'Still room for improvement' – Van Aert not yet in full flight at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Wout van Aert in full flight en route to third place at the 2024 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Wout van Aert in full flight en route to third place at the 2024 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Image credit: Getty Images)

For the third year in a row, Visma-Lease a Bike came away from the first half of Opening Weekend at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with a win as Jan Tratnik followed Wout van Aert and Dylan van Baarle in adding his name to the honour roll in Ninove.

The dominant Dutch squad began in the same manner as they did last time out, filling two-thirds of the podium as Van Aert filled the Christophe Laporte role in third place.

Dani Ostanek
Senior News Writer

Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.

Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.

Season highlights from the 2024 season include reporting from Paris-Roubaix –  'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix – and the Tour de France – 'Disbelief', gratitude, and family – Mark Cavendish celebrates a record-breaking Tour de France sprint win.