Omlop Hat Nieuwsblad 2019

Automatically, 18 world tour teams received invitations to the race. The organizers also provided a special invitation ( wild card ) to seven Professional Continental Teams . Each team could consist of no more than 7 cyclists. At the start went 173 riders out of 175 declared.

List of participants with the results

The fake start took place in Ghent , and the official start in Meralbek , as in previous years. The finish in Ninovo , as a year earlier, but this time in the center. The route repeated last year, but differed from it in details. In particular, the cobbled site Paddestraat has returned .

Racers had to overcome 200 kilometers with thirteen difficult climbs, some of which were with paving and nine flat sections. ^[one]

At the start kilometers of the first classic race of the season, there were four riders in early separation: Tom Defrindt ( Wanty-Groupe Gobert ), Alex House ( EF Education First ), Roy Jans ( Corendon – Circus ) and Tom Wirtgen ( Wallonie Bruxelles ). The leading group during the first hour of the race managed to gain an advantage of 14 minutes. Only then did Deceuninck-Quick Step take up her pursuit. 100 kilometers before the finish in Ninov , when the television broadcast began, the gap was reduced to 8 minutes. In the future, the lag of the peloton continued to decline rapidly. The company Deceuninck riders - Quick Step in the head of the main group began to make up the representatives of the procontinental Direct Énergie .

Approximately 85 kilometers before the end of the race, a large counterattack group was formed, in which 21 riders were right away, including some favorites - Zdenek Shtybar (Deceuninck - Quick Step), Oliver Nasen ( AG2R La Mondiale ), Mads Pedersen ( Trek-Segafredo ). For a long time, this group won the peloton for about 40-50 seconds. The CCC Team , EF Education First and Mitchelton – Scott had to catch up with the dangerous group, who did not have anyone in it. 65 kilometers before the finish, their pursuit was successful. At that moment, rain began to pour, and at the early separation there was a reserve of only 1:40.

For some time, the situation in the race calmed down, Jasper de Beist ( Lotto Soudal ) tried to take advantage of this, but he was allowed to hang no more than five kilometers ahead. Shortly thereafter, Tom Defrindt decided to throw his peers off the wheel to finally polite in splendid isolation. A few kilometers later, the Baptist Planckart (Wallonie - Bruxelles) shifted to Defrindt, taking with him Tom Wirthgen, who had previously been in early separation. In the next short cobblestones, Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck - Quick Step), Waut van Arth ( Jumbo-Visma ) and Greg van Avermat (CCC Team Emirates) tried to attack, but they quickly caught up. Soon after, Ivan Garcia ( Bahrain – Merida ) and Yugo Ul ( Astana Pro Team ), who rushed forward behind the Devrindt-Planckart duo, from which Wirtgen was already behind, managed to break away from the main formation.

During the passage of the cobblestone hill Molenberg, the favorites began to accelerate. In the first position, this climb was Danny van Poppel (Team Jumbo - Visma), followed by most of the applicants for the victory. The newly formed group quickly got a lone Baptist Planckart , from whom the exhausted Devrindt fell behind. In the first group there were about 20 riders, in the second there were such drivers as Nicky Terpstra (Direct Energie), Michael Matthews ( Team Sunweb ), Bob Jungels (Deceuninck - Quick Step) and Sep Vanmark (EF Education First Team). The first group shrank after the attack of Alexei Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team) on one of the hills, and then fell apart in two due to the fall of Tish Benot (Lotto Soudal). The first fragment left Zdenek Shtybar , Greg van Avermat , Alexey Lutsenko , Daniel Oss (Bora - Hansgrohe), Tim Vellens (Lotto Soudal) and Dylan Tons (Bahrain Merida). The rest got the strongest riders of the second group.

Owen Dole ( Team Sky ) began to chase the first six in the second formation, the gap stabilized at 20 seconds. Immediately before climbing Moore van Geraardsbergen, Dull managed to reduce the lag to 12 seconds. At Moor van Geraardsbergen, Van Avermat and Shtybar set a high pace; their speeds were too tough for Oss, who had fallen off the elite group. The second group also thinned out; Terpstra and Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck - Quick Step) were active in it. On Bosberg, the last hill of the day, the situation repeated itself. Once again, Van Avermat and Shtybar looked stronger than fellow travelers, but Lutsenko, Thaines and Wellens did not let them go. In the second group, Luke Darbridge (Mitchelton - Scott) became more active, but he was not able to shift forward; Ossa got this group. From the top of Bosberg to the finish line there were 12 kilometers, and the advantage of the first five by this moment reached 30 seconds.

Sylvanas Dillier (AG2R La Mondiale), Daniel Oss (Bora - Hansgrohe) and Luke Darbridge, obviously counting on a sprint from Nassen , Matteo Trentin and Jean-Pierre Drucker (Bora - Hansgrohe) tried to chase in the second group in the final piece. On the last kilometers, Van Avermat tried to attack several times, he himself also had to respond to accelerations, since he was a favorite in this group. Van Avermat responded to Wellens attack two kilometers before the finish, but Shtybar managed to move forward without much resistance. It was not possible to get the Czech, he finished first.

• Official site
• Route transcript
• Omlop Hat Nieuwsblad 2019 at ProCyclingStats