After the start shot in Ghent, a small group of riders almost immediately took off. Soon, a group of five created a big lead. Halfway through the race, there even was a difference of more than thirteen minutes between the peloton and the breakaway group. The pace increased in the finale on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg, but the peloton didn't really come close anymore. Claes took the win after a sprint a deux and succeeds Marianne Vos as winner of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Sports director Jan Boven called today’s race somewhat remarkable: “There is always a breakaway group here in the first Belgian classic of the year. You also regularly see a big lead for that group, but this time it turned out to be way too big”, says the sports director, who was satisfied with the performance of his riders. “From the Muur van Geraardsbergen the race exploded. We were still very close there and it's great that we finished in front with Eva and Margaux.”

“At the crucial moments in the race, like in Oudenaarde, we were in the right place as a team”, Van Agt adds. “We had a plan to race offensively. Unfortunately, that didn't quite work out today as we had in mind, because the breakaway got such a big lead and the pace in the peloton increased early on. It was a matter of following. Margaux and I tried a little bit in the finale, but that was all we could do.”

Tomorrow the same six riders from Team Visma | Lease a Bike will be back in action. Omloop van het Hageland is the second appointment on the spring calendar. “I expect tomorrow's race to be more open. Hopefully we can attack and it's not going to be easy for teams to control. I'm looking forward to it again”, the rider concludes.