Omloop Het Nieuwsblad & Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne: Preview
The cycling season been underway for several weeks in Australia, Spain, and France, among other places, but for us, it truly begins with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. From Saturday, February 24th, it’s time. With riders like Wout van Aert and Jasper Philipsen, it’s guaranteed to be an intense battle. A day later, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne also begins. There, we expect an interesting race as well.
Spring Classics & Calendar
At the beginning of spring, fourteen classics are raced over a period of ten weeks, from the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will take place this year on Saturday, February 24th, and a day later, the Opening Weekend will conclude with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. A week after the Omloop, the Strade Bianche takes place, and the first monument is raced on Saturday, March 16th, with Milan-Sanremo. At the end of March, we’ll have Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, and the Tour of Flanders. April will see Paris-Roubaix, the Brabantse Pijl, and the Amstel Gold Race. On Sunday, April 21st, Liege-Bastogne-Liege also takes place. The Giro starts a few weeks later on May 4th and finishes on May 26th. At the beginning of summer, on June 29th, the Tour de France begins, ending a little over a month later on July 21st. In August, we start with the Clásica San Sebastián and the Vuelta. The season ends in October with races like the Tour of Lombardy.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the first spring classic after a long winter month without racing. The riders first depart from the famous Kuipke in Ghent, but the official start is in Merelbeke. Then they ride more than 200 kilometers until the finish. Traditionally, the final showdown erupts on the Molenberg, 40 kilometers from the finish. If it hasn’t happened by then. The Muur van Geraardsbergen will also be a decisive point this year. The finish is in Ninove on the wide Elisabethlaan.
It’s always difficult to find a top favorite for the first classic of the year, mainly because the riders haven’t had much competition yet. But we can say that Visma / Lease a Bike has a good chance. With names like Wout van Aert, defending champion Dylan van Baarle, Christophe Laporte, and Tiesj Benoot, they have a strong lineup. Van Baarle proved last year that even the shadow leader doesn’t miss out on a good chance. Wout van Aert also knows that he’ll probably be the one with the most eyes on him, but that doesn’t mean he has less chance of winning. Two years ago, he took the lead on the Bosberg and rode solo to the finish.
At Lotto-Dstny, they also have some strong players with Arnaud De Lie, Victor Campenaerts, and Brent Van Moer. De Lie finished second last year, after van Baarle, and hopes to do slightly better this year. There are also Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen, Yves Lampaert, and Gianni Moscon at Soudal-Quick Step. At Lidl-Trek, Jasper Stuyven and Jonathan Milan lead the team, and at Ineos Grenadiers, we look to Tom Pidcock and Ben Turner.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
In 2024, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne is in its 76th edition. The race is always held on the ninth Sunday of the year, with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad the day before. Normally, the race would start in Kuurne, as the name suggests, but in 2024, 2025, and 2026, the start is given on the Grote Markt of Kortrijk. Also, it hasn’t been ridden all the way to Brussels for a long time; the turnaround point is somewhere in Ninove. The race always passes through the Flemish Ardennes, with an iconic passage over the Oude Kwaremont.
Visma/Lease a Bike triumphed in Kuurne last year as well. Tiesj Benoot took the victory then. He’s doing the double again, along with Dylan van Baarle, Wout van Aert, and Christophe Laporte. At Alpecin-Deceuninck, we don’t see Mathieu van der Poel, but Jasper Philipsen is taking his chances here. At Soudal-Quick Step, Kasper Asgreen, Julian Alaphilippe, and Yves Lampaert are doing the double. Stefan Küng, Arnaud De Lie, Dylan Teuns, and Tom Pidcock only ride on Saturday during the Omloop.
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