Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2022: Van Aert solos to triumph

image: Cor VosWout van Aert attacks just before the Bosberg and the Flemish powerhouse solos to victory. Sonny Colbrelli wins the sprint of the chasing group, while Greg Van Avermaet finishes in third. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2022

1. Wout van Aert (bel)
2. Sonny Colbrelli (ita) + 0.23
3. Greg Van Avermaet (bel) s.t.
4. Oliver Naesen (bel) s.t.
5. Victor Campenaerts (bel) s.t.
6. Rasmus Tiller (nor) s.t.
7. Matteo Trentin (ita) s.t.
8. Andrea Pasqualon (ita) s.t.
9. Florian Sénéchal (fra) s.t.
10. Jasper Stuyven (bel) s.t.

Race report
Ben Healy, Juri Hollmann, Alexander Konychev, Quentin Jauregui, Ruben Apers, Donovan Grondin and Morten Hulgaard escape after 8 kilometres to open up a gap of more than 8 minutes.

Florian Vermeersch and Loïc Vliegen escape from the peloton when the lead has fallen below 1 minute. There are 54 kilometres remaining at that point.

Stefan Küng joins the two and they chase down the lead group.

Benoot attacks on the Berendries and Van Aert, Pidcock and Narvaez go with him. Colbrelli rejoins them moments later.

The five bridge across to Vermeersch, Küng, Vliegen, Hulgaard, Grondin and Hollmann. They open a gap of 40 seconds.

Benoot accelerates with 20 kilometres remaining. While the others are reeled in, the solist reaches the top of the Wall of Geraardsbergen with a small lead. Moments later he is caught.

Van Aert goes solo in the run-up to the Bosberg. He reaches the summit 8 seconds ahead of the chasers and extends the lead in the last 12.8 kilometres.

Van Aert crosses the line in Ninove celebrating, while Colbrelli wins the sprint for second place half a minute later.

Other interesting reads: route and start list 2022 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.