NOT TO MISS
27 February | Belgium | 1.UWT/1.Pro
Having only made his debut on the Flandrian cobbles last year, Julian Alaphilippe is stepping up his commitment to winning the biggest Belgian spring one-day races by lining up at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for the first time this February. The start of six weeks of racing that builds up to the Tour of Flanders, Omloop covers a smattering of the same cobbled bergs and roads as its more prestigious older sibling. However, it’s far from a training race. Its status has grown considerably since it was added to the men’s WorldTour in 2016 even if no rider has ever won here and gone on to win Flanders in the same year, a state of affairs known as the ‘Curse of Omloop’.
Alaphilippe may be keen to peak later in the spring rather than now, but a strong showing at Omloop is still an indicator of who to place your money on as the classics campaign unfolds. The women’s Omloop, held on the same day, doesn’t have the same WorldTour status yet as its male counterpart, but it has once predicted the winner of Flanders, when Lizzie Deignan won both races in 2016.