Looking Toward Flanders

Ten Points on De Ronde

A Preview of Flanders

BMC: disappointing so far this season BMC will really want to take the win. With Ballan, Gilbert, Van Avermaet and Hushovd BMC’s team will be stacked with winners. Never a prolific team win it comes to wins; BMC’s recruitment over the off-season has been seen and acknowledged as an attempt to reverse this trend. With the Tour de France defence is the back of the team’s mind, the April classics will also double as an assessment of team harmony when packed with stars. The change in the route for the 2012 race has many predicting an Ardennes style rider to take the win. If this is so Gilbert is in an erratic patch of form which could leave BMC in the perilous position of needing to adjust its tactics depending on the race as it is ridden. If BMC decides on a cautious approach its riders may all decide they are feeling the strongest and ride away for a triple podium finish. Gilbert will be keen to show his third place in 2010 was no anomaly. Either way team BMC will very interesting to watch come Sunday.

Fabian Cancellara: once again Fabian is the strong man in the peloton. A dual favourite with Tom Boonen he has shrugged off favouritism suggesting Boonen is the real favourite. Boonen has returned the favour and left it obvious that these two are only going to worry about each other. The past two years has seen Fabian stand on the podium but of these appearances 2010 was by far the better year. A Flanders Paris-Roubaix double let the world know, if it had somehow been living under a rock, he was the man and on his way to collecting the five monuments. A gutsy solo ride and break away with Chavanel and Nuyens was only good enough for third and perhaps showed a kink in his armour. Consecutive 2^nd place at Milan-San Remo have also suggested that he needs to play another card and ride a smarter race if wants to take home the win and not just the accolades. There is no denying that Cancellara has been the strong man in one day races over the last year. However simply powering away has produced mixed results and several riders are capable of matching him initially. How this tactic plays out, if it is at all, will be interesting firstly on a ‘new’ course and secondly on a cobbled surface. Don’t write him off but watch the Swiss champ. He may just find another gear while playing a new card.

Tom Boonen: Boonen is in a purple patch in 2012. Notching up 100 professional wins Boonen would love to celebrate with a win on Sunday and celebrate a third Flanders victory.  Following the back to back wins of 2005/6 a distant second place in 2010 has been Boonen’s only other podium finish. With seven wins so far this year the Gent–Wevelgem win has been the most prestigious of them. Riding for the super Belgian Omega Pharma Quick-Step Team Boonen will have plenty of support on on and off the road. Principally, Chavanel will be by his side as a super domestique while Niki Terpstra and Gert Steegmans will play similar super roles. The Belgian crowd will also be a further help for Boonen undoubtedly cheering him on from the start line to the podium.

Greenedge: For Australian Fans The Ronde takes on extra significance will the debut of an Australian team.  Headed by Stuey O’Grady Greenedge will have plenty in the engine with several powerhouse domestiques to support the 2007 Paris-Roubaix winner, Matt Goss and Sebastiaan Langeveld if needed. Already having an outstanding debut season with overall wins at the Tour Down Under and the Volta a Catalunya to go with Simon Gerrans Milan-San Remo win and the opening TTT stage at the Tirreno–Adriatico, any success on Sunday will be a massive bonus. With the teams focus on next weekend and further ahead, the Ardennes classics, the Ronde will be more of a litmus test for the classics riders testing their form and getting to know their teammates a little better. Don’t be surprised to see a Greenedge rider join a breakaway and let the peloton know that yes Greenedge is here so get used to seeing the back of their bibs and Aussie dominating the podiums.

Saxobank: With Nick Nuyens out of his Ronde defence Saxobank will still be looking to make it consecutive wins. With several seasoned riders Saxobank presents a threat but will probably not be keeping up the other teams at night. However, Nuyens was a surprise victor last year outfoxing his breakaway companions. Following the suspension of Alberto Contador and the resulting loss of UCI Protour points Saxobank is in a precarious situation and will be looking to pick up points wherever it can to ensure its survival. And thus Saxobank will be one of the foxiest teams come Sunday looking to pick up whatever they can but with the experience of Matteo Tossato, Luke  Roberts and Karsten Kroon a top 10 looks to be the best result for the Danish team.

The New Route: How the reworking of the Ronde influences the race is yet unknown. Riders appear split upon the issue but there is an agreeance that the race will probably end up much tougher than previous incarnations of the last 20 years. Although concerns have been raised that the changes were only made for commercial reasons how the riders react to the changes will be the more telling response than any rhetoric pre-race. With the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg to be climbed three times, attacks may be a common occurrence throughout the race in order to split the peloton again and again before Cancellara rides off into the distance for win three.

Team Sky and Cav: So far Mark Cavendish’s reign in the Rainbow jersey has been wildly erratic. With wins at the Tour of Qatar to begin the season, Cav picked at a stage win at Tirreno-Adriatico before taking home Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Looking to be still adapting to the new set up at SKY and adjusting to a new set of riders after the comfort of the harmonious HTC set up, unless it comes down to a sprint Cav looks like he’ll largely play a spectators role. Spending a little more time getting the roles of his teammates dialled, slowly building to the Tour.

Pozzato: The dark horse of 2012 is certainly the enigmatic Italian. With several top ten results at the Ronde and the favourable conditions at his new team Farnese VIni-Selle Italia, Pippo is looking like recapturing some of his illustrious form that seemed to have departed him during his Russian years at Katusha. Whether or not he’ll have the legs to match it with traditional rivals Boonen and Cancellara remains to be seen and is probably unlikely, another top ten result would be seen as terrific return by the Italian.

Lampre: Once again a doping scandal is hanging over cycling. This one is not new but rather another one which has dragged on and on. The Mantova based doping investigation has once again reared its head with the judge presiding over the case declaring he will announce the fate of the 32 cited in the April  2011 report. The majority of those 32 are Lampre riders or ex-riders. The now BMC rider Alessandro Ballan who won the Ronde in 2009 while riding for Lampre was one of those named. His stint at BMC has coincided with the Mantova investigation and in his debut BMC season seriously derailed his Classics campaign. The next three months will be testing for Lampre and the 32 who were named as they chase results knowing their wins may be rescinded if found guilty, whether or not they agree with findings. Of the Italian teams Lampre is hit the hardest although Italian riders on numerous teams also face a testy 3 months. A Classics win may prove to be bittersweet if it is to be only remembered for 3 months

Peter Sagan: A talent expected to light up races for years to come; the Slovakian national champion has come on in leaps and bounds this year. His most notable performance this season so far being his 4^th at Milan-San Remo beating home the best of the rest in a sprint finish. At only 22 this year’s participation in the Ronde may be more of a grooming experience, learning from the top Classics racers. But a strong finish by the Luquigas rider would not surprising and goes into the race between the 2^nd and 3^rd tier of favourites such as Heinrich Haussler and Matti Breschel who’ll be featuring in the top twenty positions.

April's Classics

For professional cyclists April is a pivotal month. Careers can be made and lost in a single month for those who specialise in the hard one day classics. A Classics win after a disappointing season can be the galvanising factor that leads onto Grand Tour stage wins and the rainbow jersey while picking up a national jersey in between.  

Beginning the odyssey that annually is April, will be a new Ronde van Vlaanderen. Better known as the tour of Flanders to English speakers, the Ronde has a new finish which has received mixed reactions from within the peloton and the greater cycling world.  Defending champion Nick Nuyens will miss his defence due to an injury which has increased the pressure of Fabian Cancellara to take home another win to go with his 2010 title in which he blitzed his opposition not only at the Ronde but also at Paris-Roubaix the next weekend. The efforts of Cancellara in 2010 are still the standard that many expect of the Swiss. Several podiums last year in the one day classics showed Cancellara is still a key protagonist but may benefit from a change in approach. Following, to some, the surprising Milan-San Remo victory of Australian Champion Simon Gerrans over Cancellara there appears evidence the brutal strength and power of Cancellara is not always enough when up against a foxy rider such as Gerrans. Some complaints have surfaced over Gerrans’ tactics during Milan-San Remo suggesting he wasn’t so deserving of the win. This is not so at all as quite frankly Gerrans had the defending champion Matt Goss behind him ready to swoop if the chase was pulled in. Gerrans played his cards perfectly and he also came forward and had two pulls on the front to help ensure the breakaway would stay away. Cancellara didn’t have it in him on the day to power away on the flat and Gerrans was the beneficiary for trying a move and having it come off perfectly. However the uneven surfaces and cobblestones of the Ronde are a different matter and Cancellara’s tactics of brute power may not be seen to be so foolish if he rides away for the win.

The riders are central to the endless analysis and previews of April’s Classics and rightly so. However how these rider’s are also part of a trade team and several teams are desperate for a victory. Probably none more so than BMC with their expensively assembled squad but Leopard-Radioshack will be just as hungry as they chase their first early season classic. Admittedly Cancellara did win Strade Bianchi recently but it still only a semi classic. Oliver Zaugg saved the team from embarrassment by winning its only classic so far last year at the Giro di Lombardia. Cancellara must surely be looking to stand atop the podium in his Swiss national jersey. Successive 2^nd placings at Milan-San Remo are hopefully not an omen for Cancellara as he comes into arguably two of his favourite races of the year. Cancellara’s season has in recent years begun to be characterised by early success in the one day classics and the wearer of the yellow jersey following the prologue of the Tour de France before rounding out the year with a Worlds Road medal and the rainbow jersey of the ITT. Partly the immense success of Cancellara across the sport has created a level of success that is incredibly high but somehow, has been matched by the Swiss maestro.