*Gent-Wevelgem* 29th March 2015

Nacer Bouhanni 22/1 PP is my first play here

Second bet in Gent Wevelgem for me is Tom Van Asbroeck at 66/1. Last year's 6th in this and 7th in Tour of Flanders while riding for Topsport got him his move to Lotto Jumbo and while he will probably play second fiddle to Vanmarcke, if it ends up as a bunch sprint he'll probably be their card. 4th behind Cav at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne proves he's reaching the level of the top-table sprinters in events like these and he's an attractive price.

Nacer Bouhanni 22/1
Tom Van Asbroeck 66/1

No mate, they're showing the Crtierium International. Disappointingly, it's proved impossible to get a bet on the Crit Int because no-one has properly priced it up. So we've got the strange situation of a live TV race you can't bet on and a race you can only watch on streams (cyclinghub/tv is excellent btw) that everyone has priced up

4th bet for me is Zdenek Stybar 40/1 PP have gone 4 places as well, which is pleasing. So my team is:

Nacer Bouhanni 22/1
Zdenek Stybar 40/1
Tom Van Asbroek 66/1
Luke Rowe 250/1 (3 places only)

Good spot LP! Yeah!

backed trentin at 40/1

With the rain and wind forecast I can see this being brutal. Not sure it will be a bunch sprint as many predict.
As I said on the Harlebecke thread I thought Vanmarcke looked very strong in Friday and I will throw a few quid at him today. Along with Stybar who rode brilliantly on Friday and just got done by Thomas.
Also Stannard weather innit?
Vanmarcke
Stybar
Stannard for me

I agree, Stannard is a top pick, suited by the conditions and the parcours, it's just I'm hoping Stannard uses the race as a training ride, I've backed him for PR earlier and don't want him to peak here with a win.

Some of those roads in the Flanders Fields are perpetually wet, so even if it stops the sporadic raining I expect wet and slippery road conditions, contributing to the chaos of the peloton in organising a concerted chase. We'll see. SP

Not backed anything so far, but this is going to be a complete clusterf*ck in these conditions. Not taking anything until the last possible moment as I doubt if much more than 1/4 of the field will finish this.

Griepel doing a lot of work on the front - Roelandts the chosen one for Lotto?

Paolini is a monster!

Wow Roelandts match odds on with 50km to go, laid me some of that

That's a great bet at 9/1 I think he might have to fall off to not get that. 3 places?

Right, need to get Roelandts beat first and then, in order, my best results are:

Debusschere
Vandenbergh
Thomas
Vanmarcke

Terpstra and Paolini no good for me

My two worst results up front by themselves

A place for Thomas is scant consolation there, and the lay of Roelandts doesn't cover my initial and inplay bets so its a losing Gent-Wevelgem for me. Great ride by Paolini there, thoroughly deserved that win. Etixx are going to be gutted with their failure to take down another big race despite having serious amounts of contenders on the premises. Tinkoff

Well safe to say I didn't do too well there! E-QS DS must be absolutely fuming.

always have something on the longest price in the break

I believe Clay and I understood the race accurately in there not being a sprint finish but rather a breakaway. Quite amazing scenes - with the head-on camera shot - to see multiple groups of echelons lined-up behind each other on that leafy, slightly undulating stretch of road. Indeed it looked brutal as the wind was a much much greater factor in influencing the race than just the rain -- nice one Clay.

What a crash by G, and then to get back on was heroic. I believe we again saw Sagan's poor form, in not being capable of jumping out of the main chasing group and slogging up to the quality first selection chase group -- in the manner of Paolini and Terpstra. I'm not sure Paolini's effort to attack twice and ultimately stay clear for the win on the second occasion, was that surprising frankly, only because we've seen his strength before to such an extent, even in the Ardennes, and when I recently described him as the 'bar-room enforcer' I suggested he has such great low-end power and hard strength. Obviously Kristoff wasn't up for it and KAT gave him the freedom, which he used to full effect. Cunning, crafty ride. Great win for him in the autumn season of his career.

As I intimated on the E3 thread concerning Vanmarcke, there's something not quite right with him, and whilst I expected a dominant performance, he failed quite badly. Echoing what we're probably all thinking, G is going great guns, really quite exceptional form for the SKY rider. He did excite the break on several occasions and perhaps worked a tad bit more than the others in that group, certainly when considering having to work on his own to recover from that spectacular crash when the wind blew him off the road and into the ditch. Did it twice, essentially. Debusschere might have been more combative and ultimately more successful if not for the conditions, he really couldn't handle the way-of-going, here. Vandenbergh -- no comment! Terpstra, impressed me a lot, I think he gains the most out of this race. Still need to watch it again, but I liked what I saw with Terpstra heading into Flanders and PR. Finally, my sole selection at ante-post, Jurgen Roelandts -- I could never have laid off any, even though I was E/W with PP, it would've felt disrespectful, just a Herculean effort which was a pleasure to witness, celestial almost, I think that was the best ride I've seen in at least two seasons of cobbled classics in, what was, just an amazing race.

Cheers,
SP

agree about paolini. the clear mind when everyone was well fatigued to attack when he did and the strength to finish it off. he might of been a bit underestimated by the others in the break and given a bit more leeway.

also, i wonder how roelandts would of gone if he had of sat up and waited for the chasing group?