Round 3 - Ronde van Drenthe Preview

Ronde van Drenthe, 132.8 km

Race Preview

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, proably 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 inital 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.