This year's Omloop started and ended at St. Peter's Square in Ghent, Belgium and spanned 203 kilometers in the province of East Flanders.

[2] Rabobank's Sebastian Langeveld (NED) beat Team Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha of Spain after a breakaway of 53 kilometers.

[1] Pre-race favorites included:[5][6] Classics riders Fabian Cancellara and Heinrich Haussler decided to skip the race in order to focus on three of cycling's monuments: Milan–San Remo, Tour of Flanders, and Paris–Roubaix.

With 37 kilometers remaining, Langeveld held a minute advantage to a group of ten riders that included Juan Antonio Flecha, Mathew Hayman, Luca Paolini, Niki Terpstra, Martijn Maaskant, Manuel Quinziato, Jürgen Roelandts, Lars Boom, Frédéric Amorison, and John Degenkolb and held a two-minute advantage to many of the pre-race favorites.

Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP), taking advantage of a crash between Luca Paolini and Martijn Maaskant, attacked on the Paddestraat to chase after solo leader Langeveld.

Flecha's Team Sky teammate, Mathew Hayman, won the sprint for third place, as many of the race favorites finished 5 minutes behind.

Because the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is a 1.HC event, riders planned to protest the ban by wearing earpieces at the start of the race.