2016 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
| 2016 UCI Europe Tour | |||||||||||||
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| Race details | |||||||||||||
| Dates | February 27, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| Stages | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Distance | 200.8 km (124.8 mi) | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 4h 54' 12" | ||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||
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| Winner |
 Greg Van Avermaet (BEL)
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(BMC Racing Team) | |
| Second |
 Peter Sagan (SVK)
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(Tinkoff) | |
| Third |
Tiesj Benoot (BEL)
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(Lotto–Soudal) |
The 71st edition of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was held on 27 February 2016. It was won by Belgian Greg Van Avermaet in a five-man sprint before Peter Sagan and Tiesj Benoot.
The race started and finished in Ghent, Belgium, covering 200.8 km. The Omloop marked the start of the cobbled classics season in Europe and was rated as a 1.HC event of the 2016 UCI Europe Tour.
The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad started in Ghent, East Flanders, and addressed the Flemish Ardennes in the south of the province, featuring numerous short climbs, before returning to Ghent. This edition, organizers needed to find an alternative for the traditional start and finish location on Sint-Pietersplein. In 2016 organizers chose Citadel Park, the site adjacent to the Kuipke velodrome, as the start location. The finish was on Emile Claus thoroughfare, close to the starting place.
At 200 kilometres and with a dozen climbs in the hill zone, the course was challenging and arduous. Additionally, there were several flat stretches of cobbles. The race featured one new climb, Boembekeberg, as a replacement for the Molenberg, which was skipped because of road works.
There are thirteen categorized climbs:
Northern part of the race : Begin of the route (red), final (green)
Southern part of the race : Begin of the route (red), intermediate part (blue), final (green)
Britain's Ian Stannard, the winner of the previous two editions, was not present in this year's event. World champion Peter Sagan was among the key favourites, together with classics specialists Alexander Kristoff, Tom Boonen, Greg Van Avermaet and Philippe Gilbert. Former world time trial champion Tony Martin made a first appearance.
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