Frank van den Broek right at the front in first WorldTour classic: 'Candle slowly went out, though'

First Flemish race, first Flemish breakaway: Frank van den Broek didn't waste any time in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday. The rider from dsm-firmenich PostNL was in the early breakaway of the day and thus immediately got to know the toughness of classics like this. IDLProcycling spoke the ever-friendly Dutchman!

'We felt like it right away,' Van den Broek laughed broadly. 'We had a nice gap at one point, but then the peloton started racing early. That was unfortunate for us, but in the end it was a ticket for the first fan. At that point, you do know that those guys from Visma | Lease a Bike keep riding because they keep their lead.'

I was a little disappointed, but it was nice to be in the first group for the last hundred kilometers," Van den Broek, who will also compete in Le Samyn on Tuesday, said. It went well, but at one point the candle slowly went out. On the Molenberg I really cracked, but eventually everything came together again before the Wall. But that one was really too much for me in the end.'

The Dutchman is not exactly a heavyweight now, so on the cobblestone climbs - on which mostly stomping is required - he may have a slight disadvantage. 'These days most guys are pretty light, but you just have to try to stay on your feet.' On Sunday, he could already learn from the experienced men in the team: dsm-firmenich PostNL chose to spare leaders John Degenkolb and Nils Eekhoff for Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, which turned out to be a successful tactic. Indeed, Eekhoff finished fifth in Kuurne after good preparatory work by Degenkolb. 'By skipping Omloop, they were able to start with fresher legs in Kuurne.'

Van den Broek himself began his career for the WorldTour team in the Tour of Oman and will also be seen in Strade Bianche next week. 'That took some getting used to, but it was nice to gain race rhythm in the sun. The transition to the WorldTour is going well. Like Saturday, I actually expected a bigger fight for the breakaway group, but we got away pretty quickly. The biggest difference is that it does keep going hard after that.'