Stefan Küng was just one kilometre away from success this Saturday on the first Flemish Classic of the season. In the 2025 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, which proved a bit less eventful than usual, the Swiss rider went all-in in the last ten kilometres after getting over the Muur and the Bosberg with the best. Alone in the front, he managed to hold on until the flamme rouge before a pack of fifty riders brought him back and fought for the win in a sprint. Lewis Askey, a bit slowed down towards the finish, took tenth place.
The Classics season is on! From Ghent to Ninove, this Saturday, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad opened as usual the Belgian cycling calendar and, therefore, the cobbled races campaign. Eleven climbs featured on the course this year, with the usual Muur van Geraardsbergen-Bosberg sequence as a conclusion, about ten kilometres from the finish. Behind a morning breakaway of seven riders, the peloton initially appeared quite calm. The tension really increased approaching the Eikenberg, with sixty kilometres to go. However, neither this hill nor the following ones caused any real damage. “It was quite hard, but we felt that the headwind was blocking the race quite a bit”, commented Stefan Küng. “We expected more action, but the wind actually slowed down the attempts”, confirmed Frédéric Guesdon. A complete pack therefore entered the last hour of racing and tackled the Molenberg, forty kilometers from the finish. It was there, after a small incident on slightly soggy slopes, that a first selection was made.
“That’s how I want to race”, Stefan Küng
Well positioned by their teammates, Stefan Küng, Lewis Askey and Kevin Geniets were able to join the first peloton of around thirty riders. “We know that in these races, you can’t be one step behind”, said Frédéric. “Having three men in front was perfect. We didn’t have to chase behind. Then, we needed to have the legs to continue to stay in front, and that’s what they did”. After twenty kilometres of pursuit, a second peloton still managed to bridge across before heading towards the day’s last two climbs. In the Muur, the final battle opened up, and Stefan Küng managed to follow the right move, and was joined a few moments later by Lewis Askey in a small group of around twenty men. Then, in the Bosberg, the Groupama-FDJ duo also held on alongside the main favourites. After a few moments of hesitation at the summit, Stefan Küng took his chance ten kilometres from the line and made an acceleration. “I knew it was the right moment,” said the Swiss rider. “However, I was alone, and it was really hard with the headwind. On large roads, it wasn’t easy, but once I was in this situation, I didn’t look back. I pushed on and that was it”.
Although he quickly made a gap of about fifteen seconds, a peloton of around fifty riders bunched up behind him. “That’s also where the headwind made the difference, because after the Bosberg, a lot of riders were able to come back and pull behind me,” he said. “In these conditions, it’s hard to stay away. Nonetheless, I knew it was my best chance, I gave it my all even though I could feel that I was at the end of a two-hundred-kilometre race.” With five kilometres to go, Stefan Küng still had fifteen seconds of a lead, but several teams joined forces chasing, bringing the gap back under ten seconds with two kilometres to go, then catching the Groupama-FDJ rider at the flamme rouge. “Unfortunately the race was a kilometre too long,” he said. “I gave it my all, I kept believing, and I have no regrets. I think I did a good race and that’s how I want to race through the whole Classics season this year.” From then on, a fifty-man sprint loomed in the streets of Ninove, where Søren Wærenskjold triumphed. “Lewis joined the sprint, but he was boxed-in along the barriers,” commented Frédéric. “He didn’t find the gap to slip through, and that’s a bit of a shame because he could definitely have taken a better result.”
“It bodes well for the upcoming races”, Frédéric Guesdon
As he got slowed down approaching the line, the Briton had to settle for tenth place today. “The day’s balance is still positive because we had three riders in the final and the others worked well too,” added the group’s sports director. “We were in the mix. We could have perhaps got a better result, but we’ll be content with that for today, and it bodes well for the upcoming races”. “We’re off to a good start and I’m leaving this Omloop Het Nieuwsblad feeling confident,” said Stefan. “I certainly don’t feel like I’m at 100% yet, but I’m where I want to be”. The Swiss rider will not be lining up at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne tomorrow, for the second act of the weekend. “Many sprinters will be there,” concluded Frédéric. “We’ll need to see if it really gets harder in the hills halfway through the race, or if it’s a sprint. We have cards for both situations, so we’re optimistic.”
