2026 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Race Preview
The details of this year's 2026 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad are falling into place. Find the latest route profiles and maps below, followed by our strategic preview of the race.
Opening Weekend and the Spring Classics campaign kick off with the 81st edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Following last year’s bunch finish to the event, the race organisers have lengthened the route by 10k to 207.6km. More significantly, they’ve also toughened up the back end of the course.
Sticking with tradition, the riders will roll away from the ‘t Kuipke velodrome that hosts the Gent Six-Day. Ahead of them, there’ll be a dozen climbs and eight cobbled sections. Most of the climbs are packed into the race’s final third, beginning with the second passage over the Eikenberg, with 60km remaining. The Wolvenberg, Molenberg and a third pass over the Leberg follow.
The changes to the route mainly occur after the asphalt climb of Berendries (174km). The Tenbosse and Parikeberg climbs have been added prior to the established finale comprising the legendary ascent of the Muur at Geraardsbergen followed by the Bosberg. From there, the riders have 11.6km remaining on the flat into the finishing in Ninove.
The favorites (by cyclingstage.com):
Looking at the teams, Alpecin–Premier Tech have the luxury of fielding three potential Omloop winners in Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves. Soudal–Quick-Step and Visma | Lease a Bike also appeared well stocked with contenders — the former with Paul Magnier, Dylan van Baarle and Jasper Stuyven, the latter with Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte and Matthew Brennan — but both teams suffered a setback on Thursday as Stuyven and Van Aert withdrew through illness. The other teams have at most a single outright favourite in their ranks.
Long story short: Van der Poel was already the man to beat, and with such a strong team behind him it would be a surprise if he didn’t come out on top. And if not, he would no doubt be happy to lead out Philipsen for a sprint victory, as he did two years ago in Milan–San Remo.
Then again, Pidcock showed at the Ruta del Sol last week that he is in excellent form. A similar type of rider to Van der Poel, he could well set up a head-to-head battle between the pair.
Three former winners are at the start of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad: Davide Ballerini (2021), Van Baarle (2023), and Søren Wærenskjold (2025).
Favorites 2026 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
***** Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, Paul Magnier\n**** Jasper Philipsen, Christophe Laporte, Biniam Girmay\n*** Dylan van Baarle, Tim Wellens, Arnaud De Lie, Matthew Brennan\n** Kaden Groves, Jasper Stuyven, Matej Mohoric, Kasper Asgreen, Mathias Vacek\n* Florian Vermeersch, Søren Wærenskjold, Jordi Meeus, Ben Turner, Samuel Watson
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