After only two wins in 2023, some people had speculated whether Marianne Vos was past her best at 36 years of age. But on Saturday 24th February 2024, she showed she’s still better than the rest by taking the first cobbled classic of the season, Omloop het Nieuwsblad. It was an engaging race in which she broke away in a group of four during the final 20 kilometres, beating them all in the final sprint of a race she has surprisingly never taken part in before.
How the race unfolded
The race set out from Gent for 127 kilometres of racing, including eight climbs and eight cobbled sections in the traditional curtain-raiser for the spring season. A morning breakaway got away, and when cameras switched on at 37km to go, they still held three minutes on the peloton, who had politely waited for this moment to begin the attacks. The Haaghoek section of cobbles ignited an attack from Elisa Longo Borghini of Lidl-Trek, and caused a crash, leaving the Italian just ahead of the bunch which by now contained just 20 riders.
On the Berendries 5km later, World Champion Lotte Kopecky accelerated, setting up a counter-attack from SD Worx teammate Demi Vollering and Marianne Vos of Team Visma Lease a Bike. They would soon be caught, though.
Longo Borghini had caught the breakway on the Vossenhol, and spent the next 10 kilometres dropping them one by one, until she was alone heading into the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen climb, the penultimate in the race. Her gap at the bottom was less than 10 seconds, so when Kopecky made an attack, the former Paris-Roubaix winner was caught.
This left four riders in touch at the front – Kopecky, Longo Borghini, Vos and Shirin van Anrooij, also of Lidl-Trek, giving the team numerical advantage. The World Champion would try to get rid of them on the final climb of the race, the Bosberg, with a third attack, but was unsuccessful, and the quartet stayed in touch for the run towards the finish in Ninove.
A storm of attacks followed from everyone in the group, but none were successful, and the group would settle the race in a sprint. Van Anrooij was tasked with leading out, with Kopecky in prime position on her wheel. But once Marianne Vos started to accelerate for the finish, it was clear she wouldn’t be caught.
She claimed her 249th victory in her illustrious career, with Lotte Kopecky of SD Worx second, and Elisa Longo Borghini was rewarded for being the most active rider in the race to finish third. SD Worx only failed to win one major cobbled race in 2023, so it will be interesting to see how they bounce back from this disappointment, despite a good start to the season. Their next objective will be on the gravel roads of Italy, at Strade Bianche on Saturday 2nd March 2024.
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