Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) has taken the victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad after he attacked in the last two kilometres and crossed the finish line on his own.
The Kapelmuur provided the turning point as expected, further splitting an already broken race and establishing a leading group of five going into the final 15km.
Greg van Avermaet (CCC) was among that number, but it was Stybar who made the winning move, catching the others off guard with 2.5km remaining and opening up a big enough gap to allow him the luxury of soaking in the celebrations across the line.
“I had a good feeling all day, but of course you never know,” said Stybar. “It was a very strong break, but I still had teammates in the group behind, and I could benefit from that.”
“I only heard the day before yesterday at the press conference that QuickStep hadn’t won Omloop for 14 years, which was amazing. I am very happy that I could win here, for the team, but also for me. I was close to a victory like this last year and I’m happy to finally finish it off.”
Van Avermaet and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) finished second and third, sprinting from a select group that also included Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana).
You can rewatch Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2019 HERE.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2019 results:
| 1 | Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 4:53:17 |
| 2 | Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) | +09” |
| 3 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 4 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) | ,, |
| 5 | Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 6 | Jean-Pierre Drucker (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 7 | Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 8 | Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 9 | Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 10 | Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 11 | Jens Keukeleire (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 12 | Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 13 | Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 14 | Dylan Van Baarle (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 15 | Sebastian Langeveld (EF Education First) | ,, |
| 16 | Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 17 | Laurens De Vreese (Astana) | ,, |
| 18 | Stefan Kung (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 19 | Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) | +28” |
| 20 | Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie) | +29” |
