Picture 1 of 13
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad indicators the blooms of spring and the bumps of cobbles have formally arrived, and with it a full cost into European racing on the WorldTour and Ladies’s WorldTour.
There’s pleasure for followers and a few trepidation for riders as Saturday’s occasions additionally mark the beginning of Opening Weekend, a back-to-back assault by way of Flemish hills and winds together with the 1.Professional Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne for males and Fenix Omloop van het Hageland for girls on Sunday.
Rain made for extra concentrate on the coaching rides Thursday throughout the tough cobbled sections, which have slumbered all winter and waited for the awakening of wheels on untended ruts and sprouting vegetation. Nevertheless, the climate ought to enhance by race day, with temperatures a number of levels above freezing firstly at ‘t Kuipke velodrome in Gent and the solar making an look on the end in Ninove. However morning snow showers might carry slippery circumstances if the solar is fickle.
Defending Omloop champion Jan Tratnik (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), 2022 Omloop winner Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Professional Biking) are amongst the favourites for the 197km males’s contest.
Main the way in which to notch the primary Classics victory of the season for girls are Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), who began the yr with the GC win in Spain at Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana. She’s up towards Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), who received three phases on the UAE Tour, Tour de France Femmes winner Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondocrypto) and the versatile Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck).
The motion begins at 11:15 CET for 197km for the men, with 11 climbs and eight sections of cobbles, the ultimate one with 15.7km to go is the dreaded Muur-Kapelmuur. The paved Bosberg is the ultimate climb with 11.8km to the end.
For the ladies, the inexperienced flag drops at 13:20 CET in Gent for 137.9km, with six sections of cobbles and eight main climbs. They will even face the Muur-Kapelmuur with round 15km, adopted by the identical 11.8km to complete as soon as throughout the Bosberg.
The newest race content material, interviews, options, evaluations and knowledgeable shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
All 18 males’s WorldTour groups will probably be on the road Saturday, joined by seven ProTeams. Among the many WorldTour Groups making recon rides on Thursday have been UAE Staff Emirates-XRG, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Intermarché-Wanty. ProTeams seen on the course have been Lotto, Q36.5 Professional Biking, Uno-X Mobility and Unibet Tietema Rockets.
Subscribe to Cyclingnews for limitless entry to our 2025 Spring Classics protection. Do not miss any of the breaking information, studies, and evaluation from all of the Cobbled Classics from Opening Weekend to Paris-Roubaix. Find out more
