The ‘real’ racing season kicks off this weekend as the men’s and women’s peloton descend upon Flanders for Opening Weekend – as the name suggests, the first road racing action in Belgium of the new season.
Of course, the 2024 campaign has already been underway for well over a month, taking in stops in Australia, in the UAE and Oman, and also with races in Spain and Portugal. However, after some early-season sunshine, now marks the time to hit the grey skies and cobbles – and for fans, the beers and frites – as the spring Classics begin.
Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the tougher and bigger of the weekend’s races, with the challenge of the cobbled climbs extending late into the race and the famous Kapelmuur-Bosberg one-two that featured for so long as the grand finale to the Tour of Flanders.
For this reason, we’ll be focusing our contenders watch on the WorldTour and Women’s WorldTour events, though plenty of the same names will stick around for Sunday and the more sprinter-friendly Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and the hilly challenge of the Omloop van het Hageland.
Lining up outside Gent’s t’Kuipke velodrome on Saturday morning, we’ll see nascent young promises mix with some of the biggest Classics stars in the world, all hoping to leave an early mark on the spring Classics warm-up.
It may be too far away from the main slate of April Classics for the race to serve as a real form indicator, but it’s still an important stopping-off point on the road to Flanders and Roubaix.
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The 10 contenders
With no Mathieu van der Poel on the start line in Gent, there’s no doubt that his eternal rival Wout van Aert is the biggest name and the top favourite lining up for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
The Belgian, who will take on the race for the fifth time in his career, has form at Opening Weekend, having won the race on his most recent participation two years ago.
In the interim, his team dominated Opening Weekend last February, with Dylan van Baarle and Christophe Laporte pulling off a one-three in Ninove before Tiesj Benoot and Nathan…
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