The 71st edition of the

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 ...

was held on 27 February 2016. It was won by Belgian

Greg Van Avermaet Greg Van Avermaet (born 17 May 1985) is a Belgian professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Considered one of the most versatile riders of modern cycling, Van Avermaet is a specialist of the classic cycle races, but has also ...

in a five-man sprint before

Peter Sagan Peter Sagan (; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak professional road bicycle racer who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-country race at the 2008 ...

and

Tiesj Benoot Tiesj Benoot (born 11 March 1994) is a Belgian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Lotto–Soudal (2015–19) Benoot turned professional with the Belgian UCI World Tour team in 2015, after riding for the outfit in 2013 and ...

. The race 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 i ...

, Belgium, covering 200.8 km. The ''Omloop'' marked the start of the

cobbled classics The cobbled classics are four cycling classics held in March and April. Cobblestones, like mountainous terrain, are important elements in courses of cycling. Many classic cycle races in northwestern Europe contain cobbled sections. The two Monume ...

season in Europe and was rated as a 1.HC event of the

2016 UCI Europe Tour The 2016 UCI Europe Tour was the twelfth season of the UCI Europe Tour. The 2016 season began on 28 January 2016 with the Trofeo Santanyí-Ses Salines-Campos and ended on 23 October 2016 with the Chrono des Nations. French rider Nacer Bouhanni ...

Preview

Route

The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad started in

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

, and addressed 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 la ...

in the south of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, featuring numerous short climbs, before returning to Ghent. This edition, organizers needed to find an alternative for the traditional start and finish location on Sint-Pietersplein. In 2016 organizers chose , the site adjacent to the Kuipke velodrome, as the start location. The finish was on

Emile Claus Emile Claus (27 September 1849 – 14 June 1924) was a Belgian painter. Life Emile Claus was born on 27 September 1849, in Sint-Eloois-Vijve, a village in West Flanders (Belgium), at the banks of the river Lys. Emile was the twelfth child i ...

thoroughfare, close to the starting place. At 200 kilometres and with a dozen climbs in the ''hill zone'', the course was challenging and arduous. Additionally, there were several flat stretches of cobbles. The race featured one new climb, Boembekeberg, as a replacement for the

Molenberg Molenberg (literally Millhill) is a former mining colony in the south-western part of Heerlen, southeastern Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , sub ...

, which was skipped because of road works. There are thirteen categorized climbs: Hetnieuwsblad2016 part1.png, alt=Map, Northern part of the race : Begin of the route (red), final (green) Hetnieuwsblad2016 part2.png, alt=Map, Southern part of the race : Begin of the route (red), intermediate part (blue), final (green)

Pre-race favourites

Britain's

Ian Stannard Ian Dexter Stannard (born 25 May 1987) is a British former professional track and road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2020 for the , and teams, before retiring after being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. He now wo ...

, the winner of the previous two editions, was not present in this year's event. World champion

was among the key favourites, together with classics specialists

Alexander Kristoff Alexander Kristoff (born 5 July 1987) is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships in 2007 and 2011. His biggest victories have been the 2014 Milan ...

Tom Boonen Tom Boonen (; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in ...

and Philippe Gilbert. Former world time trial champion Tony Martin made a first appearance. * () * () * () * () * () * () * () * () * () * () * () * ()

Teams

25 teams were invited: 12

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road cycling, the UCI World Tour or UCI ProTour ...

s and 13 continental teams. In total, 199 riders were at the start.

Race report

Twelve riders, among which Alexis Gougeard, were in the early breakaway, as and held them within range of the peloton.

Luke Rowe Luke Rowe (born 10 March 1990) is a Welsh racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Biography Born in Cardiff, Rowe began racing at a young age, initially riding with his parents on a tandem. He began to enjoy cycling and became a member o ...

and

broke clear on

Taaienberg The Taaienberg is a hill in the municipality of Maarkedal, in the Belgian province of East Flanders. With its top at 90 m, it is one of many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes, in the south of East-Flanders. The slopes of the hill are pa ...

, immediately being joined by

on the descent. The four riders caught the remaining early escapees and dropped them all on the last cobbled sections, except for Gougeard. Powering on to Ghent, the elite group stayed clear until the finish and the race was decided in a five-man sprint. Van Avermaet led out the slightly uphill sprint from afar and sealed his first win of the season. Sagan was second, Benoot third. Jens Debusschere won the sprint for sixth place, nine seconds behind Van Avermaet.

Preview

Route

Pre-race favourites

Teams

Race report

Results

Notes

References

External links