Cycling: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

[a7081543]

There is not enough cycling betting advice on this website so I aim to change this.
This Saturday sees the start of the one day classic betting market this year with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Race (although it is technically a semi-classic). For more info on the parkours the PezCycling Website . It is basically a watered down Tour of Flanders. So who to back in a race that is tough and full of crashes. Last year the race ended with a bunch sprint between 18 riders with Hushovd winning.

So who to bet on.

The Favourite is Boonen even though he has never won this race. He is good form after Qatar and Oman and the only question mark is coping with the weather conditions as he has not trained in Belguim this year. He claims to be 5 pounds this year compared to last so that helps. I can't see past him and at 4/1 with paddy power I would snap that up.

The other leaders in the betting are E Boasson Hagen but I feel he is a bit too inexperienced for a race like this. I am surprised he is named as Team Skys leader for the race as I feel Flecha at this moment in time is the better rider on the cobbles and 33/1 offers a good value each way bet (Bet 365).

The other favourites like Pozzato, Haussler and Gilbert I just don't fancy.

So I will go for two other slight outsiders

Ballan 33/1 (Bet 365) BMC are all about the classics when looking at their squad and what better way to make a statement than to win here. I have been impressed with how they performed in Down Under, Qatar and Oman and expect them to show well here. A strong squad is difficult to pick between Hincapie, Burghardt and Ballan but I feel Ballan has the best sprint so they will probably work for him .

Farrar 33/1 (Bet 365) Again Garmin have got a very good squad for the Classics with Van Summerun and Maaskant. It will interesting to see how Dave Millar does as well as he is riding all the cobbled classics for them this season. Farrar has a great chance. He has ridden well getting into all the right groups in Qatar and Oman and although he has not won a stage yet this year he is constantly up there. The other reason behind him not winning a race yet could also be that he does better in a sprint after a long hard stage that has sapped the energy from the other sprinters legs.

I see that Cycling Weekly has tipped Bozic as an outsider for Saturday and it could be a great shout at 80/1 but I just don't know how good he is over cobbles.n

[kompressaur]

good man a708. Seeing as your two picks are at Bet365 i will have a bet on them. Book Closes 27 Feb 10:45 i note. Ive taken them both Each-way 1/4 1-2-3 a708 for an interest.

welcome to TDP a708 and thanks for sharing your thoughts. you right we don't have enough cycling advice on TDP. I even opened a Cycling Betting Forum within TDP but i dont think the world was ready for it yet. good luck to our two guys in this competition.

[a7081543]

You can get Boonen at 5/1 Farrar at 35/1 and Ballan at 40/1 all at UNIBET. I don't have an account there shame.
You can also bet on Sunday's Race Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on there. It is similar to saturday's and has basically the same field. One guy is only racing on sunday is Oscar Freire who is 13/1 and should be worth a punt.

[a7081543]

1 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Sky
2 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Transitions
3 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervelo TestTeam
Shame I didn't back myself and go no Flecha would really have been in the money. Farrar raced well though. Boonen punctured at a crucial time and that destroyed his chance although he did look very strong.

[kompressaur]

Nice one on Farrar none the less a708. Nice pick. time i returned some thanks. thanks