Second
round of the opening weekend, after today Omloop Het Nieuwsblad delivered an exciting start to
the cobbled classics season. In
Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne, the route is much more sprinter
friendly, however there is a habit of seeing solo winners in these roads, as
the course allows for a very open race.
195 make
for a slightly shorter race, however one that doesn’t feature much of a flat
start. From the 30 kilometer mark riders will start to go up and down and will
ride by two of the main towns in Flandres, Oudenaarde and Ronse. It will be
between these two towns that the race will blow up. It’s a race that isn’t as
much focused on cobbled sectors but rather in a sequence of hills, and the
place where attacks will come is towards their end.
In the
profile above you see Hameau des Papins (1.2Km at 6.4%, 93Km to go), Le
Bourliquet (1.3Km at 6.3%, 84.5Km to go), Mont Saint Laurent (1.3Km at 7%,
79.5Km to go), Oude Kruisberg (1.3Km at 5%, 70Km to go) and Côte du Trieu
(1.2Km at 7.2%, 61.5Km to go). This is the section where differences have to be
made, albeit a few more pitches later on allowing attacks. The final of these
climbs finished with over 60 kilometers to go but for those who can’t afford
taking the race into a sprint they have to not only make differences but split
the groups completely so as to have better chances of avoiding a peloton coming
from behind.
For those
eyeing a sprint, they will have over an hour to reacess, organize a chase and
catch whoever will be at the head of the race. The
last cobbled sector comes with 35Km to go at the Beerbosstraat but going solo
at this point is very much suicide, in most races that is! Here in Kuurne
everything is possible.
The peloton
rolls along pan-flat roads for the final 25 kilometers, riding through the
finish line once before emerging into the town center for the final time, these
roads are fast but they are easy to make for an organized chase, so it should
be as always a close balance between the attackers and the sprinter’s teams.