You might wonder why an edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (or as it was called back in those day, Omloop Het Volk) was held so late in the spring classic calendar. The Omloop is one of the earliest races of the season, it always has been, because the creators of the competition wanted to have something earlier than the big rival Ronde van Vlaanderen.
The reason of the late Omloop Het Nieuwsblad edition is simple: it was postponed because three weeks earlier it was impossible to organize it due to snow.
Neverthelessy this was Eddy Merckx’s first Omloop victory (the second came in 1973).