The Opening Weekend kicks off the women's season
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne - Brussels - Kuurne make up the opening weekend of the cycling season in Belgium. Although these are races that do not have the maximum prestige of the great classics that will come in March and April, they already introduce us to the fantastic world of cobbled hills. In addition, the Omloop women's race, category 1.Pro, will be the inaugural race of the women's season, the Omloop men will inaugurate the cobblestone combined classification in Cycling Fantasy, and the Kuurne - Brussels - Kuurne will inaugurate the new combined Belgium 1. Pro. A real festival!
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (women)
The route includes 7 cobbled sectors and 9 hills, concentrated in the second half of the race, where the Kapelmuur—Bosberg final duo stands out. Annemiek Van Vleuten (1200), Lotte Kopecky (1000) and Elisa Balsamo (800) are the three main favorites in a spectacular list that also includes Katarzyna Niewiadoma (1000), Emma Norsgaard (1000), Lorena Wiebes (1200), Marlen Reusser (600), Ellen Van Dijk (600), Grace Brown (800), Marta Bastianelli (800), Kristen Faulkner (400) and Marta Cavalli (800).
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (men)
12 cobbled hills in 200 kilometers make up the men's route, which shares the final part with the women's race and, of course, will also pass through the traditional Muur van Geraardsbergen. The list of specialists is very long: Wout Van Aert (1200), Peter Sagan (1000), Kasper Asgreen (600), Yves Lampaert (600), Thomas Pidcock (200), Sep Vanmarcke (400), Oliver Naesen (400), Stefan Küng (800), Tiesj Benoot (600), Sonny Colbrelli (1000), Jasper Stuyven (600), Nils Politt (400), Florian Sénéchal (600), Mateo Trentin (600), Matej Mohoric (800), Anthony Turgis (400) and Michael Valgren (400) are the main favorites.
Kuurne - Brussels - Kuurne
The route is also around 200 kilometres, but the cobbled hills are located further from the finish line, and sometimes strong sprinters get to dispute a selected sprint. Other from the Omloop favorites, we must also include to the list of potential winners the sprinters Caleb Ewan (1200), Fabio Jakobsen (800), Giacomo Nizzolo (800), Alexander Kristoff (800), Tim Merlier (800) and Brian Coquard (600).