Saturday 27 February will mark the start of the favourite Flandrian weekend as Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the official curtain raiser for the Belgium Spring Classic season. 

Held for the first time in 1945, Omloop is organised by the Flemish newspaper ‘Het Nieuwsblad’ which is where the event gets its name. Characterized by cobbled climbs, huge crowds and the bitterly cold weather, in over 70 years only three races have ever been cancelled due to extreme weather conditions.

Starting and finishing in Ghent, East Flanders, the peloton will travel 200km tackling 13 flemish hills and over 18km’s of cobbles. Joining 24 other teams on the start line, ONE Pro Cycling will enter an 8 man squad including ‘The Machine’ Marcin Bialoblocki. Fresh from winning the UAE Intermediate Sprints Jersey at the Dubai Tour Bialoblocki commented, “I’m looking forward to a weekend of racing on the cobbles, this could be the hardest weekend of my life, but I can’t wait.”

Head Sports Director Matt Winston will be leading on Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and is looking forward the traditional opener of the Flanders classic season. “It’s the first time ONE Pro Cycling will take part in the Belgium Classics and both the riders and staff are looking forward to a few exciting days of racing. We carried out a recon on the route a week ahead of the race in which we learnt a lot of lessons regarding equipment set up and gained a lot of knowledge of the course and how the race could unfold. We will look to try to animate the race early on and then look at our options as we head into the back part of what is an extremely tough course."

Rider Roster:

Yanto Barker, (GBR)

Marcin Bialoblocki, (POL)

Kristian House, (GBR)

Sebastian Lander, (DEN)

Josh Hunt, (GBR)

Martin Mortensen, (DEN)

Steele Von Hoff, (AUS)

Pete Williams, (GBR)

Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

ONE Pro Cycling will join a world class line up for the second day of the favourite flandrian weekend.

Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne might include the thrilling cobbled climbs that we all expect from the Belgium Spring Classics but it will be a completely different challenge to the previous day of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Unlike Omloop, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne will entertain spectators with a long flat run into the finish. But don’t expect this to make things straightforward for the sprinters on the course, as adverse weather conditions in previous years have been known to produce a surprise winner!

ONE Pro Cycling will enter a strong 8 man team with five of the riders fresh off the cobbles from the previous days race. Included in the roster is one of the team’s youngest riders Sam Williams. A first year professional Williams is looking forward to his season debut with the team commenting, “I’m so excited to be kicking off my season with Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. We had a great few days last week in Belgium on a recon of the course and it’s going to be tough but fun at the same time. It will be great racing against the biggest names in the sport and hopefully I can do a good job for the team.”

Rider Roster

Yanto Barker, (GBR)

Marcin Bialoblocki, (POL)

Sebastian Lander, (DEN)

Hayden McCormick, (NZL)

Martin Mortensen, (DEN)

Chris Opie, (GBR)

Sam Williams, (GBR)

Steele Von Hoff, (AUS)