Start of the Flanders Classics yesterday with two Omloops – one men’s, one women’s – and a new women’s UCI Hour Record. Here are your highlights for all three. 

Women’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2016

Omloop 2016 podium: Chantal Blaak, Lizzie Armitstead, Tiffany Cromwell

First up, Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) took a solo victory in the women’s Omloop yesterday, making sure everyone knew there was no rainbow-striped curse on this World Champion. Armitstead’s teammate Chantal Blaak won the sprint for second with Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) coming in third. The highlights of the race are here.

Men’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2016

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) finally left the seconds for someone else – the men’s World Champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff),  in fact, with Lotto-Soudal’s Tiejs Benoot taking the third step on the podium. GVA has been consistent in the Spring Classics in everything but winning: 2nd in Omloop (2014), Ronde van Vlaanderen (2014); 3rd in E3 (2008), Gent-Wevelgem (2013), RvV (2015), Paris-Roubaix (2015); 4th in Omloop (2009), RvV (2012), Paris-Roubaix (2013) ; 5th in Omloop (2012, 2013). Will he add more firsts to this list now?

Women’s UCI Hour Record

Evelyn Stevens broke the hour record set by Bridie O’Donnell last month by over a kilometre, riding 47.980km in the velodrome in Colorado Springs yesterday. At one point, it looked like she might even smash Jeannie Longo‘s 1996 record (the ‘superman’ record) but fell short by less than 200m.

I couldn’t find any highlights of the ride, but I did find a happy dance. Enjoy!