The organisers of the Omloop van Vlaanderen look back on their 61st edition with satisfaction. The public descended on Roeselare in large numbers to see the tenors of a dozen championships and brand cups at work. And with Ghislain de Mévius, the Royal Automobile Club of Central Flanders had a fine winner.
Early on Friday afternoon, there were plenty of people in and around the rally centre. A lot of people enjoyed watching the drivers change their tyres themselves in the 'Tyre Fitting Zone', a unique concept in the Belgian Rally Championship. And even before the first passage on the Zoning, there were quite a few spectators scattered around the event area.
Also on Saturday, many rally fans flocked to the special stages and the epicentre at Zwaaikomstraat where they could enjoy three more passages on the Zoning for free.
The rally itself also went more than decent. The final crossing at Passchendaele did have to be cancelled due to security measures. The only setback to a flawless organisation but the best proof that the security services and the roadmap worked perfectly.
With Belgian rally championship leader Ghislain de Mévius, the Omloop van Vlaanderen got a dream winner, exactly 25 years after his father Grégoire de Mévius wrote the rally to his name. With Vincent Verschueren and Adrian Fernémont, winner still of the Power Stage, there were two more Belgian champions on the podium, showing how high the level was this weekend.
In the other classes too, the level was incredibly high and the Omloop got wonderful winners with Paul Lietaer in historic, Gilles Pyck in the Clio Cup, Charles Munster in JBRC and Gino Bux in the Stellantis Cup. And international was also scored with, among others, Edgar Vigo Lopez almost securing the title thanks to his victory in TER 2WD. In addition, the spectators also visibly enjoyed the Volvo Euro Cup which brought a lot of Swedes to the Rodenbach city and, of course, the spectacular M-Cup, won by Tom Ceuppens.
The organisers therefore look back with satisfaction. 'Our formula works: a compact competition with lots of competition kilometres, the rally passages in the heart of our rally centre, the atmosphere we manage to boost year after year, ... and all this at a time when we are just crawling up after one of the toughest health crises in our history. Many supporters were noticeably pleased to be able to watch the cars again at the tests. We also saw a lot of people less familiar with the sport come and have a look in the service area. We are delighted that we can get rallying close to the people again. We can therefore be proud of our staff, our partners, the emergency services and the municipal authorities involved, with the City of Roeselare at the forefront, of course,' we said.
There is not much time to rest. The Royal Automobile Club Midden Vlaanderen will continue to evaluate this edition and immediately set to work to make it even better next year, for public and riders alike! Appointment in advance on 31 August for the shakedown and 2 and 3 September for 62nd Omloop van Vlaanderen.
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