As the WorldTour heads to Europe for the first time this year, it’s all change in the peloton. This season is characterised by many major moves and transfers — Demi Vollering has left SD Worx-Protime for FDJ-SUEZ, Elisa Longo Borghini has moved from Lidl-Trek to UAE Team ADQ, and Anna van der Breggen has thrown a real spanner in the works by coming out of retirement. As such, the 2025 season is set to have a very different dynamic.
The 2025 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will be especially different, not only because of this different landscape in the peloton but as none of the protagonists of last year’s race will be present. The winner, Marianne Vos, is delaying her start of the season until Milan-Sanremo later in March. As is the runner-up from that day, Lotte Kopecky, with an eye on balancing her Classics commitments with stage race targets this year. And while Borghini and Shirin van Anrooij shaped the race last year for Lidl-Trek, this time, the team looks more second string, with Borghini having left and Van Anrooij still recovering after iliac artery endofibrosis surgery during the winter.
Nevertheless, it’s still a star-studded line-up that will take to the cobbled roads of Flanders on Saturday for one of the most esteemed prizes of the sprint. Here are some of the riders we believe are most likely to take the glory.
DEMI VOLLERING
Having made a successful start in her first stage race post-SD Worx-Protime by winning the GC at the Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana, Demi Volering now embarks on her first Classics campaign. The race will be the first to partially answer one of the most intriguing questions leading into this season — was Vollering being held back in the classics riding for her former team, where she had to share leadership duties, or was she a benefactor from having so many strong riders alongside her? We’ll certainly get a decent idea on Saturday, as she will be FDJ-Suez’s clear leader, with the likes of Elisa Chabbey and Amber Kraak supporting her in a race she’s attempting to win for the first time (her best result to date being 2nd in 2022).
LORENA WIEBES
With Vollering having moved away and Kopecky skipping this race, Lorena Wiebes will lead SD Worx in a race she hasn’t managed to win yet in her career. Her problem is that, although she has been untouchable in sprint finishes (and remains so, as her stage wins at the UAE Tour demonstrated), Het Nieuwsblad is more often than not decided by an escape group or solo winner — as was the case in 2023 and 2022 when she finished second and third respectively by winning the sprint in the chasing group. Unless she can follow the moves made on the tough climbs, she’ll be relying on teammates like Mischa Bredewold, Marta Lach and Femke Markus to control attacks and set her up for a sprint victory.
MARLEN REUSSER
One of the early heart-warming stories of the season has been witnessing the return to form of Marlen Reusser, who has at last put behind her enduring illness problems to win Trofeo Palma Femina and place second overall at Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana. Like Vollering, she will now be racing against rather than for SD Worx-Protime, having moved to Movistar for the season. She will provide SD Worx and the other teams with a real headache thanks to her potential to motor away with a powerful diesel attack at any moment. Though she’s never cracked the top ten at this particular race, this is a race that should suit the former Gent-Wevelgem winner.
SILVIA PERSICO
In the absence of new star signing Elisa Longo Borghini, Silvia Persico will lead UAE ADQ and, based on her performances this season, is poised for a good result. At the UAE Tour, she relished her new role as super-domestique for Borghini, setting a fearsome pace that obliterated the field on the decisive Jebel Hafeet summit finish, leading her to take second overall on GC behind her teammate. She’s strong on the cobbles and is overdue a win in a Classic at the level of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
PUCK PIETERSE
Young talent Puck Pieterse returns for a second spring Classics campaign on the road. The 22-year-old showed enormous amounts of potential last spring, making powerful attacks and often being involved in the final selections, but perhaps lacked the tactical nuances to land a big win — she didn’t finish lower than seventh in any of Ronde van Drenthe, Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders, but neither did she place higher than third. If she can refine her racing style and pick the right moments to attack, Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad could become her first Classics victory.
PFEIFFER GEORGI
Almost six months after the serious injuries sustained at a crash during the Tour de France Femmes, Pfeiffer Georgi returned to racing earlier this month at the UAE Tour and is now ready to embark on another Classics campaign. She was one of the stars of the 2024 spring when a string of impressive performances culminated in third at Paris-Roubaix and fourth at Amstel Gold and hopes to improve yet more this year and try to land a win to go alongside her 2023 triumph at Brugge-De Panne. Tenth overall at the UAE Tour suggests she already has decent form, meaning she'll be a strong contender on Saturday.
KASIA NIEWIADOMA
This will be the first Classic Kasia Niewiadoma will race since her stunning triumph at the Tour de France last summer. Will we, therefore, see a new and improved Niewiadoma than the one of previous spring campaigns, who would often come close to winning only to narrowly miss out? She broke her long-lasting drought without a one-day win at La Flèche Wallonne last year and is now seeking to do so at a cobbled Classic. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad doesn’t suit her as well as that race, but she could cause damage on a climb like Muur van Geraardsbergen.
