Ronde Van Vlaanderen looks to be war of attrition

The 96th running of the Tour of Flanders is this Sunday in the Flemish region of Belgium, and it's sure to be one for the ages as no less than 15 teams in the field boast at least one man that can win at the finish in Oudenaarde. The odds on favorites are the on-form Belgian, Tom Boonen of the Omega Pharma - Quickstep team and Swiss star Fabian Cancellara of the RadioShack-Nissan outfit. However neither rider will be assured a shot at victory until their teammates neutralize numerous attacks from such power house teams as Italy's Liquigas-Cannondale, the American BMC and Garmin-Barracuda squads, Britain's Team Sky and Australia's rookie entry Greenedge.

A new course will be utilized for the first time this Sunday so not much is known about how the field will react, however, given the Monument status of the race, the many short, steep hills known as the hellingen, and the 260 kilometers in distance, one can expect the typical grind it out battle of attrition that is commonplace at this highest level of the sport. One thing is for certain, last year's standout, the Belgian Phillipe Gilbert, will have his hands full even getting to the finish having had numerous troubles so far this season. There are signs that Gilbert is returning to form but it seems that he will have to wait a little longer for his chance to climb back onto the podium.

Given the vacuum that Gilbert's suffering has created and so many contenders from so many teams, this Sunday's race is a classic "anything can happen in cycling" scenario. Still, some things are predictable and sure to go down, such as Cancellara's inevitable attack. Spartacus is clearly the strongest rider in the peloton this spring but he lacks the speed of a sprinter and needs to come to the finish solo to ensure victory. This means that RadioShack-Nissan will strive to set him up with the best chance to launch a devastating blow in the finale. Simultaneously, Omega Pharma-Quickstep will be looking to control the race for their main man Boonen.

These two story lines are not likely to go exactly as planned however because of the combined strength of all of the other contenders, not the least of which is Liquigas-Cannondale's 22 year old sprinter Peter Sagan. Other strong men that could really mess things up for the top two favorites are: Team Sky's Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen, Garmin-Barracuda's Sep Vanmarcke, Vancansoleil's 2-time winner Stijn Devolder and Farnese Vini's Italian playboy Fillipo Pozzato.

With many strong sprinters contending, look for the upstart teams with multiple leaders to make things difficult. BMC, Garmin-Barracuda and Vaconsoleil will want to pile on the pressure and hope for a surprise such as last year's winner Nick Nuyens or Paris-Roubaix champ Johann Vansummeren. Omega Pharma-Quickstep seems best tooled to deal with the trouble as Boonen can count on Sylvain Chavanel and Niki Terpstra to cover things up the road if the situation gets out of control. However RadioShack-Nissan seems to lack the support on paper for Cancellara. If Boonen marks Cancellara out of the race, look for a total cluster in the finale. As they say in cycling, anything can happen.

Here's my favorites for Sunday:

***
Tom Boonen, Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Fabian Cancellara, RadioShack-Nissan

**
Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky
Sylvain Chavanel, Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Juan Antonio Flecha, Sky
Peter Sagan, Liquigas-Cannondale
Greg Van Avermaet, BMC
Sep Vanmarcke, Garmin-Barracuda
Johann Vansummeren, Garmin-Barracuda
Heinrich Haussler, Garmin-Barracuda
Stijn Devolder, Vacansoleil
Fillipo Pozzato, Faranese Vini

*
Alessandro Ballan, BMC
George Hincapie, BMC
Oscar Freire, Katusha
Luca Paolini, Katusha
Svein Tuft, Greenedge
Thomas Vaitkus, Greenedge
Daniel Oss, Liquigas-Cannondale
Matti Breschel, Rabobank
Martin Maaskant, Garmin-Barracuda
Andreas Klier, Garmin-Barracuda
Bjorn Leukemans, Vacansoleil
Liewe Westra, Vacansoleil
Thomas Voeckler, Europcar

That's a ton of talent that can affect this race and sifting through it all to pick a podium is a difficult task, but if I look through my crystal ball I'm sensing a lot of trouble for the top two favorites. I've been way off the mark before picking like this and I'll probably be wrong again, but here goes:

96th Ronde Van Vlaanderen podium prediction:
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky
2. Sylvain Chavanel, Omega Pharma-Quickstep
3. Stijn Devolder, Vaconsoleil

I could probably theorize another ten podiums as this race appears to be wide open. One thing I know is that I'll thoroughly enjoy the race on Sunday and am looking forward to NBC Sports Network's first ever live coverage broadcast of the toughest one day race on the planet. 8:30AM Eastern, 6:30AM Mountain. Enjoy!!