Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Preview


The spring classics start this weekend with the double-header of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday followed by Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday. No more Arabian nights in five star hotels and applying sun lotion, now it’s time to charge down farm tracks and apply a coating of mud.

Here’s a preview of the race with route info, the contenders, as well as the weather and TV timings.

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The Signs of Spring

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2014In Belgium there’s no need to look for flowers and buds on the trees or listen out for birdsong to tell spring is coming. Instead there are flashes of green sidewalls and the sound of Rodania. As the spring classics approach, so the annual rituals repeat themselves.

This week teams are out riding the route of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. It’s a media event itself with photographers out to snap the scene and reports of who rode where make the TV news and newspapers. Spring is here.

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Team Victory Rankings


It’s a quiet week before the weekend storm of cobbles starting with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday. This micro break gives a moment to look at the team victory rankings and see who’s had a good start to the season.

If you think it’s too early to count, think again. We’ve had 70 days of racing this year and that’s one eighth of the way through the season.

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Managing the Talent at OPQS

A Problem Many Teams Would Like to Have
With the classics season coming up Omega Pharma-Quick Step look like the team with all the right cards to play with aces like Tom Boonen, Niki Terpstra, Mark Cavendish and Zdeněk Štybar and pack of able support riders.

But there’s a problem here as the team has so many top riders it can be hard to manage them all. Do you race the big names regularly or rest them from time to time? Who gets to be team leader? With all this in mind guest writer Whit Yost, a former directeur sportif, takes a look at the options for OPQS.

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Thanks to the SCP Gran Fondo

All sponsors get a message of thanks, a way to express gratitude for their support and a means to explain what their ad is about. Coinciding with the start of the Chinese New Year, February’s sponsor is the SCP Grand Fondo in China, an event that’s open to all and wants to welcome foreign entrants.

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Sunday Shorts

Talk about a long weekend, i’s been an instructive and busy two days of racing. Chris Froome and Alberto Contador both won, the same for André Greipel and Mark Cavendish along with Carlos Betancur and Michał Kwiatkowski, Alejandro Valverde, Amaël Moinard and Moreno Hofland. Almost all big names, Moinard is a big helper and Hofland a future sprinting prospect.

Froome’s result was expected but it marked Contador’s first win in over a year and a chance to revive the El Pistolero victory salute. Is he back to being a forced to be reckoned with? It’s too soon to tell but it’s a start. Unlike poor Andy Schleck who was invisible in the Tour of Oman, he might yet come good but you feel for his supporters who must wait.

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Roads to Ride: Jebel Al Akhdar

The Queen Stage of the Tour of Oman finishes on the Jebel Al Akhdar, the “Green Mountain”. A tough climb with an inappropriate name, it’s also a unique ride in a landscape that is very different to the typical Alpine climb.

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Pompeiana: RCS Need to Decide

Milan-Sanremo is famous for its tension, the longest race of the year is often decided in the final moments, a long wait that gets more and more nervous as the finish approaches. Now there’s a long wait to find out what’s happening to the course and whether the crucial new climb of Pompeiana is in or out.

A rough road and a wet winter mean the road might not be viable and as you’ll read below, municipal bickering is part of the problem too. Velonews reports there will be a meeting next Wednesday but what if this isn’t conclusive? Weather damage is understandable but the uncertainty is becoming inexcusable.

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Why isn’t the Tour of Oman on TV?


As the triptych of races in the Arabian Peninsula comes to an end Stage 5 of the Tour of Oman on Saturday and its summit finish on the Jebel Akhdar promises one of the best contests so far this season. Only the week’s racing isn’t live on TV to the frustration of many. Can we expect to watch every race for free?

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Go High and Get Hot

A quick physics lesson. Feel free to skip this one but with the news today that Fabian Cancellara could attack the Hour Record in August at the Aguascalientes Bicentennial Velodrome in Mexico, here’s a quick look at the effect of altitude and temperature on performance.

Within hours of the story appearing in La Gazzetta Dello Sport Cancellara’s Trek team denied the plans saying the focus is on the classics. But if the record attempt is still uncertain the physics is fixed: riding at altitude in Mexico could be just what is needed to break the hour record. It’s not just for elite records either, air temperature can have a big effect on daily riding and Strava conquests alike.

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