the belgian Wout van Aert of the Jumbo-Visma teamachieved this Saturday his first victory of the current season, in his first race of the course, by winning alone the 77th edition of the classic Omloop Het Nieuwsbladvalid for the UCI World Tour and disputed over 204.2 kilometers between the Belgian cities of Ghent and Ninove.
Van Aert, 27 years old and who launched a definitive attack with thirteen kilometers to go, prevailed alone and outstanding in the goal of Ninove with 22 seconds of margin over a group of nine runners led by the Italian Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorius).
No one could respond to the Belgian champion’s attack when he broke away from the leading group just before the final climb, the Bosberg. He came out on top with a lead of around 10 seconds and single-handedly cruised to the finish to take victory in his first race this season.
Colbrelli won the sprint for second place ahead of also Belgian Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r Citroen), who completed the podium. Van Aert capped off a dominant performance from the Jumbo-Visma team. Va Aert succeeds the Italian Davide Ballerini, winner in 2021, in the race history.
Final classification Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
1. Wout Van Aert (BEL/Jumbo-Visma) 4:50:46
2. Sonny Colbrelli (ITA/Bahrain) at 22”
3. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/Ag2r Citroen) mt
4. Oliver Naesen (BEL/Ag2r Citroen) mt
5. Victor Campenaerts (BEL/Lotto Soudal) mt