Due to the occasional quirk of the calendar’s cycle, openingsweekend arrives a little late in 2019. Better late than never … for traditionalists, this is the real start of the racing season as the women’s peloton takes on Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Omloop van het Hageland.
Riders might not be so wrapped up as northern Europe experiences a peculiar February heatwave, but racing in Belgium means cobbles and Classics. Stark, leafless trees, contrasting with ploughed fields or glassy-green foliage. Platoons of fans in drab winter-wear by the roadside. It’s a beautifully understated backdrop to stunning racing.
The Groupama-FDJ squad get an early taster ahead of the weekend’s races
The contenders
Some riders we’d expect to find racing – maybe even winning – aren’t here as the track world championships clash with the first Flemish races of the season. However, the talent list remains formidable.
Christina Siggaard wears the number 1 dossard for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and even if Siggaard doesn’t defend her title, Virtu Cycling have Marta Bastianelli, the European champion.
Trek-Segafredo are fresh off three stage wins out of four in Valencia last week from Ruth Winder and Lotta Lepistö and will be full of confidence with Elisa Longo-Borghini and Ellen Van Dijk joining them at the start.
Boels-Dolmans line up with the former and current world champions, Chantal Blaak and Anna van der Breggen, so will surely be the most watched team in the race. Their Dutch rivals Sunweb have Lucinda Brand, winner in 2017, and former Tour of Flanders champion Coryn Rivera in action.
Canyon-SRAM have former winner Tiffany Cromwell and the powerful finish of Elena Cecchini leading the way, and Alé-Cipollini will have Chloe Hosking and Romy Kasper involved. If it comes to a sprint, then why not look for the young star Lorena Wiebes from Parkhotel Valkenburg as a potential winner?
The route
A familiar look, and like meeting an old friend, a welcome return to some of the best loved cobbles and climbs in Flanders.
The team presentation takes place inside Gent’s iconic ‘t Kuipke velodrome.
The women set off from Gent’s Emile Clauslaan for a seven-kilometer neutralised zone. The official start is in Merelbeke, before facing a 123km course with narrow, twisting roads; short but ferocious climbs; and five cobblestone sections which will batter those early-season legs, including the two-kilometer Haaghoek just before reaching Brakel, Ruiterstraat, Kergate and the 2300 meters of the Paddestraat.
The route throws in ten climbs orhellingen, four which include kasseien(cobbles): in order, the riders take on the Wolvenberg at 54km, the Molenberg (66km) and the almost mythical Kapelmuur–Bosberg combination, so famous from the old Tour of Flanders routes.
This provides a launchpad for late attacks, but with around 13 kilometers to race once off the Bosberg, the sprinters and their teams will still have an opportunity to pull things back before the finish in Ninove.