Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

It’s classics time! The Movistar Team is getting into Belgian cobbled terrain this Saturday with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where they already stepped onto the podium in 2021 thanks to Emma Norsgaard, now a big leader of the Blues, and to which they’ll bring their absolute A-team, with the ‘Danish Rocket’ and Annemiek van Vleuten, who won this race one eternity ago (pandemic)… in 2020.

The 129km course between Ghent and Ninove doesn’t bring major modifications other than the absence of the Molenberg, which has been quite important in previous times. There will be five cobbled sectors and nine ascents, with special focus on the traditional, legendary Kapelmuur (-17km) and Bosberg (-13km), which by themselves could create havoc and help the strongest ones reach the finish line alone.

It’s an otherwise nervous race, where positioning is key, pace is fierce and suffering comes in plenty. This event kicks off a long opening weekend with three races for tough, fast riders -with Hageland, Sunday 27th, and Le Samyn, Tuesday 1st March, following-.

– Info on the men’s version of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad available at our Race Guide here.