Omloop Het Volk
Tom Boonen at the start of the 2009 event
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| Date | Late February |
|---|---|
| Region | Flanders, Belgium |
| Local name(s) | Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Dutch) |
| Nickname(s) |
The Omloop The Opening Classic |
| Discipline | Road |
| Competition | UCI World Tour |
| Type | One-day |
| Race director | Wim Van Herreweghe |
| First edition | 1945 |
| Editions | 71 (as of 2016) |
| First winner |
 Jean Bogaerts (BEL)
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| Most wins |
Joseph Bruyère (BEL) Ernest Sterckx (BEL) Peter Van Petegem (BEL) (3 wins) |
| Most recent |
Greg Van Avermaet (BEL)
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| First edition | 2006 |
| Editions | 11 (as of 2016) |
| First winner |
 Suzanne de Goede (NED)
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| Most wins |
Suzanne de Goede (NED) Emma Johansson (SWE)(2 wins) |
| Most recent |
 Lizzie Armitstead (GBR)
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Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, previously Omloop Het Volk, is a one-day cycling race in Belgium, held annually in late February. It is the opening event of the Belgian cycling season, as well as the first race of the year in Northwestern Europe, and holds significant prestige because of it. In 2017 the race will be included in the UCI World Tour for the first time. Until 2016 it was ranked as a 1.HC event of the UCI Europe Tour.
The race starts and finishes in Ghent, Flanders, and addresses the hills in the Flemish Ardennes, marking the start of the cobbled classics season in Europe. Due to its early calendar date, it is characterized by often cold weather, coming as a contrast to the early-season stage races in the Middle East and Southern Europe. The day after the Omloop, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne completes the opening weekend.
Since 2006, a women's edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is held on the same day as the men's race, starting and finishing on the same location, of approximately 130 kilometres distance. Both events are organized by Flanders Classics.
First held in 1945, the race was called Omloop van Vlaanderen ("Circuit of Flanders"). The event was initiated by Flemish newspaper Het Volk, in response to rivaling newspaper Het Nieuwsblad’s classic, the Tour of Flanders. Het Volk, of left-leaning publication, wanted to start a new cycling event in Flanders as a rival race to what it saw as the Tour of Flanders' closeness to the Nazis during World War II. The Ronde's organizers protested that the name was too close to their own – there is little semantic difference between "Ronde" and "Omloop". The Belgian cycling federation demanded Het Volk to change the name of the event, prompting Het Volk to serve as title sponsor of their own race. In 2009 the former rival newspapers Het Volk and Het Nieuwsblad merged, causing the event to be renamed Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for its 64th edition.
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