Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Stats
Historical stats
– Jean Bogaerts is the first winner of the race; at that time (1945), he made his debut as a pro
– Joseph Bruyere, Ernest Sterckx and Peter Van Petegem are the riders with the most victories, three
– Belgium leads the nations classification, with 54 wins so far
– First rider from outside Belgium to take the victory was Ireland’s Seamus Elliott, in 1959
– Only one Tour de France champion has won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Eddy Merckx, back in 1971 and 1973
– Last cyclist to finish first while wearing the rainbow jersey was Freddy Maertens, in 1977
– This is the only cobbled Classics Tom Boonen has never won
– Walter Planckaert is the rider with the most editions completed, 15
– Sebastien Hinault and Andreas Klier share the record for the most starts, 16
– Highest average speed was recorded in 1975: 43,45 km/h
– Between 1996 and 2009, the race used to finish in Lokeren
– 2011 was the only year without a Belgian rider on the podium
– In 2010, Tyler Farrar (U.S.A.) became the first non-European cyclists to finish in the top three
– The hills of the Flemish Ardennes were added to the route in the ‘50s
– Biggest time gap between first and second was in 1971, when Eddy Merckx finished 1:53 ahead of Roger Rosiers
– Jean Bogaerts is the youngest ever winner (20), while Johan Museeuw (37) is the oldest ever winner
2016 stats
– 25 teams (12 World Tour, 12 Pro Continental, one Continental) will line up for this year’s edition
– Of these, eight are winless: Bora-Argon 18, CCC Sprandi Polkowice, Roompot Oranje, Southeast-Venezuela, Stölting Service Group, Topsport Vlaanderen, Verandas Willems and Wanty-Groupe Gobert
– Sven Reutter (19 years) will be the youngest rider in the bunch, while Tomasz Kiendys (38) will be the oldest one
– Only two former winners will be at the start: Philippe Gilbert and Filippo Pozzato
– 20 neo-pros will ride Omloop Het Nieuwsblad: Ryan Anderson, Franck Bonnamour, Romain Cardis, Nico Denz, Alexander Edmondson, Maxime Farazijn, Floris Gerts, Hugo Hofstetter, Joshua Hunt, Alexander Kamp, Yuma Koishi, Gianni Moscon, Alex Peters, Nils Politt, Lukas Pöstlberger, Sven Reutter, Robin Stenuit, Jonas Tenbrock, Mirko Trosino and Kenneth Van Rooy
– The cyclists in the 2016 race have won a combined total of 15 Monuments, 6 world titles and more than 50 Grand Tour stages
– 27 countries will have at least one cyclist in the race, with Belgium topping the list (43)
Cafe Roubaix 