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OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD 2025

MEN'S RACE 1 March 2025

WOMEN'S RACE 1 MARCH 2025

Take a look at the program of Omloop Het Nieuwsbald 2025>>>

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (originally Omloop Het Volk) is a Belgian cobbled-classic one-day race since 1945.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is regarded as the traditional opening event of the spring classics season.

Read some fun facts about Omloop Het Nieuwsblad>>>

WHY I PICKED THIS RACE FOR THIS EVENT?

As you may know (well, I remind the visitors of this site frequently), Cycling Monuments 2025 project is not just about the five Monuments, but about some of the other one-day races too. The selection is a simple procedure: which are those spring (or autikn)classics races I would like to say something for the last time  related to My last road cycling season project.

Although cycling competitions on the most elite level are usually held in January (Australia, occasionally Argentina) and in February (Midle-East, and the southern regions, closer to the Mediterranean Sea in France and Spain, also in Portugal),  traditionally the seasons kicks of with the cobbled classics, especially with Omloop Hen Nieuwsblad.

Years after years, I was eagerly waiting for the Opening Weekend, I was planning and planning how I would cover the new season, and all the excitiment, all the my creative energie stored during the off-season I poured into this first important event of the year. Thus in my personal history related to road cycling OmloopmHet Nieuwsblad will have always a special place. That's why I picked it as one of the non-monumental one-day rsces I woul like to talk about

 

MY FAVOURITE EDITION: OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD 2019

I mentioned earlier that Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was a symbole of hope of a new beginning to me too. It was especially true in 2019. 2018 was a big watershed in my life, leaving Budapest and an exremely toxic work enviroment behind, also related to my decision to intend to write rather in English than Hungarian. Although PelotonTales was created in early 2020 (just right before the big worldwide lockdown), I already started writing about some road cycling event in English in a small corner of my original Hungarian road cycling website, TOURázzunk együtt.

And Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was one of the first event I wrote in English about.

OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD PREVIOUS WINNERS

Men's race

2024 Jan Tratnik
2023 Dylan van Baarle
2022 Wout van Aert

Full list of previous winners (men's race) >>

Women's race

2024 Marianne Vos
2023 Lotte Kopecky
2022 Annemiek van Vleuten

Full list of pevious winners (women's race)>>

 

OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD 2024 TOP 5

1 Jan Tratnik (SLO) Visma–Lease a Bike
2 Nils Politt (GER) UAE Team Emirates
3 Wout Van Aert (BEL) Visma–Lease a Bike
4 Oliver Naesen (BEL) Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale
5 Christophe Laporte (FRA) Visma–Lease a Bike

TOP5 cyclists of the previous 10 editions>>

MOST MEMORABLE EDITION: OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD  2015

I think a whole generation of cycling fans (especially fans of cobble-classic races) remembers the race, when Ian Stannard (Team Sky) outsmarted nit one, not two, but three Etixx-Quick-Step riders, Nikki Terpstra, Tom Boonen and Stijn Vandenbergh.

Three Etixx-Quick Step cyclists, Nikki Terpstra, Tom Boonen and Stijn Vandenbergh against oje Team Sky riders Ian Stannard, the winner of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2015

Etixx-Quick Step was at the peak of its spring classic dominance, with three of them (among them Tom Boonen, one of the greatest classic riders of all time), nobody expected else than another victory for th Belgian team.

First Boonen attacked, was caught soon by Stannard, then Terpstra made a move, caught unfortunately by his own temmate, Vandenbergh.

In the finish Terpstra strarted the sprint but Stannard outsprinted and won his second consecutive Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

THE GREATEST LEGENDS AND OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was for decades typically a Belgian business,  the first non-Belgian winner was the Irish Seamus Elliott in 1959. The race, set in early March was usually a too early event for real battles getween the greatest names anyway. We  can't find among the names of the winners such legends, like Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartali, Jacques Anquetil or Raymond Poulidor. (You might say that cobbled classics are not for such fragile riders like Fausto Coppi, but I happily remind you, that Coppi won even Paris-Roubaix once.)

Eddy Merckx (1971, 1973), Roger de Vlaemick (1969, 1979), and Freddy Maertens (1977,1978) won twice, as did from a later generation Johan Museeuw (2000, 2003) and from an even more younger group of  great one-day racers Philippe Gilbert (2006, 2008) and Greg van Avermaet (2016, 2017) Meanwhile Tom Boonen never managed to win Omloop  Het Nieuwsblad. (That's a surprise!)

Most victories (three times by each of them) claimed: Ernest Sterckx (1952, 1953, 1956), Joseph Bruyére (1974, 1975, 1980) and Peter Van Petegem (1997, 1998, 2002)