Omloop Het Volk

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Omloop Het Volk
Race details
Date	Late February
Region	Flanders, Belgium
English name	Circuit of the People
Local name(s)	Omloop Het Volk (Dutch)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI Europe Tour
Type	One-day race
History
First edition	1945
Editions	59 (as of 2007)
First winner	Jean Bogaerts
Most wins	3 wins: Ernest Sterckx Joseph Bruyere Peter Van Petegem
Most recent	Phillippe Gilbert

The 2005 edition of Het Volk climbs the Oude Kwaremont (Picture courtesy of Eddy Van Laere of the Official Het Volk Site (http://omloop.sportwereld.be/omloop/nieuws.html).

Omloop Het Volk (often just called Het Volk) is a European semi classic single day cycle race held in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The race is the opening event on the Belgian cycling calendar and is usually held on the last Saturday in February or the first in March. The race is characterised by cold weather and short cobbled climbs and comes as a complete contrast to the early season training camps of the Italian Riviera or the south of France.

The race was first held in 1945, and is organised by the newspaper Het Volk in response to rival daily Het Nieuwsblad’s running of the more famous 'Monument' Classic Ronde van Vlaanderen. Indeed Omloop “Het Volk” (literally named "circuit of the people), uses many of the same climbs used in the Ronde and is seen as important preparation for the bigger event. In the early days the race was often known as Ghent-Ghent as some newspapers did not want to give their rival any publicity. The 2008 edition will see the return of this name.

1 Het Volk and the weather
2 History
3 The route
4 References and footnotes
5 External links
6 Winners
7 Winners womens race

[edit] Het Volk and the weather

Because of its early season spot in the calendar Omloop Het Volk is often subject to inclement and cold weather. In spite of this, it has had very few cancellations due to snow. The race organisers are reliant on the weather forecasts in the days leading up to the race and will make some adjustments to the course if some of the cobbled climbs are deemed unsafe for the riders. Heavy snow fell the night before the 1955, 1974 and 1988 editions of the race but it was still possible to run the event. The 1971 race was postponed due to heavy snowfalls but was eventually run three weeks later on Thursday 26 March when the organisers of the GP Pino Cerami agreed to move their race to another date. Ironically there was a thaw on the Saturday afternoon of the original date and it was possible to run the following days Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, which is always scheduled on the Sunday (the day after Omloop Het Volk). The 1986 edition was the victim of heavy snow and was cancelled with the race organisers deciding not to run the race at a later date because of the expense. It was a similar story in 2004 with race organiser Wim Van Herreweghe saying: "The safety of the riders could not be guaranteed, the snow and freezing cold made the route too dangerous." The 1960 race was also cancelled but this was due to a disagreement between the race organisers and cycling’s ruling body the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The UCI had given preferential treatment to other Belgian Spring classics regarding race dates and riders (Article 108bis), the Het Volk organisers decided not to run their race as a protest.

[edit] History

Despite international competition Belgians have dominated the race. Aided by large, supportive crowds, and comfortable with the cobbles and the cold weather, Belgians regularly ride to glory in front of their countrymen. Even 2008 Belgian winner Gilbert--a Walloon--is a departure from the usual Flemish line of victors. In the 60 editions of the race since its inception there have only been three winners from outside northern Europe: the Italian classic specialists Franco Ballerini, Michele Bartoli and Filippo Pozzato.

One early foreign challenge came from the legendary Italian Fausto Coppi. After dominating the 1948 race, Coppi was first over the finish line. However he was disqualified after accepting a wheel change from the Belgian Walschott, who was not a member of his team. ^[1]

The record for the number of wins in the race stands at three jointly held by Joseph Bruyere (1974, 1975 and 1980), Ernest Sterckx (1952, 1953 and 1956) and Peter Van Petegem (1997, 1998 and 2002). Bruyere also hold the record for the fastest average speed (43.35 km/h) for his 1975 victory.

A whole host of famous names have won the race twice including Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck, Freddy Maertens and Johan Museeuw. Dutchman Jan Raas took a deserved victory in 1981 after finishing 2nd in 1977, 3rd in 1978, 2nd in 1979 and 4th in 1980.

[edit] The route

Het Volk started and finished in Ghent between 1945 and 1995, in the period 1996 to 2007 the conclusion of the race was at Lokeren, 20km to the north east. However in 2008 the race reverts to finishing in Ghent and the format has been radically changed with 11 climbs and 16 km of cobbles in the 199 km event. The starting line is outside S.M.A.K, Ghent's Museum of Contemporary Art, the first 70 km is flat before the riders face a tough 40 km section including five “monts”, the short, sharp climbs that feature in many of the Flemish classics and one cobbled sector. Another flat part of the race is followed by the finale, a 55 km section which includes the cobbled sectors of Donderij and Hof ter Fiennestraat and the climbs of the Oud Kruisberg, Taaienberg, Eikenberg and the Wolvenberg. The Molenberg is the final climb around 39 km from the finish and this short climb which averages almost 10% in gradient can be the launching point for a winning break. The race finishes in the centre of Ghent on the thoroughfare of Charles de Kerchovelaan in front of the Citadelpark.^[2]^[3]