Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The Omloop Nieuwsblad marks the start of the big spring classics, the reunion of Belgian cycling, as the Movistar Team seek, just like every year for a bit now, to take steps forward and improve their performance in an ever demanding, homogeneous peloton.

The race doesn’t otherwise modify its essence, with twelve ascents and nine cobbled climbs mainly distributed over the second half of the 202km course between Ghent’s ‘t Kuipke velodrome and the finish in Ninove.

Even though the nerves will already be high from the start of the opening loop -which kicks off with 99km to go at the Kattenberg-, the usual breaking points, and decisive spots for the end result, should be the Molenberg, just over 50km from the end, and the traditional, decisive chain of final climbs to the Kapelmuur (186km) and the Bosberg (190km).