Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2022 men’s race as it happened - Wout van Aert thrills Belgian fans with brilliant win

A big win, the best possible start to the season, from arguably the best rider in the world. Sonny Colbrelli comes home in second, Greg van Avermaet rounding out the podium. What can you say about a ride like that? Imperious. Join me here as I head over to cover the women's Omloop.

As he’s gasping for breath, going flat out, what he doesn’t know is that the riders behind him have given up the chase. They’re riding for second place now, all thoughts of cooperation in the wind.

Some big riders (and Tom Pidcock) in there, but it’s all going to be for nothing if they’re not inclined to cooperate. Wout knows exactly what he has to do and is completely committed to doing it. He's got 20 seconds and a tailwind. A puncture for Stefan Kung doesn't help.

A huge attack from Wout van Aert at the base of the Bosberg lays down the gauntlet at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Why did no-one react? Maybe they couldn't. The thick crowds lining the climb respond with a roar. The Belgian’s lead is already significant, over ten seconds. He could have waited for a sprint but it looks like he wants to win solo. Who is going to respond? Which riders and teams are able to?

And Victor Campenaerts goes with him. The race is completely devoid of rhythm, constantly breaking up and coming back together.

Not to be a contrarian, but I actually think the Bosberg, which comes shortly after this one, is harder than the Muur. It’s straighter, less picturesque, and more of a grind. The Muur is a thriller, that allows you to forget how had it is, how much you’re suffering.

Benoot arrives onto it, up towards the chapel, and over, alone, with the gap coming down. Stefan Kung is closing, with the peloton not far behind. One more climb to come and the race is splintered, but still largely as one.

Perhaps sensing there wasn’t as much cohesion in that group as the Jumbo Visma pair would have liked, Benoot takes it upon himself to force things. Dan Lloyd and Adam Blythe debate the merits of the move, with Blythe somewhat sceptical that it was the right thing to do. Either way he’s on his own, and the Muur is just 2km away.

We now have a super group of eleven, with a lot of riders obliged - and perfectly happy, you’d imagine - to sit on for the next five kilometres or so. The gap to the peloton is now north of 30 seconds and rising. They’ve got Geraardsbergen and the fearsom Kapelmuur in their sights.

And just as I press send on my previous update, towards the top of the Berendries, Wout van Aert, Tom Pidcock, Tiesj Benoot and Jhonatan Narvaez separate themselves from the peloton. Bahrain Victorious can’t let this one get away, and it’s Sonny Colbrelli who buries himself to make contact. This could be the move. Quickstep the team now under pressure to bring this back.

Just as Adam Blythe is wondering who’s going to chase this break, and asking if it might stay away, Matej Mohoric makes a move. His team-mate Matteo Trentin is on his wheel, with Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Alpecin Fenix) with them. The next climb is the Berendries.

Two thousand of the rattliest metres in Belgium, from what I remember. I made the mistake of riding this without gloves once, and my soft hands didn’t care for it at all. Dan Lloyd observes that the peloton is far thicker at this point in proceedings than we would normally expect. Also that Tom Pidcock might have been hiding his light under a bushel. He looks rather up for this.

As the race hits the Leberg, Nathan van Hooydonck puts the hammer down for Jumbo Visma, reminding me that I haven't mentioned Wout yet. That's because I haven't seen him, which can only be to his credit. The break is 53 seconds in front.

An innocuous crunching, in a relatively benign part of the course,, but it’s enough to leave the Colombian on the ground, clutching his collarbone. He really hasn’t had much luck has he? Just shows you how hard the racing is going at the moment. “It’s causing a nervousness in the peloton,” says Bradley Wiggins, on the bike for Eurosport.

The break has received an injection of fresh legs, as hard as they might be to fit into a syringe, and as inappropriate as that kind of language is when you’re talking about cycling. As the race enjoys a few kilometres of calm, the break’s lead hovers around 30 seconds. More cobbles coming right up, in the shape of the Marlboroughstraat.

Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) and Loïc Vliegen (Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux) ride away, in what looks like a serious move, even while it’s unlikely to be a winning one.

As the duo take it in turns, trying to eke out an advantage, Stefan Kung heads off in pursuit, making mincemeat of the lead. Kung, a rider who always feels like he could win one of these riders, even if he doesn’t often do just that, is exactly the kind of rider you’d want working with you in the last 50 of a cobbled classic.

A crimping on the cobbles, causes eight riders to either flip front first, or go down, including Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal), Luke Durbridge (Team BikeExchange - Jayco) and John Jacobs (Movistar).

Inside the last 60km of this race and Jumbo have four riders at the front of affairs, making things really hard for everyone else and decimating the break, just as they hit the Holleweg cobbles. Ineos respond, in the form of Ben Turner, looking after his leader, Tom Pidcock.

A tarmaced, 500 metre, primer of a climb that averages 8% and peaks at 12.5%. Jauregui has dropped from the breakaway, and their advantage is now just over two minutes.

Brent Van Moer puts in an aggressive dig that almost turns into an attack off the front. The effect is to string out the peloton, without causing it to break.

Shortly after it’s Ineos’ Magnus Sheffield, the American teenager and youngest rider in the race, who takes a turn, puts in the watts, stretches things out and riders everyone else off his wheel. How long he’ll be out there on his own, it’s hard to say at this point, but it’s a big effort to make ahead of this climb. While we’re talking about Sheffield, it’s worth commenting on his team. They might be young, but it’s definitely not lacking in classics capacity or commitment - probably more so than we’ve seen from the British outfit in its history.

The race proper is heating up, and the peloton is spread across the road, with every team wanting to place their nominated riders in the best tactical position as we’re about to enter a key phase of the race. The roads will shortly narrow, and we’re about to hit the Hostillerie - not a climb a know - and then, not long after, the famous Valkenberg.

Adam Blythe has the answer:

Halfway through our 205km and the race is shortly to hit the Kattenberg. Not the best known of the bergs, nor the most challenging at 1.3km and an average gradient of 3.5%, but not without interest. As well as that mean hiding a bit of punchy final few metres, the Kattenberg is the first of a succession of cobbled climbs. Will anyone from the bunch want to light things up early?

We join the coverage with two hours of racing already completed, and our escapees have just hit the feedzone. Our breakers are:

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost)
Juri Hollmann (Movistar)
Alexander Konychev (Team BikeExchange - Jayco)
Quentin Jauregui (B&B Hotels - KTM)
Ruben Apers (Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise)
Donaven Grondin (Team Arkéa Samsic)
Morten Hulgaard (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team)

Our septet have got a healthy 8 minute lead over the peloton, but that will easily be gobbled up over the nineteen named sector of climb or cobbles to come in the next 100km.

The warmest of welcomes to Eurosport’s first live blog(s) of the cycling season. With both the men’s and women’s editions already underway, we’ve got quite the pair of races to keep track of.

Five hours of the most furious racing you’ve seen so far in 2022, over 205km of Belgium’s very best bergs and most challenging cobbles.

Before we begin the coverage, I want to address the small matter of “opening weekend,” because it strikes me that pretty much all cycling fans fall into one of two camps:

Either you’re a staunch believer in the idea of “opening weekend,” or you think the road season starts with the first flag drop in January.

I must admit to having my cleats firmly clipped into the former clique. Much as I’ve enjoyed many of the races that we’ve seen so far this year, they’ve all be pre-season friendlies, compared to what this weekend has in store for us,

This is the first one that everyone tunes into, and for which all the riders are dialled up. The startlist is strong - ProCyclingStats rates it as the best since 2019 - and the prize fighters will be pulling no punches. Every team wants that first big win of the season, but there can be only one…

So who will it be?

Well, itt won’t be Sep Vanmarcke, Tim Wellens or Nils Eekhoff. Sep and Tim are late withdrawals due to illness, while Eekhoff tested positive for Covid this morning.

The favourite for the race - as he is for almost any at which he lines up - is Wout van Aert. Sonny Colbrelli, after his commanding victory in Paris-Roubaix last year, finds himself among the contenders, alongside last year’s Milan-Sanremo champion, Jasper Stuyven, Matteo Trentin is always expected to challenge, even as his record in the classics is not as good as you probably imagine it to be. With Omloop being basically a baby Ronde, Kasper Asgreen, last year’s big Flanders champion has to be in with a shout, if he’s in any sort of form at all. Most of his Quickstep-Alpha Vinyl colleagues are starting to look a little bit long in the tooth, but we’re never really going to count out the likes of Zdenek Stybar and YvesLampaert, are we? Matej Mohoric, making his debut in this event, will be expected to be there at the business end of proceedings as well.

Can Tom Pidcock make a mark in his second appearance in this race? We’re about to find out.

There’s a joke in the cycling community that the season does not start until Omloop is here – which is bad news if you are called Tadej Pogacar and currently tearing it up at the UAE Tour.

After a long winter, the classics season gets underway on Saturday with the one-day curtain-raiser in Belgium.

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) headlines the men’s field alongside the ageless Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal).

The Wolfpack are back to disrupt things with a formidable cast including Kasper Asgreen, Zdenek Stybar and Yves Lampaert, while Britain’s recent cyclocross world champion Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) will also hope to be in the mix.

Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroen) and Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) are also set to feature.

Stream Omloop Het Nieuwsblad live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.