Having taken the victory at last year’s edition of
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, many touted
Dylan van Baarle as one of the favourites for Opening Weekend. However, after a delayed start to the season with the cancellation of the Vuelta a Andalucía, he was clearly lacking the form to contest the victory at the first two Flemish Classics of the season.
Van Baarle’s Team Visma | Lease a Bike teammates Jan Tratnik and Wout van Aert both triumphed over the weekend, but the Dutchman failed to break the top-30 in either race. In an interview with AD this week he said “I wasn’t really feeling well in the race in the Omloop”.