Matt Brammeier looks to have recaptured the kind of form that has made him a WorldTour rider in the past; proving the strongest in the 140km breakaway at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Belgian semi classic yesterday, Saturday (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
Having secured a two-year contract with a new pro team following a lack lustre 2014 with Synergy-Baku, Matt Brammeier has spoken in recent weeks of his eagerness to make a go of what is a fantastic new opportunity.
And yesterday in Belgium the four-time national Irish road champion reminded the world of pro cycling of his true worth in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad semi classic.
Riding his first major race in the colours of ProContinental team MTN-Qhubeka, the Irish international not only made the early escape that spent around 140km of the 200km race out front, but he proved the strongest in that move.
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The breakaway was inevitably reeled in as the racing entered the final hour and Brammeier would then suffer a puncture, limiting his input for his team when the serious business started.
But he clearly showed he has the condition and the positive mental attitude to back up the two year contract that can now relaunch his career.
The early exchanges resulted in a nine-man group going clear inside the opening 10kms.
As well as Brammeier in the move, also present were Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Christophe Laborie (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Michael Reihs (Cult Energy), Kevin Van Melsen (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Louis Verhelst (Cofidis), Jaroslaw Marycz (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Sean De Bie (Lotto Soudal) and Albert Timmer (Team Giant-Alpecin).
Brammeier before the start yesterday. The race proved to be a fantastic one for him and hopefully he is now set for a strong spring campaign (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
Undeterred by the 190km that lay ahead and the presence of most of the world’s biggest teams and strongest classic riders in the huge peloton behind, the group set to work and pulled out a lead of six minutes after an hour out front.
Brammeier said afterwards the moment he managed to get free of the bunch and up the road, the escape felt like a good one.
“We had a good group with the right combination of teams, riders and a couple of strong guys,” he said.
“As soon we got in it I knew it was a good group and we could go quite far. As every climb went by I just tried to push on and make it to the next climb and make it as deep into the race as I could.
“I made it up to the Haaghoek and then I tried to do as much as I could for the guys but I got a flat tyre there at the end which was a bit of bad luck.
“Maybe I could have done a few more pulls then, but I would’ve exploded in the end anyway, so I am happy with my performance.”
How it unfolded for Brammeier
Brammeier's relentless pushing on the climbs meant he dropped everyone in the escape apart from Albert Timmer of Team Giant-Alpecin (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
Once the early escape had established a lead it hit the first section of cobbles at Haaghoek with 60km completed, and after that crested the first climbs of the Leberg and Berendries.
The breakaway then raced over the infamous Muur with just over 80km completed.
At that point some of the biggest teams in the race who were nursing hopes of victory came to the front of the bunch in an effort to bring the escapees back.
To the fore in the chase were Etixx-QuickStep, Team Sky and Lotto-JumboNL.
Over the next passage of the cobbles at Haaghoek, Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins and Bernhard Eisel were doing the lion’s share of the chasing.
The effect was immediate, with their efforts shaving over a minute off the break’s lead and bringing it back to a very manageable three minutes by the time the field hit the fifth climb of the day in the shape of the Kaperij.
Next up was the Kruisberg climb, where the cracks were starting to appear in the break under the pressure applied by Brammeier.
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Brammeier, second from left, on one of the early cobble sections before his driving on the climbs split the escape (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
His forcing of the pace saw three men dropped as he hit the front and Timmer, Gougeard, Van Melsen, Verhelst and Laborie joined him.
Wiggins was still leading the charge behind and by the time the peloton crested the climb the lead was down to just two minutes.
On the next climb, the Taaienberg, Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) forced the pace in the bunch and the pressure he put on split the head of the field, with a group of around 20 pulling clear.
Up ahead, Brammeier had again been the animator in the breakaway on the Taaienberg.
And by the time he rode over the top of it he had just Timmer for company and they had only 45 seconds for comfort.
There followed a regrouping behind the two leaders over the Eikenberg
And on the Wolvenberg that followed, Luke Rowe (Team Sky) attacked the field and was the first up to Brammeier and Timmer just as the racing dipped inside the 50km remaining mark.
But under the chasing of Etixx-QuickStep, those up ahead were closed down and the scene was set for a huge battle with an hour of racing remaining.
Eventful finale
The composition of the four-man winning escape looked hopeless for Stannard but he simply wrote his own script and forced it on the others. The Etixx-QuickStep team coach would not have been a happy place last evening (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
Not long after Brammeier was caught, the Etixx-QuickStep trio of Stijn Vandenbergh, Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra would pull clear with defending champion Ian Stannard of Team Sky.
Boonen would attack as they neared the 5km remaining marker.
His effort seemed like the first move in what would prove to be a hopeless episode of being worked over for Stannard. But that finale would not come to pass.
Instead, Stannard chased down Etixx-QuickStep’s first moves and himself jumped; with only Terpstra able to follow.
Stannard then beat him in the sprint for a famous win, with Boonen just behind in 3rd.
For Brammeier, his finale would be scarred by a late puncture and incredibly the same cruel twist would befall others in his team.
Tyler Farrar, Theo Bos and Edvald Boasson Hagen all punctured.
Brammeier would eventually finish 85th, in a big group just over 10 minutes down. He has shown he is ready for a strong spring classics campaign.
He looks ready to put behind him a 2014 that started well but faded as a result of an undiagnosed dental infection that ruined his form.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, 200km (1.HC)
Sat, Feb 28th: Ghent, Belgium
1 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 4:58:41
2 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx - Quick-Step
3 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step @8secs
4 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step @15
5 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo @1:24
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
7 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step @1:29
8 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team @4:36
9 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky @4:55
10 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr
11 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha
12 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal
13 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Team Roompot
14 Edward Theuns (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
15 Marco Marcato (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
16 Jesper Asselman (Ned) Team Roompot
17 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Team Europcar
18 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team
19 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step
20 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini
85 Matt Brammeier (Irl) MTN - Qhubeka @10:19
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