Omloop van het Hageland has long been a key early-season race, serving as the second part of the women’s Opening Weekend. Traditionally a race for the fast finishers, past winners include Marta Bastianelli, Jolien d’Hoore, Lizzie Deignan, and Emma Johansson—riders who all thrived in bunch sprints, reinforcing the race’s reputation as a sprinter’s contest.
That expectation was shattered in 2024 when Kristen Faulkner stunned the field with a 60km solo attack, proving that bold moves can pay off even in a race that so often ends in a sprint. This year, the door is wide open for a new winner, with no former champions on the start list. Faulkner won’t return to defend her title, and recent winners like Lorena Wiebes and the now-retired Bastianelli are also absent. That guarantees a new name on the honours list, setting the stage for fresh talent to make their mark.
Photo Credit: Cor VosThe 2025 edition also marks a turning point for Omloop van het Hageland as it looks to reinvent itself. A new TV deal with Proximus means the race will have live TV coverage in Belgium, rather than via the race website, a significant step in increasing its profile. There’s also a new title sponsor, with Fenix – already a backer of the Fenix-Deceuninck team – coming on board. That team’s headline sponsor’s support signals a push to keep the race going strong as the Women’s peloton makes advancements. The race organisation is certainly pushing to modernise the race to match the look and feel of bigger races.
While not the hardest course on the calendar, Hageland’s mix of small climbs, exposed sections, and cobbles can create opportunities for aggressive racing, particularly in difficult weather. Faulkner’s long-range attack last year was a reminder that sprinters don’t always have it their way here. Originally held in 2007 as Tielt-Winge (Wielertrofee Vlaanderen), the race has grown into a UCI 1.1 event, maintaining a largely flat profile but still with enough selective moments to shake things up.
Previous Winners
2024
Kristen Faulkner
2023
Lorena Wiebes
2022
Marta Bastianelli
Omloop van het Hageland 2025 Race Profiles
Live TV Coverage
Sunday 2nd March 2025
Live on Pickx+ Sports 1, Pickx Showcase, pickx.be & ROBtv
Live from 14:00-16:00
All times in GMT
Twitter: #OmloopHageland or #OmloopvanhetHageland
Startlist: FirstCycling
Omloop van het Hageland 2025 Contenders
With no Lorena Wiebes here, Charlotte Kool is on paper the fastest sprinter. If the race returns to its usual sprint ending, then Kool will have a great chance to get off the mark in 2025. She got herself into trouble a couple of times in the UAE Tour, with 2nd on the opening stage by far her best result that week. Her best result here is 6th and the challenge will be keeping up over the various small climbs. Teammate Pfeiffer Georgi made it onto the podium last year and should be able to cover the moves if the race does break up again like last season. It will partly depend on what happened in Omloop het Nieuwsblad the day before, but Georgi is one of the few riders who could match what Faulkner did last season.
Canyon SRAM will try to get Chiara Consonni to the line to contest a sprint finish for them. It’s been a struggle for the Italian in previous years though, with a best finish of 13th in 5 editions she’s taken part in. She’s easily their fastest rider on paper though if they’re able to keep the peloton organised. They’ve also got the likes of Maike van der Duin and Soraya Paladin as quick finishers who may have a little bit more resistance to the climbs. Van der Duin is still on her way back on the road but her peak suggests she could be a threat if it all comes together. Paladin potentially should be in that mid-range of the top-10 if she does get a shot here. Zoe Backstedt will also be a nice all-rounder wildcard in her first road race of the 2025 season. At the start of February, she became the U23 Cyclocross World Champion again which indicates she’s got some decent form.
SD Worx is coming with Anna van der Breggen which is an interesting choice. She’s not doing Omloop het Nieuwsblad the day before and in theory, this parcours isn’t one for her to shine on. Her last edition of this race was back in 2013 when she finished 15th. She was pretty good on her return at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana though, so maybe she attacks and goes solo. From there it’s tough to pick which rider will be the one who gets the nod in a sprint with no Wiebes. Marta Lach should have a decent chance though, especially if some of the purer sprinters are dropped already. From a small group, she’s got a real shout. Maybe it’s Barbara Guarischi or Skylar Schneider but their battle will be with the repeated short hills here. You can’t even fully rule out Julia Kopecky or Femke Gerritse either but you assume Lach would get the nod over those two riders in that situation.
Fenix-Deceuninck will be looking for a strong result now that they’re linked to this race. Christina Schweinberger finished 4th in last year’s race and will be looking to repeat that again. Her UAE Tour was fairly quiet but we won’t get a better idea of where she’s really at until Saturday’s Omloop het Nieuwsblad. Teammate Puck Pieterse didn’t have her best-ever cyclocross season but was solid enough to finish 3rd in the World Champs just over a month ago. She helped guide Schweinberger to her placing and took 10th herself last year. She’ll be trying to break the race up if she can. Julie de Wilde and Marthe Truyen are other Fenix-Deceuninck riders in the hunt, especially if there’s a reduced group sprint situation. De Wilde was 7th in the 2023 edition of Omloop van het Hageland whereas Truyen has only just barely crept into the top-10. It’s safest to assume that Pieterse is the leader here but it’s handy for the team that they’ve got such depth.
There will be opportunities for the sprinters at UAE Team ADQ. Sofie van Rooijen is the biggest name after her transfer to the team this off-season but had a relatively quiet UAE Tour Women with 7th her best result in 3 opportunities. She started the year well with 6th at the Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx but hasn’t quite discovered her top-end 2024 form just yet this year. The climbs here might just prove to be too tough as well depending on how they are raced. Lara Gillespie stepped up in the UAE and will be wanting to take another opportunity here. The Irish rider was 3rd on Stage 2 in the Middle East and also took a pair of 9th places on her way to the intermediate sprints jersey. She might be the team’s best shout with such early-season form.
Scarlett Souren looks like the obvious leader for VolkerWessels at Omloop van het Hageland this year. She’s not down to do Omloop het Nieuwsblad the day before so she will be going for the long weekend double race option that includes Le Samyn des Dames the following Tuesday. She’ll be completely fresh with no racing at all in January or February this season but consistently excelled in these sorts of Belgian one-day races last year.
Uno-X Mobility will want to continue to cash in on the chance for some more UCI points in a solid 1.1-level race. Anniina Ahtosalo will be a strong option for them in the sprint, with signs that she’s just starting to find her legs after 7th on the final stage of the UAE Tour Women. She raced all 3 of the Challenge Mallorca races but had only 18th on the opening day to show for it. She’s also down to do Le Samyn des Dames and should be a particular favourite for that one, so may want to stay out of trouble on Sunday. Teammate Maria Giulia Confalonieri could also get the nod as we know that she has some good resistance to the repeated small climbs on offer. She’s snuck into the top-10 once already this year and will have Omloop het Nieuwsblad in the legs already this weekend.
It’s been a while but Amalie Dideriksen once used to do quite well at Omloop van het Hageland. Her last 2 raced editions were in 2015 & 2017, around the time the Danish rider became World Champion, and she finished 12th and 9th. She’s largely been in workhorse roles since then but has already shown glimpses of what made her a special rider back then. 3rd on the final day of the UAE Tour Women has been a solid highlight this season. Cofidis will also look in the direction of Nadia Quagliotto to pick up a result nearer the bottom end of the top-10 if possible. She’s been bouncing around just inside and in the teens plenty already in 2025 as her all-round abilities come in handy.
Finally, Femke de Vries of Visma | Lease a Bike is going to be worth keeping an eye on as well. She took a great 7th place at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana thanks to the picking up of crucial bonus seconds at intermediate sprints to move up a very close general classification. Her best result on stages were 11th and 15th, two very different parcours on hilly and flat days, which bodes well coming into the classics season.
Omloop het Nieuwsblad Women 2025 Outsiders
Eline van Rooijen got her season off to a strong start at the Vuelta CV Feminas, sprinting to 8th place in Valencia. It’s a result that bodes well for her at Omloop van het Hageland after a 2024 season where she blew hot and cold a little bit. We’ve seen her be consistently strong in Belgian one-day races before though so hopefully she brings over some confidence from that finish in Spain. Teammate Stina Kagevi is also a rider to keep an eye on this season. The Swede has been on the attack already at the Clasica de Almeria and thanks to the TTs she’s won in the last 12 months we know that she has an engine to pull off one of those attacks to the line soon.
Lucie Fityus had a couple of impressive results in her home Australian part of the season. 8th at the Surf Coast Classic showed that she can mix it in the one-day race sprints and she was also 10th on the opening day of the Tour Down Under too on a day where the peloton let a solo breakaway win. This is her first time doing Omloop van het Hageland but she’s done plenty of Belgian racing in the last few seasons, so she could be one to watch.
It was a little bit of a surprise that Marith Vanhove jumped from the successful VolkerWessels team to the U23 development team of AG Insurance-Soudal this off-season. Maybe there was a feeling that she was falling down the pecking order there as riders like Souren, Van Rooijen, Jansen and Vanpachtenbeke started to come through but Vanhove was firmly part of that wave. She took 5th in the sprint at Drentse Acht last year and was a regular in the top-15 in Belgian races too. We’ll see if she gets more chances on her new team.
Alexis Magner has a couple of top-20 results at Omloop van het Hageland from 2014-2016 when the American was racing for UnitedHealthcare and Canyon-SRAM. After a hiatus from European racing, she’s back here racing for Cynisca Cycling. The start of the year has gone well, with 12th at Vuelta CV Feminas and 14th at the Clasica de Almeria already in the books. In her best season – 2018 – Magner was a podium finisher at races like Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Festival Elsy Jacobs, Ronde van Drenthe and Drentse Acht. If it comes together, she can become a favourite again at these lower-level one-day classic races.
Top 3 Prediction
⦿ Puck Pieterse
⦿ Marta Lach
⦿ Pfeiffer Georgi
