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It feels like just yesterday the WorldTour season was getting started at the Tour Down Under. And yet here we are, at the end of February, with the Spring Classics now underway.
The traditional start to the Classics period, ‘Opening Weekend’, is now behind us, with four races held over the past two days. On Saturday, the men and women both raced Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, before going their separate ways the following day. While the men raced Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday, the women tackled the Omloop van het Hageland.
You’ll find great photos from all four races in the galleries below, with images from the Grubers, from Kristof Ramon, and from Cor Vos. Let’s kick things off with the women’s Omloop.
‘The Classics are here!’Reckon you know whose hands these are? Let us know in the comments below.The GOAT, reporting for duty in what was somehow her first Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. (Yes, I know, cyclocross and all that, but still.)On the menu: some distance markers and some squiggles.Those yellow jerseys sure stand out.World champ Lotte Kopecky won this race a year ago. She surged on the Berendries on Saturday.Those EF helmets are quiet something aren’t they?Lidl-Trek were really impressive, animating the race throughout.Kopecky led up the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen with Marianne Vos and Elisa Longo Borghini on her wheel.The race would come down to Kopecky, Vos, Longo Borghini, and Shirin van Anrooij. After a flurry of attacks from the Lidl-Trek duo …… Vos ended up winning it in a four-up sprint, in her first visit to the race. After finishing in the main bunch, more than two minutes down, Kristen Faulkner looks ahead to the following day’s racing (yes, that is foreshadowing).?How do you beat SD Worx-Protime?By being the greatest ever, riding a patient race, then unleashing your powerful sprint. After a tough 2023, Vos is back.
Where the women’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad spanned 127 km from Gent to Ninove, the men’s race added another 75 km to that.
Chapeau to whoever created this. Rock star vibes at the Gent Velodrome for the teams presentation …… where the Grubers were up to their old tricks.A few weeks back, Scott Sunderland (left) was in Australia directing Cadel’s Race. Bit colder and wetter over in Belgium.Obligatory ‘peloton from inside a grocery store’ shot from the Grubers. The early break.That’s a lot of Visma-Lease a Bike (note Wout Van Aert in his jacket to the right).Unbridled joy.Another happy young Belgian, cheering on one of his national heroes.There he is. It’s feeling like it could be a big Classics season for Van Aert.And now, some photos of riders gurning away on cobbled climbs.Not the start to the Classics season that Julian Alaphilippe and Kasper Asgreen wanted. That road spray definitely doesn’t have manure or anything else gross in it. It should be fine to slurp that up as you ride by.Back to the racing. Here’s an elite group that formed in the closing kilometres, with three Visma-Lease a Bikes in it.Also in the group was friend of Escape, Toms Skujiņš, who attacked on Berendies, prompting Van Aert to follow.New recruit Matteo Jorgensen spent a bunch of time out front on his own later in the race …… and led the field up the Muur.In the group behind, Arnaud De Lie set the tempo …… with Van Aert and Christophe Laporte in pursuit.Jan Tratnik, with the neck gaiter, was right in the mix too.Iconic.After the lead group was caught, Tratnik attacked with around 9.2 km to go. Nils Pollitt followed, but in the sprint that decided the race, Tratnik prevailed. Not the rider we expected to win, but certainly the team.It was a dominant performance from Visma-Lease a Bike …… with Tratnik becoming the first Slovenian to win the Omloop, and Van Aert winning the sprint for third.
On Sunday, the women’s peloton took on the Omloop van het Hageland. Here’s a selection of shots from the UCI 1.1 race courtesy of Cor Vos.
The dominance of SD Worx-Protime was one of the biggest storylines of the 2023 season. Will it be much the same in 2024 (it’s hard to imagine them not winning a whole lot of races).There was time for some fun and frivolity over in the Fenix-Deceuninck camp before the race began.Likewise over at EF Education-Cannondale.Euro champ Mischa Bredewold did not approve.Oof. Not the most enjoyable part of bike racing.“You know what you should do, Kristen? You should attack with like, I dunno, 66 km to go, ride across to the one rider still out front, go past her with about 55 km to go, and just keep on going.”“On it.”There was a concerted chase in the latter stages of the race, with Bredewold, Christine Majerus, Lizzie Deignan, Pfeiffer Georgi and others all trying to bring Faulkner back.But the American had done more than enough. She was able to relax a little in the closing kilometres and still won solo by 1:41.“Told you!”
Meanwhile, the men were racing Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Kristof Ramon was on the scene.
That denim kit from Alpecin-Deceuninck is certainly a statement.Oh look, Wout Van Aert near the front. “No, I know it’s still 90 km to go. I’m still going to attack. It’ll be fine. I’m sure a few guys will come with me.”A long-range attack from Van Aert drew out Tim Wellens, Oier Lazkano …… and recent winner of Cadel’s Race, Laurence Pithie.Pithie was dropped a little while later, leaving three riders out front.Here’s Skujiņš again, presumably ruing the fact he didn’t pick himself in the recent Escape Collective draft.Alaphilippe, meanwhile, will be disappointed to learn he went 44th pick (to Joe Lindsey). He’ll also be disappointed we ran this photo of him with lunch on his lip.Lazkano, Van Aert, and Wellens led all the way to the end, finishing more than 1:20 ahead of the chasing bunch.As predicted, Van Aert won the three-up sprint, to improve on his third place from a day earlier. And so, across the four races at the weekend, Visma-Lease a Bike won three. Jonas Vingegaard also won O Gran Camińo over in Spain, taking three of the four stages along the way. So yeah, things are going pretty well at Visma-Lease a Bike at the moment.
