*** Ster ZLM Toer 2013 Spoiler thread ***

RonB

Thanks to potssteve for kicking this one off last week.

For folks who want quick links to follow the race + the latest news on the Cav vs. Greipel pre-Tour shootout.

Official site = http://www.sterzlmtoer.nl/index.php?page=1&lang=en

The Prologue was held earlier today and the top places follow...

1 Robert Wagner 28 BLA 09:40
2 Lars Boom 22 BLA 09:42 +2
3 Tobias Ludvigsson 44 ARG 09:43 +3
4 Marcel Kittel 43 ARG 09:44 +4
5 Andrew Fenn 3 OPQ 09:46 +6

With both Greipel and Cav showing well at 10th and 14th respectively.

Full stage results here.

Tomorrow's stage looks like a sprinters day out. From 1200 to around 1600 CET; a 175km stage with two intermediate sprints at 52 and 75km.

It does not look like there is a live feed for this race, though this appears to be for "technical" reasons atm. Perhaps someone could update the thread if there are any developments on this. Cheers.

inkyfingers

Minor detail, but Cavendish was 14th.

Good ride from Andy Fenn, obviously in good shape at the moment, wonder if he'll make the Tour team?

RonB

Thanks - 18" behind & not 18th!

It would be good to see Omega have more than the Cav train in mind for the Tour, though we'll probably see him play a part in the lead-out this week anyway, which might not do his chances any harm.

pottssteve

Hi All,

They hope to have the live feed up for today's stage - were relying on Twitter yesterday!

As Ron mentions, today is the first of the sprint stages, to and from Breda. Expect the intermediate sprints to be hotly contested - the winning margin for the whole week is often so small at the end of each stage that the time bonuses make a big difference to the overall result. Cav has the same train who worked well at the Giro.

Weather is warm and humid with a chance of rain. Strongish (F5) winds from the SE should give an oblique tailwind on the last km, which is dead straight.

Steve

DeadCalm

Mark Cavendish ‏@MarkCavendish 4m
Hats off to @theo_bos today! Clever, strong, patient, fast. Unbeatable today. Frustrating, after @opqscyclingteam rode so well for me!

andyp

1. Bos
2. Greipel
3. Cavendish

RonB

Seems to be a bit of mutual appreciation going around today...

Andre Greipel @AndreGreipel
The activ @Lotto_Belisol guys went for the win. We tried it in a different way in the final @theo_bos made an impressive sprint. Chapeau

Pross

Hang on, have I gone dillusional? I could swear I just read that, not only did Bos win a sprint but he beat Greipel and Cav. :shock:

RonB

From the OPQS site...

"Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Mark Cavendish was 3rd in a sprint of a front group that formed due to crosswinds at the 175.7km Ster ZLM Toer - GP Jan van Heeswijk Stage 2 on Thursday. Theo Bos (Blanco Pro Cycling) won the stage, and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) was 2nd.

The charging group behind — which was originally about 6 riders, but grew to as many as 34 after a chase group caught the leaders only to eventually drop to less than 26 in the final kilometers — caught an attacking Lars Boom (Blanco ProCycling) and Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) with one kilometer to go. The two had attacked with less than 5km remaining.

OPQS had many of their riders in the front group, but so did Lotto-Belisol, Argos-Shimano, and Blanco ProCycling. All teams lost riders supporting their sprinters as the stage progressed. The stage was predicted to end in a sprint, but the winds eliminated the chances of many to contest the finale. The gap was at about 2'45" at about the 10km point.

OPQS looks next to a 188.3km Stage 3 on Friday, with 6 mountain sprint sections, and two point sprint sections. The last 3km are flat. Andrew Fenn will be the top OPQS rider in the GC, entering the stage in 4th (+06"). Michal Golas is 6th (+11") and defending champion Cavendish 8th (+14")."

...I'm guessing that Fenn was part of the lead-out train for Cav as he was credited with the same time as the sprinters.

andyp

Will this thread now run to 8 pages in next to no time?

Pross

Cav's finished I reckon.

inkyfingers

Pross wrote:

Cav's finished I reckon.

Definitely.

tailwindhome

inkyfingers wrote:

Pross wrote:

Cav's finished I reckon.

Definitely.

No he'll prove the doubters wrong.....

RonB

inkyfingers wrote:

Pross wrote:

Cav's finished I reckon.

Definitely.

Should never have left Teem Sky.

pottssteve

Hi Ron,

I will be at the race tomorrow so I will put this to him if I get the chance.

So far the suggestions are:
1. He's finished
2. Should have stayed at "Teem Sky" (whatever that is)

It's not a Cav-friendly stage tomorrow - lots of nasty little climbs, changes of direction, pace etc. Forecast for much lighter winds though, and drier than today.

Steve

RichN95.

Pross wrote:

Cav's finished I reckon.

He's gathering critics so he can prove them wrong.

No_Ta_Doctor

No way he's finished.






Just peaked too early, innit?

FJS

Highlights of today with about 3 seconds of footage of the sprint
http://www.omroepbrabant.nl/?video/8201 ... tion=media

markwb79

FJS wrote:

Highlights of today with about 3 seconds of footage of the sprint
http://www.omroepbrabant.nl/?video/8201 ... tion=media

Nice, cheers.

What is Wagner thinking? A earring, oh dear!

Pleased that Bos won, I read that Boom attacked towards the finish, not sure that was supposed to happen. Always think he is a bit of a loose cannon within a team.

RonB

pottssteve wrote:

Hi Ron,

I will be at the race tomorrow so I will put this to him if I get the chance.

So far the suggestions are:
1. He's finished
2. Should have stayed at "Teem Sky" (whatever that is)

It's not a Cav-friendly stage tomorrow - lots of nasty little climbs, changes of direction, pace etc. Forecast for much lighter winds though, and drier than today.

Steve

Excellent. Could you ask him if he's going to try for the red lantern this year now that Sagan bloke has the green jersey?

Pross

pottssteve wrote:

Hi Ron,

I will be at the race tomorrow so I will put this to him if I get the chance.

So far the suggestions are:
1. He's finished
2. Should have stayed at "Teem Sky" (whatever that is)

It's not a Cav-friendly stage tomorrow - lots of nasty little climbs, changes of direction, pace etc. Forecast for much lighter winds though, and drier than today.

Steve

Pfft now he's even got his fanboys making excuses in advance.

bobones

Today's stage preliminary results: 1. Marcel Kittel 2. Andre Greipel 3. Mark Cavendish 4. Theo Bos 5. Kenny van Hummel

TMR

FFS Cav! Pull your finger out!

inkyfingers

The Mad Rapper wrote:

FFS Cav! Pull your finger out!

He won this race last year without winning a stage. He'll come good, his whole season has been built around this race, he even rode the Giro to prepare for it.

TMR

I have no reason to disbelieve you, I just hate seeing him lose a sprint to Andre the Giant

pottssteve

Followed today's stage in the press car - a new perspective for me, and very interesting. Didn't get the chance to tell Cav he was past it, though, sorry!

Kittel was a clear winner in the sprint, Greipel and Cav easily bested. Tomorrow is another lumpy one.

Stage summary in English here:http://www.sterzlmtoer.nl/index.php?page=2&lang=en&id=270
Some nice photos on the Facebook page.

Best,
Steve

RonB

From OPQS...

"It wasn't an easy day today," Cavendish said. "We tried to stay at the front. Blanco was going to control it because they had the jersey. But we put one guy up there — Frantisek Rabon. He rode really well the whole day with the front guys to keep the strong group of eight close, and then to reel it in for a sprint finish. There was a good flat part in the last 40km so we knew it was going to be a sprint in a technical finishing circuit. So we tried to stay at the front. The team did really well. We all stayed together but Argos-Shimano had it strong at the end. I went for the sprint again and I couldn't match the guys like yesterday. I'm disappointed after the team worked well. It's a little like last year when I came here and didn't win a stage because I had a training block. We're not too worried. It'd be nice to win but we've still got two more days and then we've got the Tour de France in two weeks."

deejay

A day in the Belgium Ardennes tomorrow for Queen stage ?
Should leave Cav with one day not two.

knedlicky

With today, that’s 6 times Kittel has now won a race/stage when Cavendish has been also there. Cavendish has won 4 times when Kittel was present.
Perhaps the thread “Cav vs Greipel” from about 10 days ago should be re-titled “Cav vs Kittel”.

On his present form, it looks like Kittel will have as good a year as 2011. Last year his season was shorter/his chances of wins less, because he dropped out of the TdF early on with stomach problems and then later in 2012 rode less than in the second half of 2011 because of knee problems.

RichN95.

knedlicky wrote:

With today, that’s 6 times Kittel has now won a race/stage when Cavendish has been also there. Cavendish has won 4 times when Kittel was present.
Perhaps the thread “Cav vs Greipel” from about 10 days ago should be re-titled “Cav vs Kittel”.

I find a better way of looking at head to heads (for sprinters) is number of wins where the other was in the top ten (so therefore in contention). With that it's 4-0 to Kittel. However, there's nothing bigger than Scheldeprijs there. Otherwise its ZLM or Oman.
Kittel's good, very good, but at the Tour you have about a dozen or more decent sprinters chancing their arm and it gets harder. We shall see.

pottssteve

Forecast for today's stage could make it challenging - up to F5 winds from the south, with a 50% chance of rain in the afternoon during the race. Mixture of sun and cloud.

Steve