Considering that I'm still boasting about my almost flawless Sanremo predictions,which made my self esteem in making cycling predictions increase a lot,here I go with the Gent-Wevelgem (or how else it is called) podium prophecies.
First of all,let's talk a bit about this race.Until last year Gent-Wevelgem (hope the spelling is correct) was raced between Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix,therefore it didn't get a lot of attention.This race favours sprinters more than all the other April classics,but last year for example the winner was Boasson Hagen,who broke clear from the peloton with some kms to go.
The race is about 220 kms long and it features 16 slopes.The most famous (and the last) of them is the Kemmelberg,that the riders will face with about 35 kms to go.
Here is the start list:
TEAM SKY: Boasson Hagen, Barry, Arvesen, Flecha, Hayman, Henderson, Sutton, Geraint Thomas. Strong team,no doubts about this.In my opinion Boasson Hagen will be very dangerous because he'll probably want to take revenge of the stomach problems that disturbed him during Milan-Sanremo and then he'll probably want to honour the race that he won last year.Arvesen can be dangerous as well,especially if he enters a breakaway.Flecha is very good,but I believe he'll take it easy tomorrow,especially if you consider that he's already got a very good result during today's E3 Peijs-Vlaanderen Harebelke (or whatever its name is).If the race ends up in a sprint,and Boasson Hagen doesn't feel like sprinting,attention to Henderson.
OMEGA-PHARMA LOTTO: Blyth, De Haes, Delage, Gilbert, Kaisen, Lang, Roelandts, Van Avermaet.Gilbert and Van Avermaet can be dangerous,but me thinks that Gilbert's goals mainly regard the Ardenne's classics and that therefore tomorrow he won't give it all to win (now that I've written these words,it's obvious that Gilbert's going to win tomorrow).
QUICK STEP: Chavanel, Boonen, De Weert, Barredo, Maes, Pineau, Van Impe, Weylandt.Of course Boonen will be very dangerous because he'll probably want to get a victory after E3 and Milano-Sanremo's podiums.Barredo could enter a breakaway,although I think that everyone tomorrow will work for Tornado Tom (unless he doesn't decide to take it easy after the efforts he made in this afternoon's race).
AG2R: Berard, Goddaert, Hinault, Mondory, Ravard, Rousseau, Smukulis, Gastauer. Surprise surprise,Luxembourgish neo pro Ben Gastauer is scheduled to ride tomorrow's race.He's considered a very promising boy and I've read many good things about him,therefore I'm really looking forward to see him race.Good luck Ben!
ASTANA: Bazayev, Davis, Dmitriyev, Gasparotto, Grivko,los Iglinskiys (Maxim and Valentin), Selvaggi. I believe that Maxim Iglinskiy will be very dangerous,just like Gasparotto who will probably try to break away from the peloton during the last part of the race.And then in this team there is also Andriy Grivko,whose riding style could be resumed in the word "breakaway".
CAISSE D'EPARGNE: Coyot,Drujon,Da Costa,Kiryenka,Lastras,Madrazo,Plaza Molina,Rojas. Rojas is the sprinter,Kiryenka is the attacker.Hopefully Vasili will make something good tomorrow.
EUSKALTEL EUSKADI: Lorente, Koldo Fernandez, Isasi, Gorka, Perez Lezaun, Perez Moreno, Sicard, Urtasun.I'm curious to see what Sicard will do during tomorrow's race.
FOOTON SERVETTO: Brandle,Capelli,Celis Zabala,Faiers,Felline,Gianetti,Merlo,Walker.Last year Capelli was the protagonist of a very long breakaway that lasted more than haf of the race.Considering that he's young,he's promising,he's brave and he lives in the town near mine,me's already supporting him by screaming "Vai Ermannooooo!" .
FRANCAISE DES JEUX: Bonnaire,Chavanel,Gudsell,Geslin,Hutarovich,Guesdon,Ladagnous, Offredo.Allez Hutarovich,Tour de France lanterne rouge.
LAMPRE-FARNESE VINI: Bernucci,Da Dalto,Buts,Hondo,Lorenzetto,Petacchi,Sapa.Petacchi will probably be longing to win a race after losing Sanremo to Freire last week.As well as that,his lead-out train (with Da Dalto,Bernucci,Hondo and Lorenzetto) is really good.
LIQUIGAS-DOIMO: Bennati,Chicchi,Dall'Antonia,Kuschynski,Oss,Quinziato,Sabatini,Willems. Kuschynski was on the podium last year,Quinziato is a very good rider,Bennati,Chicchi and Sabatini are very good sprinters,whereas the young Daniel Oss already made a great work during last week Milano-Sanremo.Willems is an excellent helper (and possible attacker),just like Dall'Antonia.Anyway,a question remains: where is Peter Sagan?
RABOBANK: Brown,Freire,Leezer,Posthuma,Stamsnijder,Tjallingii,Van Emden.Now everyone remembers Freire because he won Milano-Sanremo less than a week ago,therefore they include him in their personal list of favourites.Instead,one week ago me was one of the few people that indicated him as a possible winner,preferring him to guys like Pozzato,Bennati,Boasson Hagen,Gilbert,ecc.ecc. I'm actually so proud of this prediction of mine that I think that the first time I'll have to write my curriculum vitae,I'll add "she guessed the complete podium of 2010 Milan-Sanremo" as a bonus information. Anyway,talking about tomorrow's race,attention to Oscarito.
TEAM HTC COLUMBIA: Bak,Cavendish,Docx,Eisel,Goss,Reynes,Roulston,Sieberg.Goss was 3rd last year,when he still rode for Saxo Bank (I still can remember me supporting him during 2010 Gent).Will Columbia's captain be Cavendish? I don't think so,although Columbia management is oh so concentrated on the English rider that last week they even forgot to bring Greipel to Milan-Sanremo.
GARMIN-TRANSITIONS: Dean, Duggan, Farrar, Hunter, Maaskant, Tuft, Van Summeren, Wilson.Oh,that's where Van Summeren ended up.Anyway,the team of Cameron Meyer (who's won 2 titles so far during 2010 track Championships) is a very strong one,with a sprinter like Farrar and a possible attacker like Maaskant.
KATUSHA: Galimzyanov,Ignatiev,Ivanov,Khalilov,McEwen,Trusov,Vandenbergh,Vantomme. Lots of good attackers in this team.I think that Khalilov has the skills to surprise everyone, whereas I don't know how McEwen's condition is.
MILRAM: De Vocht,Eichler,T.Fothen,Knaven,Knees,Sentjens,Terpstra,Wrolich.The only riders I know pretty well on this team are Fothen and Terpstra,who might attack in tomorrow's finale.
RADIOSHACK: Beppu,Irizar,Lequatre,Li,Murayev,Rast,Rosseler,Vaitkus.Rosseler will try to get a good result if the race ends in a bunch sprint,whereas all the others might try to create a breakaway in order to make chronists from all over the world talk about their omnipresent team captain,mr.Lance Armstrong.
SAXO BANK: Cancellara, Breschel, Cooke, Hoj, Klemme, Klostergaard, Lund, O'Grady. After Cancellara and Breschel's victories the team morale is very high,therefore I think that some guys will enter breakaways,whereas Breschel could be the surprise du jour,especially if the race doesn't end in a big bunch sprint.
ACQUA E SAPONE: Andriotto,Di Paolo,Donati,Fantini, Honig, Masciarelli A., Palumbo, Paolini. This team will be in a very"allez Paolini!" mood tomorrow.
CERVELO TEST TEAM: Bos, Hammond, Haussler, Hunt, Klier, Lancaster, Reimer, Rollin. Haussler is a rider I really appreciate,but unfortunately I don't know whether he has recovered from his knee injury yet.
BMC: Ballan, Burghardt, Hincapie, Kristoff, Murphy, Schaer, Stewart, Wyss. Ballan will probably take it easy tomorrow,whereas Burghardt could try repeating his 2007 victory by entering a breakaway.
LANDBOUWKREDIET: Amorison, Boucher, Caethoven, Dekkers, Dockx, Neirynck, Baptiste, Poggi.
SKIL SHIMANO: Curvers,De Kort,Docker,Houanard,Van Hummel,Veelers,Vissers,Wagners. Yes,Kenny is racing ad everyone is happy because of this.Allez Kenny!
TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-MERCATOR: Coenen, De Gendt, Joseph, Lodewyck, Steurs, Van Vooren, Vanmarcke, Vanspeybrouck.
VACANSOLEIL: R.Feillu, Van Groen, Hoogerland, Marcato ,Ongarato, Pronk, Van Leijen, Veuchelen.I feel that Hoogerland is oh so going to attack.
So,after reading carefully the start list (that I found on Gent-Wevelgem official website),here are my race predictions.Before of reading them remember that Logic completely disapproves my passion for writing this kind of stupid things and believes that last week's almost perfect predictions of mine were generated by a matter of luck and not by a special skill of mine. Anyway,back to tomorrow race: me believes that Liquigas,Quick Step and Lampre will try to make the race end in a bunch sprint in order to favour their sprinters.Anyway a very dangerous breakaway formed by,say,Khalilov,Gasparotto,Maxim Iglinskiy, Kiryenka,Bos,Paolini,Breschel and Hoogerland will make it to the finish-line and the race will end in a sprint between these few riders.
If any breakaway doesn't make it to the finish-line,I think that Freire will take his victory number 2 in 1 week time by outsprinting Boasson Hagen and Haussler.If the German Kangaroo isn't in form yet,his podium place will be taken by Farrar or,surprise surprise,by Robbie McEwen.Boonen won't sprint because he'll be tired after today's effort,whereas Bennati will end in top 5,just like Breschel.
Of course,between all these chaotic prophecies of mine,one thing is sure: If none of the things I predicted will happen during tomorrow's race,I'll come back on Earth and stop bragging about my exceptional Milan-Sanremo predictions.Ok?
PS: Of course before of closing this post I congratulate Alex Rasmussen for winning the scratch at the Copenhagen track Worlds.
First of all,let's talk a bit about this race.Until last year Gent-Wevelgem (hope the spelling is correct) was raced between Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix,therefore it didn't get a lot of attention.This race favours sprinters more than all the other April classics,but last year for example the winner was Boasson Hagen,who broke clear from the peloton with some kms to go.
The race is about 220 kms long and it features 16 slopes.The most famous (and the last) of them is the Kemmelberg,that the riders will face with about 35 kms to go.
Here is the start list:
TEAM SKY: Boasson Hagen, Barry, Arvesen, Flecha, Hayman, Henderson, Sutton, Geraint Thomas. Strong team,no doubts about this.In my opinion Boasson Hagen will be very dangerous because he'll probably want to take revenge of the stomach problems that disturbed him during Milan-Sanremo and then he'll probably want to honour the race that he won last year.Arvesen can be dangerous as well,especially if he enters a breakaway.Flecha is very good,but I believe he'll take it easy tomorrow,especially if you consider that he's already got a very good result during today's E3 Peijs-Vlaanderen Harebelke (or whatever its name is).If the race ends up in a sprint,and Boasson Hagen doesn't feel like sprinting,attention to Henderson.
OMEGA-PHARMA LOTTO: Blyth, De Haes, Delage, Gilbert, Kaisen, Lang, Roelandts, Van Avermaet.Gilbert and Van Avermaet can be dangerous,but me thinks that Gilbert's goals mainly regard the Ardenne's classics and that therefore tomorrow he won't give it all to win (now that I've written these words,it's obvious that Gilbert's going to win tomorrow).
QUICK STEP: Chavanel, Boonen, De Weert, Barredo, Maes, Pineau, Van Impe, Weylandt.Of course Boonen will be very dangerous because he'll probably want to get a victory after E3 and Milano-Sanremo's podiums.Barredo could enter a breakaway,although I think that everyone tomorrow will work for Tornado Tom (unless he doesn't decide to take it easy after the efforts he made in this afternoon's race).
AG2R: Berard, Goddaert, Hinault, Mondory, Ravard, Rousseau, Smukulis, Gastauer. Surprise surprise,Luxembourgish neo pro Ben Gastauer is scheduled to ride tomorrow's race.He's considered a very promising boy and I've read many good things about him,therefore I'm really looking forward to see him race.Good luck Ben!
ASTANA: Bazayev, Davis, Dmitriyev, Gasparotto, Grivko,los Iglinskiys (Maxim and Valentin), Selvaggi. I believe that Maxim Iglinskiy will be very dangerous,just like Gasparotto who will probably try to break away from the peloton during the last part of the race.And then in this team there is also Andriy Grivko,whose riding style could be resumed in the word "breakaway".
CAISSE D'EPARGNE: Coyot,Drujon,Da Costa,Kiryenka,Lastras,Madrazo,Plaza Molina,Rojas. Rojas is the sprinter,Kiryenka is the attacker.Hopefully Vasili will make something good tomorrow.
EUSKALTEL EUSKADI: Lorente, Koldo Fernandez, Isasi, Gorka, Perez Lezaun, Perez Moreno, Sicard, Urtasun.I'm curious to see what Sicard will do during tomorrow's race.
FOOTON SERVETTO: Brandle,Capelli,Celis Zabala,Faiers,Felline,Gianetti,Merlo,Walker.Last year Capelli was the protagonist of a very long breakaway that lasted more than haf of the race.Considering that he's young,he's promising,he's brave and he lives in the town near mine,me's already supporting him by screaming "Vai Ermannooooo!" .
FRANCAISE DES JEUX: Bonnaire,Chavanel,Gudsell,Geslin,Hutarovich,Guesdon,Ladagnous, Offredo.Allez Hutarovich,Tour de France lanterne rouge.
LAMPRE-FARNESE VINI: Bernucci,Da Dalto,Buts,Hondo,Lorenzetto,Petacchi,Sapa.Petacchi will probably be longing to win a race after losing Sanremo to Freire last week.As well as that,his lead-out train (with Da Dalto,Bernucci,Hondo and Lorenzetto) is really good.
LIQUIGAS-DOIMO: Bennati,Chicchi,Dall'Antonia,Kuschynski,Oss,Quinziato,Sabatini,Willems. Kuschynski was on the podium last year,Quinziato is a very good rider,Bennati,Chicchi and Sabatini are very good sprinters,whereas the young Daniel Oss already made a great work during last week Milano-Sanremo.Willems is an excellent helper (and possible attacker),just like Dall'Antonia.Anyway,a question remains: where is Peter Sagan?
RABOBANK: Brown,Freire,Leezer,Posthuma,Stamsnijder,Tjallingii,Van Emden.Now everyone remembers Freire because he won Milano-Sanremo less than a week ago,therefore they include him in their personal list of favourites.Instead,one week ago me was one of the few people that indicated him as a possible winner,preferring him to guys like Pozzato,Bennati,Boasson Hagen,Gilbert,ecc.ecc. I'm actually so proud of this prediction of mine that I think that the first time I'll have to write my curriculum vitae,I'll add "she guessed the complete podium of 2010 Milan-Sanremo" as a bonus information. Anyway,talking about tomorrow's race,attention to Oscarito.
TEAM HTC COLUMBIA: Bak,Cavendish,Docx,Eisel,Goss,Reynes,Roulston,Sieberg.Goss was 3rd last year,when he still rode for Saxo Bank (I still can remember me supporting him during 2010 Gent).Will Columbia's captain be Cavendish? I don't think so,although Columbia management is oh so concentrated on the English rider that last week they even forgot to bring Greipel to Milan-Sanremo.
GARMIN-TRANSITIONS: Dean, Duggan, Farrar, Hunter, Maaskant, Tuft, Van Summeren, Wilson.Oh,that's where Van Summeren ended up.Anyway,the team of Cameron Meyer (who's won 2 titles so far during 2010 track Championships) is a very strong one,with a sprinter like Farrar and a possible attacker like Maaskant.
KATUSHA: Galimzyanov,Ignatiev,Ivanov,Khalilov,McEwen,Trusov,Vandenbergh,Vantomme. Lots of good attackers in this team.I think that Khalilov has the skills to surprise everyone, whereas I don't know how McEwen's condition is.
MILRAM: De Vocht,Eichler,T.Fothen,Knaven,Knees,Sentjens,Terpstra,Wrolich.The only riders I know pretty well on this team are Fothen and Terpstra,who might attack in tomorrow's finale.
RADIOSHACK: Beppu,Irizar,Lequatre,Li,Murayev,Rast,Rosseler,Vaitkus.Rosseler will try to get a good result if the race ends in a bunch sprint,whereas all the others might try to create a breakaway in order to make chronists from all over the world talk about their omnipresent team captain,mr.Lance Armstrong.
SAXO BANK: Cancellara, Breschel, Cooke, Hoj, Klemme, Klostergaard, Lund, O'Grady. After Cancellara and Breschel's victories the team morale is very high,therefore I think that some guys will enter breakaways,whereas Breschel could be the surprise du jour,especially if the race doesn't end in a big bunch sprint.
ACQUA E SAPONE: Andriotto,Di Paolo,Donati,Fantini, Honig, Masciarelli A., Palumbo, Paolini. This team will be in a very"allez Paolini!" mood tomorrow.
CERVELO TEST TEAM: Bos, Hammond, Haussler, Hunt, Klier, Lancaster, Reimer, Rollin. Haussler is a rider I really appreciate,but unfortunately I don't know whether he has recovered from his knee injury yet.
BMC: Ballan, Burghardt, Hincapie, Kristoff, Murphy, Schaer, Stewart, Wyss. Ballan will probably take it easy tomorrow,whereas Burghardt could try repeating his 2007 victory by entering a breakaway.
LANDBOUWKREDIET: Amorison, Boucher, Caethoven, Dekkers, Dockx, Neirynck, Baptiste, Poggi.
SKIL SHIMANO: Curvers,De Kort,Docker,Houanard,Van Hummel,Veelers,Vissers,Wagners. Yes,Kenny is racing ad everyone is happy because of this.Allez Kenny!
TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-MERCATOR: Coenen, De Gendt, Joseph, Lodewyck, Steurs, Van Vooren, Vanmarcke, Vanspeybrouck.
VACANSOLEIL: R.Feillu, Van Groen, Hoogerland, Marcato ,Ongarato, Pronk, Van Leijen, Veuchelen.I feel that Hoogerland is oh so going to attack.
So,after reading carefully the start list (that I found on Gent-Wevelgem official website),here are my race predictions.Before of reading them remember that Logic completely disapproves my passion for writing this kind of stupid things and believes that last week's almost perfect predictions of mine were generated by a matter of luck and not by a special skill of mine. Anyway,back to tomorrow race: me believes that Liquigas,Quick Step and Lampre will try to make the race end in a bunch sprint in order to favour their sprinters.Anyway a very dangerous breakaway formed by,say,Khalilov,Gasparotto,Maxim Iglinskiy, Kiryenka,Bos,Paolini,Breschel and Hoogerland will make it to the finish-line and the race will end in a sprint between these few riders.
If any breakaway doesn't make it to the finish-line,I think that Freire will take his victory number 2 in 1 week time by outsprinting Boasson Hagen and Haussler.If the German Kangaroo isn't in form yet,his podium place will be taken by Farrar or,surprise surprise,by Robbie McEwen.Boonen won't sprint because he'll be tired after today's effort,whereas Bennati will end in top 5,just like Breschel.
Of course,between all these chaotic prophecies of mine,one thing is sure: If none of the things I predicted will happen during tomorrow's race,I'll come back on Earth and stop bragging about my exceptional Milan-Sanremo predictions.Ok?
PS: Of course before of closing this post I congratulate Alex Rasmussen for winning the scratch at the Copenhagen track Worlds.
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