Openingsweekend? The season has been raging for the best part of two months now but things go up a level here. Gone are the empty highways in the desert, in come the narrow roads, cobbles and bergs of Flanders.
The Course
Gent to Ninove the long way, 197km. A few tweaks to the early part of the course bring the distance down to 197km when it’s been above 200km of late but this is a more story of round numbers. It’s the same race.
The course spirals around to take as many difficulties as it can in the second half. The first cobbles come with the Haagehoek and they’re chased by the Leberg hill. After 100km the Lange Munte pavé mark a change in the race as from here the cobbles and climbs start to come thick and fast, as you can see on the profile above.
The Molenberg comes with 40km to go. The moneytime is with 15km to go and the start of the Muur van Geraardsbergen. It starts climbing in town and then enters the woodland section which is steep with rough cobbles before reaching the chapel at the top which gives the climb its Kapelmuur “Chapel wall” nickname. Don’t forget the twisty descent where it’s hard to retake lost ground, gaps established over the climb can stick.
The final climb is the Bosberg, which at 1.3km is long for a climb in Flanders. The 5% average slope isn’t fierce and there are no pinchpoints or bends to exploit, it’s just a test of brute force after 190km where some attack and others hold on with all they’ve got left. Over the top and there’s 13km to go from here until the streets of Ninove.
The Finish: the same as the last two years, the “new” Ninove finish. It’s well outside Ninove on the nondescript bypass road, it has room for all the finish line infrastructure but lacks charm. It’s a big wide road that dips a touch and then rises to the line in the final kilometre.
The Contenders
The base case is a bunch sprint but the race is often won by riders clipping away, and in recent years a large group is often just behind. So the archetypal winner can win a big sprint but has team mates in numbers.
Meet Wout van Aert who is front and centre of all Belgian media expectations right now but all the better for others at Visma-Lease a Bike to float away in the finale wearing their time trial helmets, Tiesj Benoot and Matteo Jorgenson come to mind, new hire Victor Campenaerts might get his card to play but as ever for him it’s hard to get away solo. For all the bad luck that dogged the team last year they won the both of the men’s openingsweekend last year but the difference now is the team are deliberately coming in slow to the classics this year. Perhaps the more interesting question is whether Van Aert wants to win? No winner of the Omloop has won the Ronde in the same season and this anecdote has mutated into a superstition that proclaims it can’t be done, so would Van Aert take the win here? Surely yes, a returning to winning ways after crashing out of the Vuelta and a challenge to break the “Omloop curse”, but again the priority is April.
Last year’s winner Jan Tratnik profited from his team’s numerical superiority and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe will want to have numbers in the finish thanks to new signings Oier Lazkano and the Van Dijke brothers while Jordi Meuus is their sprint card. One thing to look for is how the team functions collectively as they’ve made the signings for the classics, now can they build on this?
UAE have looked like a stage-racing team but their cobbled squad now looks very competent, their only problem is if one of the seven here is out for the spring then the replacements might involve some compromise, unless it’s Pogačar of course. Nils Politt was second here last year and that’s his problem, if Jan Tratnik could outsprint him then it might have to be solo or bust. He’s a good battering ram for Tim Wellens, Jhonathan Narvaez and Antonio Morgado who is a form pick.
Lidl-Trek have past winner Jasper Stuyven who will look to win in the same way, escaping up the road and using his sprint to seal the win but the form isn’t obvious. We’ll see if Toms Skujiņš is back with the same classics form as last year and if so he’s an outside contender, while Mathias Vacek could be good for an attack and TT Teutenberg as a sprint card.
Ineos have a solid squad but how to win? Joshua Tarling could barge away, the same for Ben Turner and half the interest is to see how they race and if they can have numbers in the finish.
Several teams in and it’s time for Soudal-Quickstep. Paul Magnier is probably their best rider as he’s handy on the bergs and packs a big sprint while others on the team like Mattia Cattaneo, Pascal Eenkhoorn and Dries Van Gestel are good but infrequent winners at best.
Bahrain’s Matej Mohorič can win any spring classic but as ever he likes or has to pick his moments. Fred Wright should be in the mix but how to win?
At EF Education-Easypost we’ll see new signing Kasper Asgreen alongside previous winner Michael Valgren with Marijn van den Berg and Madis Mikhels as sprint cards.
Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) is one of several riders who is their team’s clear leader. This means they can’t play the numbers game, where often the route to victory is not having the strongest rider in the race but the most riders in the front group for the final hour. The solution is to break down the lead group so that Pidcock is away with just one rider from Visma, UAE, Red Bull and then he is handy in a small group sprint.
Home team Lotto have the same issues with Arnaud De Lie who is the equivalent of a cannonball, unstoppable sometimes but often only able to fire once. Look to see him barge up the Kapelmuur in the big ring and he’s normally fine with the cold but how to prevent a re-run of 2023 where he won the sprint for second place while a Jumbo rider was up the road. His season’s had a crash and injuries already so expectations are lightened a touch too.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is a candidate for the sprint and more too, with Kaden Groves there too as his team tries to get their first win of the year. But Philipsen’s only done the UAE Tour and has his eyes on bigger classics to come, this weekend is not a priority yet.
XDS-Astana are the form team of the season so far but this is harder terrain. Still Davide Ballerini has won here before, Alberto Bettiol is just the guy to charge off into a cold headwind and not be seen again and Mike Teunissen is a versatile rider.
Among the rest Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) is hunting for a result and just as he finally won a Vuelta stage last summer, one day he might win a classic but as ever he’s too good a wheel to let go and unlikely to win the sprint from a group. Movistar are having a great start to the season and Ivan Garcia Cortina is probably their best bet.
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Van Aert |
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Magnier, De Lie, Morgado |
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Philipsen, Wellens, Pidcock, Jorgenson |
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Benoot, Mohorič, Politt, Stuyven, Meeus, MvdB |
Weather: a cold day with a mix of sunshine and clouds, no more than 6°C and close to freezing for the start. A light NE wind is bringing this cold but at 15km/h it’s insufficient for crosswinds but does mean a headwind for the Muur-Bosberg finale.
The cold is the defining aspect, riders will huddle under layers and wardrobe malfunctions are possible, all while calories need to be counted, especially as new rules for 2025 mean teams can’t post staff all over the course, instead there are designated feed zones only now,
TV: the race starts at 11.15am and finishes at 3.50pm CET. It’s on Sporza/Een for locals and VPN users alike with coverage starting at 1.30pm but probably for chitchat before the racing is live. Elsewhere it’s on Eurosport across much of Europe, Britain and Ireland excepted where it’s on TNT. In the US it’s on Flobikes.
Women’s Omloop: the men’s race is chased by the women’s event which starts at 1.20pm and finishes at 5.10pm and this should be a fascinating race. Over the winter so many of the cards in women’s cycling have been reshuffled as lead riders moved teams; to mark the change more none of last year’s podium finishers start.
Marlen Reusser looks to have recovered, will the bergs blunt Lorena Wiebes so that Elisa Balsamo thrives? Meanwhile Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma are racing too. You’ll find a good, informed preview over at procyclinguk.com.
I had been waiting for IR’s take on the race which should be fascinating as so much form is unknown. For Ineos Watson might be a better bet than Tarling as he can cope with the climbs and has a sprint at the end. Behind Visma favourite Van Aert it will be curious to see how Brennan copes at just nineteen. Is he there solely for the experience?
An outsider not mentioned is Trentin for Tudor while my real long-shot is Jake Stewart.
Apparently the race is on Equipe TV too. I hope so!
Outside picks too, but the problem for the likes of Trentin and Stewart is if they are there to contest the finish, surely someone quicker is too? Brennan is an addition, Behrens isn’t there and Laporte is ill too, but he’s impressed already this season.
L’Equipe TV in France is good as it offers very high quality video but they seem to be using a VPN detector this year if anyone wants to try and connect.
L’équipe TV has Faun-Ardèche live and Het Nieuwsblad at 17h00. That’s better than nothing.
I fancy Ben Turner as Ineos’ best chance – he’s been riding on good form, and very nearly held off Kristoff in a long sprint at the Ruta del Sol, so could be handy from a small group here and certainly has shown his prowess on cobbled climbs before.
‘as you can see on the profile above’ – there’s no profile?
there is for me…
It’s fixed.
Is it VPN only to watch in Australia?
☹️
From another place,
Unfortunately for cycling fans in Australia, they will not have a live broadcast for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad this year.
SBS aren’t showing the race this year, and the new streaming distribution service Staylive does not have the rights to show it in Australia
I would love Fred Wright to win this. Or just win… something. And whilst a UAE win might not be everyone’s choice, Narvaez is always good to watch.
This has to be a super hard to race to entertain a Pidcock win, but he’s in good form and it seems the Spring is everything for him this year. I know there’s an eye on the Giro but he can really go all out over the next couple of months where other all-rounders might need to take a longer view.
Pidcock is in great form but I don’t think this is the race. I think Q36 just don’t have the strength to force the right race situation. I’d be delighted to be proven wrong, what a shake-up that would be for the rest of the spring.
I’m going to go for De Lie to pip Philipsen in a relatively large bunchish sprint. I’m not sure Van Aert is fully at the races just yet.
YES! The season is back!
Thanks Mr. Inrng!
ProVelo Superleague at the halfway mark at the bottom of the world … and the current overall leader is a 19 year old.
Looks as though the Sydney leg next weekend will be sandwiched between Strade Bianche and Stage 1 of PN … a very full Sunday coming up.
Slight correction – I think you mean helpers or zone hoppers all over the course, not riders? (Got my Dutch fed “staff” license through today, and some excellent spots – Padestraat, Lange Munte, Leberg, Muur – looking forward to it!)
Fixed. Soigneurs got to wrap up more than the riders today.
For me the real racing season starts here. Good sport is when the winner is hard to predict but with good contenders. This will be a race.
The course lends itself to a lot of action, you can get a lively final hour or more which is different to the Dubai Tour.
Subjective but best race seen on TV so far has been the Trofeo Calvia in Majorca where Jan Christen won, a scenario that kept changing a lot in the finish. Classic Jaen was good too, the half gravel race in the vineyards but with hindsight when reading the medical bulletins after a bit of the thrill deflated.
Excited for this. Jorgenson for the win today for me, think he’ll go from further out than last time and try to get a bigger gap before Geraardsbergen.
Seems he’s been to altitude while the likes of Van Aert are saving this for later in March, definitely one to watch but that includes being marked a lot.
A little over 40 years ago, and owing to some favourable atmospheric conditions where i grew up in the South East of England, i managed to pick up a TV signal to a live Belgian broadcast of (Omloop) Het Volk. 4k or UHD it was not, but through the snowy static i had a couple of uninterrupted hours of my first live TV cycle event. And it was magic!
Some years later, Eurosport arrived on the scene in the UK, and it became a staple of my sporting diet ever since. That appears to have finally come to a close as of the 28th of February. Yes, Eurosport is still available, but it would appear only appear to be so as part some nonsense ‘package’, and frankly, i’m not one for such things. No doubt, and with a flicker of hope, i’m sure a solution to get only or just what i want, will not be far away….
Sporza’s YouTube channel had the final 20km (after the race had finished). Not the same as watching live, but not a bad offering post-Eurosport (if you can avoid spoilers about the final result)