42nd Omloop van het Waasland-Kemzeke - 1.2

Belgium, March 12, 2006

2005 Results Results Past winners

Rambo wins in Kemzeke

By Brecht Decaluwé in Kemzeke

The podium
Photo ©: Brecht Decaluwé

In a cold but sunny Kemzeke, Niko 'Rambo' Eeckhout racked up another win, arriving solo after 184 kilometres. The "Omloop van het Waasland-Kemzeke" was his third win of the young season. Last week, Eeckhout won the last stage and the overall of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. "Afterwards I was really tired," said the Chocolade Jacques rider. "In the last two days I felt better. I was really motivated to win over here, but it was not easy. The other competitors weren't of a real high quality, so they were all looking at me and our team. Waiting for a sprint was tricky, that's why I decided to attack."

Normally, a rider of Eeckhout's class doesn't show up at these races, but Eeckhout explained, "I asked our coach to race over here because I needed some competition. Sadly enough, our Chocolade Jacques team isn't allowed to start in Paris-Nice nor Tirreno-Adriatico."

The 24-year old Markus Eichler finished third behind the two Chocolade Jacques riders, Eeckhout and Koen Barbé. The young German is doing very well this year. He won the Prix de Lillers 'Bruno Comini' in France, last week. "These races suit me very well," he said. "Unlike most riders, I like the cobbles and the cold. My dream is racing in a ProTour team. making it possible to compete in the real Northern classics."

How it unfolded

Niko Eeckhout (Chocolade Jacques)
Photo ©: Brecht Decaluwé

The Omloop van het Waasland-Kemzeke starts in Stekene, Flanders. In sunny but cold weather, 161 riders started for 184 km of racing on flat and sometimes cobbled roads. Erwin Goenga (Piels) and Peter Ronsse (Jartazi) were the first riders to get away but they didn't get too far. After 30 kilometres, David Boucher (Unibet) got away with Dirk Bellemaekers (Van Vliet) and Valeriy Dmitriyev (Capec). Bellemaekers had a flat tyre and disappeared at the front. 17 riders joined the lead, but going into the local laps at km 110, everything got back together, as is normal.

With 50 kilometres to go, 18 riders got away in what proved to be the decisive escape. Boucher was there again, and so were the likes of Eeckhout, Barbé (Chocolade Jacques), Criquielion, De Wilde and Habeaux (Landbouwkrediet), Blanchy and local boy Robby Meul (Jartazi). Most teams had a rider in the leading group so the peloton let them go. The advantage grew to four minutes. Seven riders from the leading group couldn't keep up with the pace. So, going into the final lap, 12 leaders raced for victory.

Habeaux was the first one to attack but he wasn't allowed to go the distance. Niko Eeckhout tried twice and his second attempt proved to be successful. Team mate Koen Barbé managed to win the sprint for second place, making it a one-two for the Chocolade Jacques team. German Markus Eichler finished third ahead of the strong Boucher.

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Brecht Decaluwé/Cyclingnews.com

The winner last year Gorik Gardeyn (Unibet.com) talking with this year's winner, Niko Eeckhout (Chocolade Jacques)
Niko Eeckhout (Chocolade Jacques) wins the Omloop van het Waasland in Kemzeke
Koen Barbé (Chocolade Jacques) takes second ahead of Eichler and Boucher
German Markus Eichler (Regiostrom-Senges) finished third
The podium: Koen Barbe (2nd), Niko Eeckhout and happy son (1st), and Markus Eichler (3rd)

Results

1 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen    4.43.30
2 Koen Barbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen          0.15
3 Markus Eichler (Ger) Team Regiostrom-Senges                         
4 David Boucher (Fra) Unibet.com                                      
5 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank Continental                          
6 Tim Meeusen (Bel) Pictoflex Bikeland Hyundai                    0.27
7 Chris Sörensen (Den) Designa Kokken          
8 Gregory Habeaux (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                       
9 Rune Udby (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens                        0.40
10 Mathieu Criquielion (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                  
11 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi - 7Mobile                             1.14
12 Joost Van Leijen (Ned) Van Vliet - EBH Advocaten               3.05
13 Denis Flahaut (Bel)                                            4.40
14 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen      
15 Patrick Van Roosbroeck                                             
16 Ilya Chernyshov (Kaz) Capec                                        
17 Roy Hegreberg (Nor) Glud & Marstrand Horsens                       
18 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen    
19 Tom Veelers (Ned) Rabobank (Continental)                           
20 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                  
21 Kevin Neyrinck (Bel)                                           
22 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                    
23 Adriaan Helmantel (Ned) Cyclingteam Jo Piels                       
24 Ronny Poelvoorde (Bel) Flanders                                    
25 Jonas Owczarek (Ger) Team Sparkasse                                
26 Steffen Weigold (Ger) Team Lamonta                                 
27 Alexandr Dymovskikh (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec                       
28 Alexander Gut (Ger) Team Lamonta                                   
29 Sebastian Frey (Ger) Team Sparkasse                                
30 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) DFL-Cyclingnews                           
31 Malaya Van Ruitenbeek (Ned) Van Vliet-EBH Advocaten                
32 Arjen De Baat (Ned) Rabobank (Continental)                         
33 Martin Vestby (Nor) ProComm-Van Hemert                             
34 Mart Van Zandbeek (Ned) Flanders                                   
35 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi-7Mobile                              
36 Alexander Maul (Ger) Team Sparkasse                                
37 Ken De Vos (Bel)                                         
38 Steven Thys (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile                                  
39 Gregory De Munster (Bel) Flanders                                  
40 Mike Van Putten (Ned) Yawadoo-Colba-ABM                            
41 Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL-Cyclingnews                             
42 Erwin Goenga (Ned) Cyclingteam Jo Piels                            
43 Kor Steenbergen (Ned) Cyclingteam Jo Piels                         
44 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile                                 
45 Valeriy Dmitriyev (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec                         
46 Sven De Weerdt (Bel) DFL-Cyclingnews                               
47 Christophe Lembrechts (Bel) Yawadoo-Colba-ABM                      
48 Nico Van Dijk (Ned) Cyclingteam Jo Piels                           
49 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Rietumu Bank-Riga

Past winners

2005 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech  
2004 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans
2003 Geert Omloop (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
2002 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) Bert Story Piels
2001 Martin Van Steen (Ned)
2000 Jans Koerts (Ned)
1999 Geert Omloop (Bel)
1998 Frank Hoj (Den)
1997 Wim Omloop (Bel)
1996 Michel Van Haecke (Bel)
1995 Hendrik Redant (Bel)
1994 Jan Bogaert (Bel)
1993 Menno Vink (Ned)
1992 Fabrice Naessens (Bel)
1991 Jerry Cooman (Bel)
1990 Luc Govaerts (Bel)
1989 (2) Frank Pirard (Ned)
1988 Erik Breukink (Ned)
1987 Frank Pirard (Ned)
1986 Frank Verleyen (Bel)
1985 William Tackaert (Bel)
1984 Yvan Lamote (Bel)
1983 Alain Van Hoornweder (Bel)
1982 (2) Johnny Denul (Bel)
1981 Patrick Versluys (Bel)
1980 Willem Peeters (Bel)
1979 Johnny Denul (Bel)
1978 Frans Van Looy (Bel)
1977 Marc Renier (Bel)
1976 Eddy Verstraeten (Bel)
1975 Serge Van Daele (Bel)
1974 Tino Tabak (Ned)
1973 Gerben Karstens (Ned)
1972 Luc Van Goidsenhoven (Bel)
1971 Walter Planckaert (Bel)
1970 Etienne Antheunis (Bel)
1969 Jean-Claude Genty (Bel)
1968 Joseph Boons (Bel)
1967 Martin Van Den Bossche (Bel)
1966 Hendrik Wouters (Ned)
1965 Martin Van Ginniken (Ned)


Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com