78th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad: February 25, 2023

[Pantani_lives]

The opening classic of the Belgian season underwent two changes compared to last year. The Molenberg is back after last year's omission due to road works. The finish is still in Ninove, but has been moved to the Elisabethlaan. It's a little wider and slightly uphill, but the state of the asphalt has been criticized.

Two big names will skip this weekend: Van Aert and Van der Poel. That makes it more open for the others. The weather forecast says dry, rather cold and northern wind. Total distance: 207.3 km.

Hills:

1. Leberg (168 km) [950 m; 4.2%]
2. Kattenberg (99 km) [600 m; 6%]
3. Leberg (89 km) [950 m; 4.2%]
4. Hostellerie (72 km) [1300 m; 4.5%]
5. Valkenberg (64 km) [540 m; 8.1%]
6. Wolvenberg (54 km) [645 m; 7%]
7. Molenberg (41 km) [500 m; 6.6%]
8. Blessestraat (39 km) [820 m; 3.8%]
9. Leberg (35 km) [950 m; 4.2%]
10. Berendries (30 km) [940 m; 7%]
11. Elverenberg-Vossenhol (27 km) [1,268 m; 3.6%]
12. Muur-Kapelmuur (15.7 km) [475 m; 9.3%]
13. Bosberg (11.8 km) [980 m; 5.8%]

Recent winners:
2013 Luca Paolini
2014 Ian Stannard
2015 Ian Stannard
2016 Greg Van Avermaet
2017 Greg Van Avermaet
2018 Michael Valgren
2019 Zdenek Stybar
2020 Jasper Stuyven
2021 Davide Ballerini
2022 Wout Van Aert

Record holders with three wins:
Ernest Sterckx (1952, 1953, 1956)
Joseph Bruyère (1974, 1975, 1980)
Peter van Petegem (1997, 1998, 2002)

 

[Lequack]

De Lie will win this easily.

 

[Samamba]

I wonder if we get some crosswinds early because some serious northernwind expected Saturday. Bad for attackers in the final tho. Makes a sprint a bit more likely. Philipsen is my guess if it's a sprint (don't really get why De LIe is the big favorite while Philipsen hasn't been beaten by him once and he's here too).

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I wonder if we get some crosswinds early because some serious northernwind expected Saturday. Bad for attackers in the final tho. Makes a sprint a bit more likely. Philipsen is my guess if it's a sprint (don't really get why De LIe is the big favorite while Philipsen hasn't been beaten by him once and he's here too).

De Lie is more likely to make it to any sort of sprint though. He really should be there in a group of 20, probably with Campenaerts there to help control things, otoh Philipsen isn't getting over the Muur with the first 20 riders and will need a bigger sprint, 2021-style.

 

[Ricco']

De Lie is more likely to make it to any sort of sprint though. He really should be there in a group of 20, probably with Campenaerts there to help control things, otoh Philipsen isn't getting over the Muur with the first 20 riders and will need a bigger sprint, 2021-style.

If Philipsen is climbing as well as in last year's Tour, the Muur won't be too difficult for him.

But since it's his first race of the year, let's see how he is.

 

[tobydawq]

Sagan to tick this one off.

 

[Bonimenier]

Herregodts beating Tiller in a 2 up sprint.

 

[ij74]

Maybe Sagan can pull this one off

 

[DaLong]

Shared in the MvdP thread but will share here too, some light Omloop reading:

Greg would prefer having vdP/vA at opening weekend.

 

[DaLong]

Sagan does have a chance I suppose, but as others pointed out I don't think his climbing is any better than Philipsen's and he sure as hell isn't going to beat him in a sprint. Having said that, he hasn't caught Covid yet this year...though we still have one more day and he just flew back from training in Medellin, Colombia so who knows. I hope he's at least in the finale.

 

[Pantani_lives]

My guess is Pidcock. Those short, steep climbs suit him perfectly, and he's in shape. Ineos has a strong collective with Kwiatkowski, Turner and Sheffield.

 

[christopherrowe]

I'll put down De Lie for Saturday and Sunday.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I'll put down De Lie for Saturday and Sunday.

Like a stray dog?

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Of course, you will enjoy the Omloop, and a whole bunch of one day races over the next 10 weeks of so, if you have a vested interest in them, such as by entering the Spring Classics CQ game.

It's OK, I'll stop posting reminders in other (though not entirely unrelated) threads now.

 

[KenFiamingo]

Mohoric.
Take this from a guy who managed to predict the winner once (Langeveld) over the last 20 years.

 

[Volderke]

The last couple of K's will be a full-on headwind. Hard to go solo / in a little group, so if there is any group larger than 20 together, I expect a sprint.

 

[SafeBet]

Expecting a lot from Ineos here. They have the team strength to force a selection as they did last year in a few one day races. Both Sheffield and Turner looked excellent to start the season.

 

[topcat]

The door is wide open. Laporte (assuming Nibali isn’t riding this one).

 

[search]

looks like full headwind in the end indeed, but on the other hand, this also means fairly strong crosswinds earlier on, plus cold temperatures. Normally I'd think it should still be a more selective race than in past years.

 

[OlavEH]

Finally! For me this is when the season really starts. Everyting until now is just a warm-up.

I'm looking forward to the duels between the two Vans this spring, but it will be very interesting to see how it all plays out when none of these two are present. Last year Van Baerle was the best cobblestone rider in addition to the Vans. Can anyone else step up this year?

 

[DNP-Old]

While Philipsen would probably be the outright favorite in a pure sprint, it is almost impressive how little he has shown in classics season. When he was negotiating with UAE all those years back he contractually enforced starting rights to all the big classics, but I can't recall one good race from him in this area since.

 

[BR2]

While Philipsen would probably be the outright favorite in a pure sprint, it is almost impressive how little he has shown in classics season. When he was negotiating with UAE all those years back he contractually enforced starting rights to all the big classics, but I can't recall one good race from him in this area since.

Isn't he a very pure sprinter for a straight forward race who has problems whenever there are hills or any other obstacles like cobbles?

 

[BR2]

I hope that Lewis Askey gets to ride for himself here and that he can show a good result. Much more likely he will ride for Jake Stewart though.
For the win I wouldn't rule out Kristoff, although I thought he was finished years ago.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Christopher Laporte has to be the favourite here.

 

[tobydawq]

Christopher Laporte has to be the favourite here.

Emil Axelgaard has him as the biggest favourites. His entire top 7 consists solely of Ineos and Jumbo riders because he figures they will be able to utilise their strength in numbers in basically any scenario.

I think it's a bit too much to have secen riders from the two teams as the seven biggest favourites, especially because they are two, not one, good teams, so they could probably cancel each other out.