Demi Vollering and Puck Pieterse smash the Annemiek van Vleuten's Strava QOM record on Muur van Geraardsbergen during controversial Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The Saturday's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad WE was discussed for all the wrong reasons for the past few days, but now that the storm is calming down, we can have a look at some of the interesting numbers. Most notably, the Strava QOM (Queen of the Mountain) on Muur van Geraardsbergen was broken.

Demi Vollering and Puck Pieterse rode the 1.1 km long segment in just 3 minutes and 9 seconds. With this performance, they surpassed Annemiek van Vleuten's time from 2022 Omloop by full 7 seconds!

For some context, this is a time/speed that would almost enable the best ladies to tag along with their male counterparts with the front groups flying up the Muur just 20 seconds faster. And for example former winner Michael Valgren took extra 24 seconds to ride up the Muur.

That lightning speed underlines that they were by far the best riders in the race and only gave up their chance at victory to tactical games between the biggest teams. Compared to the two top ladies, race winner Lotte Claes ahead in breakaway rode Muur van Geraardsbergen in 4 minutes and 2 seconds, nearly a full minute slower than Pieterse and Vollering!