Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2025 was supposed to be the beginning of a new era in women’s cycling, a first glimpse at the much-changed landscape in the peloton and shifts in power dynamics.
It was Demi Vollering’s first Classic leading her new team, FDJ-Suez, and thus also the first of a seemingly-weakened SD Worx-Protime’s post-Vollering era; the debut Classic for Marlen Reusser for her team Movistar, and her beginning of a new phase of her career as an outright leader; and the first of Kasia Niewiadoma not as an eternal bridesmaid, but as a defending Tour de France Femmes champion.
But it was none of those esteemed riders who made it to the finishing straight in Ninove ahead of the race. Instead, the little-known Lotte Claes of Arkéa-B&B Hotels Women and Aurela Nerlo of Winspace Orange Seal arrived together, to compete in a two-up sprint. Claes took the win, but it was easily the biggest day in both of their careers which before today had included neither a professional win between them, and something neither would have dreamed of happening when they woke up this morning.
What had happened was that the peloton had failed to catch the final survivors of the day’s break; and not for the first time in a major one-day race in recent years. While this didn’t quite have the high-profile drama of the 2021 Olympics, when a lack of race radio communication meant that Annemiek van Vleuten did not realise that Anna Kiesenhofer had already finished to take gold, nor of the 2023 Paris-Roubaix, when Alison Jackson was the best of a break that defied the odds to also defeat the peloton, it was still wholly unexpected. Having reached an already dangerous nine minutes, rather than come down, the gap continued to grow, until it was over twelve minutes. The peloton did eventually show some urgency, mostly through Lidl-Trek’s tireless worker Ellen van Dijk, but by then it was already too late.
Rather than a problem of radio miscommunication, this was simply a matter of brinkmanship. None of the top teams in the peloton were willing to do the work to bring back the break. With race favourites Demi Vollering and Lorena Wiebes on their books, it was surely up to SD Worx-Protime and FDJ-Suez to take responsibility, but both riders echoed each other at the finish by claiming that it was ‘not up to us to chase’. Vollering might have believed that, as historically the strongest team, it was SD Worx-Protime’s obligation, and perhaps also wanted to copy her old team’s tactics of baiting other teams into doing work. And Wiebes might have felt that, without Vollering on their books anymore, they’d lost their favourite status, and therefore it was no longer their obligation to lead the chase.
When it came down to it, it was Vollering who was the strongest. After work from her new super-domestique Juliette Labous on the lower slopes of the Muur, she accelerated and had dropped everyone - Wiebes included - by the top with the exception of Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck). Then in the two-up sprint at the finish, Vollering was the quickest to seal a place on the podium — albeit the third step rather than the first. Though it’s unclear which will be happier: will Vollering be happy at the strength of her legs, or regret not being able to use them to win the race? And will Wiebes be annoyed at being dropped and having to settle for winning the sprint for fifth-place, or feel that Vollering’s distancing of her proved her right and vindicated her team’s decision?
Either way, while the action was going down on the Muur, the breakaway pair was already several minutes up the road, climbing up the final climb of the day, the Bosberg. As on the Muur (where they had dropped their breakaway companions, Roland’s Elena Pirrone and Lotto’s Mieke Docx) they were both inseparable, neither attempting to attack the other, or seeming in danger of being dropped by the other.
Given that neither had won a professional race before, it was hard to know which one was favourite for the win, and the riders themselves seemed unsure of how best to approach the finish. Ultimately, neither backed their sprint. First, Claes attacked 4.5km from the finish. Nerlo was able to follow without a problem. That might have been the prompt for some games between the two given they still had a lead of 3-40 over the distant Vollering and Pieterse, but Nerlo still rolled through to take a turn, and they continued to work together.
Though Claes’ attempt appeared to indicate a lack of confidence in her own chances of winning the sprint, Nerlo was still not content, and rather than wait for the final few hundred metres, launched her big move 1km from the finish. Claes had to dig very deep to hang on, and very nearly fell out of her slipstream. But she just about managed to, and, though visibily tiring, Nerlo tired even more in the final few hundred metres for the Belgian to overtake and claim an unlikely victory.
“Oh my God! What’s happened?” she could be heard exclaiming at the finish, shedding tears of both joy and confusion. And that indeed was what everyone was wondering. How had the big teams allowed this race — the first spring classic of the season, no less — to slip away from them so complacently?
The answer might have something to do with just how much the peloton has changed for the 2025 season. With many of SD-Worx-Protime’s former stars now spread across multiple different teams, the clear hierarchy that has shaped the peloton for several years has now been broken. There seems to be confusion and disagreement as to what the power dynamics now are, and a reluctance to take responsibility for being the peloton’s patrons.
This could lead to some intriguing race situations in the upcoming Classics. You can be sure that many opportunists in the peloton would have watched the way this race played out with a raised eyebrow, and will be making plans for their own breakaways. We can therefore expect a big fight to get into the break in coming races, as riders hope a pattern has been established. Claes victory today might have come as a huge surprise, but it might not be the only time this spring that a Classic is won this way.
