Omloop Het Nieuwsblad men LIVE – Opening Weekend underway as Mathieu van der Poel and co. take on the cobbles in Belgium

The peloton are finished with the cobbled section, now just under three minutes behind the five leaders.

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The pace is steady on these cobbles, with no team wanting to lay the hammer down so early in the race.

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NSN are leading the peloton, in service of their leader Biniam Girmay.

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Crash for Matej Mohorič. After such a tough 2025 season, that is not the start to his campaign the Slovenian would have wanted.

The tranquillity has been briefly interrupted by a cobbled sector, the Lange Munte. It’s an isolated one, however, and the next isn’t for another 15km.

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There’s a lot of wind out there. With plenty of changes of direction to come once they enter the twists and turns of the finale, that could play a big factor in how this race unfolds.

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A second DNF to report – Dylan Vandenstorme of Team Flanders – Baloise.

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We’re into the second half of the race, and things have calmed a little, with the gap allowed to grow back up to over 2:30.

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Another angle of the riders ascending the Eikenberg earlier.

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The pace is up in the peloton, and the gap down – now to just below two minutes.

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Vergaerde had to abandon because of a crash.

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We have a first abandon of the day to announce – Lidl-Trek’s Otto Vergaerde. The team has already been ravaged by injury, with star man Mads Pedersen missing the start of the spring.

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The peloton going up the Eikenberg earlier. They’ll take the climb on again later in the day.

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This edition is unique in Omloop Nieuwsbald, in that it is the first to feature Mathieu van der Poel – arguably now the greatest classics rider of all time. We looked at how his presence in the race changes everything.

The pace has calmed down during this long section in between climbs. As a result, the break’s lead is up to over four minutes.

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Mathias Vacek in the peloton, who impressed at last year’s edition and is an outsider for the win today.

“I’m good, feeling good, I spent some days at a training camp and building up the shape towards the Classics and building up towards the Classics,” Vacek told Cyclingnews. “I’m in good shape so we’ll see what happens.”

As for the presence of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) in Omloop, and how much that changes things, Vacek said, “Well the start list is always strong and full and if it’s not Mathieu it’s someone else. So I will try to follow and take my chance.”

The wind is always a big factor in Nieuwsblad and particularly if it’s a tailwind, that will help form the breaks. “We can expect a big fight there and for sure we have to be attentive to the wind and just focus because anything can happen anywhere and probably the race will open a bit earlier than usual.”

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Still the gap between the five leaders and the peloton remains at just under four minutes.

The riders are over the Eikenberg without incident. There’s now a long flat stretch before the next time they have to take on the cobbles.

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Gianni Vermeersch in the peloton, one of the representatives of Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team.

“We’ve got Jordi [Meeus, fast finisher and allrounder], we’ve got Gianni Vermeersch who’s moved across with us [from Alpecin] the Van Dijke brothers (Mick and Tim) doing their first race, and I think everyone’s fit and healthy,” their DS Oli Cookson told Cyclingnews before the start.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve got the favourite but we’ve got a strong team and I think we’ve seen over the last 10 to 15 years the winners of this race have been, not a surprise, but probably not the actual favourites. So that’s where using the strength and depth of the team and communicating come into play.”

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Still the break’s lead remains healthy, now up to about 3:50.

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Arnaud De Lie is a rider who has long promised to win a Spring Classic, ever since his star-making debut at Omloop Nieuwusbald three years ago, when he finished runner-up behind Dylan Van Baarle. A series of injury problems has curtailed his progress since then. Could this be the year he claims his first?

The riders are over the first uphill obstacle of the day, the Leberg.

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Wet cobblestones, grizzled-looking cyclists – the Spring Classics are well and truly upon us!

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The lead remains round 3:30, as they near the second cobbled sector, and the first climb of the day – the Leberg.

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This is a rare race where UAE Team Emirates XRG aren’t the top favourites, but they still fancy their chances.

“Today we go for a hard race with Tim [Wellens], Florian [Vermeersch] and Nils [Politt]”, their rider Rune Herregodts said before the race. “These guys are our main men and we’ll try to support them and help them to make a hard race. They’re in form, so for us it’ll be good if it’s an attritional race and we get a small group at the finish.”

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Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal-QuickStep are the teams riding at the front of the peloton, staking their claims as favorites for the race for their respective leaders Van der Poel and Paul Magnier.

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It’s begun to drizzle out there! The rain that was forecasted is materialising.

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3:30 now for the break, who, at this early stage of the race, the peloton is happy to let lead by a considerable margin.