Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, shortened to Omloop Nieuwsblad on the organizer's site and the UCI calendar, is a one-day WorldTour bike race held in late February in Flanders, Belgium. It traditionally opens the cobbled classics calendar and serves as the first major test on the bergs and narrow roads that define the spring campaign.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the opening classic of the Flemish spring and the first WorldTour race of the season on European soil. It starts in Ghent and, since 2018, finishes in Ninove after the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg. The race was first held in 1945.

How the Het Volk race became Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The newspaper Het Volk created the race in 1945 to rival the Tour of Flanders, which belonged to its competitor Het Nieuwsblad. Jean Bogaerts won the first edition. The race was first called the Omloop van Vlaanderen, and after disputes over a name so close to the Ronde van Vlaanderen it took the name of the newspaper. Het Nieuwsblad would not print that name and called the race Gent-Gent.

Het Nieuwsblad later took over Het Volk, and in 2009 the race became Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. It was not held in 1960, 1986 and 2004.

Who has won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad most often?

Three riders share the record of three wins: Ernest Sterckx in 1952, 1953 and 1956, Joseph Bruyère in 1974, 1975 and 1980, and Peter Van Petegem in 1997, 1998 and 2002. Bruyère also won Liège-Bastogne-Liège twice. Van Petegem later became deputy race director of the Omloop. The most recent riders to win two years in a row are Ian Stannard, in 2014 and 2015, and Greg Van Avermaet, who beat Peter Sagan into second place in both 2016 and 2017.

Philippe Gilbert’s long attack at Het Volk in 2008

Philippe Gilbert won his first Omloop in 2006 by going clear in the last seven kilometers. In 2008 he attacked on the cobbled Eikenberg with 49 of the 199 kilometers still to race. An early breakaway was 3 minutes 30 seconds ahead, and Nick Nuyens, who was on his wheel, let him go. “It was still very far, with such a wind,” Nuyens said.

Gilbert’s teammate Arnaud Gérard was in that breakaway and dropped back after the Paddestraat to help him. With just over 20 kilometers left Gilbert sat in for a moment with what remained of the break, then attacked again and rode to Ghent alone. Nuyens finished second and Thor Hushovd third.

How Ian Stannard beat three Quick-Step riders in 2015

Stannard, the winner of 2014, went clear 40 kilometers from the finish with Tom Boonen, Niki Terpstra and Stijn Vandenbergh, all three from Etixx-QuickStep. He let them do the work while Sep Vanmarcke and Van Avermaet chased behind. Boonen attacked inside the last five kilometers and Stannard brought him back. Terpstra went next and was closed down by his own teammate Vandenbergh.

Stannard then attacked inside the final three kilometers. Boonen and Vandenbergh could not follow, and Terpstra, the only one who could, led out the sprint in Ghent. Stannard came past him to win.

The Muur van Geraardsbergen and Bosberg finale

In 2018 the race ran from Ghent to Ninove for the first time. The new finale was the one the Tour of Flanders had used until it moved its finish to Oudenaarde in 2012: the Muur van Geraardsbergen, the Bosberg and a run to Meerbeke, on the edge of Ninove. Michael Valgren won that first edition. A year later the line moved to the center of Ninove, and since 2023 it has been on the Elisabethlaan, which is wider and rises slightly.

The Muur itself was not new to the Omloop, which first climbed it in 1950. On the way to it the 2026 route crossed the Haaghoek cobbles and the Leberg three times, the last time after the Molenberg, and then took the Berendries, Tenbosse and the Parikeberg. From the Bosberg about 12 kilometers remain to the finish.

Van Aert, Van Baarle and Tratnik: three wins for one team

In 2022 Wout van Aert, in the jersey of Belgium’s national champion, attacked just before the Bosberg, 13 kilometers from the finish, and won alone on his first day of racing that season. A year later Dylan van Baarle won in his first race for the same team, Jumbo-Visma. He went clear in a group of four after the Molenberg, with 38 kilometers to go, dropped the other three on the climbs that followed and won by about 25 seconds from Arnaud De Lie.

In 2024 the team, by then Visma-Lease a Bike, put Van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson and Christophe Laporte in a break of six with 50 kilometers to go. Jorgenson went alone 21 kilometers from the finish and led over the Muur, but the peloton caught the whole break on the Bosberg. Their teammate Jan Tratnik got away with Nils Politt with 9 kilometers left and beat him in the sprint, the third win in a row for the team.

Wærenskjold’s sprint and Van der Poel’s first Omloop

In 2025 Stefan Küng attacked after the Bosberg, led by more than 15 seconds with five kilometers to go and was caught in the final kilometer. Søren Wærenskjold won the sprint from Paul Magnier and Jasper Philipsen for his first WorldTour victory.

Mathieu van der Poel rode the Omloop for the first time in 2026, on his first day of racing that season. He went clear on the Molenberg with Florian Vermeersch and Tim van Dijke, left everyone behind on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and rode the last 16 kilometers alone. Van Dijke was second, 22 seconds behind. Nobody had won the race at the first attempt since Michele Bartoli in 2001.

This is where the cobbled classics season begins, often in cold, wet conditions that add unpredictability to early-season form. The race rewards riders who can handle positioning chaos, repeated accelerations on short climbs, and the tactical gamble of committing before fitness is certain. It is both a proving ground and a statement race, where spring ambitions either take shape or unravel.