OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD

Former Belgian champion rode away on final two climbs to win first European WorldTour race of 2023.

Lotte Kopecky wins Omloop Het Nieuwsblad after a ferocious attack on the Kapelmuur.And Lorena Wiebes is second !!! Georgi was the closest to Kopecky, but the former Belgian champion is now on her own in pursuit of Sierra. The 2023 women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad looks as though it's going to SD Worx. One shake of the head from the Cuban was enough for Kopecky to try and launch away solo. The gap is holding at around 30 seconds for Kopecky as she approaches Ninove. Wiebes is doing a phenomenal job of defending as she sits on Liane Lippert's wheel up the Bosberg. The Cuban is very experienced and has taken WorldTour wins as recently as at last year's Tour de Romandie in October. SD Worx are happy with the composition of the front group which is now 18 riders strong. They will have to wait 50km before facing the second in Holleweg. They've past the two and a half hours mark of racing. They also have Emma Norsgaard for a sprinting option, she finished second in the 2021 edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The women’s race, which has been upgraded to WorldTour level for the first time in its history, is 132km long, starting in Gent and finishing in Nionve.

Two solo victories from Dylan Van Baarle and Lotte Kopecky—and smart team tactics from Jumbo Visma and SD Worx start Classics season strong.

The group of seven maintained their lead for more than half of the race, until Jumbo Visma picked up the peloton pace and started trying to pull the leaders back, splitting the peloton in the process. The peloton behind the chase group also finally motivated to start to chase down the chasers as the climbs started coming fast and furious. But the lead group must have been tiring as the peloton surged ahead, bringing the gap down to under a minute. An early breakaway of seven riders took off and established a large gap early in the race, bringing the gap up to six minutes while several riders were forced to abandon after a crash. By 80 kilometers to go, the seven minute gap had been brought down to 2:30 by the smaller chase group. But Kopecky was clearly doing everything she could to maintain her gap, pushing at her absolute limit and holding her 30 second lead with two kilometers to go, despite Van Vleuten’s best efforts in the chase group. At 9 kilometers to go, SD Worx Demi Vollering was also in the lead group, along with teammate Wiebes—ready to sprint if the group did catch Kopecky. (After the finish, she told her teammates that next time, she would go later—“I wasn’t sure how to pace this kind of race, but I think I did well,” she laughed.) It’s the first of the classics races, and it’s the first major one-day race on the calendar. Unfortunately, Van Vleuten didn’t have many supporters in the chase group, with very few women willing to move to the front to work. and Canada left a lot to be desired, with the women’s race only coming online on FloBikes with roughly 20 kilometers to go, and no commentary whatsoever—just the roar of the crowd and the helicopter. At 28 kilometers to go, Arlenis Sierra (Movistar) attacked and created a small gap.

Lorena Wiebes made it an SD Worx one-two after winning the sprint behind, with Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) taking third.

It just not to be for Dutch superstar Annemiek van Vleuten in the first episode of her final Classics campaign. This was only intensified by a break from Cuban rider Arlenis Sierra which saw her take the lead as she approached the Muur. And what a win it was. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad In what was the first edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsbladd to be included on the women's WorldTour calendar, and the first where the men's and women's winners were awarded the same prize money, Kopecky sailed through the flamme rouge with a 16-second advantage and held on to confidently take the solo victory. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) became the first Belgian woman to win Omloop Het Nieuwsblad after a dominant display.

The Dutchman said "instinct" led him to his first win as a Jumbo-Visma rider.

Behind him, a quartet of De Lie, Laporte, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) began to bear down on him, but the gap held steady at 15 seconds. As he rode alone under the flamme rouge and down the finishing straight, Van Baarle shook his head in disbelief. His French companion fell victim to a mechanical, while much of the peloton were forced to step off and push their bikes up the double-figure gradients. Two of the Dutch team’s riders, Jan Tratnik and Nathan van Hooydonck, then attacked up the road, joined by British duo Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers). On their way to Ninove, the riders would tackle 12 hellingen - short, sharp climbs - including the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg, often the site of the decisive attack. 30km then remained, with the finale starting to build towards its crescendo. Tom is one of Cycling Weekly's news and features writers. The chasing pack was quickly swallowed up, while the leaders saw their advantage slashed to just 30 seconds with 50km to go. "Our plan was to make it a hard race and the guys rode incredible." The former was considered an outsider for the race win, having taken his first professional victory at the one-day Vuelta a Murcia earlier this month. The team told me to use my instinct and that's what I did. [Ineos Grenadiers](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/tag/ineos-grenadiers) at the start of the season.

Jumbo-Visma might not have had 2022 champion Wout Van Aert in the race, but the team kept the title of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the first race of the ...

Van Baarle’s gap was down to 20 seconds with 17 km and the Bosberg remaining. Stuyven’s chase had submitted to the peloton. The frenetic action split the peloton. Jumbo-Visma had been doing most of the chasing but with two men in Group 2, contender Arnaud De Lie’s Lotto-Dstny took over. Four kilometres after the Muur was the Bosberg climb (1 km of 5.8%). De Vos wears the orange helmet in Cofidis’ tweet below.

Dutchman Dylan Van Baarle, representing Jumbo-Visma, won the annual Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for the first time in his career during the International Cycling ...

In the women's side, Lotte Kopecky became the first Belgian woman to win the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Van Baarle finished with a total time of 4hours 54:49min ahead of second place Arnaud De Lie of Belgium, who was representing Lotto Dstny. "I saw a moment, it was quite a hard section of the race, and I decided to go."

Good afternoon and welcome to today's live coverage of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2023 women's race! Will the formidable Annemiek van Vleuten be able to win this ...

Her Movistar team mates are grouping together at the front with SD Worx alongside them. Former Belgian champion Kopecky powers up ahead of the group with Georgi close behind. Kopecky catches up with Sierra after a powerful ride up the cobbles. Could she be the first Belgian woman to claim the victory?! Movistar still have Sierra as a contender in that second group, but SD Worx are looking strong with Kopecky ahead by 39 seconds. It's a dream start to the season for SD Worx, who turn last year's second and third place to first and second!

The SD Worx rider became the first Belgian woman to win the cobbled classic.

Tom is one of Cycling Weekly's news and features writers. Movistar and UAE Team ADQ tried their best to close the gap, but neither team could catch Kopecky, who crossed the line to take her first win of the season. The Belgian then readied herself, before dealing her killer, race-winning attack at the foot of the Bosberg with 12km remaining. On their first WorldTour outing in Europe, the riders left one Flemish city for another, racing between Ghent and Ninove on a 132.2km course. Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) finished in third. The Belgian’s winning move started on the Muur van Geraardsbergen, where she exploded out of the peloton to catch the race leader Arlenis Sierra (Movistar).

Thirty year-old Paris-Roubaix winner continues his slow burn after moving to Jumbo-Visma.

Sometimes that’s early on and sometimes that’s late and that makes us unpredictable,” Van Baarle explained, and today that was with more than 100km to go at the cobbles of the Lange Munte. That was the tactic but I didn’t have to be the guy up front.” Admittedly, during the first training camp in December, it was a bit uncomfortable because you’re still dressed in your old kit but from January on I was feeling at home. But he hoped it wouldn’t stop with a win at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Ninove. “I wanted to keep the pace high and keep the group going but apparently they were on their limit. When looking back I saw that the cars were still behind me which was a good sign. “I lost the boys and figured I had to find my own way. It was instinct obviously but I knew that when I’m up front that the other boys are relatively comfortable. Right after the steep cobbled Molenberg climb and a big move from teammate Nathan Van Hooydonck everybody was gasping for air and the pace dropped. “I’m still a bit of a slow sucker but winning the race is obviously the goal. None of the riders at the start of the Omloop were red riders and several riders were yellow riders, including Dylan van Baarle. “I’ll be able to tell you after the race,” he said.

Dylan van Baarle won the 2023 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The Jumbo-Visma rider went solo on the Muur van Geraardsbergen to finish alone in Ninove.

The four pursuers were caught on the finish line, but De Lie and Laporte still managed to sprint to second and third place. They were still together at the foot of the Muur van Geraardsbergen, with a lead of 30 seconds on the peloton, which Vermeersch and Milan had regained. I was sometimes a bit more from the back, but that doesn’t matter if the rest of the guys were in front. Van Baarle still had about 15 seconds in the run-up to the Bosberg. After there was the iconic duo of the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg. In the final towards Ninove, the peloton slowly got closer to the Laporte, De Lie, Mohorič and Wellens group. In the meantime there were accelerations in the peloton from Tim Wellens and Stefan Küng, but Jumbo-Visma neutralised every move. The two Belgians remained at the side of the road. The Dutchman of Jumbo-Visma set up a leading group 40 kilometres from the finish, then went solo at the foot of the Muur van Geraardsbergen to finish alone on the Elisabethlaan in Ninove. The attackers gained a lead of more than 8 minutes on the peloton, where BORA-hansgrohe, Groupama-FDJ and Jumbo-Visma did the work. From the Bosberg there was only 12 kilometres to the finish in Ninove. The riders then had to cover 207.3 kilometres, but the final really started at 53 kilometres from the finish, with the Wolvenberg.

Dylan van Baarle has won the 78th edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in style. The 30-year-old Dutchman took his first victory for Team Jumbo-Visma after a…

We planned to make the race hard from the start, and we all did that perfectly. After we got away with six riders, we didn't want the race to stall. "We planned for the race to explode early on. With a clear advantage, he crossed the line in the streets of Ninove. "I can hardly find the words to describe this beautiful victory”, Van Baarle stammered. Tratnik and Van Hooydonck held out for a long time, riding in a strong group between the peloton and a seven-man breakaway.

De Lie wins sprint for second place, Laporte recovers from early crash to take third.

Finally, just as that chasing group was being caught by a reduced peloton, the 21-year-old summoned up the speed to win the sprint for second place ahead of Laporte, Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) and Pidcock. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. There was drama with 50km to go when De Lie slid out on a right-hand bend and then had to stop once more to change his bike. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. The neo-professional Le Berre, already part of the day’s early break, caught the eye with his courageous display, but he eventually ground to a halt when the gradient bit on the penultimate ascent of the Muur van Geraardsbergen. The tone for the day was set. Van Baarle’s superiority, however, was apparent from the moment he clipped off the front in the company of Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious), Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny) and Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-Samsic). The new arrival [Van Baarle](https://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/dylan-van-baarle/), however, proved a more than able understudy, first with the canny timing of his attack and then with the overwhelming strength that carried him to victory by some 25 seconds. Conditions were mercifully dry, and temperatures nowhere near as low as the peloton has encountered at this race in years gone by. “The team told me to use my instinct, and that’s what I did,” Van Baarle said. In keeping with recent tradition, Ghent’s Kuipke velodrome hosted the start of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad rather than Sint-Pietersplein. “It’s been a long winter with a lot of training, it’s all worth it.

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I just wanted to go at my own pace and actually I wanted to go on the Bosberg. The next goals for Kopecky are the spring classics where one race is the most important for her. I think we’re different sexes but we’re doing the same effort,” Kopecky said. I felt strong on the climbs but didn’t have the intention to attack on the Muur. At the end of my career I want to tick as many boxes as possible.” “During training I was going well and before the race I stated that I felt good. To some people, we don’t deserve it because we’re not doing the same distance as the men. “I wasn’t too heavy but there was room for improvement. I noticed she was going very well on the climbs. I’ve got the feeling that the team is sticking well together. Kopecky and Wiebes are both new members of SD Worx, joining the Dutch squad respectively from Liv Racing and Team DSM. She left the competition gasping for air and bridged up with Arlenis Sierra (Movistar).

Up close and personal with the two bikes ridden to solo victories by Dylan van Baarle and Lotte Kopecky.

On the bike, 30-year-old Josh has been riding and racing since his early teens. I then had more time with it at the finish where it was, uh, exactly the same save for a light dusting of Flandrian earth and as UCI doping control tag. Alongside this, his love for WorldTour racing and eagle eyes mean he's often breaking tech stories from the pro peloton too. He started out racing cross country when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s and has never looked back. Mechanics don't particularly like us touching the bikes, so we're at their whim with how well they're presented. With all of the SD Worx bikes to choose from, I opted for this very one.

Staking her claim to be considered the queen of the cobbles, Lotte Kopecky triumphed on what was her first race of the season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Sierra remained in the lead on the Muur, where she was joined by Kopecky, and could have been a very useful decoy for Van Vleuten had the Dutchwoman not punctured. Still, the signs were that Movistar have gelled well as a team for the 2023 season. It wasn’t just that Wiebes survived the climbs; she was one of the best over them. It was striking just how quicker she was up the climb than any of her rivals. There was no risk of her finishing second at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, after she produced an all-or-nothing attack on the Muur. And with victory today, Kopecky has confirmed herself as the woman to beat in the cobbled classics this spring.