Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

With back-to-back wins in Belgian opener, Deceuninck-Quick-Step puts classics rivals on notice.

Stybar attacks from select lead group to go solo over the line, punishing Van Avermaet's earlier aggression.

As the spring classics begin in earnest, all eyes are on Deceuninck-Quick-Step to see if it can again dominate on the cobbles.

It is opening weekend in Belgium as cobbled classics kick off with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Saturday and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne Sunday.

We are approaching one of the most exciting times of the cycling season — spring classics. Here is what to expect on opening weekend in Belgium.

Saturday's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad marks the start of the 2019 classics season.

Movistar's leader for the Giro d'Italia finds himself in the hospital after breaking collarbone in first day of Mallorca Challenge.

Astana impressed at the first cobbled race of the season, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. How did young Michael Valgren pull off this big win?

We sound off on the new (old) Muur/Bosberg finale, Astana, Lotto-Soudal, and more in this first roundtable of classics season.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad began the 2018 classics season in style with the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen featuring in the finale of the race.

Michael Valgren and Christina Siggaard were victorious on Saturday in the men's and women's editions of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Michael Valgren won the 2018 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday in Meerbeke with an attack in the final kilometers out of a select group.

Peter Sagan will sit out this weekend's races. So who will eat the Haribo gummy bears?

Ambitious young Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria heads to Omloop with dreams of monument victories.

Omloop Het Nieusblad is the official start to cobbled classics season, and it looks to be a good one.

A revamped route could result in Greg Van Avermaet's third consecutive win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad this weekend.

Cobbled classics begin this weekend at Omloop! We look ahead to the start of the classics and recap Oman, Algarve, and more.

We dissect exciting first week of cobbles racing — why didn't Vanmarcke attack? Is Kuurne better now? Plus, a talk about exercise addiction.

What happened in the final sprint? Should they be allowed on the sidewalks? How about Sagan's post-race remarks? Time for an Omloop roundtable!

In a dramatic three-man sprint, Greg Van Avermaet wins his second Omloop title in a row ahead of Peter Sagan.

Olympic champ Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on home soil during the opening classic of the season on Saturday.

Despite starting the semi-classic Omloop race 14 times, Tom Boonen has never won it. And this may be the wrong year for him to try.

The spring classics kick off with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Here's everything you need to know about this cobblestone appetizer.

Scenes from Greg Van Avermaet's first win of 2016, and first career Omloop Het Nieuwsblad victory

Van Avermaet wins the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad men's race as Armitstead solos to victory on the women's side

Greg Van Avermaet takes his first win of 2016 at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, outgunning Peter Sagan in a reduced sprint

The first weekend of classics racing offers a mini Ronde at Omloop, an hour record attempt, and a sprinter's delight at Kuurne.

Etixx – Quick-Step brings a full house to the first weekend of classics at Omloop, and Tony Martin is the wildcard.

Peter Sagan leads Tinkoff in the first weekend of northern classics, Omloop and Kuurne, as he gears up for a run at a monument victory.

The squad has molded itself into a strong classics contender since it first raced in 2010

Dan Seaton analyzes Etixx's loss in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, which the team followed by winning Sunday's Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

It's been a hard slog for Ian Stannard, who fought back from a broken back and wrist to top the podium once again at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Tim De Waele was on hand as Ian Stannard outfoxed Etixx-Quick-Step to win his second consecutive Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Results from the 2015 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Ian Stannard comes to the finish with three Etixx-Quick-Step riders and dispatches them one by one for a second consecutive victory

Anna van der Breggen and Ellen van Dijk battled for the victory in the women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

BMC Racing confirms that Greg Van Avermaet will face the Belgian federation's doping committee next month

The classics season's first major test is an unpredictable blend of punchy climbs, shorter overall distance, and potentially bad weather.

The spring race season kicks off this weekend in Belgium with Omloop and Kuurne. Who will draw first blood at these early tests?

Team Sky has set its lineup for Saturday's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Bradley Wiggins and defending champion Ian Stannard will make the start.

Simon Gerrans’ victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège capped a spring classics season that was wide open and unpredictable in the peloton

Plaxton gets a big-money win in Texas, Boonen and Stannard split the opening weekend in Belgium, and Johansson rings up a couple of podiums

Omega Pharma and Sky split the weekend, Belkin and BMC have a bit of bad luck, and Cannondale and Trek are absent. But it's early days yet

Strength, smarts and teamwork pay off at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for Sky, which is better known for its stage-racing prowess

Pix from the 2014 edition of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Johansson and Armitstead take second and third behind the Giant-Shimano rider

Results from the 2014 edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

It was a grand donnybrook in the wet, on the cobbles, and in the end it was Stannard taking the win ahead of Van Avermaet with Boasson Hagen third

Luca Paolini, Tom Boonen, Jürgen Roelandts, Taylor Phinney, Greg Van Avermaet among starters for Saturday's classics opener

Classics season starts Saturday at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Andrew Hood previews the double weekend, which wraps at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Defending champion Luca Paolini will wear dossard No. 1 at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday

Famed climb will return to major classics racing after being cut from Tour of Flanders in 2012

Fabian Cancellara and a slew of first-time winners came out on top in the classics, but who didn't?

Global Cycling Network's weekly news show looks back at Saturday's classics opener and interviews women's winner Tiffany Cromwell

Luca Paolini's first win in four years was a good reminder that in the classics, nearly anything can happen at any time

Belgian champion will take Sunday off after sluggish classics start in Flanders

With fourth at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and a Tenerife camp coming, Geraint Thomas and Sky are trying to build a classics reputation

1. Luca PAOLINI, Katusha, in 4:52:14 2. Stijn VANDENBERGH, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :00 3. Sven VANDOUSSELAERE, Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise, at :30 4. Geraint THOMAS, Sky, at :30 5. Greg VAN AVERMAET, BMC Racing, at :30

Luca Paolini plays the finale right at a cold Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to beat Stijn Vandenbergh in a two-up sprint

Men's and women's startlists for Saturday's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Sep Vanmarcke looks ahead to this season's classics and hopes to defend his 2012 Omloop title this weekend

The cobbled classics pit men on bikes against weather conditions that are often brutal

With the Belgian champ coming off injury, Omega Pharma will attack the weekend's Belgian semi-classics with a variety of weapons

American classics hope says he came through the winter without gaining weight and is primed ahead of his Belgian debut this weekend

He proved wily beyond his years to beat Boonen and Flecha at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Vanmarcke's first professional victory ahead of 'hero' Boonen

Spring classics season clicks into gear this weekend with a pair of “semi-classics” that will serve as an appetizer for the coming weeks

Superstars making classics debut with BMC

A resurgent Tom Boonen will be leading team at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Edvald Boasson Hagen will miss this weekend’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad due to a cold

Dutchman Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) won the 66th edition of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (formerly Het Volk) as he outsprinted defending champion Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) in a tightly contested photo-finish.

Quick Step's Tom Boonen, Gert Steegmans and Sylvain Chavanel say they are ready for the start of the Belgian cycling season at Saturday's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

LEON, Spain (VN) — A protest this weekend appears to have been averted, but riders and teams promise to carry their growing frustration over the race radio ban to other upcoming events.

At least one team is breaking rank with the peloton this weekend and will sit out any protest of the UCI ban on race radios. BMC Racing general manager Jim Ochowicz said in a release Thursday that his team would not take part in any demonstration planned for the opening weekend of the spring classics in Flanders, Belgium.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad preliminary startlist

Past winners of Het Volk/Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The European racing calendar gets busier with each passing week and this weekend sees the opening of the Belgian racing season with two important semi-classics that will see the top guns sharpening their form with the northern classics just around the corner.