Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne: massive tech gallery

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Shimano have stepped up their neutral service bikes for the 2018 season

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Sponsor correct woollen booties for Bahrain-Merida

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Sportful provide Bahrain-Merida and Bora-Hansgrohe with their Fiandre range, which is Italian for Flanders and suitable for Flandrian weather

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Mads Pedersen was one of the only riders not to start either race with knee warmers of leg warmers

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Layers, snoods and thermal hats were used in an attempt to fight the cold temperatures

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Latex booties were popular in an attempt to keep out the cold

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Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet has a new custom helmet for the 2018 season

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Philippe Gilbert and his Quick-Step Floors teammates all wore the new S-Works Evade helmet

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Team Sky had Castelli's full line up of cold weather gear to choose from

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Silvain Dillier and Oliver Naesen who both have custom national champion paint jobs have mottos adorning their top tube

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Colour-coordinated jockey wheels for the Belgian national champion

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Elite Ciussi bottle cages are renowned for their performance on the cobbles

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Wout Van Aert and his Verandas Willems-Crelan teammates raced Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Stevens Xenon bikes

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The Verandas Willems-Crelan team ran Wahoo Elemnt Bolt computers

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The Belgian team also used Wahoo Kickr trainers to warm up ahead of the race

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After some early season races aboard Trek Emonda Discs, Trek-Segafredo used rim brake Trek Madone's for opening weekend

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Most of Team Sunweb use stems from Giant, but a few riders used Fouriers' offering

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Bora-Hansgrohe used S-Works Turbo 'Hell of the North' tubular tyres

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The custom Fizik Antares saddle of Belgian national champion Oliver Naesen

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Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) sets up his Garmin Edge 1030 computer ahead of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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Sep Vanmarcke opts for the POC Octal Aero helmet for the majority of the spring races

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The Israel Cycling Academy bikes have blue flecks in their paint, which catch the sun light

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August Jensen asked his mechanic to tape the sides of his saddles, although the mechanic didn't know why

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Direct Energie are another team to race on Astute saddles for the 2018 season

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The aero head tube of Wilier's Cento 1 AIR

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French champion Arnaud Demare was another FDJ rider to race aboard a custom Lapierre on the weekend

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Edvald Boasson Hagen's (Team Dimension Data) Cervelo S5 for Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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Team Cofidis' Kuota Khan race bikes for Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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Israel Cycling Academy raced Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Sunday aboard their De Rosa Protos

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Colbrelli wrapped his Vision Metron handlebars to the centre to improve comfort on the cobbles

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EF Education First-Drapac's POC kit is made in Belgium by Bioracer

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Niki Terpstra wore colour-coordinated DeFeet wollen booties and gloves for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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Zdenek Stybar used the old school technique of some old paper under his jacket to add further insulation to his chest

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Stybar also wore some heavily insulated gloves

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A Team Sky mechanic replaced each of the batteries in the Stages power meters ahead of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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Fresh bearings and heavily greased headsets for Team Sky in preparation for the cobbles of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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Several teams brought their mechanics' buses to the start/finish line at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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Sonny Colbrelli's (Bahrain-Merida) Merida Reacto

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WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic raced aboard their blue and fluoro Ridley Helium SLX bikes

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The entire Team Sky team raced on Pinarello Dogma K10 bikes over the weekend

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Team Roompot Nederlandse Loterij raced aboard Isaac Element bikes

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New season, new cassettes for the Dutch team

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K-Edge's presence at the top level of cycling is becoming more and more prominent

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Some riders opt for the entry level Garmin Edge 25 computer

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Vital Concept Cycling Club deployed some unique bike stands

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The new Vital Concept team raced on Orbea Orcas

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An extra long stem leaves plenty of room for race notes

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Vital Concept use Cycling Ceramic jockey wheels

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The rider sign-on for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad took place inside the historic t'Kuipe velodrome in Gent

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UAE Team Emirates debuted the new Conago C64 on the cobbles over the weekend

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Plenty of high-end racing shoes are designed with ventilation in mind and latex covers kept the cold air out

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The best part of 50 degrees Celsius is the difference between Alex Edmondson's season opener in Australia versus Belgium

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Mathew Hayman opts for woollen gloves over his normal race mitts

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Niki Terpstra deployed the unorthadox method of smothering his face with Vaseline to keep the cold at bay

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Iljo Keisse had his handlebars specced for the cobbles with satellite shifters on the top of the bars

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Wanty-Groupe Gobert's eye-catching Cube Litening C:68

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Each of the Wanty-Groupe Gobert riders had their tyre pressures marked on the top tube in preparation for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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The majority of the peloton stick with 25mm tyres for the relatively tame cobbles of Flanders

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Cofidis raced with Michelin Power Competition tyres

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A look at Cofidis' Campagnolo equipped Kuota Khan race bikes

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Zdenek Stybar had a Specialized Tarmac Disc as a spare bike for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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Greg Van Avermaet also had a disc-equipped machine as a spare bike

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Tyre pressures were critical for all riders over both races

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Alexis Gougeard's (AG2R La Mondiale) Factor O2 was equipped with Osymmetric 54/42 chainrings

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All of the AG2R La Mondiale rear derailleurs are equipped with the CeramicSpeed OSPW system

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Silvain Dillier's spare bike had a Shimano Ultegra crankset

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The Scott Foil RS of Mitchelton-Scott's Chris Juul-Jensen

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Team Sky's Pinarello's are paired with MOST cockpits for 2018

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Several teams had these words of encouragement on their top tubes in the cold conditions

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Eisel's Cervelo R3 was equipped with the new ENVE SES Aero road stem

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Team LottoNL-Jumbo's iconic celeste Bianchi Oltre XR4 took victory on Sunday's Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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Ignatus Konovalovas' Lapierre Xelius in the national champion colours of Lithuania

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Dutch champion Ramon Sinkeldam added more colour to FDJ's Lapierre lineup

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A simple solution to knowing what is coming up and when

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Omloop winner Michael Valgren as well as podium finisher Sep Vanmarcke raced with FSA Energy alloy handlebars

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The unique shape of Fortuneo-Samsic's Look 795 bikes

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Bernie Eisel raced on a Cervelo R3 in stock finish as opposed to team colours

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Team Dimension Data are using Astute saddles for the 2018 season

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Oversocks combined with toe warmers were a common trend for the freezing temperatures over the weekend

Belgium's 'opening weekend' races of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne are the unofficial official start to the new cycling season. This year's events took place in completely dry, but brutally cold conditions, which rarely rose above 3 or 4 degrees and were combined with a substantial wind chill.

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Riders layered up with the latest and greatest their teams' clothing providers offer in an attempt to cope with the freezing temperatures. The latest technical fabrics helped to take some of the edge off the cold, although doubling up on gloves, booties, jackets and neck scarves was still necessary for most of the riders.

Quick-Step Floors' Classics hard men Zdenek Stybar and Niki Terpstra used tricks from a bygone era in conjunction with their modern cycling apparel. To shield his face from the wind chill, Terpstra chose to smother his face with Vaseline to add a veil of extra protection during the races.

Again to combat the driving wind, and perhaps with an inclination of knowing he would be lighting up the front of the race for most of the day, Stybar used an old piece of cardboard to add an extra insulating layer in between his jersey and jacket, a trick that has been used by seasoned cyclists since the days of Fausto Coppi and before with bits of cardboard and even newspapers.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad changed its course for 2018 to mirror the old finish of the Tour of Flanders. Both races from opening weekend use many of the same Kassien (cobbles) sectors and Hellingen (climbs) as 'De Ronde'. With this in mind, most teams switched to more robust tyre compound than the usual supple rubber used, although the majority stuck with the common 25mm size choice.

Most of the teams lined up on their preferred race bikes although Team Sky raced on their updated endurance frameset, the Pinarello Dogma K10.

Away from the conditions and courses, with the Classics comes the expectation of disc brakes being used in the WorldTour peloton. Disc brakes have already been seen in the Australian and Middle Eastern races this season, with certain teams outwardly committing to the extensive use of them for 2018.

Interestingly however, just a handful of disc brake equipped bikes were seen and even then just as spare bikes on the roof of the Quick-Step Floors and BMC Racing team cars. No disc brake equipped bikes were seen within either of the races themselves.

Click or swipe through the extensive gallery above to see how the riders battled the cold and all the tech that was on show at the first Classics of the 2018 season.

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