The Northern Classics season opens, as usual, with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad . The departure will be from Gent on Saturday 24 February and the arrival is expected in Ninove after 202.2 km.

The route is practically identical to previous editions, apart from a reduction of 5 km. The race will be decided between sectors of cobblestones and walls which will have the task of making a certain selection even if the 2021 edition, won by Davide Ballerini, demonstrated that a sprint is possible to decide the winner. The highlights will be the Molenberg Wall (500 meters at 7%), the Berendries cliff (940 meters at 7%) and the historic Kapelmuur with its 475 meters and an average gradient of 9.3 percent. Finally the Bosberg, at km 190.4, with 980 meters of climb at an average gradient of 5.8% and peaks of 11%. So about ten kilometers from the finish line.

The quality of the start list is high: the team to beat will certainly be Visma-Lease a Bike which in addition to Wout Van Aert features the 2023 winner, Dylan Van Baarle , the European champion Christophe Laporte , but also Tiesj Benoot, Matteo Jorgenson and Ian Tratnik , in great form after the podium achieved at the Volta Algarve.

Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Kasper Asgreen and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick step), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché), Florian Senechal (Arkea), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain), Stefan Kung (Bahrain) will try to ruin the Dutch team's party. Groupama), Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl Trek), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Tim Wellens and Nils Politt (UAE) and Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X).

There is no shortage of sprinters who could enter the fight for victory. There is curiosity about Jasper Philipsen's (Alpecin) first race of the season, but he will have to grit his teeth to finish with the best. Amaury Capiot (Arkea), Jordi Meeus (Bora), Axel Zingle (Cofidis), Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar), Ethan Vernon (Israel), Matteo Trentin and Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor), and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) appear more resistant ). We also include Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek), Italian hope for sprints and some not particularly demanding races in the North. Like Omloop.

Photo Sprint Cycling