They tried something new at the Omloop van Bedum on Tuesday evening, hoping to attract more riders. Things were going well with the international representation, but the Dutch riders failed to do so much to the annoyance of organizer Bé Huizing.
Groningen, De Wilp, Roden, Lutjegast, Westerlee. These are all place names you would expect behind the names on the start list of the 39th Omloop van Bedum. But among all those Northern Dutch names, Hanover is also mentioned four times. Is there perhaps a secret Hanover in Groningen or Drenthe, just as there are hamlets such as De Bombay, Denmark or Siberia? No. Sacha Opolka, Lasse David, Tom Köbernik and Aaron Schulze are as German as a schnitzel wearing Lederhose.
Abandoned industrial areas
It is no coincidence that the quartet is on the start list. Lasse David explains how they end up in Bedum. ,,Organizer Bé Huizing has known our sports director Gabi Biermann for a long time, from the time of the Peace Race, a major competition that was held in the Eastern Bloc before the fall of De Muur. As a result, there is still a delegation from us every year. Very nice, because there is a lot of atmosphere here! In Germany we often race on abandoned industrial sites. Whether we can also do this for the prices? Hopefully haha.”
Huizing itself also retains warm memories of the time of the Peace Race. He talks about it with great enthusiasm, but when it comes to the Omloop van Bedum, his face suddenly looks very different. “Last year we had 145 registrations, but in the end a hundred people canceled. Hundred! I also do not know it. This year I didn’t even dare to look at the registrations”, he says a bit despondently.
Race in a new jacket
That is why they decided to do something new in Bedum. The German delegation and the ‘ordinary’ drivers who are at the start a little after five, will not drive the usual criterion of 80 kilometers through the center on the 2 kilometer long course this time. The organization gave the men’s race a new look, with first a points race over 40 kilometers and then a criterion with the same length.
But once again there are very few riders at the start; with only 33 men at the start, the race has more sponsors than participants. Huizing doesn’t understand it. “We have the highest prize schedule in the Netherlands, I think. There is a lot of money to be made here.”
Points race
The biggest chunk of that money will initially go to Rick Ottema. The semi-prof who grew up in Muntendam reigns supreme in the points race. Lasse David has long since lost the laughter; after six laps he rides with a grimace on his face from here to Hanover on the back of the peloton. Aaron Schulze keeps the German honor high and even wins a sprint, but he is nowhere near equal to Ottema.
In the criterion it is five against five for a long time, after the family show of Peter Jan Rens; not unknown in Germany either. Five escapees against a group of five pursuers. Lasse David then grimaces after the peloton, with Ottema in it, who has missed the battle in the front. This time Tom Köbernik upholds the German honor. In the chasing group he and Adne Koster and Roden, among others, do everything they can, but they cannot close the gap with the front five. Former short tracker Mark Prinsen is the fastest in the final sprint, ahead of Chiel Smit from Zuidwolde (Drenthe). Steven Willemsen from Groningen can call himself the winner of the general classification.