The German road bike champion Nils Politt presented himself in good form at the start of the classic season.
The 28-year-old from Cologne from the Bora-hansgrohe team finished seventh at the 78th edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium with the first field of pursuers.
Dutchman Dylan van Baarle clinched victory after 207.3 kilometers from Gent to Ninove. The 30-year-old Paris Roubaix winner of last year prevailed as a soloist with a 20-second lead over Arnaud De Lie. The Belgian won the sprint of the pursuers in his home country ahead of the Frenchman Christophe Laporte.
Van Baarle replaces Van Aert
Van Baarle added another triumph to his “classic collection”, the 30-year-old Jumbo Visma pro had won the Paris-Roubaix monument last year. Van Baarle succeeds Belgian Wout Van Aert, who decided not to compete in Ghent.
Veteran John Degenkolb (Gera/DSM), winner of Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix in 2015, crossed the finish line in a respectable 32nd place, 1:42 minutes behind van Baarle. With many changes of direction on small and narrow streets, nine cobblestone passages and twelve of the notorious climbs (“Hellingen”), the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad offers a foretaste of the coming weeks.