2021 Omloop and KBK Opening Weekend – Preview
Cycling is back! Officially. The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne double is the traditional season opener, taking place every year on a weekend at the end of February or very start of March.
Although both are similar races in terms of starting line-up (expect only one or two personnel changes per team over both days) and location, Omloop looks more like the Tour of Flanders while KBK is more sprint focused.
The creep of new early season races over the past few years have blurred the line as to where these two races really sit as ‘season openers.’ Yet it’s the absence of so many of these races due to cancelation that makes them notable this year: for the first time in over a decade, we enter both races with little idea of who is arriving in winning form.
The weather is looking good, and the cobbles will be dry. Let’s race.
Where to Watch
After some blowback from their subscribers, the Eurosport-GCN dyad climbed down from their assertion that they wouldn’t be carrying Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. So that’s good news. Not a good sign that they’d try to fob us off with the UAE Tour though, huh. Pony up for the race rights, cheapskates.
UK: Eurosport, GCN
USA: FloBikes
Europe: Eurosport
The Routes
In an unusual—but understandable—move, the race routes are being kept semi-secret to avoid spectators turning up. We do know that Omloop—the lite version of the Ronde van Vlaanderen—will again finish with the Muur van Geraardsbergen then the Bosberg, just as it has for many years.
On Sunday, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne acts as a second chance for the riders. It doesn’t have the same route. It’s more suited to the sprinters, but is just as exciting, and features just as strong a field as yesterday’s race. Plus, they added an extra climb, albeit in a convoluted fashion.
Ones to Watch
Jasper Stuyven – Last year’s Omloop winner leads a strong Trek-Segafredo team. He’s the only active rider who’s won both Omloop (2020) and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (2016), so don’t sleep on him. His teammate Mads Pedersen might be more likely to emerge with a victory, however.
Julian Alaphilippe – The Frenchman leads a stacked Deceuninck-QuickStep team. Note that this is his first appearance at Omloop, however. Also note that, for all its single-day domination, his team has had dreadful luck in this race of late, winning just one edition in the last 15 years. They have a much better record in Sunday’s race, and we might well see Kasper Asgreen take another win there.
Mathieu van der Poel – Whisper it, but he’s been trying to wrangle an entry to Opening Weekend™ since his Alpecin-Fenix team withdrew from the UAE Tour due to a Covid positive. Time wasn’t on his side for Omloop, but he scraped in an entry for Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. He could very well end the weekend with one more win to his name.
Lotto Soudal – With Philippe Gilbert and Tim Wellens taking on Omloop and John Degenkolb starting Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, the Lotto-Soudal team must count as contenders for both races.