The 2025 Spring Classics season is formally underway after the boys’s and girls’s pelotons blasted around the cobblestones of Flanders over the weekend.
After weeks of heat climate racing to start out the brand new season in Australia, the Center East, and Iberia, biking’s peak Classics stars headed to Belgium to take at the males’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, the ladies’s Omloop Het Niewsblad, and the Omloop van het Hageland.
The largest prizes of the Spring Classics season – such because the Excursion of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix would possibly nonetheless lie over a month away, however we will now claim the Belgian racing season underway.
The primary cobbled races of 2025 introduced up various speaking issues, from the type of Classics superteam Visma-Hire a Motorbike within the males’s races to the brand new panorama of energy a few of the girls’s peloton.
There was once lots to discuss all over the grand opening of the cobbled season, and the approaching weeks – as we ramp up in opposition to the 2 large Monuments – will throw up numerous questions and subjects of debate.
Sooner than all that comes up, then again, are our 5 large conclusions from the 2025 Opening Weekend.
Visma-Hire a Motorbike have been missing of their ‘A’ recreation – and different groups benefited
The Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne pressroom was once situated throughout the native church this 12 months, with laptop tables, tv monitors and trays of sandwiches changing pews and prayer books for no less than one afternoon.
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When Jasper Philipsen delivered a few house truths in his press convention overdue on Sunday night time, it wasn’t moderately a case of preaching to the choir, however the assembled congregation of listening reporters have been infrequently stunned by way of what he needed to say.
“It’s also clear that UAE and Visma were not as aggressive as we’ve seen in the last year. Of course, they were there, but not better than the others,” Philipsen identified, the proof was once very a lot already undeniable to peer.
Certainly, after 3 years of runaway good fortune in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, topped by way of victories for Marianne Vos and Jan Tratnik remaining 12 months and a triumph tomorrow in Kuurne for Wout van Aert, Visma visibly struggled at this 12 months’s Opening Weekend 2025,
Now not even the runner-up spot for Olav Kooij on Sunday compensated for that. Even supposing with out it, the media grievance would undoubtedly were the entire fiercer come Monday morning.
It was once unimaginable to keep away from the distinction with the former weekend’s shocking triumph within the Volta ao Algarve for Jonas Vingegaard, to not point out taking their netting peak two spots within the ultimate time trial of the Portuguese degree race. The whys and wherefores will undoubtedly be amply mentioned and dissected within the weeks to come back.
Matteo Jorgenson, arguably their most powerful rider of the weekend, identified that two key elements in their same old Classics line-up, Christophe Laporte and 2023 winner Dylan van Baarle have been lacking from the 2025 line up on account of sickness and damage, and he would possibly have added (however did not) that remaining 12 months’s winner, Jan Tratnik, was once now not of their line-up both.
Crew director Grischa Niermann additionally reminded everybody that retired rider Nathan van Hooydonck, in the past so ceaselessly the most important for positioning Wout van Aert in precisely the appropriate spot for a Classics assault, was once now not provide of their lineup, both.
The largest query mark most probably is living over Van Aert himself. He had an unsure get started within the Clasica Jaén and likewise faltered within the sprints on the Volta ao Algarve, pushing the Belgian long ago up the scores of favourites for Omloop. The instant when he may have blasted away the wintry weather cobwebs and left the sector for useless in Omloop by no means materialized.
To his credit score, Van Aert is rarely one to keep away from self-criticism, and he mentioned himself that he was once by no means in reality within the operating on Saturday.
Then on Sunday, whilst a lot more energetic, he once more got here up in opposition to the stranglehold of sprinters groups. Helped greatly by way of the superb climate prerequisites, they have been made up our minds to suffocate any demanding situations.
“It was not as much of a demonstration as the past two years,” Niermann admitted to Nieuwsblad. “Just fine, but of course not at the level he needs to reach in a month.”
There is still plenty of time for Van Aert to move up to absolute top shape and he’ll be looking to do that in the biggest cobbled Classics after a long block at altitude.
As Jorgenson put it, Visma-Lease a Bike ‘just hasn’t clicked yet’. The most encouraging sign from Opening Weekend is the American rider, who seems both on form for both Paris-Nice in the short-term, and his cobbled Classic campaign.
After the weekend’s racing, in the Kuurne church, the number of unquestioning believers in Visma-Lease a Bike sure fell away, whilst the agnostics and wait-and-seers, it was just the opposite.
Lotte Claes, Femke Gerritse surprise wins across Opening Weekend
Lotte Claes celebrates with the trophy after the most important win of her profession (Symbol credit score: Getty Pictures)
Lotte Claes (Arkéa-B&B Hotels Women) and Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) were the surprise winners across Opening Weekend’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Omloop van het Hageland, showing just how unpredictable racing can be, especially during the Classics.
Claes outsprinted Aurela Nerlo (Winspace Orange Seal) in the streets of Ninove after being in the day-long breakaway to secure the first and biggest win of her career on the Women’s WorldTour.
Arkéa-B&B Hotels Women may not have started the event with one of the outright favourites, but Claes joined an early move that included Nerlo, Julie Stockman (DD Group), Elena Pirrone (Roland) and Mieke Docx, and while Stockman was distanced, the other four ended up gaining 13 minutes on the peloton. Over the Muur van Geraardsbergen, Claes and Nerlo still held over four minutes on a chasing duo; Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck).
But it was a case of too little too late for the bigger teams, and Claes believed in her strength and ability to succeed at the finish line, where she earned a well-deserved victory while Nerlo finished second place. Over three minutes behind, Vollering beat Pieterse in the sprint for third.
The following day, Gerritse secured the victory at Omloop van Het Hageland, a 1.1 race that is widely recognised as being part of Opening Weekend.
The 23-year-old all-rounder did not compete at the previous day’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but she joined a powerful team that included former world champion Anna van der Breggen, who just returned to competition after a three-year retirement.
She outsprinted her breakaway companions to win in Tielt-Winge and also claimed the first professional victory of her career. Although many would have anticipated that Van der Breggen would take the win since she too was in the breakaway, she did the lion’s share of the teamwork in the move and then led out Gerritse perfectly to secure the win.
Van der Breggen started her season at Setmana Valenciana where she finished third overall, but said that her form is still not where she wants to be. She will be looking ahead to peak form at the Ardennes Classics in April.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG are waiting for Tadej Pogačar for the cobbled Classics
The pack of riders pictured in motion all over the boys’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Symbol credit score: Getty Pictures)
When Tom Pidcock was asked on Friday who he thought might be a top contender for Opening Weekend, other than himself, he barely missed a beat before answering ‘Jonnie Narváez’.
The line-up for both races for UAE Team Emirates-XRG was certainly a daunting one, with riders of the calibre of Tim Wellens, Narváez, Figueiras Champions Classic winner Antonio Morgado and former Paris-Roubaix podium finishers Florian Vermeersch and Nils Politt all present.
Wellens himself made the biggest effort of any of the favourites to try to break the sprinters’ stranglehold on Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, with a stunning, if ultimately futile, 60-kilometre drive for the line.
UAE were the first to raise the pace on Saturday some 90 kilometres from the line, and despite Narváez’ impressive early show of power on Sunday in the hills of Kuurne, overall UAE’s one major cameo came down to Wellens’ refusal to bow to the inevitable. They certainly didn’t reshape the narrative of either race, with Antonio Morgado’s stunning early season form seen in Portugal most definitely not on show in Belgium.
Morgado’s main challenges in the Classics are arguably much later in the spring, and the same goes for a Paris-Roubaix contender like Politt. But nobody could blame the UAE team management if they’re drumming their fingers increasingly nervously as they wait for Tadej Pogačar’s flight to arrive at Brussels airport this spring.
The change of dates for UAE Tour and Opening Weekend benefited both races
Olav Kooij (Visma-Hire a Motorbike) were given the staff’s very best lead to Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Symbol credit score: Getty Pictures)
For the first time since Omloop, the UAE Tour and its predecessor, the Abu Dhabi Tour, were all added to the WorldTour race calendar in 2017, they did not overlap. Rather than UAE finishing on the same weekend as Omloop and Kuurne, the Middle Eastern stage race finished a week earlier. The change was small but the benefits were immediate and notable.
It reduced an already ridiculously overloaded weekend of racing and allowed a bigger media spotlight to shine on the first WorldTour Classic in Europe of the year. Equally, it meant that the UAE Tour was the only WorldTour event the previous weekend, and given the world’s number one racer, Tadej Pogačar was racing – and winning – that event also gained in prominence.
Most importantly of all, Omloop and Kuurne gained in terms of participation, particularly in terms of the sprinters: Kuurne winner and Nieuwsblad podium finisher Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Kuurne runner-up Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) were all present at one or both startlines in Belgium, having raced in at the UAE Tour.
Putting together a WorldTour calendar that avoids major race overlap in the future, as has been widely rumoured will be the case in the 2026 reordering of the WorldTour, is not an easy task. But on the evidence of this weekend in Belgium, it’s certainly worth trying.
New division of power in women’s peloton reflected in the refusal to take responsibility on the road
Lorena Wiebes main the principle box at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Ladies 2025 (Symbol credit score: Getty Pictures)
Het Laatste Nieuws explained the surprise outcome of the women’s Omloop Nieuwsblad with lots of sarcasm: ‘Bickering and poker between Dutch riders and a winner called Lotte – how the Omloop was a carbon-copy of the World Championships’
Full marks were due to Lotte Claes (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) for her stunning victory and day-long break and for Aurela Nerlo (Winspace Orange Seal) who went with her and then tried to beat her with a kilometre-long sprint.
The bizarre lack of collaboration behind, giving the early move a 14-minute advantage at one point, was perhaps the biggest single factor in a success Claes herself said afterwards she could never have expected in her wildest Omloop dreams.
Rather than point specific fingers at specific teams, riders or leaders, it was clear that the new hierarchy in women’s cycling was so finely balanced that it failed to produce the exciting racing everybody had predicted would happen.
Everyone was left wondering why the top teams failed to take the initiative, and rather than trying to claim one of the biggest prizes in the cycling calendar, opted to play a disastrous waiting game instead.
Alpecin-Deceuninck already on form and that’s even before Mathieu van der Poel starts to race
Jasper Philipsen wins Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (Symbol credit score: Getty Pictures)
It remains to be seen how Mathieu van der Poel performs in his surprise early season debut at Le Samyn this Tuesday, but there is doubt if his co-leaders and teammates are already firing on all cylinders, with the Opening Weekend providing a resounding answer to any doubts.
Jasper Philipsen did not win Saturday’s Omloop Nieuwsblad after starting his sprint too early, but the hilly race is as much about studying a team’s collective form as it is about individuals and as they marshalled the peloton to ensure a bunch sprint and then rode the final kilometre faultlessly. Indeed, Alpecin-Deceuninck were very much in evidence and control in a way that Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE could only manage much more sporadically.
As it should be sufficient given their name sponsor, Sunday’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne was once very a lot a case of ‘rinse and repeat’, most effective this time with a a lot more well-merited conclusion. The drive is maximum surely off Alpecin-Deceuninck, specifically as they’re nonetheless looking ahead to their Classics chief.
