The Omloop Het Volk bicycle race was originally organized by the Het Volk newspaper as a competitive move against the Het Nieuwsblad's very popular Ronde Van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders). When the Het Volk newspaper was taken over by Het Nieuwsblad, the new owners also renamed the race.

The Het Nieuwsblad is first important race on the Belgian racing calender, held on a Saturday at the end of February or the beginning of March. In 1986 and 2004 the race was cancelled because of snow. Het Nieuwsblad is a Belgian affair, with only 3 foreign winners, Franco Ballerini, Michele Bartoli and Filippo Pozzato. Fausto Coppi made an illegal wheel change in 1948 and was disqualified.

The general agreement is that 7 races constitute the Classics: Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem, Paris-Roubaix, Flèche Wallone, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy. Some writers include the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Amstel Gold, Rund und den Henniger Turm, Paris-Brussels and Paris-Tours, but these races are usually regarded as "Semi Classics": important, but not having the full prestige of the big 7.

The route generally starts and ends in Ghent and like the Tour of Flanders, it features short sharp cobbled climbs.