News – Wiggins to ride for Stannard

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Bradley Wiggins to ride for last years winner in Het Nieuwsblad, Ian Stannard on Saturday – big day for the Brits racing.

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News – Wiggins to ride for Stannard

Bradley Wiggins kicks off his cobbled classics campaign at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, known for most of its like as Het Volk, and will be playing a team role in support of Ian Stannard. Last years winner, Stannard, has a good record on the cobbles and is looking to take on the Belgians again in their backyard.

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Wiggins told the Team Sky website “I feel good. I’m coming off the back of a good block of training and I’m ready for what I consider to be the start of my season proper now. I used the Tour of Qatar as a preparation race, but this next month of racing is where it really matters.”

“There’s still a long way to go until Paris-Roubaix and for me, it’s all about continuing to work and going through the process in the build up to that. For Omloop Het Niuewsblad, we’ve got last year’s winner in Ian Stannard, and he’s trying to do the double, so my job will be to put him in the best position to win”.

“I’d like to be there when it matters in the final. It’s not going to be a case of emptying the tank in the first 100km and then swinging over, my goal will be to finish, to finish well, and be there in the last 30-40km when there might be a break that needs chasing down or we to drive things ourselves. After everything these guys have given me over the years, I’m looking forward to do a job for them as they go for the win.”

“Getting yourself into the right mind-set for the cobbled classics is far different to any other race. These races are over in one day and you don’t get a second chance. It’s a case of laying everything on the line, taking risks, and every one of them is a warzone. We all know the score and the strongest guys generally win.”

Wiggins is still a month away from his goal, Paris Roubaix, and says “The biggest difference between this race and the other cobbled classics is the cold. Obviously, it’s still February and it’ll be a good 10-15 degrees warmer in five or six weeks’ time when the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix roll around. Tomorrow it’ll be around 5 degrees and that’s the thing that wears people out. Last year it rained as well and that really sorts the men from the boys”.

Etixx – Quick-Step recce ride
Favourites for the race are the Belgian riders starting their own spring campaign. “It’s always good to have it fresh in the mind,” Boonen (pictured below) said about the parcours. “At the last minute, I decided to participate in this recon and I think we had better weather than the other teams who did it on Wednesday. We took it easy and now have the afternoon to relax. As for the race, the parcours in the final is the same that we faced in the last years”.

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“I haven’t checked the start list yet but I know about most of the top guys who will be here. Many of them were already at Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman. But to be honest I think it will be tomorrow at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad where the riders of the Classics will start to show themselves. The races we’ve done so far aren’t really races where you can make comparisons”.

“Qatar only had one day where it was really full gas to the finish line with only 15 guys left in the group for the final. At Oman, there was one mountain stage where you can’t make judgments of Classics riders who are a little bigger in size on the climbs. We didn’t really have any chances to show how good we were on hilly parcours that suited us”.

“So I think Saturday we will know how it is with everybody. At this race I was two times 2nd and one time 3rd. Of course it’s an objective. But you can never really predict these kinds of races. We are here with a strong team and I think we can do something for sure and honor the first Belgian race of the season.”

Zdenek Stybar was also out looking at the course and says “I think the key moment will be the Taaienberg. Until that point it is always very hard. It’s about positioning before that point, and the selections are starting to be made. From that point the race eases up a bit. Then you assert your position and form your strategy for the rest of the race”.

“I think it is our advantage that our team is so well-rounded. Anyone can win and we can play a role in any scenario. I think for our team it is an open race and we just have to make sure that we always move at the right moment, and everyone supports the strongest rider with however the race evolves.”

Paris-Roubaix winner Niki Terpstra says of the race “Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman were of course good. With an overall and ITT win in Qatar, I was of course happy. Oman was also a hard race with some mountain stages that can help the condition. This week it was about getting acclimatised to the cold temperatures and recover a bit, and then get ready for tomorrow”.

“Last year I was in the action and I will try to do that again, but also try to get a good result. This will be the first of a long series of races. My shape is OK but there can still be improvements until the end of March. Tomorrow I want to be good, and then take it step-by-step. Even if I am not Belgian, I really feel these races and want to focus on Omloop Het Nieuwsblad tomorrow.”

Other riders to look out for are Russell Downing, Luke Rowe, Dan McLay, Scott Thwaits, Zak Dempster and Matt Brammeier.

RIDERS

TEAM SKY
1 STANNARD Ian
2 EISEL Bernhard
3 VIVIANI Elia
4 KNEES Christian
5 PUCCIO Salvatore
6 ROWE Luke
7 SUTTON Christopher
8 WIGGINS Bradley

AG2R LA MONDIALE
11 BAGDONAS Gedeminas
12 GAUDIN Damien
13 GOUGEARD Alexis
14 HOULE Hugo
15 MINARD Sébastien
16 MONDORY Lloyd
17 TURGOT Sébastien
18 VANSUMMEREN Johan

BMC RACING TEAM
21 GILBERT Philippe
22 VAN AVERMAET Greg
23 BURGHARDT Marcus
24 DRUCKER Jean-Pierre
25 SCHÄR Michael
26 TEUNS Dylan
27 WYSS Danilo
28 ZABEL Rick

ETIXX – QUICK STEP
31 BOONEN Tom
32 KEISSE Iljo
33 MAES Nikolas
34 STYBAR Zdenek
35 TERPSTRA Niki
36 TRENTIN Matteo
37 VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume
38 VANDENBERGH Stijn

FDJ
41 BONNET William
42 BOUCHER David
43 DELAGE Mickael
44 DEMARE Arnaud
45 GESLIN Anthony
46 LADAGNOUS Matthieu
47 LE BON Johan
48 OFFREDO Yoann

IAM CYCLING
51 AREGGER Marcel
52 BRANDLE Matthias
53 CHAVANEL Sylvain
54 DEVENYNS Dries
55 ELMIGER Martin
56 PINEAU Jérôme
57 REYNES MIMO Vicente
58 HAUSSLER Heinrich

LOTTO SOUDAL
61 DOCKX Gert
62 BENOOT Tiesj
63 BROECKX Stig
64 DE BIE Sean
65 DEBUSSCHERE Jens
66 LIGTHART Pim
67 DEHAES Kenny
68 SIEBERG Marcel

TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN
71 ARNDT Nikias
72 CURVERS Roy
73 DE BACKER Bert
74 DE KORT Koen
75 SINKELDAM Ramon
76 STAMSNIJDER Tom
77 TIMMER Albert
78 WAEYTENS Zico

TEAM KATUSHA
81 BYSTRØM Sven Erik
82 HALLER Marco
83 ISAYCHEV Vladimir
84 KRISTOFF Alexander
85 KUZNETSOV Viacheslav
86 SELIG Rudiger
87 SMUKULIS Gatis
88 TCATEVICH Aleksei

TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO
91 LEEZER Thomas
92 TANKINK Bram
93 TJALLINGII Maarten
94 VAN ASBROECK Tom
95 VAN EMDEN Jos
96 VANMARCKE Sep
97 WAGNER Robert Thomas
98 WYNANTS Maarten

ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI
101 BANDIERA Marco
102 DALL’ANTONIA Tiziano
103 FRAPPORTI Marco
104 GATTO Oscar
105
106
107 CHICCHI Francesco
108

BORA-ARGON 18
111 ARCHBOLD Shane
112 DEMPSTER Zakkari
113 SCHILLINGER Andreas
114 PFINGSTEN Christoph
115 SCHWARZMANN Michael
116 SCHORN Daniel
117 THWAITES Scott
118 VOSS Paul

BRETAGNE-SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT
121 JARRIER Benoit
122 BRUN Frédéric
123 CAM Maxime
124 FEILLU Romain
125 LABORIE Christophe
126 MCLAY Daniel
127 PERICHON Pierre-Luc
128 VACHON Florian

CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE
131 KIENDYS Tomasz
132 KUREK Adrian
133 MARYCZ Jaroslaw
134 MIHAYLOV Nikolay
135
136 RUTKIEWICZ Marek
137 STEPNIAK Grzegorz
138 TACIAK Mateusz

COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS
141 JOEAAR Gert
142 LAPORTE Christophe
143 LEMOINE Cyril
144 PETIT Adrien
145 SENECHAL Florian
146 TURGIS Anthony
147 CHAINEL Steve
148 VERHELST Louis

CULT ENERGY PRO CYCLING
151 DOWNING Russell
152 KIRSCH Alex
153 MORTENSEN Martin
154 PEDERSEN Mads
155 REIHS Michael
156 SVENDGAARD Michael Carbel
157 VINTHER Troels Ronning
158 ZANGERLE Joel

MTN – QHUBEKA
161 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
162 CIOLEK Gerald
163 FARRAR Tyler
164 JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt
165 BOS Theo
166 BRAMMEIER Matt
167 VENTER Jaco
168 THOMSON Jay Robert

NIPPO – VINI FANTINI
171 COLLI Daniele
172 DE NEGRI Pier Paolo
173 GROSU Eduard Michael
174 MALAGUTI Alessandro
175 MARINI Nicolas
176 POZZO Mattia
177 STACCHIOTTI Riccardo
178 VIOLA Antonio

SOUTHEAST
181 BELLETTI Manuel
182 CECCHINEL Giorgio
183 DAL COL Andrea
184 ANDRIATO Rafael
185 FINETTO Mauro
186 MARECZKO Jakub
187
188 ZHUPA Eugert

TEAM EUROPCAR
191 DUCHESNE Antoine
192 GENE Yohann
193 BERNAUDEAU Giovanni
194 JEROME Vincent
195 MARTINEZ Yannick
196 MORICE Julien
197 ENGOULVENT Jimmy
198 TULIK Angelo

TEAM ROOMPOT
201 ASSELMAN Jesper
202 DE VRIES Berden
203 DUIJN Huub
204 HOOGERLAND Johnny
205 KERKHOF Tim
206 KREDER Wesley
207 TERPSTRA Mike
208 VAN GOETHEM Brian

TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN – BALOISE
211 DECLERCQ Tim
212 HELVEN Sander
213 NAESEN Oliver
214 THEUNS Edward
215 VAN HOECKE Gijs
216 VAN LERBERGHE Bert
217 VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter
218 WALLAYS Jelle

WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT
221 BACKAERT Frederik
222 BAUGNIES Jérôme
223 LEUKEMANS Bjorn
224 MARCATO Marco
225 SELVAGGI Mirko
226 VAN MELSEN Kevin
227 DE TROYER Tim
228 VEUCHELEN Frederik

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