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Critch · 07-04-2012, 06:03 PM

February 2012

February starts slowly, no World Tour points on offer for the whole month, but the end of the month sees Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the first Classic of the year and the start of the Belgian season.

The race is the start of the Northern Classics races that the Garmin group 4 are being trained for, so to get them some racetime Vansummeren, Maaskant, Vanmarcke, Klier and 4 fillers head off to the Tour of Oman. Surprisingly enough a team training for the cobblestones and hills of Northern Europe made no impression at all in flat sandy Oman and all that can really be said is that they raced for 6 days and didn’t get injured. Nobody broke the top 20 standings. No World Tour points and not much money on offer, so no great loss and on to Belgium.

2/26 - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (199.6km)
The first Classic, the first race that the Garmin sponsors had targeted (they want a win), and the first real race for one of Garmin’s top group of riders, so this is the real start of the season. Johan Vansummeren (Belgium), Martijn Maaskant (Netherlands), Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium) and Andreas Klier (Germany) return from hot, dry Oman to Ghent in Northern Belgium where it’s near freezing and raining. Not sure Oman was the best preparation. The Garmin team is padded out with 4 domestiques.

The plan for the race is to get to the front of the peloton and sit there. There’s a chance the peloton will split on the cobblestones, so front is the place to be if possible. These races are the ones that are most likely to be won by a breakaway, so if a breakaway goes one of the Garmin main riders will go with them.

Twenty kilometers in the first sustained break goes and Andreas Klier goes with them. The breakaway fizzles out pretty quickly, but Klier keeps forcing the pace and by 50km he’s 3 minutes clear on his own. The rest of the Garmin team is following plans, sitting on front of the peloton and trying to slow down the Klier chase. At the halfway point Klier is still over 3 minutes ahead but he’s used more than half his energy to get to half point of the race. I have to slow him down to conserve energy, but it’s pretty quickly apparent that he’s going to be caught before the finish line, so the rest of the team give up on their attempts to slow the peloton to avoid being caught out. 60km to go Klier is finally caught and the peloton is all back together.

The Garmin leader, Johan Vansummeren, isnt much of a sprinter so we’re going to have to split the field to give him a chance, so Maaskant and Vanmarcke step up the pace with Vansummeren following with about 30km to go. A small group follow but none of the big names, so when his protectors slow, Vansummeren makes a break on his own. I thought it was too early but at 20km he’s 2mins free, right on the “1 min lead for every 10km to go” rule for winning breakaways. 10km to go it’s still 1min 45 and the race seems just about in the bag. Vansummeren finally rolls over the line 35 seconds clear of Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen for Garmin’s first win of the season. And the first time I’ve ever won any race or stage, so that was nice and unexpected.

And that brings us to the beginning or March, and the point where I’d played to before starting to write.

07-04-2012, 06:03 PM	#5
Critch lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Herndon, VA	February 2012 February starts slowly, no World Tour points on offer for the whole month, but the end of the month sees Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the first Classic of the year and the start of the Belgian season. The race is the start of the Northern Classics races that the Garmin group 4 are being trained for, so to get them some racetime Vansummeren, Maaskant, Vanmarcke, Klier and 4 fillers head off to the Tour of Oman. Surprisingly enough a team training for the cobblestones and hills of Northern Europe made no impression at all in flat sandy Oman and all that can really be said is that they raced for 6 days and didn’t get injured. Nobody broke the top 20 standings. No World Tour points and not much money on offer, so no great loss and on to Belgium. 2/26 - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (199.6km) The first Classic, the first race that the Garmin sponsors had targeted (they want a win), and the first real race for one of Garmin’s top group of riders, so this is the real start of the season. Johan Vansummeren (Belgium), Martijn Maaskant (Netherlands), Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium) and Andreas Klier (Germany) return from hot, dry Oman to Ghent in Northern Belgium where it’s near freezing and raining. Not sure Oman was the best preparation. The Garmin team is padded out with 4 domestiques. The plan for the race is to get to the front of the peloton and sit there. There’s a chance the peloton will split on the cobblestones, so front is the place to be if possible. These races are the ones that are most likely to be won by a breakaway, so if a breakaway goes one of the Garmin main riders will go with them. Twenty kilometers in the first sustained break goes and Andreas Klier goes with them. The breakaway fizzles out pretty quickly, but Klier keeps forcing the pace and by 50km he’s 3 minutes clear on his own. The rest of the Garmin team is following plans, sitting on front of the peloton and trying to slow down the Klier chase. At the halfway point Klier is still over 3 minutes ahead but he’s used more than half his energy to get to half point of the race. I have to slow him down to conserve energy, but it’s pretty quickly apparent that he’s going to be caught before the finish line, so the rest of the team give up on their attempts to slow the peloton to avoid being caught out. 60km to go Klier is finally caught and the peloton is all back together. The Garmin leader, Johan Vansummeren, isnt much of a sprinter so we’re going to have to split the field to give him a chance, so Maaskant and Vanmarcke step up the pace with Vansummeren following with about 30km to go. A small group follow but none of the big names, so when his protectors slow, Vansummeren makes a break on his own. I thought it was too early but at 20km he’s 2mins free, right on the “1 min lead for every 10km to go” rule for winning breakaways. 10km to go it’s still 1min 45 and the race seems just about in the bag. Vansummeren finally rolls over the line 35 seconds clear of Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen for Garmin’s first win of the season. And the first time I’ve ever won any race or stage, so that was nice and unexpected. And that brings us to the beginning or March, and the point where I’d played to before starting to write.