This weekend marks the twentieth version of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Ladies race and to rejoice, race organiser Flanders Classics will be offering unfastened beer in an ‘open bar’ Glad Hour all through the ladies’s sign-on and presentation.
The crew presentation is held within the well-known ‘t Kuipke velodrome in Gent, with DJ pumping out Belgian digital dance track below disco lighting. There’s a birthday celebration surroundings in spite of the Saturday daybreak slot and Flanders Classics have completed a maintain Belgian beer logo Maes Pils for the ‘Glad Hour’ all through the ladies’s crew presentation in ‘t Kuipke between 11:30 to twelve:30.
“We are celebrating a jubilee,” Flanders Classics CEO Van Den Spiegel mentioned.
“With our ‘Closing The Gap’ project, we have been backing women’s cycling in recent years, together with our presenting partner, women KPMG and all our other partners.
“So, we’re overjoyed to lift a pitcher to toast the advance of the ladies’s race, and there’s no higher time to take action than on the twentieth version of the ‘opening Vintage’.”
Maes will also mark the landmark edition by releasing limited edition artwork on its beer cans as well as a “homage to the game of biking”, in the form of a limited-edition drinking glass.
Racing for the 20th edition of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Women will get underway at 13:20 local time in Gent, some two hours after the men depart from the same location for their 197km race. The women’s race is scheduled to finish an hour after the men’s race.
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Saturday’s race has attracted a host of big-name rider of the women’s peloton for the 138km race from Gent to Ninove.
They include Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-Sram Zondacrypto), Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic-PostNL), and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek).
After starting in the ‘t Kuipke velodrome in Gent, the women take on eight cobbled sectors and eight classified hills along the way – including the Wolvenberg, Moleberg, Leberg, Muur van Geraardsbergen, and Bosberg – before finishing in Ninove.
A view of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Ladies 2024 crew presentation inside of ‘t Kuipke velodrome, Gent (Symbol credit score: Flanders Classics)
