- Pacific island nations swamped by global drug trade
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- Mozambique elects new president in tense vote
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Balkan summit to rally support for struggling Ukraine
- New stadium gives Real Madrid a headache
- Alonso, Manaea shine as 'Miracle Mets' blitz Phillies
- Harris, Trump trade blows in US election media blitz
- Harry's Bar in Paris drinks to US straw-poll centenary
- Osama bin Laden's son Omar banned from returning to France
- Afghan man arrested for plotting US election day attack
- Brazil lifts ban on Musk's X, ending standoff over disinformation
- Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- Chelsea edge Real Madrid in Women's Champions League, Lyon win
- Japan PM to dissolve parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- 'Diego Lives': Immersive Maradona exhibit hits Barcelona
- Brazil Supreme Court lifts ban on Musk's X
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Six-year-old girl among missing after Brazil landslide
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Mexico president rules out new 'war on drugs'
- Israeli defense minister postpones trip to Washington: Pentagon
- Europe skipper Donald in talks with Garcia over Ryder return
- Kenya MPs vote to impeach deputy president in historic move
- Former US coach Berhalter named Chicago Fire head coach
- New York Jets fire head coach Saleh: team
- Australia crush New Zealand in Women's T20 World Cup
- US states accuse TikTok of harming young users
- 'Evacuate now, now, now': Florida braces for next hurricane
- US Supreme Court skeptical of challenge to 'ghost guns' regulation
- Sparks fly as Orban berates EU 'elites' in parliament trip
- US finalizes rule to remove lead pipes within a decade
- Solanke hungry for second England cap after seven-year wait
- Gilded canopy restored at Vatican basilica
- Zverev scrapes through, Djokovic cruises to Shanghai Masters last 16
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Gauff answers critics: 'It's hard to win all the time'
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- China says raised 'serious concerns' with US over trade curbs
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of other sex crimes
- Italy seek Nations League consistency as Germany continue rebuild
- From boom to budgeting as reality bites for Saudi football
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- England 96-1 after Salman's century lifts Pakistan to 556
- Hollywood star Idris Elba champions African cinema in Ghana
- Djokovic rolls Cobolli to make Shanghai Masters last 16
- Milan's Hernandez receives two-game suspension after referee rant
Van Aert shows early-season power to win Het Nieuwsblad
Local hero Wout van Aert opened the classic season by surging away from a powerful pack to win Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday.
Van Aert attacked with 13 kilometres to go at the foot of the Bosberg, the last climb.
A star-studded leading group hesitated before giving chase but even when they organised a pursuit, Van Aert, a Belgian who rides for Jumbo-Visma, continued to power away from them.
"I didn't think I was in such good shape already," he said.
He finished 22 seconds ahead of Italian Sonny Colbrelli who edged Belgian pair Greg Van Avermaet and Oliver Naesen in a sprint for second.
"Considering what Wout showed today, his phenomenal power, second place was the best I could achieve," said Colbrelli.
Van Avermaet said: "Hats off to Wout! He was really impressive."
Another Belgian, Victor Campenaerts, was fifth, even though he twice had to scramble to catch up to the leaders after a crash and swapping his bike.
The one-day race was the first of the northern European season.
Van Aert, who won two classic in each of the last two seasons, including one of the five 'monuments', Milan-San Remo in 2020, said he was targeting the first two monuments of the northern season: the Tour of Flanders on April 3 and Paris-Roubaix two weeks later.
"My big goals are in a few weeks. But winning this early in the season is already a nice bonus."
He also added he was thinking of wider issues.
"In the current circumstances, with what is happening in Ukraine, the sport is really secondary. I would like to have a thought for all the people who are suffering from this situation and hope that common sense will prevail."
In the women's race, 39-year-old Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten held off compatriot Demi Vollering, 14 years her junior, in a two-woman sprint.
M.Fischer--AMWN