Featured image courtesy of Het Nieuwsblad and BELGA
The early cycling season is in full swing and to say I am continuing my excitement is a slight understatement. I am enthralled and fascinated to see how Opening Weekend plays out, two of the first cobbled Classics in Belgium almost ready to start – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – the route
Below is the OHN 2022 route map.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the first major Classic of 2022. The 204 km route features 13 climbs and seven cobbled sectors. The one-two punch of the Muur-Kapelmuur and the Bosberg in the finale is expected to be decisive.
With Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg inside the final 20 km, Omloop serves up the old finale of the Tour of Flanders, the second Monument of the year (again I can’t wait until April!).
The 2022 route is similar to last year, although not exactly the same. The Marlboroughstraat climb replaces the Molenberg and there are seven cobbled sectors instead of nine. Haaghoek accounts for the biggest share in terms of pavé because this sector will be tackled three times.
After 46 km into the race, that’s when the climbing begins on the Leberg and around the midway marker the riders crest the Kattenberg. From then on the race intensifies with every 10 km seeing a hill to climb. The Leberg again, Hostellerie, Valkenberg and Wolvenberg follow in quick succession – it’s being to be brutal!
After two cobbled sectors in the village of Mater, the finale is well underway and five hellingen appear at even shorter intervals. Within 12 km the riders tackle the Marlboroughstraat, Biesestraat, Leberg, Berendries and Elverenberg-Vossenhol, while the cobbles of the Haaghoek are also thrown in.
Still roughly 30 km to go when Omloop heads for the one-two punch of the Muur-Kapelmuur and the Bosberg. The steep and cobbled ‘wall’ is just 475 m long but averages 9.3% and ramps up to almost 20%. No time for a breather at the top, as the Bosberg appears 3 km later. The partly cobbled climb is 980 m long and slopes at 5.8%.
After that final test comes a 12.8 km long flat run-in to the finish line in Ninove.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is a very selective race as it features most of Flanders’ toughest climbs and cobbles. With the exception of last year, Omloop is often won by an attacker or a very small selective group to sprint it out.
Since changes to the route in 2018, Omloop has served some entertaining racing. Quick-Step’s Italian sprinter Davide Ballerini was an exception to the rule of a selective group, but in all fairness Ballerini climbed the cobbles exceptionally well on the day.
Previous winners include Jasper Stuyven who beat fellow Belgian Yves Lampaert in a two-up sprint in 2020, while in 2019 Zdeněk Štybar and in 2018 Michael Valgren took the spoils after late solo attacks.
Can Quick-Step make it three Omloop victories in the space of five new revised editions since 2018. Directeur sportif and former rider Tom Steels has already said that ‘often we get our asses kicked there’. Spring Classics season has always been their time of dominance but Omloop has often seem them struggle.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne – the route
And now comes the Sunday after. Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne at a distance of roughly 195 km takes in 13 hills and concludes with a flat lap of 12.6 km around Kuurne.
Following the start near the Kuurne Hippodrome and a flat opening, the first Flemish hill takes the shape of the Tiegemberg (750 m at 5.6%). The riders continue to the Katteberg (600 m at 6%), Boembeek (1,100 m at 4.7%), Bossenaarstraat (1,300 m at 5.6%) and Berg ten Houte (1,100 m at 6%). All these climbs are located in the Flemish Ardennes.
The riders enter French speaking territory when they enter Pays des Collines (translated as Land of the Hills) in Hainaut Provence. The terrain doesn’t change though and the next series of climbs go by the names of La Houppe (1,880 m at 4.8%), Hameau des Papins (1,200 m at 6.6%), Le Bourliquet (1,300 m at 6.8%) and Mont Saint-Laurent (1,330 m at 7.8%). By now, the race is expected to really catch fire.
Back in Dutch speaking Belgium there is a quartet of hills remaining. After the Kruisberg (1,800 m at 4.8%), Hotond (2,700 m at 3.1%), Côte de Trieu (1,260 m at 7%) and Kluisberg (1,100 m at 6%) there is roughly 50 km of racing ahead.
The question at this point – where are the fast men? Chances are that they have been dropped in the hilly zone. Is the damage limited and are they able to make it back to the main group? Obviously, the riders at the front will be motivated to keep the pace high. Often the last hour of racing turns out to be a fascinating display of cat and mouse with one group chasing the other at a ferocious pace. Strong winds would amplify the tension to the extreme.
Last year’s finale started even earlier, as Mathieu van der Poel attacked 85 km before the finish. With Jhonatan Narváez he joined the breakaway and – with the Dutchman doing the bulk of the work – they managed to hold off the different chase groups until the last 2 km. In the ensuing sprint Mads Pedersen took the spoils.
In doing so, the Dane succeeded Kasper Asgreen (2021), Bob Jungels (2020), Dylan Groenewegen (2018), Peter Sagan (2017), Jasper Stuyven (2016), and Mark Cavendish (2015) as winners of this race.
This slightly different look to KBK this year, with new climbs and the Oude Kwaremont being removed, makes the changes look as though they’ll favour climbers rather than sprinters. But that is actually not the case. Big name sprinters in Fabio Jakobsen, Tim Merlier, Giacomo Nizzolo and Caleb Ewan are all starting KBK.
Who will win KBK 2022? Will it be a pure sprinter or a fast finisher who can climb well too?
Riders to watch
With the Spring Classics back in town, cycling fans are looking forward to another Mathieu van der Poel, Wout Van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe battle trio! However for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the absence van der Poel due to a back injury does sadly get the cobbled campaign off to a disappointing start for fans.
Yet what Belgian Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) will have as a rival comes in the form of Britain’s Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers). Van Aert hasn’t really had a lot of competitive firework showdowns with Pidcock on the road, but in cyclocross the rivalry is always huge. For this edition of OHN, Tom Pidcock will ride for the INEOS Grenadiers as someone who now has a year of Classics experience in the legs. The World Championships road race in Leuven saw Tom Pidcock finish a few seconds ahead of Wout Van Aert. If that isn’t evidence the gap between the two is narrowing, I don’t know what is! Wout Van Aert will be competing for Jumbo-Visma at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, whereas Tom Pidcock will ride both Omloop and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
Below I’ve selected riders taking part in both races. For Omloop and Kuurne, these are all genuine favourites to get their Classics campaign off to the best start possible.
Omloop gets the Classics season warmed up before the huge season defining races come thick and fast.
The season is still young, so it is hard to pinpoint absolute favourites. Wout Van Aert is the man to watch and most significantly, many riders are beginning their 2022 campaign on Flemish roads.
Bahrain-Victorious pair Sonny Colbrelli and Matej Mohorič will be the prominent duo who might stand the best chance of winning one or the other. Current holder of Paris-Roubaix, Italian Colbrelli might be suited better to KBK as he can certainly climb as well as sprint.
Slovenian Mohorič has the power on the flat and on the hills, there is an exceptional ability to attack and go solo. Working together would be a good option for both. I certainly take a view that Sonny Colbrelli (below) is capable of winning more than just Roubaix in his career. Could this Opening Weekend send him on his way?
Jasper Stuyven for Trek-Segafredo as a former Omloop and Kuurne winner in 2020 and 2016 will start as a favourite, one year on from taking Milan-Sanremo. I’d be inclined to suggest that Groupama-FDJ’s Stefan Küng deserves a tilt to be more than just a time trialist, his best result at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad so far was ninth in 2020.
Quick-Step pair Florian Sénéchal and Yves Lampaert will be keen to keep Quick-Step’s recent record at Omloop ticking, Lampaert himself has decent pedigree for the Classics, yet he has yet to take victory at the Ronde van Vlaanderen let alone on the Opening Weekend.
Sprinters who can climb are the fashion for Omloop and Kuurne and that’s why I would include Matteo Trentin for UAE-Team Emirates, Alexander Kristoff at Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert and Movistar’s Alex Aranburu as genuine favourites for the win.
And finally, after five years at BORA-Hansgrohe, it is pastures new for three-times world champion Peter Sagan, making his Classics debut for new squad TotalEnergies.
A quiet debut for the Slovakian so far at the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var, but you can never discount the top level Sagan performs yet. Some find him controversial but there’s no doubt that when Sagan is no longer among the peloton, he’ll go down as one of the greats.
This Opening Weekend will be his first since 2017, where Sagan won Kuurne but didn’t take Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, two second place finishes in 2016 and 2017 frustrating for him on the whole.
Other riders to watch out for at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne include former 2018 Omloop champion Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) and at 36-years-old, Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën) is no stranger to Omloop. The 36-year-old Belgian will make his 15th appearance and has two overall wins from 2016 and 2017. Four podium finishs and eight top five finishes, Greg Van Avermaet has the experience but in the grand scheme of things other talent will probably shine bright.
In the recent words of current general manager at Quick-Step Patrick Lefevere, “the time for the snacks is over, now comes the starter course.”