If you were hoping for the first chapter of the 2026 Van Aert vs. Van der Poel saga this weekend, you are out of luck.
Just days before the flag drops on Opening Weekend, a wave of illness has swept through the peloton, forcing frantic last-minute roster changes. The biggest casualty? Wout van Aert. The Visma star, who had been aggressively rehabbing an injury to be ready for the cobbles, has been sidelined by sickness. Soudal Quick-Step has also been forced into late substitutions, proving that February in Belgium is just as ruthless to immune systems as it is to bike frames.
That leaves Omloop with an overwhelming favorite, a 19-year-old stepping into the spotlight, and a legendary curse waiting in the wings.
Visma’s Pivot: From Wout to the TikTok Generation
Team Visma is publicly trying to “find the positives” in losing their talisman, and that positive comes in the form of Matthew Brennan. With Van Aert resting, the young rider is suddenly thrust into a leadership role. Instead of sitting on the team bus scrolling TikTok, Brennan is now tasked with navigating Visma’s classics squad across the Flemish Ardennes. It’s a massive ask, but Opening Weekend has a funny way of making instant legends out of late call-ups.
The Route: Harder, Longer, Meaner
Organizers clearly weren’t thrilled with Søren Wærenskjold winning from a reduced bunch sprint in 2025. To ensure a more selective finale, they’ve tacked on an extra 10 kilometers and injected more climbing into the decisive phase. Riders will now face the paved Tenbosse and Parikeberg climbs just before hitting the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen. With 20 named challenges on the menu, a sprint finish is highly unlikely. This is a course designed for pure, unadulterated suffering.
The Elephant in the Room: The Omloop Curse
All of this brings us back to Mathieu van der Poel. Despite making his Omloop debut he is the undisputed five-star favorite. But should he actually want to win?
Cycling traditionalists know the Omloop Curse well: no male rider has ever won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Tour of Flanders in the same year. With a monumental showdown against Tadej Pogačar looming in April, Van der Poel has to decide if securing a win on Saturday is worth inviting the bad juju of the curse.
But then again, this is Mathieu van der Poel. He doesn’t race to appease curses, he races to break things. Expect him to launch an attack on the Molenberg, leave the peloton in ruins, and let the historians worry about the rest.