Dylan van Baarle won the 2023 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The Dutchman of Jumbo-Visma set up a leading group 40 kilometres from the finish, then went solo at the foot of the Muur van Geraardsbergen to finish alone on the Elisabethlaan in Ninove. Arnaud De Lie was second, Christophe Laporte third.

Saturday sees the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad kick off the 'proper' 2022 season with first the Belgian Classic race of the year. The Flemish race has everything we ever wanted from a Northern Classic - Short, stiff climbs, cobbles and race deciding weather conditions. Ed Hood gives us his Omloop preview.

The Deceuninck - Quick-Step team dominated the first Classic of the season and launched Davide Ballerini across the finish line of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad first. The young Italian held off Jake Stewart and Sep Vanmarcke in a sprint from a large group.

Race Preview: The 'warm up' races are over and now the 'proper' racing starts on Saturday with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Sunday. Hard races for hard men of the road, steep climbs and cobbles, plus the weather can be decisive. Ed Hood will be 'Roadside' at the weekend, but here is his PEZ Race Preview.

The cobble season starts on Saturday with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and then rattles into Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne on Sunday. Make no mistake, these races are for the hard men of the roads and if you win one you will never have to buy a beer in Flanders for the rest of your life. Ed Hood looks back at his visits to the 'cobbles weekend' from 2010 to 2015.

Race Report: Peter Sagan started 2017 as he spent much of 2016, animating races with seemingly unending stamina. He led an elite trio with Greg Van Avermaet and Sep Vanmarcke in tow but the Olympic champion was the freshest as he sped clear on the run in to the line and took the win for the second year in a row.

Race Report: Up against three Etixx-Quickstep riders, and three of the best classics riders in the world, it was last year’s winner Ian Stannard of Team Sky who showed them all how to ride the Omloop. Boonen, Vandenbergh and Terpstra could do nothing to hold back a rampaging Englishman who wanted this win more than any other in his career.

Roadside Report: Out there in the rain and cold at the Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday was our battle hardened reporter Ed Hood who wouldn't have dreamed of being anywhere else. With the hard man ingredients of cold & cobbles with perhaps the odd Belgian beer to warm him up, it was the perfect start to the Classics campaign.

Race Report: The cobbled races started today with the 2014 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and it was a classic battle in terrible weather that came down to the sprint between two hardmen of the peloton, Ian Stannard and Greg Van Avermaet.