As Classics go, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is notorious for producing surprise winners, but given Søren Wærenskjold was only a last-minute addition to his team's line-up for this year's race, his victory could hardly have been more unexpected, even by himself - or more important.
The 24-year-old winner clinched the biggest triumph in his team's history to date with a well-calculated dash for the line against Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) and the most prolifically successful WorldTour race of 2024, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Wærenskjold was clearly ahead of Magnier at the line, but it was notable how long he waited afterwards to be sure that he had got the victory, only believing it for real once the radio confirmed he was the winner of the first Nieuwsblad to be decided in a small group sprint since Davide Ballerini, another surprise champion, back in 2021.
His substitution for Markus Hoelgard in the Uno-X line-up could hardly have been more fortuitous, then, but as Wærenskjold told reporters afterwards, the stiff headwind in the final segment of the race all but ensured that the race would end in a bunch sprint.
"I had to give it my all at the end because it was really close," the former U23 World Time Trial Champion said. "Crossing the line first is an amazing feeling. It's the biggest victory of my career and I didn't think it would be possible. But it happened."
He confirmed that he was only supposed to race on Sunday, but that the headwind had made all the difference.
"It's a bit surreal I won here, I'm speechless," he said. "Taking this victory will take some time to really accept."
Coming into the line, he said he was uncertain of his chances, because "I was towards the back of the sprinters and I was getting pushed around, but then I was coming on the inside and I said to myself - this could actually work."
"I had great momentum and I saw the finish line, and I just went. I didn't know how far it was to the finish but I just tried to keep the momentum going."
"I went right first, because that's the shortest way, but then I saw a gap on the left, and the Tietema guy opened and I went from his wheel."
"It was a bit of a gamble but that's what I needed to win that sprint. If I'd opened by myself, I'd have faded in the end.”
Quite apart from almost not starting the race, it had been touch and go in some other ways for Wærenskjold, with the general pace in the finale complicating his task of getting to the finish in the front group. For one thing, although the race did come down to a sprint of nearly 50 riders, the Omloop had seen some potentially major splits in the finale. The most testing was when Alpecin-Deceuninck pulled things apart in favour of Philipsen with 40 kilometres to go, testing the sprinters' endurance almost to the limit, before the race came back together 11 kilometres further on.
"I felt quite empty on the Mur and the Bosberg and I was sitting as far back as possible in the saddle, I felt like I was using my whole body trying to get up that climb," he said.
"So I didn't feel too great, but luckily it was a headwind and that made it much easier to stay in the group and recover after those two climbs and have enough energy to do an ok sprint."
He had been sure that he won, he said, by at least 10 centimetres or perhaps more, "but it was quite close, but I wanted to be sure because I didn't want to make a mistake in such a big race."
"Then I heard my name on the speakers that I'd won, and that was a really nice feeling."
Wærenskjold was also in the news recently as he refused to go the AIUIa Tour in protest of human rights conditions in the Saudi kingdom, but as he said "then I went to Bessèges instead and it got cancelled, so that was not the best either."
"Like I said before, it's just a personal thing, the team said they'd respect it, too."
Already a winner last year in the Tour of Belgium, Wærenskjold said that getting used to the roads and knowing them well was an advantage, but that as one of the heavier riders in the peloton - "I weighed 92.6 kilos this morning in my boxer shorts" he pointed out - it was not so straightforward getting over even the shorter climbs like in Belgium.
"Usually in the Classics season, I don't focus too much on my weight, but if I lose too much I lose power. But I'm one of the heaviest guys in the peloton, I think."
"I injured my ankle, too in the off-season, I snapped one of my ligaments over Christmas when I was running, but everything has gone to plan apart from that and I got stronger with time."
In terms of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France and possible wildcard invites for Uno-X, Wærenskjold said he didn't expect to make much difference in 2025, "because I think the decision has already been made although we don't know it yet."
"But for sure if the team continues to do better and better it's harder to let us out of the invitations." And with a win in the first major Classic of the season, Wærenskjold has surely got the ball rolling for his team in 2025 in exactly the right way.
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