No Van Aert, no problem as Jumbo-Visma dominate Omloop Het Nieuwsblad once again

At Belgium's Opening Weekend, all eyes are often trained on the home giants, Soudal-QuickStep, but in recent years it has been Dutch squad Jumbo-Visma who have grasped the mantle as top team at the opening instalment at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Last year, it was Wout van Aert who mastered the race, soloing home 13km from the line to take the team's first win at the race since 2011. The Belgian star wasn't on the start line in Gent this year, but that didn't stop the team from dominating the action throughout the afternoon and walking away with another win.

Like Van Aert last year, Omloop was Dylan van Baarle's seasonal debut – as well as being his first race in Jumbo-Visma colours – but the Dutchman replicated and even exceeded his new teammate's feat, attacking with 36km remaining and then going solo from 16.5km out.

The win came after his team had subjected the remainder of the peloton to splits, attacks, and a general controlling presence on the front, beginning with a move to split the peloton with 105km still left to run. It was all part of the plan, team directeur sportif Arthur Van Dongen said later.

"We had a plan up front here. We always start with a plan, but this was also the plan we executed, really good, really strong," Van Dongen told Cyclingnews after the finish. "We have really good riders, and they are well prepared and this is the outcome.  

"The plan was to go from the cobbles at Lange Munte to make the race hard. We have strong sprinters, and we like that the other teams have to chase. We could also send some riders up front so that those in the bunch can profit from that. That was exactly the plan that we executed."

At that point, Jumbo had placed five men – Van Baarle plus Tiesj Benoot, Jan Tratnik, Tim van Dijke, Christophe Laporte, and Nathan Van Hooydonck – into a lead group of just 14. It wouldn't be the day's winning break, but it showed the team's intent, as well as their strength.

Tratnik and Van Hooydonck would quickly form a smaller lead group, though with 65km to go things had all come back together.

At the cobbled climb of Molenberg, 41km out, it was time to try again, with Laporte and Van Baarle leading a move off the front, which would swiftly morph into Van Baarle's winning attack.

He would prove strongest from a group of four including Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious), Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny), and Arkéa-Samsic's breakaway survivor Mathis Le Berre.

Van Baarle wore them down one by one until he was alone on the Muur van Geraardsbergen after Mathis' heroic ride on the front drew to a close.

"I think it was a great day for the team. We took control and we rode super well. I can't thank the guys enough to make this happen," Van Baarle said at the finish.

"For the team, it was super important to straight away race how we want to race and that's what we did. For me, it was all new to fit in with this sort of racing but yeah, I think I'm fitting in really well.

"It was instinct," he added when asked how he know when to attack. "The team told me to rely on it and during a tricky section I saw the moment to go."

Van Dongen said he was impressed with Van Baarle's strength in the attack, adding that it was a case of feeling the moment to go rather than a planned decision for him to jump rather than Laporte or Benoot.

"He showed he was strong when he attacked," he said. "You saw that really strong riders like Jonathan Milan were struggling to hold his wheel. It was then you know that he's in really good shape and can make a difference. It's good teamwork and we're really happy with it.

"It's also a bit about the moment and the feeling. Between the sections [cobbles and climbs] he's always feeling strong and could make a difference. He did it today again and he has that feeling and that strong intuition, and that's also what you need.

"The chase did come close, though. But we also know that when you give Dylan 10 or 15 seconds it will be hard to catch him back. Christophe was also important there – when he's there then they're always thinking a bit about him. It was a good situation."

Speaking in the Sporza studio after celebrating the team's second win in Ninove in two years, Benoot said that he had never been part of a team plan which worked so well.

"That was discussed in the meeting. I think I've never come so close to executing a plan perfectly," he said. "We had already agreed yesterday to take control of the race on the Lange Munte and not stop from then on – we wanted to always be on the offensive and it worked out.

"Along with Dylan and Christophe, I was the designated man to ride away at the Molenberg. Dylan did that very nicely, Christophe was with the chasers after the Muur, and then Nathan and I were in the group behind. I think it was a fine race. We were in all three groups – that was the goal and we played it well.

"The training camps are paying off for us," he concluded. "We prepared well behind the scenes. It was a great team performance and I'm proud of it."