Women’s WorldTour Stories: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad by Alice Towers

It was slightly personal between SD Worx and FDJ: CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto racer Alice Towers recounts an extraordinary Omloop Het Nieuwsblad cycle race

The traditional professional cycle racing season opener began under sunny skies, with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. This 138km long race from Gent to Ninove in Flanders, Belgium is a good test for professional cycle racers to test themselves out after their winter training and warm-weather training camps. It’s also a good chance to test out the bike handling skills on the numerous sections of cobbles, including the famous Kappelmuur at Geraadsbergen. This steep cobbled hill is generally a pivotal point in the race where a few people from the 143 starters will make their winning move – usually.

Alice Towers at the training camp (photo: Tino Pohlmann) 

This year’s race was a little different and played out in an unprecedented way, with a very unlikely but well-deserved winner.

Result:

1. Lotte Claes (Arkea B&B Hotels Women)

2. Aurela Nerlo (Windspace Orange Seal)

3. Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ)

4. Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) 

5. Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime)

33. Alice Towers (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto)

Alice Towers, of Team Canyon// SRAM zondacrypto competed in the Omloop and was doing it for the fourth time. The 22-year old former British National Champion from Staffordshire recounts her experience: 

Restarting my season in Europe

I started my season in Australia in January with the Tour Down Under, which feels like a long time ago now. It was a solid start because you spend all winter working on your shape and so I was quite keen to make sure my fitness was confirmed in the race - and it was. So I was happy with how the race went. [Alice finished in 10th place] 

Then I had about four weeks in between my last race and Omloop. So during that time I went back to my home in Andorra where I had a couple of days off and did some easy rides. Then I went back to the UK and caught up with family and friends. After that I started building back up again and I had some quite hard training weeks in the couple of weeks prior to Omloop. 

So coming into Omloop I felt fresh, which was good. Last year in the lead in to Omloop I went into the race feeling a bit like fatigued, so it was nicer this year to feel a bit more fresh.

However, this year it felt like I was starting my season again, so I had those pre-season nerves again even though I’d already six of seven race days in my legs. Still, it was good to have started in Australia as it’s less hectic compared to the Classics, and it’s a nice way to start the season. 

Omloop starts at Barcelona airport

I flew from Barcelona to Brussels, from where it's quite easy to get to Gent. Because Barcelona airport is a local airport for cyclists in Andorra and Girona, where there are a lot of cyclists based in both places when you fly to a race from Barcelona there’s always a lot of either team-mates or competitors on your flight. So you already feel like you’re at the race when you get to the airport, and you see everyone there in their team clothes and eating pasta out of a tupperware box. 

On the flight there's kind of a chatty atmosphere. You chat to friends you know on other teams, but sometimes some people like to keep themselves to themselves and they just put their earphones in and watch Netflix - I guess they just want to be left alone. But you always have to make a bit of smalltalk with other riders or else it’s a bit awkward!

Pre-race build-up in Gent

We arrived in Gent on the Thursday evening and stayed in a hotel there where there were a few other teams staying. We were quite close to the course, so could easily go and do the course recon on Friday where we rode on some of the more important cobbled sectors of the race. It’s good to see those sections and how the cobbles feel and how the bike is in case you need to adjust anything like your tyre pressures and things like that – just to make sure you’re like fully tuned in.

Team CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto (photo:Thomas Maheux)

I rode for an hour and a half. Some of the girls rode for longer because they wanted to see the Muur. I didn’t ride up the Muur as I've done ridden up it enough times to know what it feels like, but I did go to some of the other climbs and I thought that was enough for that day. I wanted to save a bit of energy for the next day.

Race Day

There was a nice atmosphere before the race. Omloop always starts in this warehouse car park thing and they drive all the team buses in and then they have a full team presentation on a stage with lights and stuff. 

With my team mates we were all talking before the race and and Tiff [Cromwell] and Kasia [Nieuwiadoma] were trying to count how many times they’ve done Omloop. Tiff’s done it 13 times, and she won it in 2013. Kasia has done it 10 or something. So I was feeling a little I had weak numbers with my four starts! 

But there was a bit of a mix as a couple of the other girls had only done it a couple of times. 

The course is always the same, so it’s almost like you don’t even need to do the recon as you already know where the important points are and what to expect. But because it's always the first WorldTour race of the season everyone has got that extra bit of anticipation and they're not sure about how things are going to go.

Team tactics

In the race the selection is often made on the Muur, so Kasia is definitely our card to play for then, and she was kind of protected and saving herself for then. But we had a couple of faster girls as well like Chiara [Consonni] and Maike [Van der Duin] who we were gonna save and let them follow in case it came down to some sort of a sprint because there was quite a strong headwind on the run in, and it’s almost like one straight road which favours chasers so. You always like to have a couple of different options for how the race is going to go.

My role was to cover attacks or create moves coming into the final part of the race and keep the pressure on before going into the Muur, and looking for opportunities. 

How the race played out

During the race there wasn’t a lot of information that got given to the peloton in terms of how big the gap was to the breakaway. And then there was one point when one rider from UAE came to me and asked us if we were going to chase - at a point where no one was chasing. And I didn’t even know at that time how big the time gap was, so when I asked her and she said 12 minutes or something, I was like what?? 

So I didn’t even hear that from our team radio or from the commissaires. I heard that from another rider, so the information being given to the peloton was a bit vague. We didn’t have any sprinter that was the favourite; Kasia wasn’t the favourite on the climb either. So we weren’t going to be the first ones to chase. We definitely would have contributed if other teams had got something going, but it was a bit awkward, and then everyone was just waiting for each other.

It wasn’t a great situation for the peloton. I did try and attack a couple of times when the gap was 8 minutes, but it was kind of futile because of the gap to the break. I felt a bit silly when I was doing it. Sometimes you’ve got to do it, you never know. 

It did end up coming back to a bit of a bunch kick aside from the couple of girls that were ahead. Maike finished in 11th place but it wasn’t really the plan. We were supposed to sprint with Chiara and then Maike found herself in the front group and we didn’t have anything left to go for. So I think Maike did a good job of getting what she could from that group. But the team weren’t buzzing from the result. We did what we could with what was left.

It was a great day for the breakaway, and I was quite happy for the girl that won [Lotte Claes] because she’s Belgian and I think she’s been around for quite a while. So it was an amazing day for her. 

Alice's verdict

Everyone was playing the card of not chasing the break, and our team was also guilty of doing that. We were saying it’s not on us, and everyone was saying that. And really, it’s on someone. It’s on all of us. It’s just politics. And I think the tactics extended beyond the book - it didn't make sense. I think it was slightly personal between SD Worx and FDJ and there was an element of someone having something to prove to someone else, and I think that’s what happened.

I think that the racing is more wide open because the really fast riders are spread across more teams than before. So it’s going to be a lot more interesting for us and also for people watching as well. Though I think that Saturday [the day of the Omloop race] is not going to be the last time something like that is going to happen. I think that there are going to be some stand-offs in the Classics department!

Maybe there'll be other surprise winners, but it’s a shame because when we [our team] have a favourite, we’ll take the honest option and take to the front and ride for that rider who we want to do the result for, and I think it’s a shame that people try and bluff it and I know it’s part of the game, but it makes it quite a frustrating race for people who just want to keep the racing honest. You just want to do your job and then there’s all sorts of people trying to bluff and stuff.

An honest race at Hageland

The next day I raced at the Omloop Van Het Hageland, which was different from Omloop. That was super-hectic on all these small roads through towns and they were twisty and turny with some cobbled sectors. It was more to script, though there were a lot more smaller teams and it was a lot less predictable. It was quite a difficult race to be honest, and quite dangerous as well, because the level was a bit lower than at Omloop which had all the WorldTour teams. We had three girls in the front, then two, then there was just Maika left. And she also did a good job of representing us at the front and came 6th.

(Photo: Tino Pohlmann)

What’s next for Alice

I was happy with my shape, and I was really happy with the sensations. I think it’s about getting used to the dynamics of the Classics again because positioning is the most important thing. To ride in the front of the peloton is the most important thing, so I’ve definitely got some stuff to work on there. But I’ve got some nice hard racing coming up which will a bit more selective, so I’m looking forward to that. My brother races as well. He is based in Denia and races for Caja Rural development team. So we definitely talk about what we're up to and share our wisdoms. Though I think I give him more advice though!  

I’m off again to Strade Bianche next. I'm looking forward to it. It's always a good race to watch, and it's always a hard race. So it should be good.