Winter is leaving.
The real season is about to begin! This Saturday, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will mark the beginning of the Belgian season, and it will do so with a bang.
Except for Peter Sagan, Gianni Moscon, Alexander Kristoff, John Degenkolb and Mathieu van der Poel (and to a minor extent Alejandro Valverde and perhaps Fernando Gaviria and Sacha Modolo), all the supposed headliners of the Belgian cobbled spring will aspire to be the successor of Michael Valgren who won last year after a tactically well played finale by the Astana team that also had Oscar Gatto and Alexey Lutsenko in the 13 rider selective group from which Valgren's winning attack was made.
There are six previous winners in the field (three of which have won two times) in the shape of Valgren, Greg Van Avermaet (2016, 2017), Ian Stannard (2014, 2015), Sep Vanmarcke (2012), Sebastian Langeveld (2011) and Philippe Gilbert (2006 and 2008) of which Valgren, Van Avermaet, Vanmarcke and Gilbert will line up as some of the biggest favourites for this year's race.
Curiously, there are only four additional riders in the field that have previously ended on the podium (Lukasz Wisniowski (2018), Tiesj Benoot (2016), Niki Terpstra (2015) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (2014)), meaning that it's only the EF, CCC and Dimension Data teams that boast two Omloop podium riders. So much for being considered the three weakest WT teams (Katusha may have a say here).
The route is the same as last year, so the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg will again constitute the final obstacle before the arrival in Ninove as a throwback to the old Flanders route from before 2012. Before, the riders will pass the Wolvenberg, the Molenberg, the Leberg, the Berendries and the Elverenberg in the final 60 kms.
Last year's race was a complete bust, but luckily it doesn't seem as though the wind direction will be as adverse as last year, so we could be in for one of the best treats of the year.
But remember that a victory here is not necessarily a good thing: To this day, the same rider has never won both the Omloop and the Tour of Flanders the same year.
Highlighted riders in the startlist are people, I think have a chance to win this bike race.
Team Dimension Data
1 VALGREN Michael
2 VERMOTE Julien
3 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
4 NIZZOLO Giacomo
5 TILLER Rasmus
6 VENTER Jaco
7 BAK Lars Ytting
Deceuninck - Quick Step
11 LAMPAERT Yves
12 DECLERCQ Tim
13 GILBERT Philippe
14 KEISSE Iljo
15 JUNGELS Bob
16 SÉNÉCHAL Florian
17 ŠTYBAR Zdeněk
Lotto Soudal
21 BENOOT Tiesj
22 DE BUYST Jasper
23 FRISON Frederik
24 KEUKELEIRE Jens
25 MAES Nikolas
26 VAN GOETHEM Brian
27 WELLENS Tim
AG2R La Mondiale
31 NAESEN Oliver
32 GODON Dorian
33 DENZ Nico
34 DILLIER Silvan
35 DUVAL Julien
36 GOUGEARD Alexis
37 VANDENBERGH Stijn
Astana Pro Team
41 BALLERINI Davide
42 BIZHIGITOV Zhandos
43 DE VREESE Laurens
44 GIDICH Yevgeniy
45 HOULE Hugo
46 LUTSENKO Alexey
47 CORT Magnus
Bahrain Merida
51 TEUNS Dylan
52 BOLE Grega
53 COLBRELLI Sonny
54 GARCÍA Iván
55 KOREN Kristijan
56 AGNOLI Valerio
57 PIBERNIK Luka
BORA - hansgrohe
61 ACKERMANN Pascal
62 DRUCKER Jempy
63 OSS Daniel
64 PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
65 SAGAN Juraj
66 SCHILLINGER Andreas
67 SELIG Rüdiger
CCC Team
71 VAN AVERMAET Greg
72 VAN HOECKE Gijs
73 VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan
74 VENTOSO Francisco José
75 VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume
76 WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz
77 SCHÄR Michael
EF Education First
81 VANMARCKE Sep
82 DOCKER Mitchell
83 HOWES Alex
84 LANGEVELD Sebastian
85 PHINNEY Taylor
86 SCULLY Tom
87 BRESCHEL Matti
Groupama - FDJ
91 DUCHESNE Antoine
92 HOELGAARD Daniel
93 KONOVALOVAS Ignatas
94 KÜNG Stefan
95 LE GAC Olivier
96 SINKELDAM Ramon
Mitchelton-Scott
101 TRENTIN Matteo
102 DURBRIDGE Luke
103 EDMONDSON Alex
104 HEPBURN Michael
105 JUUL-JENSEN Christopher
106 SMITH Dion
107 AFFINI Edoardo
Movistar Team
111 ROELANDTS Jürgen
112 BARBERO Carlos
113 BETANCUR Carlos
114 ERVITI Imanol
115 ARCAS Jorge
116 SEPÚLVEDA Eduardo
117 PEDRERO Antonio
Team Jumbo-Visma
121 VAN AERT Wout
122 ROOSEN Timo
123 TEUNISSEN Mike
124 VAN DER HOORN Taco
125 VAN POPPEL Danny
126 EENKHOORN Pascal
127 WYNANTS Maarten
Team Katusha - Alpecin
131 DEBUSSCHERE Jens
132 BIERMANS Jenthe
133 HOLLENSTEIN Reto
134 KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav
135 POLITT Nils
136 WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads
137 TANFIELD Harry
Team Sky
141 STANNARD Ian
142 DOULL Owain
143 KNEES Christian
144 LAWLESS Chris
146 BASSO Leonardo
147 VAN BAARLE Dylan
Team Sunweb
151 BAKELANTS Jan
152 CURVERS Roy
153 KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjørn
154 FRÖHLINGER Johannes
155 MATTHEWS Michael
156 PEDERSEN Casper
157 VERVAEKE Louis
Trek - Segafredo
161 STUYVEN Jasper
162 THEUNS Edward
163 KIRSCH Alex
164 MULLEN Ryan
165 PEDERSEN Mads
166 FRAME Alex
167 BEPPU Fumiyuki
UAE-Team Emirates
171 PHILIPSEN Jasper
172 FERRARI Roberto
173 MARCATO Marco
174 MOLANO Juan Sebastián
175 BYSTRØM Sven Erik
176 SUTHERLAND Rory
177 BOHLI Tom
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
181 LAPORTE Christophe
182 CLAEYS Dimitri
183 HOFSTETTER Hugo
184 TOUZE Damien
185 VAN LERBERGHE Bert
186 VANBILSEN Kenneth
187 WAEYTENS Zico
Corendon - Circus
191 DEVOLDER Stijn
192 DE BONDT Dries
193 JANS Roy
194 JANSSENS Jimmy
195 MEISEN Marcel
196 STALLAERT Joeri
197 VAN TRIJP Maarten
Direct Energie
201 TERPSTRA Niki
202 GAUDIN Damien
203 LIGTHART Pim
204 PETIT Adrien
205 PICHOT Alexandre
206 CARDIS Romain
207 TURGIS Anthony
Roompot - Charles
211 BOOM Lars
212 ASSELMAN Jesper
213 DE WITTE Mathias
214 REINDERS Elmar
215 STEELS Stijn
216 VAN GINNEKEN Sjoerd
217 VAN POPPEL Boy
Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise
221 ALLEGAERT Piet
222 CAPIOT Amaury
223 DECLERCQ Benjamin
224 PLANCKAERT Edward
225 SPRENGERS Thomas
226 VAN HECKE Preben
227 WARLOP Jordi
Wallonie-Bruxelles
231 DEHAES Kenny
232 ISTA Kevyn
233 WIRTGEN Tom
234 LIEPIŅŠ Emīls
235 SPENGLER Lukas
236 PLANCKAERT Baptiste
237 TAMINIAUX Lionel
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
241 BAUGNIES Jérôme
242 DE GENDT Aimé
243 DEVRIENDT Tom
244 BACKAERT Frederik
245 KREDER Wesley
246 MEURISSE Xandro
247 VLIEGEN Loïc
The real season is about to begin! This Saturday, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will mark the beginning of the Belgian season, and it will do so with a bang.
Except for Peter Sagan, Gianni Moscon, Alexander Kristoff, John Degenkolb and Mathieu van der Poel (and to a minor extent Alejandro Valverde and perhaps Fernando Gaviria and Sacha Modolo), all the supposed headliners of the Belgian cobbled spring will aspire to be the successor of Michael Valgren who won last year after a tactically well played finale by the Astana team that also had Oscar Gatto and Alexey Lutsenko in the 13 rider selective group from which Valgren's winning attack was made.
There are six previous winners in the field (three of which have won two times) in the shape of Valgren, Greg Van Avermaet (2016, 2017), Ian Stannard (2014, 2015), Sep Vanmarcke (2012), Sebastian Langeveld (2011) and Philippe Gilbert (2006 and 2008) of which Valgren, Van Avermaet, Vanmarcke and Gilbert will line up as some of the biggest favourites for this year's race.
Curiously, there are only four additional riders in the field that have previously ended on the podium (Lukasz Wisniowski (2018), Tiesj Benoot (2016), Niki Terpstra (2015) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (2014)), meaning that it's only the EF, CCC and Dimension Data teams that boast two Omloop podium riders. So much for being considered the three weakest WT teams (Katusha may have a say here).
The route is the same as last year, so the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg will again constitute the final obstacle before the arrival in Ninove as a throwback to the old Flanders route from before 2012. Before, the riders will pass the Wolvenberg, the Molenberg, the Leberg, the Berendries and the Elverenberg in the final 60 kms.
Last year's race was a complete bust, but luckily it doesn't seem as though the wind direction will be as adverse as last year, so we could be in for one of the best treats of the year.
But remember that a victory here is not necessarily a good thing: To this day, the same rider has never won both the Omloop and the Tour of Flanders the same year.
Highlighted riders in the startlist are people, I think have a chance to win this bike race.
Team Dimension Data
1 VALGREN Michael
2 VERMOTE Julien
3 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
4 NIZZOLO Giacomo
5 TILLER Rasmus
6 VENTER Jaco
7 BAK Lars Ytting
Deceuninck - Quick Step
11 LAMPAERT Yves
12 DECLERCQ Tim
13 GILBERT Philippe
14 KEISSE Iljo
15 JUNGELS Bob
16 SÉNÉCHAL Florian
17 ŠTYBAR Zdeněk
Lotto Soudal
21 BENOOT Tiesj
22 DE BUYST Jasper
23 FRISON Frederik
24 KEUKELEIRE Jens
25 MAES Nikolas
26 VAN GOETHEM Brian
27 WELLENS Tim
AG2R La Mondiale
31 NAESEN Oliver
32 GODON Dorian
33 DENZ Nico
34 DILLIER Silvan
35 DUVAL Julien
36 GOUGEARD Alexis
37 VANDENBERGH Stijn
Astana Pro Team
41 BALLERINI Davide
42 BIZHIGITOV Zhandos
43 DE VREESE Laurens
44 GIDICH Yevgeniy
45 HOULE Hugo
46 LUTSENKO Alexey
47 CORT Magnus
Bahrain Merida
51 TEUNS Dylan
52 BOLE Grega
53 COLBRELLI Sonny
54 GARCÍA Iván
55 KOREN Kristijan
56 AGNOLI Valerio
57 PIBERNIK Luka
BORA - hansgrohe
61 ACKERMANN Pascal
62 DRUCKER Jempy
63 OSS Daniel
64 PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
65 SAGAN Juraj
66 SCHILLINGER Andreas
67 SELIG Rüdiger
CCC Team
71 VAN AVERMAET Greg
72 VAN HOECKE Gijs
73 VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan
74 VENTOSO Francisco José
75 VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume
76 WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz
77 SCHÄR Michael
EF Education First
81 VANMARCKE Sep
82 DOCKER Mitchell
83 HOWES Alex
84 LANGEVELD Sebastian
85 PHINNEY Taylor
86 SCULLY Tom
87 BRESCHEL Matti
Groupama - FDJ
91 DUCHESNE Antoine
92 HOELGAARD Daniel
93 KONOVALOVAS Ignatas
94 KÜNG Stefan
95 LE GAC Olivier
96 SINKELDAM Ramon
Mitchelton-Scott
101 TRENTIN Matteo
102 DURBRIDGE Luke
103 EDMONDSON Alex
104 HEPBURN Michael
105 JUUL-JENSEN Christopher
106 SMITH Dion
107 AFFINI Edoardo
Movistar Team
111 ROELANDTS Jürgen
112 BARBERO Carlos
113 BETANCUR Carlos
114 ERVITI Imanol
115 ARCAS Jorge
116 SEPÚLVEDA Eduardo
117 PEDRERO Antonio
Team Jumbo-Visma
121 VAN AERT Wout
122 ROOSEN Timo
123 TEUNISSEN Mike
124 VAN DER HOORN Taco
125 VAN POPPEL Danny
126 EENKHOORN Pascal
127 WYNANTS Maarten
Team Katusha - Alpecin
131 DEBUSSCHERE Jens
132 BIERMANS Jenthe
133 HOLLENSTEIN Reto
134 KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav
135 POLITT Nils
136 WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads
137 TANFIELD Harry
Team Sky
141 STANNARD Ian
142 DOULL Owain
143 KNEES Christian
144 LAWLESS Chris
146 BASSO Leonardo
147 VAN BAARLE Dylan
Team Sunweb
151 BAKELANTS Jan
152 CURVERS Roy
153 KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjørn
154 FRÖHLINGER Johannes
155 MATTHEWS Michael
156 PEDERSEN Casper
157 VERVAEKE Louis
Trek - Segafredo
161 STUYVEN Jasper
162 THEUNS Edward
163 KIRSCH Alex
164 MULLEN Ryan
165 PEDERSEN Mads
166 FRAME Alex
167 BEPPU Fumiyuki
UAE-Team Emirates
171 PHILIPSEN Jasper
172 FERRARI Roberto
173 MARCATO Marco
174 MOLANO Juan Sebastián
175 BYSTRØM Sven Erik
176 SUTHERLAND Rory
177 BOHLI Tom
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
181 LAPORTE Christophe
182 CLAEYS Dimitri
183 HOFSTETTER Hugo
184 TOUZE Damien
185 VAN LERBERGHE Bert
186 VANBILSEN Kenneth
187 WAEYTENS Zico
Corendon - Circus
191 DEVOLDER Stijn
192 DE BONDT Dries
193 JANS Roy
194 JANSSENS Jimmy
195 MEISEN Marcel
196 STALLAERT Joeri
197 VAN TRIJP Maarten
Direct Energie
201 TERPSTRA Niki
202 GAUDIN Damien
203 LIGTHART Pim
204 PETIT Adrien
205 PICHOT Alexandre
206 CARDIS Romain
207 TURGIS Anthony
Roompot - Charles
211 BOOM Lars
212 ASSELMAN Jesper
213 DE WITTE Mathias
214 REINDERS Elmar
215 STEELS Stijn
216 VAN GINNEKEN Sjoerd
217 VAN POPPEL Boy
Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise
221 ALLEGAERT Piet
222 CAPIOT Amaury
223 DECLERCQ Benjamin
224 PLANCKAERT Edward
225 SPRENGERS Thomas
226 VAN HECKE Preben
227 WARLOP Jordi
Wallonie-Bruxelles
231 DEHAES Kenny
232 ISTA Kevyn
233 WIRTGEN Tom
234 LIEPIŅŠ Emīls
235 SPENGLER Lukas
236 PLANCKAERT Baptiste
237 TAMINIAUX Lionel
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
241 BAUGNIES Jérôme
242 DE GENDT Aimé
243 DEVRIENDT Tom
244 BACKAERT Frederik
245 KREDER Wesley
246 MEURISSE Xandro
247 VLIEGEN Loïc