The cobbled Classics season officially got underway at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne this weekend, and given its traditional role as an indicator of the shape of things to come, there's always plenty of room for interpretation and speculation.
Even before the riders stepped out into the arena at Ghent velodrome on Saturday morning for one of the most spectacular settings possible for a race presentation, Wout van Aert's last-minute absence from Omloop was already making the headlines in Belgium. And so, too, was the not-quite-so-surprising addition of Mathieu van der Poel to the men's line-up.
