The 11th running of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad women's race in Belgium was held on 27 February 2016 and is widely regarded as the start of the Classics season. The race was won by the ruling world champion, Britain's

Lizzie Armitstead Elizabeth Mary Deignan (née Armitstead; born 18 December 1988) is an English professional world champion track and road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She was the 2015 World road race champion. Deignan is ...

, after a solo breakaway.

Chantal Blaak Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (née Blaak; born 22 October 1989) is a Dutch road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . In 2017 she became world road race champion in Bergen, Norway. Career Junior career Van den Broek-B ...

won the sprint for second place ahead of

Tiffany Cromwell Tiffany Jane Cromwell (born 6 July 1988) is an Australian road and gravel cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Career Road Junior career Starting in 2002, after being identified by the South Australian sports insti ...

. Armitstead’s win marks the first time a world champion has graced the top step of the podium at the Belgian Semi-Classic. The ''Omloop'' started and finished in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

, addressing several climbs in the

Flemish Ardennes The Flemish Ardennes (Dutch: ''Vlaamse Ardennen'') is an informal name given to a hilly region in the south of the province of East Flanders, Belgium. Highest summit is the Hotondberg (145 m). Main characteristics of the region are rural hilly lan ...

and covering .

Race

Nearly 200 riders set out for the 123 km. A nervous but inactive first half gives way for non-stop attacks over the climbs and cobbles that feature in the second half of the race.

Jessie Daams Jessie Daams (born 28 May 1990) is a Belgian former racing cyclist. She competed in the 2013 UCI women's road race in Florence. Her father is the Dutch cyclist Hans Daams. Major results ;2008 : 3rd Road race, UEC European Junior Road Champio ...

(Lotto Soudal Ladies) rode away from the peloton for a short-lived solo effort and got a maximum advantage of 30 seconds over the peloton heading into the Wolvenberg. 40 km from the finish, the peloton pulled back Daams. On the

Molenberg Molenberg (literally Millhill) is a former mining colony in the south-western part of Heerlen, southeastern Netherlands. When work started in 1913 it was called Molenbergpark (Millhillpark). Website Heerlen The mining colony was created to hous ...

Ellen van Dijk Eleonora Maria "Ellen" van Dijk (; born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Besides road cycling she was also a track cyclist until 2012. Van Dijk is known as a time ...

went away and opened the race again. She was caught on the Paddestraat cobbles.

Romy Kasper Romy Kasper (born 5 May 1988) is a German racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Continental Team . She competed in the 2013 UCI women's road race in Florence. She competed for Germany at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's ro ...

(Boels-Dolmans) led a trio of riders, part of a fragmented reduced bunch, just beyond the Paddestraat. Ten kilometres later with 20 km remaining Armitstead and Elvin rode away. The duo stretched out their advantage to 45 seconds but Armitstead was doing most of the work. When Armitstead stopped Cycling hard they rode at a low speed for a while. When there was a slight drag in the road Armitstead attacked and rode away from Gracie. Behind Armitstead the chase was disorganised. Rabo-Liv and Wiggle High5 eventually collaborated on the front, but their efforts weren’t enough to close the gap. Future attacks proved unnecessary. Armitstead maintained her advantage all the way to the line. Behind her

delivered a one-two for Boels-Dolmans as she beat

(Canyon-SRAM) in a reduced bunch sprint. The 22-rider chase group finished 29 seconds behind Armitstead.

Aftermath

crashed during the race. She finished the race in arrears due to a bike change. After the race at the hospital it appears she had one broken and some bruised ribs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - Women's race Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – Women's race

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, previously Omloop Het Volk, is a one-day road cycling race in Belgium, held annually in late February. It is the opening event of the Belgian cycling season, as well as the first race of the year in Northwestern Europe, and ...

UCI

Race

Aftermath

See also

References