There is no Koerse like Danilith Nokere Koerse!
There is no Koerse like Danilith Nokere Koerse!
Nokere, March 19, 2008 – Today marked the 63rd edition of Nokere Koerse, starting in Oudenaarde and finishing at the top of Nokere berg. The riders departed from the Tour of Flanders Center and arrived after a 49 km journey on the local circuit in Nokere, which had to be completed 10 more times. The total distance was 197 km. The race was held in cold and windy weather conditions. For the first time, there was also live television coverage, albeit on the regional channel AVS. After 7 km, a breakaway of 3 riders formed: David Boucher, Sep Vanmarcke, and Bjorn Papstein. The peloton initially let them go, allowing the trio to build a lead of more than 10 minutes.
The peloton was significantly thinned out in the local laps, and eventually, a group of about 60 riders remained in pursuit of the three leaders. The lead of the trio rapidly decreased in the finale, and ultimately, Sep Vanmarcke, as the last survivor, was caught in the final lap. Afterwards, no one could escape this first group. Wouter Weylandt (Quickstep) won by several lengths ahead of neo-pro Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto) and the German Andre Greipel (Highroad). One of the early breakaway riders, Bjorn Papstein (Team C3 Gruppe), won the mountain classification.
Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) was able to please his fans with a victory in his own region. “Winning a race on your doorstep is always very enjoyable.” “I know the finish, which helps. It was an extremely long sprint. Jurgen Roelandts started incredibly strong, and I think we rode side by side for about 150 meters.” “I had shifted the gears too high and lost another spoke, but I made it anyway.” said Wouter Weylandt. “Hopefully, this victory can be an encouragement for my teammate Kevin Van Impe, who rode here for the first time after losing his son.”
Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto) commented: ” had shifted the gears too high. I couldn’t turn the pedals enough on Nokereberg. Shifting was out of the question, but all in all, I’m satisfied with this second place. In the Tour of the Algarve, I made the mistake of starting too late in a mass sprint. Now I actually went a bit too early. The man with the most power in his legs won here, and unfortunately, that wasn’t me.”
Andre Greipel (Team High Road) also let himself be beaten. “I’m really looking forward to the Tour of Flanders. Then I can finally ride with my leader’s jersey in the ProTour standings, because since the Tour Down Under, there hasn’t been a single race in that category. So I have to wait until April 6 in Bruges. Despite the fact that we had to climb this hill ten times, I still misjudged the sprint a bit. After a disappointing Paris-Nice, this third place is quite welcome. On Monday, I’ll be riding in Cologne for my home crowd. That always gives something extra.”
According to Kevin Hulsmans, the team tactics within Quick Step were simple. “Either they were going to work for me, or we would play Wouter Weylandt in a mass sprint. I didn’t manage to break away alone or with a small group, so we opted for Weylandt. That’s why I put in a strong effort at the start of the last lap. This further reduced the number of contenders for the final victory. I’m happy that someone from the team, especially Wouter Weylandt, won here. I led him out in the final straight, and Wouter was able to take over at the right moment. So our efforts weren’t in vain,” Kevin Hulsmans laughed.
» RESULTS NOKERE KOERSE 2008
1 |  | QST | 04h48’31” | ||
2 | | SIL | s.t. | ||
3 |  | THR | s.t. | ||
4 |  | FPT | s.t. | ||
5 | | WIL | s.t. | ||
6 |  | FDJ | s.t. | ||
7 | | TSV | s.t. | ||
8 |  | SKS | s.t. | ||
9 | | LAN | s.t. | ||
10 | | 3CG | s.t. | ||
11 | | LAN | s.t. | ||
12 | | 3CG | s.t. | ||
13 | | TSV | s.t. | ||
14 |  | C.A | s.t. | ||
15 | | SKS | s.t. | ||
16 | | FDJ | s.t. | ||
17 |  | SKT | s.t. | ||
18 |  | DES | s.t. | ||
19 | | MIT | s.t. | ||
20 | | VVE | s.t. |
Report of Nokere Koerse 2008 on AVS