Mathieu van der Poel’s bombshell announcement that he will be racing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad not only means there is a standout favourite for Saturday’s season opener. As leading Belgian contender Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) pointed out in his pre-race press conference, the Dutch star’s presence will likely reshape the shape of the entire race.
While the combination of a headwind and a lack of aggressivity in the peloton saw virtually no major attacks go clear, with perennial Classics contender Stefan Küng’s late charge off the front one of the very few attempts to fight against the fast-rising tide of probability that the race would end in a bunch sprint.
But if King Küng’s Canute-like effort to beat off the inevitable proved in vain 12 months ago, De Lie is more optimistic that with Van der Poel on the start-line, the odds of riders chancing their arm rather than waiting for the all-but-inevitable onslaught by the Alpecin-Premier Tech racer are much higher.
“It could all kick off at 100km to go,” De Lie told reporters in the Lotto-Intermarché pre-Omloop press conference. “Before it was more possible for more people to reach the finale together,” – as happened in 2025, with the win going to outsider Søren Wærenskjold – “this time around it’s more possible that there will be a much more open race.
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