The biggest talking points ahead of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Women - Preview

Opening weekend is finally here, and for the women's peloton, that means back-to-back races with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, February 25 and Omloop van het Hageland on Sunday, February 26, in Belgium.

The road racing season is already well underway with the 2023 Women's WorldTour having begun at the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia. Teams then traveled to race at the UAE Tour Women and onto Spain for the European start at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana.

Now that the riders and teams have experienced pre-season training camps and have had a chance to test their racing legs, opening weekend will bring the level or racing up a notch ahead of one of the most important campaigns of the season, the Spring Classics. Cyclingnews highlights six of the biggest talking points ahead of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Learn more about the Women's WorldTour in Cyclingnews' definitive guide for 2023. and join Cyclingnews for live coverage of the 2023 Spring Classics, and check in after each race for our full reports, results, galleries, news and features.

Omloop hits the big-time on the WorldTour

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad has been a historical staple of opening weekend, a treasured kick-off to the Spring Classics. It has been part of the top-tier of events on the men's calendar since 2016, although this year marks its debut on the Women's WorldTour.

The UCI announced Omloop Het Nieuwsblad had secured an upgrade and would join four new races on the top-tier women's calendar this year, along with the women's Tour Down Under, Tour de Suisse and the newly-launched UAE Tour.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad's upgrade was all a part organiser Flanders Classics' plan called Closing the Gap, which aimed to bring visibility and equality to its events from the bottom up. The goal was to create quality across all six women's and men's Spring Classics; Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Tour of Flanders, Scheldeprijs and Brabantse Pijl. And the three main areas of focus were of live TV coverage by improving the broadcasting times for the women's races to finish after the men's in prime time, classification on the international calendar and prize money.

Dwars door Vlaanderen was denied top-tier status, and it, along with De Brabantse Pijl, is part of the Pro Series this year. Scheldeprijs remains a 1.1 event to give opportunities for the Continental teams to participate.

It may be the first year that Omloop Het Nieuwsblad has made it to the Women's WorldTour. Still, it was praised for taking progressive steps in prize money and television coverage last year, and the cycling community can anticipate the same high-quality organisation once again.

All eyes on Van Vleuten in last Omloop

When Annemiek van Vleuten toes a start line, the peloton and fans alike have grown to expect nothing less than a hard-fought battle to the end. The reigning World Champion's rainbow jersey brings with it a reminder of her aggressive racing style that led to a shock world title victory and one of the most dramatic moments in pro cycling last year. Plus Van Vleuten lines up as the defending champion at the race in her final year of racing before retiring at the end of this season.

The Movistar rider has a carefully laid out set of targets, and while her biggest goals come later in the season at the Giro d'Italia Donne and the Tour de France Femmes, she has always shown an affinity for select Spring Classics.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad marks the beginning of her final Spring Classics campaign, which also includes Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders and the Ardennes Classics. The similarities between the selection are in the challenge that each route offers, be it the longer distances, steep and relentless climbs with little to no reprieve, and a general course toughness that, in her own words, raises the bar for women's cycling.

Van Vleuten will not want to waste a moment of her final experience racing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and a shot at adding a third victory in Ninove to kick off the win list in her final season.

New dynamic for Wiebes and Kopecky under the microscope

The moment has arrived when the cycling world will see how the new dynamic between Lorena Wiebes and Lotte Kopecky plays out. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad marks the first race where the powerhouse cyclists line up together as SD Worx teammates, under the assurance that there is space enough for both riders, and their respective talents and goals.

When it was confirmed that Wiebes' had made a surprise transfer from Team DSM to SD Worx, many in the cycling community anticipated that the move might cause a sense of uneasiness for Kopecky, as if two riders of comparable strength and stature might not be able to co-exist on the same team.

The duo have laid that speculation to rest in pre-season interviews stating that they each have different strengths and targets this year. In addition, Wiebes will assume the role of a lead sprinter, and Kopecky is happy with a wildcard role in races with more challenging terrain.

It is surprising to see them both on the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad roster, featuring together so soon in the season, and it will be interesting to see how the team utilises each rider in their race-day tactics.

Wiebes has already begun testing out her new sprint lead-out at the UAE Tour, and they will likely reserve her pure sprint for the finale. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will mark the first road race of the season for both Kopecky and Demi Vollering, who was second to Van Vleuten last year, both great options for late-race breakaways and reduced sprints.

Taking it up a notch

Scan through the UCI road rankings from the end of 2022 and you'll see that not a single name among the top ten riders is missing from the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad start list. It is the very first time this year such a strong group of riders have assembled at the one race.

That may be understandable given the SD Worx pair of Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering are just making their season debuts. Still many others have already pinned a number on in 2023, however even the top riders among that group are yet to come together en masse as riders were split between two key race options earlier this month. Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) all lined up at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana while it was the UAE Tour for Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx), Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) and Marta Cavalli (FDJ Suez).

The coming together of all these riders in the race to Ninove unquestionably shifts the competition up a notch and provides fuel to reignite the sporting rivalries of past seasons. Vollering, who came second to Van Vleuten at both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Tour de France Femmes in 2022, has talked of her desire to beat Van Vleuten while there is still a chance and this race could perhaps be an opportunity to switch the podium order. There could also be the possibility of a rematch for Balsamo and Wiebes, with the Dutch rider taking the final podium spot at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last year ahead of Balsamo in the bunch sprint for third, which came 25 seconds after Van Vleuten and Vollering had swept up the top two spots.

Solo, breakaway or sprint in Ninove?

One of the more unpredictable races on the calendar, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, has ended in four reduced-bunch sprints, seven winning breakaways and five solo victories.

The race is longer this year at 132.2km but includes a similar variation of five cobbled sectors and nine climbs. The race culminates with the back-to-back Muur-Kapelmuur and the Bosberg before the finish in Ninove, making it one of the more challenging routes of the Spring Classics.

These final ascents can become the decisive points of the race and a likely location for attacks from riders like Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Demi Vollering (SD Worx), who sprinted against one another for the win last year.

If the attacks are strong enough over these climbs to create meaningful separations in the field, they might be sufficient to reduce the peloton to a small group, in which case a sprint could ensue. 

However, plenty of riders in the field will want to avoid sprinting against the likes of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) or Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) into Ninove. It could be these riders who disrupt the final run-in with late-race attacks, think Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), Marta Cavalli (FDJ-SUEZ) or Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).

How it will end this year is anybody's guess.

Don't forget about Omloop van het Hageland

Opening Weekend is traditionally synonymous with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. However, the organisers of the latter do not offer a race for women's field. 

For the women's peloton, opening weekend begins with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday and is followed by the Omloop van het Hageland on Sunday. 

Omloop van het Hageland might be the smaller of the two races, classed at 1.1. Still, it has provided the women's field with an avenue to begin their Spring Classics campaign with a double-header weekend in Belgium, often attracting the same top-level teams as Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and an opportunity for some of the smaller Belgian teams to race against the best in the world.

Emma Johansson won the inaugural edition in 2011, and other former winners include Lizzie Deignan (twice), Emily Collins, Jolien D'hoore (twice), Marta Bastianelli (three times), Ellen van Dijk and Lorena Wiebes.

This year, the women's field will compete across 123.9k from Aarschot to Tielt-Winge on Sunday, February 26.