At long last, Opening Weekend is upon us. While these past few months have seen racing all across the globe, Omloop Nieuwsblad is the first major Classic of the year, and marks the beginning of the always-thrilling spring Classics phase of the season.
Just because the cycling season proper is now upon us, doesn’t mean spring is. The weather for the weekend is cold and potentially wet, and rude awakening for riders who have enjoyed racing and training on the sunnier lands of the south. But bad weather is much of what these races so unique and special, and all part of the spectacle cycling fans are salivating for.
The first race of Opening Weekend will be Saturday’s Omloop Nieuwsblad. Here, we take a look at what lies in store, and which riders we expect to be in the mix for the victory.
ROUTE
Formerly the finale of the Tour of Flanders, the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen / Bosberg pairing has since become the trademark of Omloop Nieuwsblad. The Muur especially is perhaps the quintessential Flandrian climb, with its ultra-steep gradients, bone-shuddering cobbles and raucous crowd that roars the riders as they grind up it.
Of course, they are from being the only obstacles on the route. In total there are nine climbs to take on, including the familiar Wolvenberg and Molenberg, plus another five flat pave sectors; not to mention the many technical twists and turns and unpleasant weather they’ll have to combat against.
And though the Elverenberg has been removed this year, the addition of the Tenbosse and Parikeberg will give the competitors more climbing kilometres to tackle. In a race always so unpredictably balanced between attackers and sprints (and that even saw the early break of the day take the win), that should subtly swing matter towards the former.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2026 women's parcours (credit: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad)
CONTENDERS
LOTTE KOPECKY
The peloton best beware: Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) is back and she means business. After her attempts last year to prioritise stage races and challenge for the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift were compromised by injury, the Belgian is returning to her familiar hunting ground of the spring Classics, no doubt hungry to start accumulating wins again following what was a (relatively, by her standards) lean 2025. A fully fit Kopecky would be hard for anyone to follow on the Muur, as everyone found out two years ago when she attacked on it to take a solo victory.
Can Lotte Kopecky get back to her Classics-dominating form of 2024? (Image: Chris Auld)
DEMI VOLLERING
Had there been more organisation in the peloton among the elite teams, Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) might have been entering this year’s race as defending champion. The Dutchwoman looked the strongest of the major favourites during the race, and wound up finishing best of the rest in third-place, but missed out on victory as she failed to bring back the surprise survivors of the day’s early break, Aurela Nerlo and winner Lotte Claes. That disappointment might spur her on to vengeance this year and, though the more selective, climber-friendly classics to come later in the spring suit her better, her two stages wins and overall victory at Smetana Valenciana earlier in this month suggest she’s in flying form.
Demi Vollering (L) and her teammate Juliette Berthet (R) after Vollering won Strade Bianche last year (Image: Tornanti.cc)
LORENA WIEBES
It’s not even the end of February, yet Lorena Wiebes, who has over on hundred career wins to her name, has already picked up four wins, sprinting as prolifically as ever to win all but one of the stages at the UAE Tour, plus the preceding Al Salam Championship. You’d traditionally expect Wiebes to play second fiddle to SD Worx-Protime teammate Lotte Kopecky at a race like Omloop Niewusbald, as she did at the 2023 edition to win the group sprint for second-place behind her, but the sprinter’s climbing has improved to such an extent since then that even in the event that the race doesn’t end in a group finish there’s a possibility she wins from an attack of her own.
Lorena Wiebes is the best sprinter in the women's peloton (Image: Getty)
SHIRIN VAN ANROOIJ
With her iliac artery injury problems now hopefully fully behind her, Shirin van Anrooij begins the 2026 sprint campaign eager to deliver on her considerable potential. Those injury problems interrupted her rise towards stardom, but, having only just turned 24, she retains the scope to continue to improve and blossom into one of the peloton’s best. Of Lidl-Trek’s strong line-up, she’s the best suited to Omloop Nieuwsbald, having made the winning selection here two years to finish fourth, and has the potential to go better this time and claim what would be a first victory since September 2023.
Read more: ‘It’s the bill riders pay for 15 years of top sport’ but what is Iliac Artery Endofibrosis?
The versatile Shirin van Anrooij is a dark horse contender in a most of the Spring Classics (Image: Swpix.com)
CAT FERGUSON
Unquestionably one of the most exciting names on the start list is 19-year-old Cat Ferguson. The Brit is possibly the most talented young rider in the peloton, and seems to have taken further strides towards the top based on her early season performances, which have seen her claim victories at the Smetana Valenciana and Trofeo Llucmajor, as well as podium at Vuelta CV Feminas. Omloop Nieuwsblad will be at another level above those races, and ask different questions regarding her ability to manage the rough cobblestones, but Ferguson might already be ready to take on the best in the world here.
Can Cat Ferguson win her first major Classic on Saturday? (Image: SWpix.com)
OTHER CONTENDERS
There are plenty more big names competing in what is a star-studded first World Tour classic of the season, albeit not perfectly suited to them. This has typically been a race a bit too hilly for Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), whose highest finish here in her previous five appearances in fourth, and not quite hilly enough for Kasia Niewiadoma (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto), who has only once before broken into the top ten.
Read more: The greatest race ever: The stories behind Kasia Niewiadoma's 2024 Tour triumph
It may therefore fall upon Niewiadoma’s young teammate Zoe Bäckstedt to lead the line or possibly Chiara Consonni if they can engineer a sprint, while Balsamo will also be supported by Van Anrooij and Anna Henderson. SD Worx and FDJ United-Suez also have the options of Anna van der Breggen and Elise Chabbey respectively, while at Movistar Ferguson will be working alongside Liane Lippert.
Elsewhere, the smaller teams of Human Powered Health, Uno-X Mobility and EF Education-Oatly will be led by Thalita De Jong, Susanne Anderson and Cédrine Kerbaol respectively. And a shout out to Lotte Claes (Fenix-Premier Tech), who surely won’t be allowed in the day’s break this time having taken victory that way last year.
PREDICTION
Hungry for success after her frustrating 2025 season, and with the might of the SD Worx-Protime team behind her, we’re backing Lotte Kopecky to start her season with a bang and take the victory.
Cover Image: Rhode Van Elsen/Getty Images
