Wout Van Aert’s first road race of the season results in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad victory

The Spring Classics season started in Flanders, Belgium on Saturday, with the first one-day race of the 2022 UCI WorldTour, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where 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.

You can watch the Spring Classics on FloBikes.

The Course

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.

??  #OHN22

Opening weekend – it’s finally here, it’s finally time to race in Belgium ?? again. The spring classics officially kick off with @OmloopHNB today.

? Gent ➡️ Ninove
? Start 11:00 CET
? Finish ca. 16:30CET
?️ 204,2km pic.twitter.com/ijPjreHikm

— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) February 26, 2022

As in Saturday’s final stage of the UAE Tour, the breakaway was a septet, and it took a 2:20 lead onto the Valkenberg with 66 km remaining. Ineos put a man on the road in between and Jumbo-Visma pulled in the peloton.

A crash on the Holleweg cobbled section took down eight riders and delayed Kasper Asgreen of Quick Step. With the Ineos rider back in the peloton, another bridging move lit out before the Kerkgate cobbles. With 48 km to ride, there were nine fellows spread out over 42 seconds ahead of the bunch.

The nontet gelled, which prompted Quick Step and Trek-Segafredo to grab the reins.

#OHN22
? 40kms
30 secs for the breakaway. A lot of nerves in the peloton and there has been plenty of crashes already.

It's @Jasperstuyven's first race of 2022 and he's happy to be back. pic.twitter.com/vdvUMGANiY

— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) February 26, 2022

The breakaway, leaking riders, carried on through the final Haaghoek cobbles and Leberg hill combination. The Muur was 17 km away.

On the Berendries climb, Van Aert and Tom Pidcock, each with a teammate, skipped away and Sonny Colbrelli bridged over. The high-powered quintet linked up with the breakaway with 26 km to go. Quick Step had to do the chase work but the team wasn’t budging the 30-second gap. Suddenly, Van Aert’s teammate Tiesj Benoot dashed clear from the breakaway.

Muur-Kapelmuur

Benoot had a 20 second lead heading onto the Muur. The rest of the breakaway was swept up. Benoot tipped over with only a couple of seconds. The Muur fragmented the peloton heading to the Bosberg.

Bosberg

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.