The women's cobbled classics season begins here, in late February cold, where early form meets Belgian bergs and the year's first positioning battles unfold.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the women's WorldTour one-day race that launches the cobbled classics calendar each February in Flanders. First held in 2006, it has become the proving ground where spring campaigns begin.
Also known as: Omloop Het Volk | The Omloop
Demi Vollering has claimed this race multiple times, using it as a springboard to dominant spring campaigns.
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This race carries weight beyond its February date. It is the first chance to see who arrives ready for the cobbles, who can handle the chaos of narrow climbs in uncertain weather, and who is willing to commit when fitness is still a question mark. The winner often signals broader spring form, and the race rewards tactical sharpness over raw condition. It sets the tone for everything that follows in March and April.
The course winds through the hills south of Ghent, compressing short climbs and cobbled stretches into a final hour that eliminates pretenders quickly. The Muur van Geraardsbergen and Bosberg anchor the finale in most editions, though exact placement shifts year to year. Winning requires surviving repeated accelerations without burning matches too early, then having enough left to either go clear alone or take a reduced sprint. Positioning into each climb matters more than sustained power, and the narrow, technical roads mean a single mistake or mechanical can end the day. Cold rain often turns manageable gradients into selection points, and the race rarely waits for anyone to recover.
The first major one-day race of the cobbled classics season, held in late February when form is uncertain and conditions are rarely kind.
The Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg sit back to back in the final 16 km, forming the decisive selection point that separates contenders from survivors.
Short cobbled climbs and narrow lanes through the Flemish hills accumulate fatigue and punish positioning mistakes throughout the race.
Most recent winner: Demi Vollering
Suzanne de Goede won the first women's Omloop, then still called Omloop Het Volk, establishing a new fixture on the calendar.
Chantal van den Broek-Blaak attacked on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and soloed to victory, a classic move that defined the race's tactical DNA.
Marianne Vos outsprinted Lotte Kopecky in a small lead group, showing enduring class at age 37.
Lotte Claes escaped in an early breakaway that built an 11-minute advantage. The favorites miscalculated, and Claes held on for a huge upset.
Two wins (2020, 2022), bringing her characteristic solo attack strength to the cobbles.
Two wins (2015, 2021), bookending her career as a dominant all-rounder on Flemish terrain.
Won 2023 in the race's first year as a WorldTour event, the first Belgian woman to win the Omloop.
Won in 2024 at age 37, proving the Omloop rewards experience and race intelligence as much as raw power.
475 m at 9.3% average, maximum 19.8%. The iconic wall 15.7 km from the finish, the decisive launchpad for attacks.
980 m at 5.8%, partly cobbled. Arrives a few kilometers after the Muur, roughly 11.8 km from the finish. Together they form the decisive combination.
Featured earlier in the route, a sharp cobbled ramp that tests positioning and bike handling.
The finish town, where survivors of the Muur-Bosberg combination contest the race in a reduced sprint or solo.
