BiciRace.com :: 2006 Omloop Het Volk

2006 Omloop Het Volk, Report

Omloop Het Volk, Belgium

25 February, 201K

Gilbert Brings Home the Bacon

Van Bon, Gilbert De Waele on Podium, photo: Davitamon-Lotto

With a show of some cunning tactical wit and pure brute strength Belgian youngster, Philippe Gilbert has landed the biggest win of his brief pro career. Inside of the eight kilometer marker the 23 year-old with the Française Des Jeux squad manhandled Leon Van Bon (Davitamon-Lotto), Filippo Pozzato (Quick-Step) and Bert De Waele (Landbouwkrediet) and crossed the line a comfortable forty seconds ahead of the chasers.

The day's affairs began in typical Belgian fashion: very cold. It was sunny and clear though, so things could have been much worse. All eyes were on the world champ, Tom Boonen, and his Quick-Step cohorts. Quick-Step has a lot of cards to play with Boonen and Nick Nuyens (last year's winner) to name but a few, but the blue and grey boys would be heavily marked.

The start was slow going and it took until the 14K marker for things to get rolling. A break of seven riders formed containing Thierry Marichal (Cofidis), Ludovic Auger (Française Des Jeux), Grégory Habeaux (Landbouwkrediet), Michele Maccanti (LPR), Kevin Van Impe (Quick-Step), Geert Omloop (Unibet.com), Stephan Schreck (T-Mobile) and Loyd Mondory (Ag2R). Seven kilometers later four chasers: Bram Tankink (Quick-Step), Michael Albasini (Liquigas), Walter Bénéteau (Bouygues Telecom) and Cédric Coutouly (Agritubel), caught on to the seven escapees giving this group some real firepower.

Van Bon (cool kit) and Boonen have a go, photo: Davitamon-Lotto

With 66K to go Leon Van Bon (Lotto Davitamon) crested the final climb of the Molenberg at the head of the break, but despairingly looked over his shoulder to see the imposing figure of Tom Boonen. Their advantage was at a mere 10 seconds before they decide to wisely sit up and regroup with the chasers.

Davitamon-Lotto showed that they mean business today. They had hard-men Nico Mattan, Tom Steels and Leon Van Bon turning the screw at the front of the race trying to find a weakness in the Quick-Step machine.

With 26K to go the lead break consisted of Filippo Pozzato (Quick-Step), Matthew Hayman (Rabobank), Marc De Maar (Rabobank), Maccanti (LPR), Staf Scheirlinckx (Cofidis), Guennadi Mikhailov (Discovery), Boonen (Quick-Step), Andy Flickinger (Bouygues Telecom), Bert De Waele (Landbouwkrediet), Franck Renier (Bouygues Telecom), Mark Scanlon (Ag2R), Marco Serpellini (Unibet.com), Koen Barbé (Jacques), Gert Steegmans and Wim De Vocht (Davitamon).

At the 14K marker Gilbert bridged to the leaders and then attacked with about 10K to go. De Vocht, De Waele and Pozzato chased hard to rejoin, but De Vocht quickly blew out the back. Leon Van Bon had a dig forcing the others to react. Gilbert decided enough was enough and put the hammer down with 8K to go. He got an immediate gap and due to the indecision of the others his advantage steadily grew. Gilbert was scorching the road under the 1K banner and eventually crossed the line solo, making him the first Walloon winner of this race since his fallen compatriot Frank Vandenbroucke did it back in 1999. Bravo Philippe!
- Paco

Results: 4:56'18", 40.904 K/h
1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française Des Jeux
2 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.38
3 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon-Lotto 0.54
4 Koen Barbé (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
5 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Quick-Step
6 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 1.45
7 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank
8 Franck Renier (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
9 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
10 Michele Maccanti (Ita) Team LPR
11 Steffen Wesemann (Swi) T-Mobile
12 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 2.01
13 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick-Step
14 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis
15 Marc De Maar (Ned) Rabobank
16 Roger Hammond (GBr) Discovery Channel
17 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Unibet.com
18 Andy Flickinger (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
19 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2R Prévoyance
20 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Unibet.com 4.37
21 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
22 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank
23 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Discovery Channel
24 Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 5.17
25 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano
26 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Milram
27 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC 7.40
28 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Akud
29 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole
30 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile
31 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC
32 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Milram
33 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano
34 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
35 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française Des Jeux
36 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Crédit Agricole
37 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile
38 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Team CSC
39 Nicola Loda (Ita) Liquigas
40 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Bouygues Telecom
41 Pedro Horrillo (Spa) Rabobank
42 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel
43 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole
44 Ronny Poelvoorde (Bel) Flanders
45 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile
46 Olivier Bonnaire (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
47 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick-Step
48 Gregory Rast (Swi) Phonak
49 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) T-Mobile
50 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française Des Jeux
51 Benoît Joachim (Lux) Discovery Channel
52 Didier Rous (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
53 Walter Bénéteau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
54 Ludovic Auger (Fra) Française Des Jeux
55 Marco Milesi (Ita) Liquigas
56 Johan Coenen (Bel) Unibet.com
57 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
58 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Unibet.com
59 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank
60 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com
61 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
62 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas
63 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto
64 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
65 Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
66 Leif Hoste (Bel) Discovery Channel
67 Andreas Klier (Ger) T-Mobile
68 Christophe Mengin (Fra) Française Des Jeux
69 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Milram
70 Aivaras Baranauskas (Ltu) Agritubel
71 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Cofidis
72 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
73 Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis
74 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
75 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis
76 Cyrille Monnerais (Fra) Française Des Jeux
77 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Crédit Agricole
78 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
79 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil-Shimano
80 Tom Steels (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
81 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) T-Mobile
82 Geert Omloop (Bel) Unibet.com
83 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Cofidis
84 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR
85 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel
86 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com
87 Uros Murn (Slo) Phonak
88 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick-Step
89 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Quick-Step
90 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick-Step
91 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
92 Francis Mourey (Fra) Française Des Jeux