Ronde van Vlaanderen 2014

[User169]

Parcours announced today. They seem to have ditched the crit format of last year and are packing 6 climbs into the last 45 kms, kicking off with the Koppenberg and finishing with the Paterberg, 13 kms from the end. I'll see if I can find a map later on.

 

[User169]

Cheers Mort. I saw that but couldn't get it to load earlier.

 

[The Couch]

My feeling in the last 2 editions was that the peloton was a bit scared to attack because they couldn't really estimate yet how hard the new parcours was.
(and attacking too early would/could be too dangerous)

I did have the feeling though that the second edition, already had more attacks before the last (the 3rd) Kwaremont-Paterberg loop. The best example thereof was that Roelandts attacked and (because he was a bit ahead) was therefore the only one who managed to survive Cancellara and Sagan's acceleration on the Kwaremont.
(and in that way managed to take 3rd place)

So my assumption would be that if they hadn't changed it, people would feel more and more comfortable with this parcours anyway (and we would have seen more fireworks anyway)
Actually... changing it again, might have the same effect as 2 years ago

(And in all fairness in both "Oudenaarde" editions it were the strongest riders who could clearly seperate them from the rest)


That being said...the new parcours seems to have the enthousiasm of a lot of prominent cyclists, so I guess they must have wanted some changes as well.
(and are happy with the proposed ones)

 

[oldroadman]

The strong classics riders like the short punchy climbs in the last 50km, good attacking places, and a recce before will pay dividends. De Ronda is meant to be hard and looking at the route for 2014, this one could be brutal. Just add in a nice cold day, bit of rain or snow, welcome to Belgium!

 

[400bhp]

Do you have the date?

 

[User169]

Do you have the date?

Sunday 6 April.

 

[beastie]

Bring back the muur van geraardsbergen ! Please.

 

[oldroadman]

Bosberg was always the jumping off place for the killer moves. Remember Bosberg Eddy (van Hoydonck) got the nickname because of his moves there, which always started the final sort out.

 

[The Couch]

Bosberg was always the jumping off place for the killer moves. Remember Bosberg Eddy (van Hoydonck) got the nickname because of his moves there, which always started the final sort out.

Indeed Van Hooydonck used the Bosberg, however in most cases I don't believe the Bosberg made the difference. A lot of times the gap had to be made before that (Muur, Eikenmolen, Tenbosse) if you wanted to win solo. As showed by Cancellara, Boonen, Museeuw, Devolder,..

Actually when the selection wasn't made on top of the Muur, it was more often a sprint than not. (Wesemann, Ballan, Van Petegem 2x, Nuyens ...)

 

[Hont]

Just add in a nice cold day, bit of rain or snow, welcome to Belgium!

Can anyone remember the last time it properly rained (or snowed) for the Ronde or Paris-Roubaix? All my recent memories, especially of P-R, are of dust clouds.

 

[The Couch]

Can anyone remember the last time it properly rained (or snowed) for the Ronde or Paris-Roubaix? All my recent memories, especially of P-R, are of dust clouds.

Yeah... I know what you mean... my best guesses at bad weather during Paris-Roubaix are the years Tchmil won and the last time Museeuw won (and Boonen was 3rd on his debut), but that seems like ages ago

Edit: I just checked... those editions are indeed ages ago (1994 & 2003)

 

[oldroadman]

oubaix has tended to dry cold weather the last few years, where the Ronde is about 40/60 wet/dry in my own experience. Just makes the descents more, er, interesting.... Kemmelberg is particularly memorable, with the little dip just after the Belvedere (there's a big cafe/building on the right just after the dip and up bit) on the descent which can send you airborne, then not long to a sharp corner at the bottom.

 

[oldroadman]

Or is that Kemmel? My memory is going...

 

[oldroadman]

[QUOTE 2783293, member: 259"]It's the Kemmelberg on the edge of the village called Kemmel.

(Also part of the Gent-Wevelgem course).[/quote]
Yep, know that, but after a long while the memories fade of which hill is which. I can remember the Belcedere (I thin k it may be closed now) being at the top, and the straightish but tricky descent where there was a dip in the road which caused a few crashes when hitting it at about 70kph.

 

[User169]

Big news in Belgium is the selection yesterday of a new Bloemenmeisje for the Flanders classics - a successor to Maya Leye I guess.

The selection procedure was bit of a palaver involving a cycling knowledge test. Sample question – “What did Omloop het Nieuwsblad used to be called?”. Wonder how many bike racing fans would get that one right?

Kissing was also tested – Stijn Vandenbergh helping out with this one.

The jury was chaired by Belgian celebrity – Mega Toby (and, no, I’m not making this up).

Any old how, Klara Verzele was the winner. Asked about events last year she said “'Ik ga niet meppen als ze in mijn poep knijpen'” – I won’t slap anyone if they pinch my arse! (I'm assuming here that "poep" means something different in Belgium than in Holland).