Winners' bikes: Specialized and Cervelo top Omloop Het Nieuwsblad podiums

The opening day of Opening Weekend got underway with a duo of solo victories and dominant team performances at Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, with SD Worx’s Lotte Kopecky storming to victory ahead of teammate Lorena Weibes in the women’s race just hours after Jumbo Visma’s Dylan van Baarle enjoyed the same fate with his teammate Christophe Laporte sprinting to 3rd in the men’s race.

In my newly-made-up war of the bike brands, the day’s results make it one apiece between Specialized and Cervélo, who sponsor SD Worx and Team Jumbo Visma respectively, with SRAM enjoying a double win, finishing the day two-nil up in the also-made-up battle of the groupsets.

Cyclingnews is on the ground at Opening Weekend in Belgium, and after some sweet talking and light cajoling, I managed to get up close with both of the winners’ bikes.

The fruits of that very labour can be found below, but please forgive the position of the cranks, valves, and in Van Baarle’s case, the entire bike. Mechanics don’t particularly like us touching the bikes, so we’re at their whim with how well they’re presented.

Lotte Kopecky’s S-Works Tarmac SL7

My psychic powers were clearly in decent form on Saturday morning ahead of the race. With all of the SD Worx bikes to choose from, I opted for this very one. I then had more time with it at the finish where it was, uh, exactly the same save for a light dusting of Flandrian earth and as UCI doping control tag.

Lotte Kopecky's S-Works Tarmac SL7

Lotte Kopecky’s S-Works Tarmac SL7, in its stunning purple fade SD Worx colourway (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Roval's Rapide CLX II aero wheels

She’s using Roval’s Rapide CLX II aero wheels. They’re tubeless compatible, but she was using inner tubes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

The UCI testing Kopecky's bike

Thanks to a well timed visit from the UCI, I can confirm this was “not a motorbike.” Interestingly, I got a brief explanation of the device and learned that if this screen shows anything above a 10, then people start getting in trouble (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Lotte Kopecky's Syncros saddle

Ah, Syncros, that well known sponsor of SD Worx… Shhh, don’t tell Specialized. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Lotte Kopecky's Time pedals

Remember, SRAM bought the pedal branch of the Time Components business, so its likely these were thrown into the groupset sponsorship as part of the deal (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Lotte Kopecky's Tacx Ciro bottle cages

Tacx Ciro bottle cages hold the Garmin-branded bottles (which are also made by Tacx, by the way) (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Lotte Kopecky's race bottles

How to spot if a team has a rider-personalised nutrition strategy 👆 (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Lotte Kopecky's new, still-unreleased bar-stem from Roval

She’s also using the new, still-unreleased bar-stem from Roval, which is compatible with the Roval out-front mount shown here (that is actually made by BarFly) (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

The underside of Lotte Kopecky's S-Works Tarmac SL7 cockpit

The underside of the cockpit is a slightly complex shape, so a special moulded spacer is fitted to maintain sleek aero lines (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

On the top tube are the words

Behind it, on the top tube, are the words “This is your stage” (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

She was using a 50/37 chainset, complete with 10-33T cassette at the rear

She was using a 50/37 chainset, complete with 10-33T cassette at the rear (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

She's also using the shortest cranks available in the SRAM Red line; 165mm

She’s also using the shortest cranks available in the SRAM Red line; 165mm (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Lotte Kopecky's S-Works Tarmac SL7 at the finish

Here is Kopecky’s bike from the finish of the race (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Lotte Kopecky's S-Works Tarmac SL7 close up

It’s now wearing a new piece of jewellery, in the form of a UCI tag that essentially tells the team not to run off with it until it’s been checked – again – for motors (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Lotte Kopecky's S-Works Tarmac SL7 rear view

Unlike Van Baarle below, she’s done an excellent job of keeping it clean (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Lotte Kopecky's S-Works Tarmac SL7 - 28mm tyres

The tyres are 28mm wide and were pumped up to “between 4 and 5 bar.” I think, and hope, that the mechanics were purposefully withholding details here (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Dylan van Baarle’s Cervélo S5

Unfortunately, my psychic powers were nowhere to be seen at the start of the men’s race just hours earlier.

So as a result, I was forced to wait – in a courtyard situated tantalisingly close to a van selling frites – while the UCI commissaires did their thing with their magic iPads to confirm that Van Baarle’s bike wasn’t in fact a motorbike.

Once cleared, it was ridden back to the team bus, by the team’s bus driver no less, and dumped somewhat hastily, as shown below.

Dylan van Baarle's Cervelo S5 at the finish

Hastily being the operative word (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Dylan van Baarle's Cervelo S5 caked in dirt

As you can see, Van Baarle doesn’t take as good care for his equipment as Kopecky. Just look how dirty it is (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Dylan van Baarle's Cervelo S5 fitted with Reserve wheels

Cervélo’s parent company has also launched a wheel brand, Reserve, so with the switch away from Shimano at the start of the year, this was the natural fit (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Dylan van Baarle's Cervelo S5 shod with Vittoria Corsa Pro 28mm tyres

Up front, Van Baarle was using the Reserve 40, shod with the new – still unreleased – Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres in a 28mm width (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Dylan van Baarle's Cervelo S5's rear rim, 44mm deep

At the rear, the rim is slightly deeper at 44mm (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Dylan van Baarle's Cervelo S5 with DT Swiss hubs

The wheels aren’t shy about the hubs they use, here, the rims are laced to the 240 hub from rival wheel brand DT Swiss (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Dylan van Baarle's Cervelo S5 fitted with SRAM groupset

The SRAM groupset is fairly old hat by this point, to the point that rumours are circulating about a new Red groupset coming soon (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Dylan van Baarle's Cervelo S5 - close up of the big chainring

Van Baarle ran a slightly bigger chainring than Kopecky, but still nowhere near as big as Victor Campenaerts’ 62T monster (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Dylan van Baarle's Cervelo S5 - a 10-30T cassette