On this page, Cycling-Classics.com presents you with a complete preview Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022. What is the course of the Omloop? When will it take place and who are the favourites of the Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022? Read more about this magnificent one day race, which is seen as the start of the Flemish spring classics 2022! Cycling-Classics.com is presenting the preview Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022!
History Omloop the Nieuwsblad
The Omloop het Nieuwsblad is one of the oldest Flemish spring classics and its history goes back to 1945. The race began as the Omloop Van Vlaanderen, but because the name was too similar to that of the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, it became the Omloop Het Volk, named after the newspaper that organized the race. For years Het Volk and Het Nieuwsblad were fierce rivals, so much so that Het Nieuwsblad could not bring itself to call the race the Omloop Het Volk and used Gent-Gent instead. The enmity ended when the newspapers merged and the race is now called the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Since 2017, the race has been part of the WorldTour, but its prestige predates its inclusion in the sport’s top tier. Legends of the sport such as Eddy Merckx, Freddy Maertens, Peter Van Petegem and Johan Museeuw have been among the winners over the decades, while Philippe Gilbert, Ian Stannard and Greg Van Avermaet have all won the race twice in the past 15 years.
The Omloop het Nieuwsblad has long been seen as the first real race that matters and is, in any case, the first UCI WorldTour cycling race on Western European soil. Together with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the Omloop het Nieuwsblad forms the Opening Weekend of the spring classics.
When is the Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022?
The Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022 will be held on Saturday, February 26, 2022, entirely in accordance with tradition together with Kuurne Brussel Kuurne 2022 as a diptych of the Opening Weekend. The Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022 will again be held three weeks before the first monument of cycling, the Italian Milan-San Remo 2022 , and five weeks before the Tour of Flanders 2022.
Preview Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022
The day before the 75th edition of the Omloop het Nieuwsblad, you will get an extensive preview on Cycling-Classics.com, with the latest information on the race route and the well-known overview of favorites and the star distribution including the dark horse tip for your cycling chrono! Read on and enjoy the preview Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022!
Previous edition: Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2021
Before we are deep diving within this preview Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022, we are first going back to spring 2021. Back to the Omloop 2021.
The 74th edition of the Omloop het Nieuwsblad took place on 27 February 2021 and went from Gent to Ninove and was won by Davide Ballerini. The bonny sprinter from Deceuninck-Quick Step was able to complete the teamwork in a large group in the Onderwijslaan in Ninove and sprinted to victory. Cycling-Classics.com takes you to the summary of the Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2021 here!
Results Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2021
- Davide Ballerini – Deceuninck – Quick Step 4:43:03
- Jake Stewart – Groupama – FDJ ,,
- Sep Vanmarcke- Israel Start-Up Nation ,,
- Heinrich Haussler – Bahrain – Victorious ,,
- Philippe Gilbert – Lotto Soudal ,,
- Alex Aranburu – Astana – Premier Tech ,,
- Florian Sénéchal – Deceuninck – Quick Step ,,
- Matteo Trentin – UAE-Team Emirates ,,
- Kevin Geniets – Groupama – FDJ ,,
- Nils Politt – BORA – hansgrohe ,,
Course & Route Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022
The official course of the Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022 was presented at the end of January 2022 and the very first one-day race of the World Tour 2022 will have 204 km for the men and 128.4 km for the women. In both races, the start will be in Ghent and the finish in Ninove. What is new is that the women will follow the exact same course as the men for the last 55 km, starting at Wolvenberg.
The most drastic change in the course of the Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022 is that the Molenberg had to be scrapped. Due to roadworks, this iconic slope in Sint-Denijs-Boekel in East-Flanders will not be part of the Omloop 2022. The renovation of the Molenberg is expected to be completed in time for the Tour of Flanders in 2022.
The Haaghoek will also be the epicenter of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2022 course. The cobbled section in Sint-Kornelis-Horebeke will be visited three times by the men, the women will pass it once.
Program Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022
When: Saturday, February 26, 2022
Start: at 11 a.m. on the Emile Clauslaan in Ghent
Arrival: around 16h15 at the Onderwijslaan in Ninove
Cobbles and hills Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022
Cobbled sections Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2021
- Haaghoek (after 46.6 km) – length 2,000m
- Huisepontweg (after 70.7km) – length 1,800m
- Holleweg (after 102.9km) – length 1,500m
- Haaghoek (after 108.6km) – length 2,000m
- Paddestraat (after 117.8km) – length 2,300m
- Holleweg (after 148.1 km) – length 1,500m
- Karel Martelstraat (after 149.3 km) – length 2,400m
- Jagerij (after 151.7 km) – length 800m
- Haaghoek (after 162,4 km) – length 2,000m
Hills Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2021
- Leberg (after 49,4 km) – 950 meters, 4.2% average and 13.8% max gradient
- Den Ast (after 76.4 km) – 450m, 5.5% average, 11% max.
- Katteberg (after 98.3 km) – 600m, 6% average, 8% max.
- Leberg (after 11.7km) – 950m, 4.2% average, 13.8% max.
- Hostellerie (after 127.5km) – 1,300m, 4.5% average, 8.3% max.
- Valkenberg (after 136.7km) – 540m, 8.1% average, 12.8% max.
- Wolvenberg (after 148km) – 645m, 7% average, 17.3% max.
- Molenberg (after 158km) – 463m, 7% average, 12% max.
- Leberg (after 165.5km) – 950m, 4.2% average, 13.8% max.
- Berendries (after 169.5 km) – 940m, 7% average, 12.3% max.
- Elverenberg-Vossenhol (after 172km) – 1,268m, 3.6% average, 9% max.
- Wall-Chapel wall (after 183.8km) – 475m, 9.3% average, 19.8% max
- Bosberg (after 187.7 km) – 980m, 5.8% average, 11% max.
Favorites Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022
Two of the Big Three matadors will not be present in the Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022. The season opener does not fit into the schedule of world champion Julian Alaphilippe, the classic still comes too soon for injured Mathieu van der Poel. And Mads Pedersen, last year’s winner of Kuurne Brussel Kuurne, is also skipping the opening weekend because everything has to make way for his “master plan” to Roubaix.
But in exchange, we’ll see some good people in the Omloop 2022. Vicenzo Nibali and Sonny Colbrelli will make their debut. The 37-year-old Shark of Messina will ride his first classic there in the service of Astana Qazaqstan. Countryman and European Champion Colbrelli surprised friend and foe last year by winning Paris Roubaix. This year no one will want to ride with him to the finish….
The same goes for Wout van Aert. The only one of the Big Three who will start. With brand new teammates Tiesj Benoot and Christophe Laporte, Jumbo-Visma has several irons in the fire.
Defending champion Davide Ballerini – and also Kasper Asgreen – had to miss the Tour de la Provence due to corona and are again a question mark. But the Wolfpacks of Patrick Lefevere also have great riders like Zdeněk Štybar (winner 2019), Yves Lampaert and Florian Sénéchal who are always good here.
All in all, therefore, a field of participants to lick your fingers. Because then we haven’t even named former winners Philippe Gilbert, Sep Vanmarcke, Greg van Avermaet and Jasper Stuyven. All four are always on appointment in the Omloop.
And, finally in this preview Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022, we give answer on the question: who are the doomed favorites who deserve a star?
Favourites Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022 according to Cycling-Classics.com
***** Wout van Aert
The top favorite is Wout van Aert. Drove everyone to fries in the past cross season. In the World Cup he won in Val di Sole and Dendermonde, in the Superprestige he was the best in Boom and Heusden-Zolder and in the X²O Trophy standings he won crosses in Loenhout, Baal and in his own Herentals. It was just that the 27-year-old Jumbo-Visma all-rounder only made his first return to the field at the end of December, otherwise he would have won all three classifications. He skipped the cyclocross world championships in the United States. Reason: everything must give way for his season goals. Those are, of course, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. But those are also the goals of Mathieu van der Poel (we assume for the sake of convenience that he is 100% fit again) and Kasper Asgreen.
Of course, Jumbo-Visma has reinforced Tiesj Benoot, Tosh Van der Sande and Christophe Laport to the max, especially for the classic goals of Van Aert, but the question remains whether Van Aert has support in the full finals this season – or if he is still often on his own. Can Van Aert win the first best cobbled classic on Saturday?
**** Tim Wellens
“Whether I am one of the favorites for the Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022 and how many stars should you give me? Just three or four. Although I will certainly not be the only rider in the team”, Tim Wellens, who was in great shape, told a reporter of Het Nieuwsblad, the day before the Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022. Last Sunday he could not win the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Haut Var, as the Tour du Haut Var is called in full, because he only had to allow Nairo Quintana to do it. However, the winner of the 2018 Brabantse Pijl did finish second in the general classification there, having previously won the second stage. Wellens also won on Spanish soil, winning the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana.
In the same Spain, he rode half February at the new gravel race Clasica Jaen Paraiso Interior behind Alexey Lutsenko to a second place. Excellent form, even better appetite. And the head of the 30-year-old from Sint-Truiden? Also perfect. He made a good comparison with last year. “Then I also talked about super legs before the opening weekend, but at the moment itself I was not on the appointment. For myself, I learned from that. Last year, I lost a bit of focus after Bessèges. That’s about little things: about stretching or breathing exercises you do or don’t do. I’m definitely not going to make any mistakes in that now.” Wellens gives himself three or four stars, the editors of Cycling-Classics.com give him the four out of five we can hand out!
*** Tom Pidcock
When we talk about the last racing season in combination with a definitive breakthrough, you automatically end up with Tom Pidcock. Together with Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel the Big Three of cyclocross, but also in the previews of the classics in road cycling, you will see the only 22-year-old Briton of INEOS-Grenadiers a lot this year. And rightly so, because this is a top rider in the making. In the making? This is already a top rider. Won last year’s Brabantse Pijl by beating Wout van Aert, was pointed to a second place in the Amstel Gold Race in a sprint-a-deux by the same Van Aert, but immediately established himself in those classics. Earlier, he also shook the tree in the Omloop 2021 and sprinted to third place in Kuurne Brussel Kuurne 2021 a day later. And for Saturday in the Omloop 2022? Pidcock will appear at the start more confident than ever. Six months ago he won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in the discipline of mountain biking. Last month he won the gold medal in cyclocross in the United States. Saturday on the highest platform in Ninove will complete the story of a boy’s book.
** Florian Sénéchal or Kasper Asgreen
“Sénéchal oela-la-la-la-la-la-la”, we will unfortunately never again hear on television from the Sporza commentator booth from the mouth of Michel Wuyts. Wuyts is no longer a Sporza reporter, the classic cycling fan will have to carry on without the legendary cycling connoisseur and reporter in one. On the editorial team of Cycling-Classics.com we are as much fans of (the quote of) Wuyts as of the main character himself. What a wonderful rider is Florian Sénéchal! A fast, hard-working cobblestone eater who gets better and better in recent years. Was it during the E3 Harelbeke, say four years ago, that Wuyts went crazy with his oe-la-la during one of those splitting attacks on the cobbles by the Frenchman of Quick-Step? Or was it in the Omloop a few years ago? Or was it during one of the last editions of the Vlaanderens Mooiste? It doesn’t matter either, because if it’s up to Sénéchal – it’s always war in the race. Will be able to win the Omloop 2022 in a depleted peloton in a sprint, but also in a small group after a hard race he has good papers. In short, write him down, this class act! Sénéchal oela-la-la-la-la!
In addition to Frenchman Senechal, we also think Kasper Asgreen is worth mentioning. So out of luxury we will give two riders the two stars. Where he already managed to win Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne solo once, he finally broke through last year. Both the E3 Saxo Bank Classic and the dream Tour of Flanders went to the extremely strong Dane. Without Julian Alaphilippe and Davide Ballerini, Quick-Step’s tactics will be different in the Omloop 2022, which will benefit Asgreen.
However, the Dane himself tempered expectations. “I missed the Tour de Provence because of a corona infection,” says the winner of the Tour of Flanders. “I feel better, but you must not forget that I have only just returned to competition. That’s why, for example, I didn’t ride the time trial to its fullest. I’m riding the Omloop, but I’m still building up. You can’t expect miracles in one week. I still have work to do, but my goals are at the end of March, beginning of April. I’m not worried, I still have time.”
Knowing Patrick Lefevre, of course, this could also be a nice game of bluff poker. We do see Asgreen as a dangerous pawn to be reckoned with on Saturday.
* Jasper Stuyven
Talking about classics. Jasper Stuyven is one of those too! Back to spring 2020. A gray February day. A day that happens once every four years, that too. Because leap day. Yet in ’t Kuipke and in the whole of Ghent it was an ordinary Saturday. Well, ordinary. After all, it was the last Saturday in February and thus time for the first real classic of the year. That Kuurne Brussels Kuurne would be the last classic of the year one day later, until the season resumed in August after a terrible break due to the coronavirus, no one had foreseen. Jasper Stuyven was someone who didn’t realize that either, but who was someone who was extremely on point this leap day. In any case, he was often on appointment in the Omloop in recent years. But back to the 2020 edition. Stuyven was in the final breakaway of the day at sixty kilometers from the finish, shook the tree a bit on the Molenberg and was ultimately the strongest with Yves Lampaert on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the smartest in the sprint on the Onderwijslaan. “The most beautiful victory of my career,” said the chocolatier after the race. That ultimately his fattest fish was yet to come, he had not dared to dream at the time. In March 2021 Jasper Stuyven won the cycling monument Milan San Remo. Anno 2022 Stuyven is a seasoned rider in the peloton, whom everyone should always take into account. Especially in his beloved Omloop.
Dark horse: Sonny Colbrelli
Although 31-year-old Sonny Colbrelli will make his debut in the Omloop het Nieuwsblad, we would put him in as a major outsider for the victory. A real dark horse. Actually, you should never forget a champion or defending champion of a cycling monument in the row of stars, but we do it anyway. The fact that we consider him a dark horse and don’t hand out a star is simply because Colbrelli is not known as a rider who peaks early. It’s not for nothing that we will see him at the start for the first time in Het Volk. But was Colbrelli always known as a cobblestone eater? No, certainly not. Sure, he managed to win the Brabant Arrow, so then you’re not a pancake. But the way Colbrelli rode around the Benelux Tour last summer. And the way the slender Italian beat Belgian Remco Evenepoel in the final of the European Cycling Championships. And as the Bahrain-Victorious leader triumphed at the Velodrome last October in the soaking wet edition of Paris-Roubaix. No, Colbrelli has evolved himself into a rider to be reckoned with. And why shouldn’t he win on Saturday?
Favourites Omloop het Nieuwsblad 2022 according to Cycling-Classics.com
***** Wout van Aert
**** Tim Wellens
*** Tom Pidcock
** Florian Sénéchal or Kasper Asgreen
* Jasper Stuyven
Dark horse: Sonny Colbrelli