Human Powered Health brings its cobbled Classic A-game to Belgium for Omloop Nieuwblad on March 1.
Arguably one of the strongest Classics squads in the history of the program will take on the 138km from Ghent to Ninove and its 14 sectors that consist of flat cobbles, cobbled climbs, and viciously steep paved roads.
Thalita de Jong heads up a strong group of hitters to be presented in Ghent’s iconic ‘t Kuipke (meaning ‘bowl’) velodrome. She’s joined by Maggie Coles-Lyster, Ruth Edwards, Romy Kasper, Kathrin Schweinberger, and Lily Williams. Six riders all with formidable Classics skillsets.
It’s all part of what is known as ‘opening weekend’. Like Opening Day in the MLB or football’s Labor Day curtain raiser, cycling has its key date of festivities.
We may have raced for two months already but ‘opening weekend’ is when Belgium, cycling’s heartland, joins the fray. The men’s and women’s Omloop Nieuwsblad, men’s Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, and women’s Omloop van het Hagelend act as a gateway salvo to the most frenetic part of the cycling season, the spring Classics.
How to watch
USA
Max with via the B/R Sports Add-On and FloBikes from 10 am ET / 9 am CT / 8 am MT / 7 am PT
Canada
FloBikes
Greater Europe
Eurosport/Discovery+ | 16:00 CET – 18:30 CET
Belgium
Sporza / RTBF from 13:20 CET
UK
Streaming has changed in the UK. As of February 28, viewers will need to renew their Discovery+ subscription via TNT Sports to access cycling.
Discovery+/TNT Sports 2 | 15:00 GMT – 17:30 GMT (co-commentary from ex-rider Alice Wood)
Fifth in 2024, Omloop was the race that signposted Thalita de Jong as one of the most versatile athletes in the world last season. After a successful start to the season in Spain that included a victory in Mallorca and a GC top-10 at Setmana Valenciana, she’s excited to be back racing in her adopted home of Belgium.
“I’m happy that the Classics are starting,” the 31-year-old said. “Strade and of course, Sanremo will be new for me. Binda I did in the past, but a very long time ago. Opening weekend with my “home race” Nieuwsblad is a nice one. I had a good result last year, so hopefully this year again.”
With tough conditions, changeable surfaces, and electric racing, the pace of the Classics is far different from that of the early season.
“It will be different than racing in Spain,” she explains. “It’s more hectic so hopefully everything will go smoothly and safely. Omloop is a hard start, but my shape is good for it. Together with Ruth, it’s a special race where everything can happen. I’m looking forward to it but you always need some luck on your side in the Classics.”
Ruth Edwards returned to the Classics last year with Omloop her first race back in Europe. Despite the bad luck last year, the 2021 Brabantse Pijl winner still knows how to boss the hardest one-day races.
“It’s hard not to be excited for the Classics,” Edwards says. I was still home in Colorado a day ago which feels like a faraway land now. Once I landed in Brussels I saw a few teams picking up other riders and it felt much closer and exciting right away.”
She also likes the look of the lineup.
“I’m very excited to line up with a team of super strong women,” Edwards says. “It’s extra motivating to look at the lineup and know we’ve got some serious power to play with.”
Where the race is won
In truth, it’s the Classics, so Omloop could be won and lost on any stretch of cobbles, in any gust of wind, round any corner, and on any either remarkable or (more often than not) unremarkable bit of asphalt. However, these are the trigger points.
Wolvenberg
A steep climb midway into the race followed immediately by the first of three stretches of flat cobbles in five kilometers, there will be a significant thinning of the peloton at this point. You won’t win the race here but if you’re not constantly bandying around the first 30, you may well lose it.
Molenberg
A steep, technical section with some of the most uneven cobbles in West Flanders, the Molenberg is a brute of a climb and the speed-scrubbing lefthander into its base doesn’t help. Arguably more important though is the narrow windswept rising concrete road that follows. 44 kilometers from home, this is where a key selection is often made.
Elverenberg
The last in a succession of steep paved climbs within eight kilometers of each other, it’s a real leg sapper. The climbs are also on one of those aforementioned unremarkable stretches of road that an opportunist may well trigger a race-making attack before the grand finale.
Muur-Kapelmuur
One of the most iconic climbs in the world, the Muur is a formidable cobbled climb with an average gradient of 9.3% and a maximum gradient of 19.8%. Around its final turn up to the beautiful Chapel of Our Lady of Oudenberg, athletes are greeted by a baying wall of fans spilling their frites and beer onto the cobbles below.
Bosberg
Pre-2012, the Muur-Bosberg doubleheader used to be the key point of the Tour of Flanders but now acts as a launchpad in Omloop. At 5.8% with a maximum gradient of 11%, the cobbled Bosberg is the final climb to either thin out a leading group or press home a solo advantage before 13 kilometers of due downhill take us to Ninove. What legs a rider has for a final sprint is determined by how they fared on all the trigger points discussed.
Keep an eye on our social media channels for all the behind-the-scenes action and exciting dispatches from a very special recon on Sunday.
Photos: GettySport
