Preview

Although the organisers are squeezing three races into three days, the Ronde van Drenthe series maintains its traditional format and courses.  With a big running race taking place in Hoogeveen (the finish town for the Eurocup and the World Cup, the organisers faced the choice - run Drentse 8 Dwingeloo on Wednesday, Eurocup on Thursday, then have a rest day before the World Cup which takes place on Saturday, or run the races on consecutive days. They opted for the latter, which meant under UCI regulations that the Eurocup cannot be classified as a UCI race because there cannot be a UCI race the day before a World Cup.

The start lists for the three races differ significantly, with some riders missing one or both lead-up races to the World Cup. Previous winners and podium-placed riders of the World Cup give both the lead-up races a miss in 2011, which is a pity because this event has previously had very strong fields for all three days of racing. Moreover, the Novilon Eurocup is limited to being a domestic race, thus, the field is mainly Dutch and not international, which has been the case in previous years.

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Drenste 8 Dwingeloo

141 kilometres, Brink - Brink    Starts 1:00pm

Three laps of a figure-of-eight circuit based on the village of Brink in Dwingeloo. This race is flat and fast, with a 100 metre cobbled section which is used each lap. The narrow entry and single track nature of the section are as problematic as the cobbles themselves.

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Start List  Drenste 8 Dwingeloo

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Novilon Eurocup

134 kilometres, Coevorden to Hoogeveen   Starts 11:00am

From Coevorden to Hoogeveen, this race provides inexperienced riders with a preview of sections of the World Cup course the next day. The race heads to the VAMberg, which it covers three times in total in this race. The parcours then head east and north to the cobbles before returning to VAMberg for the final two ascensions on a circuit which also takes in the finish line in Hoogeveen.

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Start List  Novilon Eurocup

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Ronde van Drenthe, World Cup round 3

132.8 kilometres, Hoogeveen - Hogeveen   Starts 11:00am

A Dutchwoman will bring the World Cup jersey to the Netherlands for the fourth year in a row (in the history of this race as a World Cup: they were De Goede, Vos, Vos and now van Vleuten) and the omens are good for a win too - with two of the previous three winners being Dutch also.

The weather forecast is for cool, grey, probably wet and windy weather. The Ronde van Drenthe has significantly fewer kilometres of cobbles than Flanders in 2011, but the three sections are in the woods, covered by trees. The surface is moss covered and damp anyway, additional rain only serves to make the stones more perilous. Although the pace lifts just before them, as riders vie for position, then breaks usually form on the cobbled sections, they are not usually significant to the result of the race because they are so far from the finish.

Although the climb, the reclaimed landfill, VAMberg is steep, it is relatively a short and the bigger problem for many riders is the entrance to the site, which suddenly funnels to narrow single track, thus causing another battle for position on the ride to it.

The race takes a similar parcours to previous years - an initial ascension of VAMberg in the first 10 kilometres, from the wider and less steep direction, then a lap out in the Drenthe countryside which takes in the four sections of cobbles, the shortest of which is just 500 metres and the longest 2.8 kilometres. There are then almost 35 kilometres before the VAMberg with the course taking in a passage of the finishline in Hoogeveen before a final 26 kilometre circuit which goes out to VAMberg once more, 23 kilometres before the finish.

Historically (including the years when this was a stage of the Ronde van Drenthe stage race and not a World Cup), a group forms in the latter part of the race, typically somewhere around the penultimate climb of VAMberg, then an additional selection takes place in the closing lap, when either a solo rider manages to stay away, or a smaller group go off the front and sprint it out in Hoogeveen.

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Start List - Ronde van Drenthe, World Cup round 3

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