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Weekend racing roundup: Woods impresses at Gran Camiño, van Aert and van Vleuten dominate Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The racing season is in full swing

Photo by: Annemiek van Vleuten @AvVleuten
February 28, 2022
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Road racing has officially begun! Saturday was the start of the Spring Classics season, and at the women’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Annemiek van Vleuten continued her early season domination by beating Demi Vollering in a sprint. It was the Dutch Movistar rider’s second Omloop Het Nieuwsblad title. Magdeleine Vallieres was the top Canadian.

In the men’s edition,  Wout Van Aert attacked on the final hill of the day to solo to victory in his 2022 road debut. He dedicated the win to the people of Ukraine. The top Canadian was Guillaume Boivin.

Meanwhile, over in Spain, Michael Woods couldn’t quite on to the lead of the Gran Camiño stage race in Sunday’s concluding time trial, with seemingly ageless Alejandro Valverde taking the title. The day’s winner was Ukrainian Mark Padun of EF Education-Easypost, his time bouncing him onto the final podium.

Women’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The riders faced seven cobbled sections, six hills and two cobbled hills over 128 km, with the same Muur-Kapelmuur-Bosberg finish as the men’s race, the Muur coming with 17 km to go and the Bosberg with 14 km left to race.

Van Vleuten’s chase made the junction before the Bosberg. SD Worx now had two riders in the sextet. The group slowed down and SD Worx received another reinforcement in Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky. Van Vleuten applied the pressure on the final hill and surged clear with Vollering.

The chase grew after a trio containing Elisa Longo Borghini reached van Dijk’s group. Vollering and van Vleuten hit the 10 km to go mark with 30 seconds over the group of pursuers.

With 5 km to the finish and a minute’s gap, it was clear the day’s winner would be Dutch. Van Vleuten attacked inside on the penultimate corner and then managed to hold off Vollering for the win.
Third place went to DSM’s Lorena Wiebes, creating an all-Dutch podium.

The Women’s WorldTour finally gets underway next Saturday at Strade Bianche.

2022 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

1) Annemiek van Vleuten (The Netherlands/Movistar) 3:28:15
2) Demi Vollering (The Netherlands/SD Worx) s.t.
3) Lorena Wiebes (The Netherlands/DSM) +0:25
35) Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada/EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) s.t.
72) Gabrielle Pilote Fortin (Canada/Cofidis) +4:22
Men’s Het Nieuwsblad

The men’s race had 15 cobbled sections, nine hills and four cobbled climbs, including the Muur-Kapelmuur before the Bosberg with 13 km to go.

The streamlined peloton was sewn back up before the Bosberg, where Van Aert attacked. He crested with only a handful of seconds over a group of 20.

Van Aert yanked out more time over the 18-strong chase on his way to the finish town of Ninove. With 3 km to go the count was up to 30 seconds and the pursuit group had to start thinking of podium positions. Colbrelli and Greg Van Avermaet stood on the steps with Van Aert.

2022 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

1) Wout Van Aert (Belgium/Jumbo-Visma) 4:50:46
2) Sonny Colbrelli (Italy/Bahrain-Victorious) +0:22
3) Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium/AG2R-Citroën) s.t.
33) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +1:30
73) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.

Gran Camiño

Woods had only a 10-second gap over Valverde going into the 15.8 km chrono and at day’s end he would trail Movistar’s veteran Spain by 7 seconds after a 10th-place performance.
The course contained rollers and a steep climb to the finish in Sarria. Derek Gee took the lead away from Nelson Oliviera (Portugal/Movistar) with a time of 20:30, but would be bumped from the hot seat by Jesus Herrada (Spain/Cofidis), six seconds faster. Derek Gee’s last two days saw him make big leaps of the GC. Saturday’s climbing performance vaulted him from 57th to 26th and then Sunday’s time of 20:30 brought him up to 23rd.

After five kilometers, Woods had only lost four of his 10 seconds to Valverde. However, he could not keep his time gap and had to concede the yellow jersey. Woods was second in the mountains and points categories too. Currently, Woods has no races scheduled until Amstel Gold Race on April 10.

2022 Gran Camiño Stage 4

1) Mark Padun (Ukraine/EF Education-Easypost) 20:19
2) Jesus Herrada (Spain/Cofidis) +0:05
3) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +0:10
5) Derek Gee (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:11
10) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:27

2022 Gran Camiño GC
1) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) 12:35:55
2) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:07
3) Mark Padun (Ukraine/EF Education-Easypost) +1:49
23) Derek Gee (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +7:32