'I'm really happy with today' - Mathieu van der Poel wins men's Omloop Nieuwsblad with crushing acceleration on the Muur van Geraardsbergen

No rider has ever won Omloop Niewsblad and the Tour of Flanders in the same season, but Mathieu van der Poel will hope to become that man to break that curse in 2026 after claiming an utterly dominant victory with an effortlessly brilliant attack on the Muur van Geraardsbergen.

Alpecin-Premier Tech's talismanic leader moved clear of the peloton with 45km to go alongside Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Tim van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). The three worked well together before Van der Poel dispatched his rivals with ease on the opening sections of Flanders' most famous climb.

The Dutchman looked in fine form as he won solo. Van Dijke sprinted to second, with Vermeersch third as Christophe Laporte picked up the pieces for Visma-Lease a Bike after a crash for British hope Matthew Brennan in the closing 20 kilometres.

Van der Poel chased onto an initial acceleration on the Molenberg by Vermeersch thanks to an expert piece of bike-handling to avoid a crashed Tudor rider on the ground in front of him. However, after that point, there appeared to be no genuine hurdles for him to overcome on his way to victory.

"I'm really happy, and so is the team," Van der Poel said after the race. "This wasn't on our list yet, so I'm really happy with today."

"How I stayed upright on the Molenberg? I don't know myself. I couldn't really avoid that Tudor rider, so I half-ran over him with one foot out of my pedal. I hope I didn't hurt him too much. I didn't see what happened behind me, but it must have been chaos. When I came up with Florian, we had a serious gap, so I think that was the moment of the race."

The Dutchman credited the work of rival Vermeersch, who himself appeared to be in good shape as he did his fair share of pulling on the front. He added that a contribution from his father, Adrie van der Poel, was key to his successful solo attack.

"I've known Florian for a long time and have a lot of respect for him, even more so after today. He always rides to win, which is great to see. He's also rewarded with a podium finish after being a driving force in the breakaway," he said.

"I didn't see what happened on the Muur. When I reached the top, I noticed I had a gap. I was mainly focused on riding as focused as possible, because it was incredibly slippery on the cobblestones. I heard what my father shouted after the Muur, that I had 15 seconds. That was important, because I didn't know my lead. It was also nice to have a tailwind to the finish, because the weather had been bad and windy all day."

How it happened

The opening three quarters of the 2026 edition of the men's Omloop Nieuwsblad took place in a familiar fashion, with a small breakaway made up of smaller teams enjoying a modest advantage as the favourites race laid low and readied themselves in the peloton.

That’s not to say things weren’t eventful behind in the opening skirmishes. The race was strewn with crashes throughout, with riders such as Ineos Grenadiers’ Magnus Sheffield, Tudor’s Stefan Kung and Soudal Quick-Step’s Paul Magnier among those coming down.

It wasn’t until the Molenberg with 45km to go when the first major attacks were seen. Lidl-Trek had split the bunch on the windy approach to the climb but it was UAE's Vermeersch who tried to take advantage, launching an impressive acceleration before being closed down by Van der Poel and then joined by Tim van Dijke on the descent.

The trio quickly joined the remainder of the breakaway, Jelte Krijnsen (Jayco-AlUla), Alexis Renard (Cofidis) and Vincent van Hemelen (Team Flanders-Baloise), stretching their lead to a minute as teams struggled to construct an organised chase behind.

Eventually, Visma-Lease a Bike gathered a couple of domestiques with 25km left, reducing the gap slightly. However, another large crash, bringing down Visma’s Matthew Brennan with 19km to go, sliced the chasing group in half.

Vermeersch led onto the Kapelmuur, stalked by Van der Poel who soon took to the fore ahead of the legendary climb’s steepest sections. The trio from the early break soon faded as Van der Poel stretched his legs, effortlessly building a sizeable solo lead which he held all the way to the line.

Results

Men's Omloop Nieuwsblad (207km)

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech in 04:53:55
2. Tim van Dijke (Ned) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +22s
3. Florian Vermeersch (Bel) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +24s
4. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, +53s
5. Aime de Gendt (Bel) Pinarello-Q36.5, +54s
6. Tobias Lund Andresen, (Den), Decathlon-CMA CGM, +57s
7. Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
8. Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies
9. Alexis Renard (Fra) Cofidis
10. Luke Lamperti (USA) EF Education First-EasyPost, all same time