Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite Men 2019

Stybar confirms return to form with victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Deceuninck-QuickStep's Zdenek Stybar soloed to victory at the 2019 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, getting the better of CCC Team's Greg Van Avermaet and Lotto Soudal's Tim Wellens.

Prior to a stage win at this year's Volta ao Algarve in late February, Stybar's last victory had come at the 2017 Czech national championship road race.

He had battled back to winning ways in the Algarve, and then confirmed his form at the Belgian one-day race – which acts as the opener to the spring Classics season – where the former cyclo-cross star's previous best finish had been seventh in 2015.

And while it appears that manager Patrick Lefevere's Deceuninck-QuickStep team – in its variously sponsored guises over the years – can almost win one-day races at will, the Omloop had been evading the Belgian team for a while.

"I only heard the day before yesterday at the press conference that QuickStep hadn't won Omloop for 14 years, which was amazing," Stybar said. "I am very happy that I could win here, for the team, but also for me."

Stybar's impressive solo victory came after the Czech rider attacked inside the final three kilometres from a five-man group, which also included Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) and Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida), who crossed the line in that order, nine seconds behind the victorious Stybar.