What you need to know about the men’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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What you need to know about the gentlemen’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

It's that time of year once again; time for top-tier bike racing on the pavé. It's Opening Weekend in Belgium, which indicates the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad waits for on Saturday (complied with by Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, naturally) and also what a method to begin the year's stretch of races on the rocks.

With its numerous climbs and also patched industries (and some climbs that are also cobbled!) and also coming so early into the year before a lot of riders have had a possibility to put their form on display, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad has a terrific means of supplying aggressive auto racing as well as unpredictability. We don't anticipate that to transform this year.

We figured we may give you an idea of what you should expect for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, considering it proclaims the return of high-level auto racing in Flanders after the offseason. Right here's what you need to understand ahead of this year's Omloop.

The route

Organizers haven't actually formally published the course of this year's race, which is less than perfect for preview-writing, however Belgian paper Het Nieuwsblad reports that the course hasn't transformed much because in 2014. That would make for 13 climbs up (3 of them on cobblestones) and also nine other cobbled sectors.

According to Het Nieuwsblad, the race will certainly run 200.5 km from Ghent to Ninove, with a route that weaves via the Flemish countryside, sometimes knotting back onto itself. The early goings include a couple of ups and downs and also some cobbled stretches but the racing will actually heat up as the pack nears the middle. After the riders struck the Katteberg near the axis of the Omloop, they will not go greater than 13 km without a climb or a stretch of pavé (or both) for the rest of the method.

The last 60 kilometres needs to be specifically decisive as the Wolvenberg, a patched climb nearly half a kilometer at 7%, declares the begin of a rapid succession of climbs and patches. After taking on challenges like the patched Molenberg climb and also the Haaghoek pavé, the pack will certainly get a brief break with around 25 km to go before taking on the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen. Motorcyclists will certainly rise and over the patched ascent, 475 meters long at a 9.3% grade, and after that tackle the patched Bosberg. From the top, there will be only 13 km left to race on mainly level roadways to the surface.

Jasper Stuyven as well as Yves Lampaert make their method up the Muur at the 2020 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
That tough finale confirmed decisive in 2014, as it so frequently has lately, with Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-QuickStep), and also Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb, now DSM) powering clear on the Muur to fight for the win. Stuyven as well as Lampaert would certainly take place to drop Kragh Andersen and afterwards Stuyven ran to the victory in Ninove.

The riders to watch

Quite a few celebrities will be making the start, although some big names will not remain in participation. Topping the listing of Classics challengers that will not be at the Omloop are Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), as well as Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

With that said out of the way, onto the marquee riders that will remain in Ghent on Saturday morning. Deceuninck-QuickStep counts a number of on its roster.

As he continues to dive even more right into competing on the pavé, Julian Alaphilippe will certainly make his Omloop Het Nieuwsblad launching on Saturday, and also as the globe champ showed at the Excursion of Flanders in 2015 before he collapsed out of the race, he has what it takes to stick to the most effective on this kind of surface. So as well do qualified, functional colleagues like Lampaert and also Zdenek Stybar, who won the race back in 2019. Then there's Florian Sénéchal and also Kasper Asgreen. If Deceuninck-QuickStep remains hostile, it will be hard for the group's opponents to note all the steps that they can make.

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