The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium kicked off the Spring Classic campaign, and the Jumbo-Visma team made sure they were ready for the upcoming battle. In a rough Omloop, the Dutch team left the race empty-handed.

The team's two Classic specialists made their season debuts. Wout Van Aert showed glimpses of good form, but was at the mercy of race tactics in the main group.

Meanwhile, the team's Mike Tunissen, who was in the lead group, ran out of gas and dropped out of the lead group at the famous Mur van Geraasbergen, a key obstacle in the race. He missed his chance.

Immediately after the race, both Tunissen and van Aert spoke to the media gathered outside the Jumbo-Visma team bus in chilly Ninove with a large crowd of fans.

"It was a hard race," Tunissen said. "We were going 60 kilometers per hour and then all of a sudden it was 20 kilometers per hour at one point. Everyone had to work hard to finish in the finale. If it's the first race of the season, it's going to be a lot harder than we anticipated.

"It's frustrating to finish sixth and eleventh after such a good race with the team. We had a great chance. My legs felt really good, but at one point they started to go bad. It's the first race of the season. It didn't help. At one moment I realized that the other guys in the top group were better."

"With 30 kilometers to go to the finish, I said to the guys, let's try something. We tried to conserve energy in the lead group. But the gap was too big and they couldn't close it. I tried my best. And again, once you feel out of gas, you can't recover that much. I knew that was going to happen. It was disappointing, though." [Matteo Trentin (CCC), Yves Lampert, Tim DeClercq (Deceuninck Quickstep), Frederik Frisson (Lotto Soudal), Jonas Rucci (EF Procyclfling), Sören Krav Andersen (Sunweb), and final winner Yasper Steiven (Trek Segafredo).

Tunissen saw a dangerous representative and jumped on him, but Van Aert felt that he was not the one to mark this move.

"I'm glad he was there because I had tried a few times and there were several leading riders and outsiders involved in this move. The situation with Mike in the lead group was ideal; it would have been even better with two riders in front of him."

"You can never predict what the finale will be like. It was the first race of the season for Mike, as it was for me. He tried it and unfortunately it didn't work out. In hindsight, it's always easy to make different decisions; I don't think the CCC would have expected Trentin to be dropped. Next time it will work out."

Tunissen was asked about the team leader, whether it was shared or sole.

"There is no team leader," Tunissen said. 'This move, with my addition, puts Uut in an easier position. If the other teams hadn't opened up the gap to two minutes, Wout might have bridged up. We have to stay honest during the race and maintain our ride."

"Watching the way Wout is racing, I'll be keeping an eye on him over the next few weeks. He won't dominate the race, but he will certainly do his part. But we can't afford to let him lose positions in important sections.

This is the first race of the season for Van Aert and Tunissen, who have just finished a high-altitude training camp in Teide, Tenerife; both were stage winners in last year's Tour de France, and Tunissen also wore the maillot jaune for two days. Van Aert then suffered a bad crash in the Tour de France time trial. He was forced to switch his vacation and full season of cyclocross to a recovery program.

However, he competed in the 2020 Dubendorf Cyclocross World Championships in Switzerland last month, finishing fourth, not far behind longtime rival Mathieu van der Pol. He is well ahead of schedule and looks certain to be a top contender in the upcoming spring classics.

"I got to know what I am capable of. Despite the preparation in Tenerife, the climb went pretty well. I was able to get a good idea of what I was capable of," Van Aert said.

On Saturday, Van Aert accelerated several times, clearly hurting the others. While he and Heinrich Haussler maintained a high pace on the cobbled Paddestraat, he took the spotlight for the first time in the race as the rest of the lead group opted for a break.

"Just before that the selection was made and I gave up my bonus on the Paddestrato. I didn't want that, but I didn't get enough support," Van Aert said.

Later, when the breakaway with Tunissen was set, Van Aert was seen with Sepp Vanmarcke (EF Education First) on the Molenberg climb and with Tiesj Bennaut (Sunweb) on the Berendries.

"Sepp did his best, but we couldn't get anywhere with just the two of us. The gap was too big. Teesee was in the same boat, but Claf Andersen was in front of us, so we didn't flatten out. We had to be careful because if we joined the leading group it would only be a bonus for them," Van Aert said.

Van Aert had no regrets, however, as this race was not originally on his race program. He competed in the Omloop because of the uncertainty of the scheduled Italian race.

His goal is to do his best during the so-called "holy week" with the Ronde van Fraanenderen and Paris-Roubaix.

Asked how he is doing in early April, Van Aert laughed, "Who knows?"

"It's hard to predict. Further improvement is always the goal, but we still have to prove if our theories are correct. It's good to get off to a good start. It gives me confidence."

Tunissen agreed: "It would be nice if we could work on the final details and improve our form. If we do that, we'll be good for the upcoming races. If we can get better at the important sections, things will change."