Van Vleuten beats Vollering in two-up sprint to win Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) won her second Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, beating Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) in a two-up sprint.

Several small groups came together just before the Bosberg, the final climb of the race, where Van Vleuten put in a trademark seated acceleration.

She dropped the rest of the group, only Vollering just managed to get back into her wheel. And that's where Vollering stayed until the final kilometre, not taking any turns at all as she had two teammates in the chasing group.

Van Vleuten launched her sprint through the penultimate corner, and although Vollering came alongside, she faltered on the last 100 metres, and Van Vleuten took the win. Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) won the sprint of the peloton for third place.

“The Bosberg was my last chance to drop the others, but I was surprised that only one of them could stay with me. I talked to Vollering in the final, but she didn’t want to take any turns as she had two teammates behind. It was hard for me, but I thought ‘just keep riding’. My whole career I have tried not to let myself get frustrated by things I can’t control but to accept the situation and make the best of it,” Van Vleuten looked back on the final.

“I know that she is faster than me on paper, but also that I get faster after a hard race. I thought ‘maybe I can surprise her’. I really went kamikaze into that corner, that was my chance to get in front before the roundabout, it was a 600-metre sprint. She came out of my wheel, but then I still had a bit left to give,” said the 39-year old, describing the sprint.

How it unfolded

On a sunny afternoon, 140 riders from 24 teams set out from Gent for the first women’s classic of the 2022 season. 

A breakaway of six riders including Emily Newsom (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB), Kylie Waterreus (Lotto Soudal Ladies), Svenja Betz (IBCT), Fien Delbaere (Multum Accountants Ladies Cycling Team), Anastasia Carbonari (Valcar-Travel & Service), and Laura Tomasi (UAE Team ADQ) held a lead of four minutes but was caught with 40 kilometres to go.

The Haaghoek, the longest cobblestone section of the race, saw no attacks, but Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx) made a move on the Leberg that immediately followed. Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo), Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma), and Liane Lippert (Team DSM) went with the Swiss champion, and together the four riders increased their advantage to over a minute with 25km to go. Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) tried to bridge to the front on her own but did not succeed and was reeled back in by the peloton where Movistar Team, Canyon-SRAM and FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope worked to close the gap.

The gap had fallen to only 30 seconds as the breakaway came onto the Vesten, the Geraardsbergen market street at the start of the climb up the Muur. Henderson lost contact with the other three riders on the steepest part of the Muur while Van Vleuten launched an attack in a bid to get to the front of the race, taking Vollering with her and picking up Henderson on the descent.

Mainly driven by Van Vleuten, this group of three reached the front before the Bosberg, with solo chaser Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) also making contact just before the final climb where Van Vleuten attacked again. Reusser unsuccessfully tried to keep up, meaning that Vollering had to go around her teammate to get into Van Vleuten’s wheel. The two had a five-second advantage at the top of the climb, 13 kilometres from the line, and this quickly increased to 43 seconds with 9km to go.

Unperturbed by Vollering sitting in her wheel, Van Vleuten continued to pedal towards Ninove, further extending the gap to over a minute two kilometres from the line while the chase group was eventually caught by the peloton. On the final kilometre, Vollering briefly took the lead, then Van Vleuten started sprinting through the penultimate corner with 600 metres to go, holding off Vollering to take the victory.

Twenty-five seconds later, Wiebes beat world champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) and Clara Copponi (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) in the sprint for third place.