Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

There’s some people who boldly state the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the race known until not long ago as Omloop Het Volk, is the real start to the men’s international road racing season.

Whether such words are reasonable or not, the important thing is that the first Belgian event of the year also marks the first big classic of the year, one whose legend is that its winners are bound not to claim such a result back at ‘De Ronde’. Even if the routes it covers are basically most of the same the Tour of Flanders will be tackling five Sundays later.

The 200km parcours from the Gent velodrome to Ninove, the finish of the biggest race in the region for many years, including thirteen ascents, nine cobbled sectors and a very demanding final 60km.

There are some famous climbs from De Ronde missing, such as Paterberg, Koppenberg or Taaienberg, yet the riders go through the difficult Molenberg -45km from the end- and the race is decided with a prestigious last two climbs, the Kapelmuur and Bosberg, which imitate the traditional Ronde van Vlaanderen finish before the changes that took the race to its current Oudenaarde loops. The final climb is crested with 13km remaining.

– One day later (Sunday 1st March) and featuring the same lineup, the Movistar Team will be at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.