ProTeam rider steals Omloop Het Nieuwsblad from the big names
Winner Søren Wærenskjold of Uno-X was a last-minute substitute
Winter might be over where you live, but the Opening Weekend of the Spring Classics season is here. The time of cobbles and hills started Saturday with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad where Norwegian Søren Wærenskjold beat the bigger names in a reduced-peloton sprint. The 24 year old from Uno-X wasn’t even supposed to be in the race, just Sunday’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, but was called in at the last second.
The 2024 Edition
Last year in the OHN, Derek Gee broke his collarbone, while Jan Tratnik kept Visma-Lease a Bike’s stranglehold on the race. Tratnik, now with Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, was back to defend his title against 2022 victor Wout van Aert and the red-hot Tom Pidcock, settling in very nicely with his new team Q36.5. Nils Politt and Arnaud De Lie would bear watching as well.
The Course
This year’s route featured 11 cobbled sections and 11 climbs, some of which were cobbled, over 197 km from Ghent to Ninove. The famed Muur de Geraardsbergen (1 km of 9.2 percent) summited with 15.5 kilometers to go. The Bosberg (1 km of 5.8%) followed quickly after with 11.5 kilometers remaining.
The Canadian contingent was Israel-Premier Tech duo Guillaume Boivin and Riley Pickrell and Q36.5’s Nickolas Zukowsky.
By the time the race entered its second half, three sets of cobbles and one climb down, an escape of seven riders, a mix of WorldTeam and ProTeam chaps, were 5:00 ahead of the UAE-Emirates-pulled peloton.
The fugitives grew closer as the hills and cobbled sectors clicked by. On the Eikenberg, the first move finally launched, soon to be yanked back. When the escape was within 1:30 Ineos’ Joshua Tarling tried to bridge over. With Alpecin-Deceuninck pulling on the cobbled Molenberg the peloton split, and van Aert, Tratnik and Arnaud De Lie found themselves on the wrong side of it. The break, Tarling and the first part of the peloton merged with 30 km remaining. Just as his group was joining in, van Aert slipped down the group, looking depleted. Belgian champ De Lie was cooked too.
The Muur and Bosberg
Tratnik had the misfortune to flat just before the Muur. The pace was very high with Tim Wellens acting as locomotive up to the chapel.
The Muur produced a 14-strong leading group including van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Jasper Philipsen, Wellens and his new teammate Jhonatan Narváez. It scrambled to reach the Bosberg without growing in numbers. The 13 riders kept their gap on the final climb.
Stefan Küng attacked the van Aert gang just before it ballooned up to 40. The Swiss had 15 seconds with 6 km to race. The chase needed cohesion.
Alas, with Jorgenson and others pulling, Küng was gobbled up just at the red kite. In the messy sprint, Wærenskjold came up the right hand barrier, Paul Magnier went on the left and Philipsen surged down the middle. They threw their bikes and Magnier bounced his machine in frustration when he knew he was beat. Van Aert could only manage 11th.
The Opening Weekend continues Sunday with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
2025 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
1) Søren Wærenskjold (Norway/Uno-X)
2) Paul Magnier (France/Soudal-Quick Step)
3) Jasper Philipsen (Belgium/Alpecin-Deceunink)