As it happened: SD Worx-Protime outsprinted at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 2024 women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Welcome to the cobbles! 127km of racing awaits the women's peloton in just under an hour's time. While there has already been plenty of racing this season, for many, Omloop represents the real start to the road season and the curtain raiser for the action-packed Classics 

It's the second edition of the race at Women's WorldTour level and the startlist reflects that stature. Amongst the top-tier teams are Lidl-Trek with Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo Borghini, Canyon//SRAM with Kasia Niewiadoma and FDJ-SUEZ with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig but SD Worx are the team that everyone is looking to. 

The so-called 'super team' dominated the Women's WorldTour in 2023 and come to this race with a team almost entirely comprised of potential winners. Last season, there was some frustration towards other team's tactics in the face of SD Worx's dominance -- have things changed for 2024?  

Many riders have already opened their accounts for 2024 with a win on the board for defending champion Lotte Kopecky at UAE Tour Women a few weeks ago. The Belgian, who once again goes into this edition as a favourite, recently signed a contract extension with SD Worx until 2028.

Meanwhile, in Belgium 

Back to the start-list. Someone who will be looking to thwart the SD Worx dominance is Lidl-Trek's Lizzie Deignan. The British rider returned to the peloton in 2023 after taking maternity leave after the birth of her second child but ended the season without a win, something that the former world champion says she is looking to change in 2024. 

Deignan has yet to take to a start line in 2024 but someone who has clocked up a win already this year is Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. The Danish rider has been vocal about her desire to race more freely in 2024 and her hopes that other teams don't continue to do the legwork for SD Worx. 

And they're off! 

127 km to go

Only one non-starter today, Team Visma Lease a Bike's Sophie von Berswordt

Speaking of Visma - Lease a Bike, the team's leader, Marianne Vos, had a successful return to racing this season after a 2023 that was marred by injury and illness. The 36-year-old sprinted to two second-place finishes at the recent Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana.  

Surprisingly, Vos has never raced this race before.
 

The peloton is all together 

116 km to go

The peloton have eight cobbled sectors and eight climbs to tackle over the course of today's race, with most of those concentrated into the final 60 km of the race. 

in 10 km the riders will reach the first cobbled sector of the race, Lange Munte.

After the first cobbled sector we have a break of three with two chasers one minute behind them. The peloton is +4'06" back. 

100 km to go

It's unclear just yet who is in the leading group 

The situation is:

G1 - 

G 2 - 0:53

Peloton - 3:37

97 km to go

Unfortunately we won't get to see live coverage of the women's race until much later on. Click here for details on how to watch the race. 

We have ID on our three leaders! They are: 

Marieke de Groot of Proximus - Cyclis CT

Ana Vitória Magalhães of Bepink - Bongioann

Rotem Gafinovitz of Hess Cycling Team. 

Their gap is now 53 seconds ahead of the chase group and 4'30" to the peloton. 

92 km to go

A rider we didn't mention earlier on is Tour de France champion, Demi Vollering. This is the 27-year-old's first race of the season and she is a rider who has proven herself in the Classics. Of course, the big question is whether SD Worx will be working for the interests of Kopecky or Vollering, two riders who are becoming increasingly similar in skillset. 

The leading three now have 50 seconds on the chase group of three with another chase group at 3'30" and the peloton at 5'30".

The two chasers behind the leading three are Maaike Coljé of Arkéa - B&B Hotels Women and Marieke Meert of VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling Team. They are just 15 seconds away from the lead group. 

76 km to go

the group behind them are at +5:31 and the peloton are now 6:16 behind the leading trio. 

The further out this break goes the harder it will be to chase them down later on. Will the other teams put the pressure on SD Worx to do the work? 

G2 have now joined G1. 

The current situation: 

Marieke de Groot of Proximus - Cyclis CT

Ana Vitória Magalhães of Bepink - Bongioann

Rotem Gafinovitz of Hess Cycling Team

Maaike Coljé of Arkéa of B&B Hotels Women 

Marieke Meert of VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling Team

Chasers - 5:31

Peloton - 6:16

75 km to go

Its 16 km until the foot of the Edelareberg climb

Less than 10 km to go until Edelareberg now!

67.6km to go

The break has reached the Edalareberg, meanwhile the peloton are now almost seven minutes behind. 

62 km to go

The peloton has reached the Edelareberg

54 km to go

The gap is now down to 5'50"

There's been a few crashes. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig went down just before the Holleweg and there was a second crash on the Holleweg itself.

Hanna Nilsson of Chevalmeire has abandoned the race 

46.8 km to go

The peloton is now on the Wolvenberg and the gap is down to 5'50"

46 km to go

Marthe Truyen (Fenix - Deceuninck) has abandoned the race.

Marieke de Groot has dropped out of the front group. 

Situation: 

The 4 leaders
Marieke de Groot +20"
Peloton +4'45

48km to go

The break are now on the Jagerij cobbled sector and approaching the Molenberg

43 km to go

The break are now on the Molenberg

41 km to go

The gap to the peloton is now down to 4 minutes

38 km to go

De Groot has made it back up to the lead group and the gap is now down to 3'05"

37 km to go

The break are now on the Haaghoek 

34 km to go

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is struggling off the back of the bunch 

Crash in the bunch as Chiara Consonni of UAE Team ADQ goes down

Another crash! 

34 km to go

The gap is down to 2'44" 

Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) has abandoned the race 

Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) has a small gap ahead of a group of around 25 riders with another similar-sized group behind 

33km to go

The breakaway's advantage is tumbling now, they are only 2 minutes ahead.

The pace is high in the peloton, the race is well-and-truly on! 

The peloton are on the Berendries 

30 km to go

Lotte Kopecky comes to the front! 

The gap to the break is now 1'09"

Elisa Longo Borghini is still holding on to her advantage but it is diminishing as a select group attack each other behind 

The break are on the Elverenberg - Vossenhol and their gap is only 37 seconds now 

28 km to go

Demi Vollering and Marianne Vos have a small gap on the select group chasing Longo Borghini 

Elisa Longo Borghini has caught the remainder of the breakaway 

Vollering and Vos have returned to the group and it's now world champion Lotte Kopecky's turn to go with Puck Pieterse on her wheel. 

The eight riders are all back together. 

26 km to go

The gap to Longo Borghini and the former breakaway riders is 17 seconds 

Longo Borghini has dropped the two remaining breakaway riders 

Longo Borghini is flying at the front of the race, her gap is 21 seconds as Demi Vollering takes over the chase.

24 km to go

It's Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering sharing the workload to try and bring Longo Borghini back, the Italian champion's gap is 17 seconds.

22 km to go

The chase group is comprised of: Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky, and Lorena Wiebes for SD Worx, Marianne Vos for Visma - Lease a Bike, Puck Pieterse of Fenix-Deceuninck, Kasia Niewiadoma of Canyon//SRAM, Pfeiffer Georgi of Team DSM, Shirin van Anrooij of Lidl-Trek and Thalita de Jong of Lotto Dstny Ladies alongside the former breakaway riders.

21 km to go

Lorena Wiebes has joined her teammates in the chase 

The riders are approaching the Muur - Kapelmuur!

20 km to go

Are SD Worx setting Kopecky up for a similar move to last year on the Muur? 

Longo Borghini is holding on to a gap of around 15 seconds 

Demi Vollering is looking to the rest of the group to work but nobody is willing to come to the front to help her and her teammates bring Longo Borghini back

Longo Borghini has reached the bottom of the Muur with a ten second gap

Kasia Niewiadoma has come to the front of the chase group with Lorena Wiebes on her wheel 

Longo Borghini is clinging on but her gap is now down to just four seconds!

Kopecky makes a move towards the top of the Muur, Marianne Vos is right on her wheel and the pair catch up to Longo Borghini

Marianne Vos, Lotte Kopecky, Shirin van Anrooij and Longo Borghini have a small gap to Puck Pieterse, Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma over the top of the Muur.

The four riders at the front are working together

15 km to go

Puck Pieterse, Demi Vollering, and Kasia Niewiadoma are chasing to close down the 15 seconds to the front group of four.

Thalita de Jong has joined the chase 

Ominously, Lotte Kopecky is missing turns in the front group as the leaders approach the Bosberg 

12 km to go

Kopecky attacks at the top of the Bosberg and Marianne Vas locks herself onto her wheel 

Shirin van Anrooij also manages to hold on to Kopecky's attack as Longo Borghini drops back 

11 km to go

Longo Borghini makes it back up to the three leaders and goes straight to the front.  

The gap between the groups is now 30 seconds 

8.3 km to go

Marianne Vos has been doing very little work in this group 

...and only now comes to the front, very briefly before Longo Borghini takes over 

Shirin van Anrooij is sitting at the back while Lotte Kopecky tightens her shoes...

6.2 km to go

Attack from Shirin van Anrooij! 

The attack has been neutralised 

Now Longo Borghini goes! 

Kopecky is forced to chase, the two Trek riders are putting the world champ under pressure. meanwhile, Marianne Vos is glued to Kopecky's wheel. 

Van Anrooij is distanced slightly 

Another attack by van Anrooij as the other started to look at one another 

Vos follows Van Anrooij's move 

4 km to go

Kopecky is chasing the leading pair down 

Vos takes up the lead to try to put Kopecky under pressure 

3 km to go

Kopecky is steadily closing the gap 

As soon as the groups come together Longo Borghini launches another attack 

2 km to go

Van Anrooij goes again! 

1.5 km to go

Despite having to chase down the moves from the Lidl-Trek riders Kopecky is still looking fresh coming into the final kilometre.

Van Anrooij leads it out down the finishing straight with Longo Borghini on the back of the group and Kopecky on her wheel.

Vos jumps first with Kopecky following 

Marianne Vos wins her first Omloop Het Nieuwsblad! 

Lotte Kopecky second and Elisa Longo Borghini third 

Lidl - Trek played a smart game in the finale of the race, forcing Kopecky and Vos to chase but in the end it didn't pay off. 

Shirin van Anrooij: 

"it was just a super hard day, we had a plan from Haghoek to make it a hard race and then Elisa went and the attacks went as well and we were in a good group and then on the Muur I was able to follow Kopecky's attacks and there were four of us. We just tried to attack because that was the only way to win but in the end the wanted a sprint but I'm happy."  

Top-10 

1. Marianne Vos (Visma - Lease a Bike)

2. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx - Protime)

3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl - Trek)

4. Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl - Trek) 

5. Thalita de Jong (Lotto Dstny Ladies)

6. Demi Vollering (SD Worx - Protime) 

7. Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM)

8. Puck Pieterse (Fenix - Deceuninck)

9. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx - Protime)

10. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl - Trek)

2024 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner, Marianne Vos: 

"Of course to win a race like this, and it was my debut here in Nieuwsblad but of course you want to give it your all and I couldn't believe it would be enough for the win today but I'm really, really happy." 

What a race! Read the full report here.