Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2026, February 28

[postmanhat]

I think he's a little bit stronger yeah, mainly uphill tho. It's true that he was strong at Lotto (with his femur fracture he never got to show it in his last year) and conditions like in Roubaix then and today too really suit him. But it's not a leap like some others at UAE no, I think mainly he got underrated at Lotto.

But I saw him sprinting better at his early days, as a neopro he was pretty fast even. Explosive sprints like today (going from slow to fast) do suit him less tho.

Yeah, I'm not sure Vermeersch would have been any better or worse, had he stayed at Lotto. His apparent progress at UAE is mostly due to him learning to avoid crashes, which he'd shown enough of in 2024, but then ended up towing De Lie around for a lot the season. Wish he stayed, but the prospects and, obviously, the salary were a no-brainer.

 

[Samamba]

Yeah, I'm not sure Vermeersch would have been any better or worse, had he stayed at Lotto. His apparent progress at UAE is mostly due to him learning to avoid crashes, which he'd shown enough of in 2024, but then ended up towing De Lie around for a lot the season. Wish he stayed, but the prospects and, obviously, the salary were a no-brainer.

Yeah, he would've been worse... financially. It's that simple. And honestly anyone would've made the same choice if they know his salary now compared to what he could've gotten somewhere else.

Can't blame him (don't like some of his comments in media tho), and he has some results in Roubaix and now Omloop, he wouldve been more consistent at Lotto or somewhere else maybe, but his top results probably wouldn't have been better

 

[postmanhat]

VLAB has dominated the GT's for the last 5 years.

I said the next few years. Apart from Vingo, they have no one on the horizon who will be competitive?

 

[Cycling111]

VLAB has dominated the GT's for the last 5 years.

True.

Visma has won 13 GT with 4 riders, UAE has won 5 GT with just one.
Visma has won races like Omloop with three riders, UAE never. They won with riders like Tratnik, UAE can't with Pollit or Vermeershs who finished second in Roubaix in other teams 😂
Visma's dominance is more similar to Sky's; they won with several riders in important races. In fact, at GT, they are clearly the dominant team that has succeeded Sky, capable of achieving victories with multiple riders. UAE hasn't managed it, even with talents like Ayuso. Visma has achieved it with Kuss and a declining Simon Yates.

Perhaps they're suggesting Seixas should race farm-races, which is where the other UAE riders have won 😅.

 

[Salvarani]

I said the next few years. Apart from Vingo, they have no one on the horizon who will be competitive?

Maybe Nordhagen.

But who knows, they might get a new talent in their development team first and then go from there. Or they will sign someone else in the meantime.

Vinge should have a couple of seasons left, they got a little bit of time to figure it out.

Or they will just reverse to mean for a bit. Nothing strange about that over a longer time period.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

A month at calpe in January and a month at Teide in February, 2 months hard training, no girlfriend, no wife, no kids, no friends, no beers, no late evenings, lots of efforts, you show up to your first big goal and you try nothing, do nothing , shrug your shoulders, wait for a sprint that you will lose. I hate modern classics riders.

Agreed

 

[Brumdog66]

Do we know how the DNFs are for tomorrow? Philipsen, Brennan etc

 

[red_flanders]

He ended up putting his pedal into the helmet of the crasher at 45km to stay upright. Didn't see movement from that dude afterward...Mathieu was very lucky at that point although he was clearly the overwhelming power today.

Stuff happens.

Most guys would have gone down. I’m all about it, great move on his part.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Do we know how the DNFs are for tomorrow? Philipsen, Brennan etc

Küng has broken his thigh, that's his spring (and probably more) done. Whoever at Tudor was in charge of the tubes for today almost literally has blood on their hands, if two of your three leaders slide out on the cobbles with no other riders involved it's not an accident.

 

[Oldman]

Stuff happens.

Most guys would have gone down. I’m all about it, great move on his part.

And a nice post-race apology to the Tudor rider for the accidental contact. Several here didn't think he was so dominant, though. IMO, after winning a string of cyclocross titles including WC and taking a little time to train for this; the effort was totally dominant.
Wet, cool weather and the number of crashes added to a constant re-acceleration interval race. Adding in the hills it seemed to have more demanding situations than any one day effort this season. And he finished solo. Any other rider put in that kind of a race this year? Anyone?