, and lets do all that while its still winter, so we can be sure the weather sucks.

Not only that, but they’ve been staging women’s editions of these events for ever. Het Volk is on it’s ninth edition of the Women’s race. Women’s Ronde has done 11 editions, and La Fleche has done 17. That’s a lot more than the number of Women’s Paris-Roubaix’s, which has zero.

The VSP won’t start officially until Milano Sanremo, but we can’t resist doing an unofficial event for mock points and the chance to win a V-Mussette, handmade by Gianni himself. Points don’t go towards the 2015 VSP, but they do go towards bragging rights and may serve as a bit of foreshadowing on who to look out for this year.

Meditate on the start list, get your picks in by the time the countdown timer goes to zero (5am Pacific) and pray for some rain.

Good luck, let the season begin!

[vsp_results id=”32393″/]

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Kevin says:

Feb 27 2015 at 9:04 pm

@Kevin

Missed the deadline by 2 mins? FFS!

Armistead, Lizzie

Johansson, Emma

Stevens, Evelyn

Van Der Breggen, Anna

Cromwell, Tiffany
Chris Murphy says:

Feb 28 2015 at 4:08 am

Call me Delgado!
Harminator says:

Feb 28 2015 at 9:55 am

Van der Breggen

Van Dijk

Armistead

Blaak

Cromwell
frank says:

Feb 28 2015 at 10:34 am

Newcomer @TheDon takes a solid win! Very happy to see Lizzy up there on the podium, off to another good start!

[vsp_results id="32393"/]
Alex says:

Feb 28 2015 at 11:32 pm

Yay, points - I wish we could have seen the race too!
tessar says:

Mar 1 2015 at 1:37 am

@Alex

Yay, points – I wish we could have seen the race too!

I've been watching the "highlights" reel of the Women's Cup races this year. 20 minutes is pretty decent, good editing, some interesting interviews in between. Makes it so much deeper than just a results list...
TheDon says:

Mar 1 2015 at 2:07 am

@frank I was in the VSP last year. So relative newcomer might be a better description. Sadly this is probably where I peak. Would be happy if you want to wind up the VSP 2015 early...just saying
TommyTubolare says:

Mar 3 2015 at 1:49 pm

@frank

Frank it's Paterberg not Taaienberg. They should block that gootje for each race. Still good photo though.
brett says:

Mar 3 2015 at 2:05 pm

@TommyTubolare

@frank

Frank it’s Paterberg not Taaienberg. They should block that gootje for each race. Still good photo though.

Correct.
frank says:

Mar 3 2015 at 9:36 pm

@TommyTubolare, @brett

Looked to me like the top of the Taaienberg because of the building at the top on the false flat and I don't remember a gutter on the Paterberg. But when it comes to gutters I'll take @brett's word on it any day. My mistake.