Lotte Claes (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) took one of the most astonishing successes of recent years when she outlasted fellow breakaway Aurela Nerlo (Winspace Orange Seal) after the pair had been out of the front since the very first kilometres of the race to win Omloop Nieuwsblad. Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), one of the big favourites, completed the podium, coming in more than three minutes later.
The two leaders were the surviving members of what had been a five-rider breakaway and fought an enthralling duel in the finale, when both were at the limit of their resources. Nerlo attacked from a kilometre out, but Claes steadily reeled her rival in before delivering a race-winning sprint that secured her first-ever professional victory.
Gasping with the effort of her winning sprint, Claes could be heard telling staff on her team, ‘I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it!’ No one who watched the race would disagree with that assessment.
Things started predictably enough, though. Within moments of the flag being waved to get the action under way, five riders went clear: Claes, Nerlo, Italian Elena Pirrone (Roland) and Belgians Julie Stockman (DD Group Pro Cycling) and Mieke Docx (Lotto Ladies).
Two pairs of riders quickly went off in pursuit of the breakaway group, but they failed to bridge up to the front. What was most remarkable, though, that the peloton didn’t achieve that either.
While the break inexorably pushed its advantage out, the big teams in the peloton couldn’t agree on a way to collaborate. SD Worx-Protime sprinter Lorena Wiebes admitted post-race that there had been some discussion between them and other teams, notably Vollering’s FDJ-Suez, but they all wanted someone else to commit before they would join the pursuit.
When a concerted chase did get under way, the peloton was 13-and-a-half minutes behind the break with just 50 or so kilometres remaining. They'd left it too late.
Claes revealed that the five leaders, who had just two minor wins between them, had raced the second half in team time trial mode, having realized that victory was within their reach. The quintet became a quartet 50km from home when Stockman dropped back on the cobbled section of Karel Martelstraat. Pirrone and Docx subsequently lost contact on the steep cobbled slopes of the Muur van Geraardsbergen, 17km out, leaving Claes and Nerlo alone up front.
They rode over the Bosberg together, their lead still a handful of minutes with just a dozen kilometres left. When the peloton reached the climb, Vollering and Fenix-Deceuninck’s Puck Pieterse forced a split, but the pair already knew that their best hope was third place if they could overhaul Docx, which they managed 3km from the finish line.
Up ahead, Claes and Nerlo looked agonized as they turned from collaborators to rivals and disputed the sprint. The contest swung Nerlo’s way initially, until Claes responded with her winning burst, her resources so depleted that as she crossed the line she could barely got one arm aloft to celebrate.
Omloop Nieuwsblad 2025
1 Lotte Claes (Bel) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, in 3:39:43
2 Aurela Nerlo (Pol) Winspace Orange Seal, st
3 Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-Suez, + 3-25
4 Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, st
5 Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Team SD Worx-Protime, +3-35
6 Eleanora Gasparrini (Ita) UAE Team ADQ, st
7 Pfeiffer Georgi (GB) Team Picnic PostNL, st
8 Clara Copponi (Ita) Lidl-Trek, st
9 Ilse Pluimers (Ned) AG Insurance-Soudal, st
10 Margot Vanpachtenbeke (Bel) VolkerWessels, st
