This weekend, the Dutch Jumbo Visma entered both the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Koole Brussel Kuhne with the strongest crew on paper, even though Classic superstar Wout Van Aert was absent. However, the overwhelming strength shown in both races on the opening weekend is undisputed.

Following Saturday's plan, in which Dylan Van Baar took a solo victory in his team debut, the same thing happened on Sunday in Kuhne. Once again, he ran hard at the front over a long distance, once again making the decisive split, and once again taking the glory.

As impressive as van Baar's victory was, with teammate Mark and Christophe Laporte finishing third, the one-two between Tiesj Benoot and Nathan van Hooydonk was even more impressive in Kuhne.

The final run to the line was a master class in team tactics and strength: the two Belgians took turns attacking from the front of the lead group of five (a total of five within the final 4km) before the final curve, with Benoot coming from behind to win.

Behind him, Van Hooydonk did a fine job of blocking, leaving him strong enough to grab second place; not the first pro win the 27-year-old had dreamed of, but he was thrilled nonetheless.

"I had one of the few chances for personal success here, and I took full advantage of it," Van Hooydonk told the assembled media immediately after the finish. I was really looking forward to this race period and experiencing a dream start."

"I felt good today, but I have been training hard to run well. If I keep this up, the win will come my way one day."

Arthur Van Dongen, the team's sport director, told Cycling News on Saturday that the victory came after a day of "execution as planned." It was the same a day and an hour later in the race in Kuhne.

"Well, I'm still happy about yesterday," Van Dongen said outside the Jumbo Visma team bus. One three, then one two. It's a great start."

"It was exactly the same plan, no, it wasn't the same plan, but we planned this time. That's when I wanted to press up front."

"For a long time the gap remained the same, around a minute or a little more. Nathan was really strong. Nathan was really strong and he beat the other players.

If that was the plan, it wasn't exactly a secret, Van Hooydonk added. The long-distance acceleration in the Omloop might have been a surprise, but he wasn't going to wait for the sprint finish on Sunday.

"We didn't hide in advance that we were going to start early. The "center of gravity" of the course was a little early here. We planned before the start and it worked out well. We started the race with a certain idea and went 100% for it.

"It may seem easy, but it never is. We are seriously struggling, both in training and in the race. Everyone is very committed to the team plan. It may sound ambitious on the bus in the morning, but we all believe in it."

In the final, Benoot and Van Hooydonk attacked freely in a group that included Matej Mohoric, Tim Wellens, and Taco van der Hoorn, and they perfected the final jump. Having spent time together at a recent training camp in Tenerife, it is perhaps unsurprising that the pair seemed to know each other well.

"I roomed with Teesj for three weeks, so it's a dream come true to be skiing together in the final," Van Hooydonk said. [31] "A lot of riders go to high altitude training, but for us it's bigger every time because our performance after high altitude training is so much better. I'm a helper here, but I get the same guidance as Juan Art.