Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel broke away 16km from the finish line and soloed to victory at the season-opening cobbled classic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The former road race world champion entered the classic on the back of a record eighth cyclo-cross world title where he was unbeaten all winter. The 31-year-old Alpecin rider finished in 4hr 53min 55sec, over 20 seconds ahead of another Dutchman, Tim van Dijke<\/a> and Belgian Florian Vermeersch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Van der Poel<\/a> said he would decide Saturday night if he would take on Sunday’s similar Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne race.<\/p>\n “I really want to be there,” said.<\/p>\n The 207km route on Saturday included many of the Tour of Flanders roads, and the riders faced 12 hills and eight cobbled sections.<\/p>\n Of the favourites, Vermeesch was first to attack and on the narrow cobbled hill behind him the first pursuers fell after bouncing on a cobble, it was there that Van Der Poel showed his dexterity with a sudden swerve to avoid the fall.<\/p>\n “I don’t know how I managed that,” Van Der Poel said afterwards. “It was chaos. I unclipped and put my foot down to avoid the head of the Tudor rider, then I managed to get back into the rhythm. This was the key moment of the race.”<\/p>\n On another of cobbled climb, the Muur of Geraardsbergen, Van Der Poel dropped the whittled-down main pack and set off in pursuit of an early breakaway around a minute up the road.<\/p>\n He caught them within 4km and rode confidently away from them. After he crossed the line, Van Dijke out-sprinted Vermeersch for second place.<\/p>\n “Mathieu is the best rider on the planet on this kind of terrain,” said runner-up Vermeersch.<\/p>\n Omloop is the first race of the season in cycling’s heartland of northwestern Europe and is often raced in freezing conditions.<\/p>\n Dutch dominate Omloop Het Nieuwsblad<\/p>\n Demi Vollering<\/a> won the women’s 135km edition also on Saturday, dominating a sprint finish ahead of the Polish rider Kasia Niewiadoma<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I was really ideally placed at the foot of the Mur de Grammont, and it went like a dream,” said Vollering, the 2023 Tour de France champion.<\/p>\n