Omloop Het Nieuwsblad podium history | 2001 edition | 2003 edition

Ghent-Lokeren, 202 km / 41.436 km/hr
? starters / 95 classified finishers

Peter van Petegem wins his third Het Volk, this time in front of Frank Hoj.

Race preview: The Belgian season opener has 10 climbs and 18 km of cobbles as it wanders around the Flemish countryside from Ghent to Lokeren, looking like a piece of intestine as the route doubles back on itself. While Michele Bartoli (sick) and Vandenbrouck will not be there, there will be plenty of superb racers to make this a well-contested race. Here are some of the notable riders scheduled to race:

Fassa Bortolo: Baldato

Tacconi: Bortolami

Telekom: Hondo, Hundertmark, Klier

Bankgiroloterij: Voskamp

CSC-Tiscali: Piziks, N. Jalabert

Rabobank: Wauters, Den Bakker

Credit Agricole: O'Grady

Mapei: Bettini, Nardello, Steels

Lotto: Tchmil, Van Petegem

Landboukrediet: Sorensen

Cofidis: Mattan, Planckaert

Ag2R: Kirsipuu

US Postal: Hincapie

Jean Delatour: Brochard

RDM-Flanders: McCauley

Domo: Museeuw, Knaven

Bonjour: Nazon

Lampre: Sciandri, Dierckxsens

FDJ: Durand, Casper

The race: After just seven kilometers, Hans de Meester and Pascal Deramé scooted off the front and weren't seen again for almost 80 kilometers. After the duo was caught, the breaks started firing off the front. Each time there would be an attempt to escape and every time the break would get caught.

After the Molenberg ascent, the big boys went away, and that was the race. Lotto-Adecco had four riders in the break: Andrei Tchmil, Peter van Petegem, Glenn D'Hollander and Robbie McEwen. The race was theirs to lose.

With 19 kilometers to go, Team Coast's Frank Hoj didn't want to wait for the inevitable Lotto hammering and took off. After a careful wait, Van Petegem blasted up the road and quickly closed the gap to Hoj. The two were able maintain a small lead to the finish.

Peter Van Petegem was in stunning condition and easily outsprinted Hoj for his third Omloop Het Volk victory.

Though van Petegem looked to be in good form to win lots more races that Spring, his only other major victory in 2002 was Three Days of De Panne.

Complete Results:

1	Peter Van Petegem	Lotto-Adecco	4hr 52min 30sec
2	Frank Høj	Coast	s.t.
3	Michel Van Haecke	Landbouwkrediet-Colnago	@ 15sec
4	Robbie McEwen	Lotto-Adecco	s.t.
5	Paolo Bettini	Mapei-Quick Step	s.t.
6	Kevin Hulsmans	Mapei-Quick Step	s.t.
7	Andrei Tchmil	Lotto-Adecco	s.t.
8	Hendrik Van Dyck	Palmans-Collstrop	s.t.
9	Jo Planckaert	Cofidis	s.t.
10	Chris Peers	Cofidis	s.t.
11	Glenn D'Hollander	Lotto-Adecco	2'15''
12	Rolf Sørensen	Landbouwkrediet-Colnago	2'22''
13	László Bodrogi	Mapei-Quick Step	mt
14	Karsten Kroon	Rabobank	s.t.
15	Geoffrey Demeyere	Vlaanderen-T Interim	s.t.
16	Steven De Jongh	Rabobank	s.t.
17	Cédric Vasseur	Cofidis	s.t.
18	Thor Hushovd	Crédit Agricole	s.t.
19	Raphael Schweda	Coast	s.t.
20	Maximilian Sciandri	Lampre-Daikin	2'37''
21	Gianluca Bortolami	Tacconi Sport	s.t.
22	Mathew Hayman	Rabobank	s.t.
23	Staf Scheirlinckx	Palmans-Collstrop	s.t.
24	Ludovic Capelle	AG2R Prévoyance	9'22''
25	Lars Michaelsen	Coast	s.t.
26	Torsten Schmidt	Gerolsteiner	s.t.
27	Malte Urban	Coast	s.t.
28	Jan Verstraeten	Vlaanderen-T Interim	s.t.
29	Laurent Brochard	Jean Delatour	9'34''
30	René Haselbacher	Gerolsteiner	s.t.
31	Servais Knaven	Domo-Farm Frites	s.t.
32	Benoît Joachim	US Postal Service	s.t.
33	Tom Desmet	Marlux-Ville de Charleroi	s.t.
34	Aart Vierhouten	Lotto-Adecco	s.t.
35	Steffen Wesemann	Deutsche Telekom	s.t.
36	Paolo Bossoni	Tacconi Sport	s.t.
37	Matthé Pronk	Rabobank	s.t.
38	Yoeri Beyens	Vlaanderen-T Interim	s.t.
39	Ralf Grabsch	Deutsche Telekom	s.t.
40	Frédéric Guesdon	La Française des Jeux	s.t.
41	Nicola Loda	Fassa Bortolo	s.t.
42	Coen Boerman	Rabobank	s.t.
43	Jean-Patrick Nazon	La Française des Jeux	s.t.
44	Gerben Löwik	BankGiroLoterij-Batavus	s.t.
45	Christopher Jenner	Crédit Agricole	s.t.
46	Sven Nys	Rabobank	s.t.
47	Stuart O'Grady	Crédit Agricole	s.t.
48	Saulius Ruskys	Gerolsteiner	s.t.
49	Emmanuel Magnien	Bonjour	s.t.
50	Bert Scheirlinckx	RDM-Flanders	s.t.
51	Gabriele Balducci	Tacconi Sport	s.t.
52	Dario Pieri	Alessio	s.t.
53	Mario Aerts	Lotto-Adecco	s.t.
54	Franck Renier	Bonjour	s.t.
55	Fabian De Waele	Lotto-Adecco	s.t.
56	Roberto Petito	Fassa Bortolo	s.t.
57	Kim Kirchen	Fassa Bortolo	s.t.
58	Nicolas Jalabert	CSC-Tiscali	s.t.
59	Peter Farazijn	Cofidis	s.t.
60	Pavel Padrnos	US Postal Service	s.t.
61	Johan Museeuw	Domo-Farm Frites	s.t.
62	Nico Eeckhout	Lotto-Adecco	s.t.
63	Tom Boonen	US Postal Service	s.t.
64	Tristan Hoffman	CSC-Tiscali	s.t.
65	Piotr Wadecki	Domo-Farm Frites	s.t.
66	Paul Van Hyfte	CSC-Tiscali	s.t.
67	Marc Wauters	Rabobank	s.t.
68	Andreas Klier	Deutsche Telekom	s.t.
69	Geert Van Bondt	CSC-Tiscali	s.t.
70	Kristof Trouve	Palmans-Collstrop	s.t.
71	Björn Leukemans	Palmans-Collstrop	s.t.
72	Martin Hvastija	Alessio	s.t.
73	Andrej Hauptman	Tacconi Sport	s.t.
74	Dario David Cioni	Mapei-Quick Step	s.t.
75	Sergey Ivanov	Fassa Bortolo	s.t.
76	Denis Zanette	Fassa Bortolo	s.t.
77	Enrico Cassani	Domo-Farm Frites	s.t.
78	Fabio Baldato	Fassa Bortolo	s.t.
79	Jaan Kirsipuu	AG2R Prévoyance	s.t.
80	Nico Mattan	Cofidis	s.t.
81	Cristian Moreni	Alessio	s.t.
82	Steven Van Malderghem	Landbouwkrediet-Colnago	s.t.
83	Jan Boven	Rabobank	s.t.
84	Bart Voskamp	BankGiroLoterij-Batavus	s.t.
85	Robert Sassone	Cofidis	s.t.
86	Stephan Schreck	Deutsche Telekom	13'00''
87	Bruno Thibout	Jean Delatour	13'42''
88	Sébastien Hinault	Crédit Agricole	s.t.
89	Matthew Wilson	La Française des Jeux	s.t.
90	Jürgen Landrie	RDM-Flanders	s.t.
91	Jérôme Neuville	Cofidis	s.t.
92	Nicolay Bo Larsen	Gerolsteiner	s.t.
93	Pascal Derame	Bonjour	s.t.
94	Andy Flickinger	AG2R Prévoyance	s.t.
95	Stijn Vanstraelen	RDM-Flanders	s.t.