Wærenskjold sprinted to victory in the men's race on the hyper aero Ridley Noah Fast
Søren Wærenskjold's Ridley Noah Fast(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) sprinted to a surprise win in the mens race at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad today. After some aggressive racing, some splits and even a brave solo attack from Stefan Kuüng that was only reeled in within the last three kilometres, it was the Norweigan fast man who emerged victorious, beating Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who rounded out the podium.
The Norweigan rode to victory aboard the Ridley Noah Fast 3.0, the longstanding aero bike from the Belgian brand, which was recently overhauled and launched at the start of the year. We managed to take a look at the winning bike post-race.
The Noah Fast is a pure aero bike and has some of the deepest and most aggressive looking tube profiles in the peloton. The bike is fitted with a Shimano Dura-Ace groupset and DT Swiss wheels.
There are some interesting details to look at, such as the waxed chain, aero 55-tooth chainring and notably, a two-piece bar and stem and tall spacer stack height. Something we saw a lot of at the start of the race on various riders' bikes.
The Noah Fast has a new proprietary handlebar to go with the deep, dropped headtube, but it seems not all of the team riders are fitted up with it yet.
Wærenskjold won using a two-piece Deda Powerbox stem and Superzero bar that even had some exposed carbles underneath and used a regular K-Force computer mount. Surely a win for the argument that aero is important, but it's still bike riders that win races.
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The Noah Fast is Ridley's all out aero bike, the pure aero bike is on it's way back. (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
No slammed stems here, there are plenty of spacers under the winner's stem and even some exposed cabling (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Deda Superzero RS carbon handlebars and a K-Edge computer mount (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
This is a less common sight in WorldTour peloton's these days (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The Noah Fast head tube is something else. Note the aero fork crown transition into the head tube, Ridley calls this the speed diffuser (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The red UCI security check tag had been fitted post race (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The Noah Fast downtube is also deep and agressive (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Wærenskjold had a Continental Aero 111 tyre fitted up front, spot the sealant check sticker on the rim (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
FSA chainset and aero chainring mated to a Power2Max power meter (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
A 55 tooth chainring was used to take the win today (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
A Norweigan flag chainstay protector is a nice nod to the team's nationality (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
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