The OCM season does not contain many cobblestone-races and cobblers are not among the most popular riders. However, the start of the season is always a time for the cobblers and once again the pavés in the Roubaix area and Antwerpen have been the stage for some big races.
  
  
  Hell of the North
  The cobble season started off with the Pre-Roubaix race. The race is a warm up for the Roubaix Classic and the favorites also have a chance to show their strength here. The prize money and the ranking points are not the same as the Roubaix Classic and there are less hilly stretches in the race but it is still popular nevertheless.
  
  Kelemen Nae (Team Tirilla), the winner of Tweedaagse van Antwerpen last season, proved to everyone that he was ready to fight to defend his title and won the Pre-Roubaix for the second time in his career. Runner-up was Gabriel Hammar (Simoni Crew) who had his breakthrough last season. Curtis Defore came in third, with the Scilian team also gaining a fifth place with Leopold Istrate. Last season’s winner Geeraard de Zwaan (Los Estados Unicos) did not participate in the race which was a surprise to many fans.
  
  The English team Scilian dominated at the Roubaix Classic as well. Leopold Istrate conquered this prestigious Classic and won the race impressively in front of previous winner Siewuerd Bouwens from FFL – a team with three riders in top 10. Leopold Istrate raced mostly in division 2 races last season but he has now truly proven that he can compete in the races of the top division. The runner-up from Pre-Roubaix, Gabriel Hammar, was third in the classic, Kyle Abston (CCFC) fourth and season 12 winner, Fakhiri Abdel (Legia), came in fifth.
  
  The start of the cobblestone season has until this season been dominated by two Romanian riders. No riders from the local area were able to compete with the best riders but this did not prevent the many cycling fans of Belgium and France from attending the races as supporters.
  
  
  

  Tweedaagse van Antwerpen
  These races were the indicators to the second edition of the Tour - Tweedaagse van Antwerpen. The Tour was introduced to the OCM Calendar last season and was a popular addition to the start of the cobblestone season. Kelemen Nae won the inaugural edition, with Jari Frederikson (Team RI) as runner-up. These two riders and the winner of the Youth Classification, Arve Guttormsen (The Killers), started the tour with hopes of repeating their successes from last season.
  
  However, they could not keep up with Kyle Abston this season. With two stages wins, he won the tour with only 19 seconds to the runner-up, Arve Guttormsen who also won a stage - the king stage from Hoogstraten to Arendonk. The winner of the Youth Classification, Lance Le Noir (spartak), was third overall and defeating champion Kelemen Nae finished in fourth place. The winner of Roubaix Classic, Leopold Istrate, was fifth.
  
  It was a highly succesful Tour for the Norwegian team CCFC. Their time-trialier Ibrahim Youssef managed to win the prologue time-trial and Kyle Abston won two stages and the General Classification.
  
  "When entering this tour I felt a bit out of shape since I had raced all the CB-races this season. So ending up winning the whole tour exceeded all my expectations” stated Kyle Abston. “When I won that last stage and I knew I had won it all... I can't even describe the feeling. I even think it exceeds the green jersey in Germany."
  
  The victory was a surprise to the manager as well who before the last stage claimed that Abston was tired due to too many races. Kyle Abston surprised while Fakhiri Abdel lost his lead and moved out of the top 10 after the last stage and Season 12's Best Cobblist, Arve Guttormsen, maintained his second place.
  
  The start of the cobblestones is over and we can now look forward to the next meeting with Antwerpen and Roubaix as well as many other races on the pavés all over the world.