The 2022 Belgian cycling season kicks off this weekend and with that brings the experienced Classics specialists to town, who will all be vying for glory on the cobbled surfaces of Belgium.

The Bahrain Victorious team taking on the Opening Weekend includes Sonny Colbrelli and Phil Bauhaus, who are both ready to make their season debut. Alongside Colbrelli, we have Tour de France stage winner Matej Mohoric, Kamil Gradek, Luis Leon Sanchez, Fred Wright and the veteran Heinrich Haussler.

Sports Director, Enrico Poitschke has full confidence in the leadup to the two races: “The Opening Weekend is always hard and especially Omloop is a stress and challenge for every rider. We are here with a very strong team and they show already that they are in great condition with some [of our riders] starting their season this weekend. The goal for both races is to obviously fight for victory and we have the leaders that we will work for in order to try and grab the win!”

On Saturday 26th February, the 77th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad marks the beginning of the ‘cobbled classics’ in Belgium and will offer a fantastic insight into the conditioning of teams, albeit this early into the road racing calendar. Het Nieuwsblad takes us from Ghent, Flanders all the way to Ninove – where the elements and surfaces are, as usual, likely to have a strong impact on the overall standings. 

Only last year, the experienced Heinrich Haussler finished fourth on the Saturday in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and so will be hoping to make a repeat appearance in the top five this time around. 

On Sunday 27th February, the 74th edition of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne starts where the riders will embark on a challenging 195km route around the Western region of Belgium. The race is, per tradition, run on the last Sunday of February or first one of March and formally concludes the opening of the Belgian cycling season.