Omloop Nieuwsblad 2025

March 1, 2025 Opening Weekend is finally upon us. There has been a lot of racing so far this season but it feels like the official start each year when racing resumes in Belgium. Obstacles come thick and fast in the last 45KM including the Haaghoek, Molenberg, Leberg, Berendries, Muur van Geraardsbergen, and Bosberg before the run into Ninove. The Bosberg and Muur finale was also the finale of the old Ronde van Vlaanderen route which adds to the nostalgia of many ardent fans. It was a cold but dry start and attacks went from the gun which resulted in a seven man break including Giosuè Epis of Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Elmar Reinders of Jayco AlUla, Enzo Leijnse and Julius van den Berg of Picnic-PostNL, Siebe Deweirdt and Victor Vercouillie of Flanders-Baloise, and Hartthijs De Vries of Unibet Tietema Rockets. Their gap was 6 minutes with 100KM to go. The peloton were still relatively relaxed when they got to the Leberg with 75KM to go. The gap had come down to 4 minutes 30 seconds but that was due to minor positioning battles for the Langemunte and Haaghoek. The tone of the bunch changed on the entrance to the Eikenberg with 57KM to go. The first attacks from the bunch came just before they reached the top by Matthew Brennan of Visma-Lease a Bike, Vito Braet of Intermarché-Wanty, and Tim van Dijke of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. The attack was brought back but it kicked off the finale with Josh Tarling of Ineos going next on the Holleweg. When the break hit the Molenberg, they had 1 minute 40 seconds on the bunch with Tarling almost directly in the middle. It was a full lead out for the bunch on to the Molenberg and, after the right turn at the top, the bunch was split with the front consisting of around 25 riders with the rest of the peloton 12 seconds back. A number of favorites missed the split including Wout van Aert, Arnaud De Lie, Jhonatan Narváez, and last year's winner Jan Tratnik. Alpecin-Deceuninck were best represented at the front and pressed on. With 35KM to go, the seven leaders had 30 seconds on Tarling, 1 minute on the Alpecin-Deceuninck led group of 25 riders and 1 minute 25 seconds on the main chase group. Tarling and the initial break were caught over the Berendries with 30KM to go and just 1 kilometer later, Visma-Lease a Bike buttoned the groups back together to make one large peloton on the way to the Muur van Geraardsbergen. A group of at least 60 riders went up and over the bridge into Geraardsbergen. There were no big attacks on the climb but a split about 20 wheels back formed by the top. The final test came on the Bosberg and still no one could break free. 17 riders crested the Bosberg together but there was no cohesion and it got quite tactical. Stefan Küng of Groupama-FDJ took a flyer with 10KM to go. A group from behind the leaders caught on with 8KM to go to make around 45 riders behind Küng. He had 16 seconds with 5KM to go but Visma-Lease a Bike committed a few riders to chase as did Alpecin-Deceuninck and Uno-X Mobility. There was too much horsepower still in the peloton for Küng to hold off and he was brought back with 1200M remaining. Ineos led out with Sam Watson starting his sprint just inside 200M from the line with Lukáš Kubiš of Unibet Tietema Rockets and Søren Wærenskjold of Uno-X Mobility on his wheel. Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck came from further back and got level with Watson and Wærenskjold with 80M to go. Paul Magnier of Soudal Quickstep made a run late and it was neck and neck on the line between Wærenskjold, Philipsen and Magnier. Wærenskjold turned out to be the winner after a closer look at the photo with Magnier taking second ahead of Philipsen in third.