The winning bikes of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, on the surface at least, looked pretty 'normal' but closer inspection revealed that Visma Lease-a-bike used the opening weekend to test out new wheels from sponsor Reserve, as well as a new front mech from Sram.
Reading between the lines, the unreleased wheelset from Reserve seems to be following a trend of optimization for wider tyres, with one mechanic telling us that the wheels are "faster" with 30mm tyres.
Jan Tratnik's Cervelo S5
After escaping with Nils Polit in the final few kilometres, Men's winner Jan Tratnik waited patiently on the German's wheel before hitting the wind with a confident sprint in the last 200m.
The Slovenian finished three seconds ahead of Polit to claim his first victory since the stage two time trial in the 2023 Vuelta a Burgos. He did so aboard his Cervelo S5, which had only a few minor tweaks for the first cobbled race of the year.
The Cervelo S5 frameset has been the go-to weapon for the dominant Visma Lease-a-bike squad on all parcours from Grand Tours to flat sprint finishes in the last couple of years.
But the Dutch squad did seize the opportunity to test out some new wheels from Reserve. The new wheelset looked to feature a 49mm rear wheel and 42mm front. Currently, the American wheel brand currently only makes a 42/44 and 52/63 wheelset.
Visma Lease-a-bike mechanic Bart Kennis told us that the wheels used by the men at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad were "faster" when paired with a 30mm wide tyre, suggesting the new wheelset is optimized for wider tyres just like the new Hunt SUB50 limitless wheelset.
The new wider wheelset also allowed the Tratnik and the rest of the Visma Lease-a-bike squad to ride super low tyre pressures of "between 3 [45 PSI] and 4.5 bar [65 PSI]". Kennis told us that the team was also using the Air Liner insert system from Vittoria.
Tratnik also looked to be using a new Sram Red AXS front derailleur. So far we have only seen leaks of the new Sram Red, but this is the first time we have seen anything being used on the pro circuit.
The 'new' derailleur, it must be said, looks incredibly similar to the current Sram Red eTap AXS front mech. Sram seems to have made some small changes to the shift cage, as well as a slight reshaping of the front portion of the mech, but other than that, there is little change. Tratnik was using a current eTap battery, which would suggest the new groupset will likely be compatible with the current generation eTap.
The Slovenian also opted for some larger than standard chainrings, pairing a 54/41 chainset to his 10-33 Sram Red cassette. For perspective, this means his biggest gear, a 54/10 is roughly equivalent to running a 60t chainring on a Shimano setup with an 11t rear sprocket.
Other than that, the bike was totally standard. Earlier in the day we spoke to DSM Mechanic Bruno Maltar, who indicated that DSM riders were using a similarly standard setup.
"The technology today is so much further on than just 5 years ago," he said, explaining the cobbled classics are "just another day" for the mechanics, thanks to more capable aero bikes.
Marianne Vos' Cervelo S5
Despite repeated attacks from Lidl-Trek's Elisa Longo Borghini and Shirin Van Anrooije, the Women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad came down to a sprint finish allowing a dominant to Marianne Vos claim victory.
Much like the men's squad, the Visma Lease-a-bike Women's team were all riding the tried and tested Cervelo S5. Vos too switched out the usual 28mm tyres in favour of the more comfortable 30mm versions.
Vos kept her Sram Red eTap AXS groupset a little more standard up front with a 50/37t chainset, but did change the run of the mill 10-33 cassette out for a wider range 10-36 variant for the steeper gradients.
We've got eyes on the ground for the opening weekend of cobbled racing, so stay tuned for more tech coming soon.
