The spring Classics are cycling’s greatest spectacle. Up to seven hours of high-octane racing, up and over short, punchy climbs, across bone-jarring cobbles and loose gravel, from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in early March to Liège-Bastogne-Liège in late April.

Winning just one Classic can make a rider’s career. But there are a select few who win, win some more, and keep on winning, becoming their generation’s giant of the Classics. But what makes a Classics legend? What are the key ingredients needed to become a serial winner? How big a part is played by local knowledge? Is it nature, nurture, racecraft, or more to do with the strength of the team?

Take a look at the make-up of the sport’s most iconic cobbled Classics riders and one thing jumps out: most are around 180cm (5ft 11in) tall and weigh around 75kg. There have been a few outliers, of course, such as Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen, who were both taller and heavier, tipping the scales at over 80kg. Meanwhile, lighter-weight Grand Tour superstars barely stand a chance – except if their surname begins ‘Pog’.

Tim Podlogar, an exercise physiologist at the University of Exeter and a consultant to Tudor Pro Cycling Team, explains why lightweight climbers are so rarely in contention in the Classics. “Jonas Vingegaard can’t be a Classics rider because a high absolute power that you can sustain for a long time on flatter terrain is way more important than watts per kilogram.”

On the opposite end of the scale, bulky sprinters don’t fare well either. “The problem with bigger riders is that their high power output requires a high energy demand, and there’s a limit to the amount of energy absorption [from fuelling] during exercise,” Podlogar says.

With the exception of Paris-Roubaix, which doesn’t have any ascent of note, Classics are littered with short, steep climbs. The weight-weenies aren’t able to make their climbing strength count in the same way they can in the mountains of the Tour de France. “Look at what Tadej Pogačar said about Milan-San Remo – he needs a few extra kilos to improve his absolute power so he can push harder on the flats where it’s purely about power,” Podlogar says. And it was borne out: at this year’s San Remo, despite averaging 630 watts for just under nine minutes on the penultimate climn of the Cipressa, Pogačar could not get away from his rivals.

The Cipressa is 5.4km-long with a gradient of 4% – making it one of the longest climbs in all the Classics – but it was not long enough for Pogačar to press home any advantage over Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman is 9kg heavier than Pogačar but seemed quite comfortable as he covered the three-time Tour de France winner’s every move. “Over Classics climbs, a few minutes at most, a rider like Van der Poel can follow a rider like Pogačar because he has the anaerobic capacity to tolerate and sustain [high power] without having to dig into his aerobic capacity,” Podlogar explains. “Higher muscle mass has more fast-twitch fibres, which means having a higher anaerobic capacity, something that suits short, steeper climbs.” In simple terms, Van der Poel doesn’t need to get into oxygen debt.

Another advantage for mid-weight riders is how they’re able to cope better with uneven terrain. “You don’t want to be too light when you hit the cobbles because you’ll bounce around too much from all the kinetic energy,” Podlogar says. “A heavier rider is much more efficient on the cobbles than a lighter rider because they’re able to use the same amount of power for less energy.” There are many riders in the peloton of ideal stature for the Classics – quite tall and around 75kg – but they don’t enjoy the repeated success of Van der Poel and his ilk. So what else do such Classics stars possess?

Generational talent is the answer. “You just need the strongest rider, it’s as simple as that,” says veteran sports director Kim Andersen, now of Lidl-Trek. That view is shared by the rider he guided at various teams, Fabian Cancellara. “You need a Mathieu van der Poel, a Wout Van Aert, a Tadej Pogačar, you need a leader who can dominate and go for results,” says the multi Classics winner. And Edward Planckaert, one of Alpecin-Deceuninck’s go-to domestiques, is clear in his reply when asked if his team would be able continue their current Classics domination without Van der Poel. “No, I really don’t think so,” he says.

Learning the trade

Not even the most gifted riders can do it all by themselves. Cancellara began his career with Mapei-Quick Step, the team of Johan Museeuw, Tom Steels and Paolo Bettini, among others – each of them lecturers in how to win Monuments and triumph in punishing one-day tests. They taught a young Spartacus, as he would come to be known, how to read his rivals’ tactics and intentions, and how to pick his moment, when to stick and when to twist.

What Cancellara took above all from his mentors was how one superstar can lift the performance levels of his helpers. “A strong rider can make a weak team strong,” Cancellara says. “Alone, you can reach a certain level, but when the moment comes to really dominate, you need strong support from the people around you.” Once that moment came, Cancellara was incessant.

“I was always very demanding of myself, and I also requested a lot from those around me,” he continues. “I needed to get the best out of them, for them to give everything. A one-day race is not like a one-week or three-week stage race where you can save a bit of energy.” How did he get the best from his teammates? “The more a rider gave me, the more I gave them,” he says. “Ultimately, you need strong horses in the front who are going to pull. In the first three hours, my job was saving energy, saving my legs, and I needed the other guys around me to do their work and be fully focused.”

The impact of sports directors, often underestimated, tends to be more pronounced at one-day races than in slow-burning Grand Tours. “The DSs design the carpet and roll it out, and then it’s up to you to follow through with it,” Cancellara says, almost poetically. “In the race it’s not only about numbers; the tactics are a constant rolling situation. I was a guy who needed confidence and trust from the car and my colleagues. Even if I knew I was strong, sometimes I would question it, and if I would question too much, things would go wrong. That mental support is crucial.”

Local knowledge is imperative for a classics rider

Cancellara is Swiss, but most of the best Classics riders are Belgian. Local knowledge, knowing the entry to the bergs, when to take the foot off the gas and when to put the hammer down is more significant than in any other type of race. Poor positioning or misunderstanding of a race’s intricacies can very easily spell the end of a rider’s ambitions.

This is why riders complete reconnaissance rides. “You can look on the internet and Google Maps, but if you really want success, you need to go on recons,” says Andersen. “Even if you know Flanders or Liège, you must go and see it again to get a refresher.”

It is also why riders from Belgium and the Netherlands are at an advantage when it comes to the cobbled classics. They will have ridden climbs like the Oude Kwaremont countless times in junior races, and will know every twist and turn in the approach to the key climbs. This means they know where they need to be and when, which means they can save energy over riders who find themselves out of position at key moments

There’s another factor that influences performance: spicy rivalries. Whether it was Eddy Merckx versus Roger De Vlaeminck, Cancellara versus Tom Boonen, or Van der Poel versus Wout van Aert and/or Tadej Pogačar in modern times, facing a foe can be a help or a hindrance, according to Cancellara. “It can give you wings, but it can also put you in the shadows. It depends on the type of rider you are,” he says.

Kings of the classics and their teams

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Alpecin-Deceuninck have been the stand-out team in the spring races, overtaking Soudal-Quick Step as the kings of the Classics. Alpecin haven’t matched that same prolificacy, but five different riders have won 26 spring Classics and semi-Classics for them since 2020.

“I think the reason we’ve been so successful is expectation and nailing the plan,” says Kaden Groves, Alpecin’s preferred third option. “We always have a good plan, everyone in the team knows their role during the day… we create scenarios that pull the race into our favour.”

At the start of the season, Van der Poel said that he would be focusing on the road and Classics in coming years. “If I’m still healthy and still enjoy cycling, why stop?” he added. We don’t yet know who his successor will be – perhaps Britain’s rising star Matthew Brennan – but he’s likely to be a rider of similar build.

“To do well in the Classics, you need to be the right size, and that mostly comes down to genetics,” Podlogar concludes. Alongside genes and the other prerequisites to succeed on the cobbles and up punchy climbs is a little bit of Lady Luck. Just ask Wout van Aert about that.

Best male Classics riders of all time

Eddy Merckx Years active: 1965–1978 | Belgian | 182cm | 74kg
29 wins including: 7x Milan–San Remo, 5x Liège–Bastogne–Liège, 3x Paris–Roubaix

Roger De Vlaeminck 1969–1984 | Belgian | 181cm | 74kg
20 wins including: 4x Paris–Roubaix, 3x Milan–San Remo, 1x Tour of Flanders

Johan Museeuw 1988–2004 | Belgian | 184cm | 71kg
18 wins including: 3x Flanders, 3x Roubaix

Tom Boonen 2001–2017 | Belgian | 192cm | 82kg
21 wins including: 4x Roubaix, 3x Flanders

Fabian Cancellara 2000–2016 | Swiss | 186cm | 80kg
13 wins including: 3x Flanders, 3x Roubaix

Philippe Gilbert 2002–2022 | Belgian | 178cm | 75kg 14 wins including: 4x Amstel Gold, 1x each of Roubaix, Flanders, Liège

Mathieu van der Poel 2014–present | Dutch | 184cm | 75kg 17 wins including: 3x Flanders, 3x Roubaix, 2x San Remo

Rik Van Looy 1953–1970 | Belgian | 178cm | 73kg 19 wins including: 3x Roubaix, 2x Flanders, 4x E3 Saxo Classic

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This article is part of a series called ‘A love letter to…’, where Cycling Weekly writers pour praise on their favourite aspects of cycling. The below content is unfiltered, authentic and has not been paid for.

About three years ago, I set out on a wild challenge in central London. It was two days before Paris-Roubaix, and I was feeling inspired. I, too, wanted to bear the rumble of cobbles underneath my wheels, the bone-rattling sensation in my arms, but living in a built-up capital city, I had no nobbly farm tracks nearby. What could I do? Improvise.

Back in the 18th century, atop a base of sludgy mud, London’s streets were laid with stone cobbles. Most of them have since been paved over, but the remnants of more than 50 original streets can still be found. I found a route online, 50km in length, and, in a move that would prove devastating to my bike, set out to ride them all.

I don’t know what it is about cobbles that draws us cyclists in. They’re uncomfortable to ride over, they kill your rolling speed, and wear down bike parts, and yet, for some reason, I can’t resist them. My jaunt around central London took me more than four hours to complete, and I smiled the whole way round.

I dodged tourists in Covent Garden, outsprinted buses in Wapping, and rattled along the South Bank. I had to stop twice to repair punctures, hobbling 2km to a bike shop at one point for another inner tube. So taxing was the course, that my bike never really felt the same to ride again. I’d have normally considered such a ride a write-off. But since there were cobbles involved, it was joyous.

I’m reminded of that day every time the cobbled Classics come around. These are, in my view, the best weeks of the cycling calendar, with gritty racing, and some of the most wonderfully unusual courses. I never have any trouble explaining what the Tour of France is to my uninitiated friends, but as soon as I tell them about Paris-Roubaix, they think I’m lying. “A forest? Lined with jagged cobbles? That the riders hit at 70km/h? You’re having me on.”

I remember the first time I saw the Trouée d’Arenberg. It was two years ago, when I went out to cover the race for the first time. I don’t get starstruck by people so much, but walking over those sharp stones, I felt a similar sense of awe. This was the most feared stretch of road in the entire sport. The locals probably know it as a disused, old track. I felt like I was inside the Sistine Chapel.

I’ve always sought out cobbles on my rides, and even more so since that pilgrimage. Last year, I went to Switzerland to ride the Gotthard Pass, an Alpine beast with granite cobblestone switchbacks. When I travelled to the Olympics in Paris a few months later, I hired a 20kg pay-as-you-go bike and lugged it up the cobbled Rue Lepic climb. My mantra goes: show me cobbles, and I will ride them.

I suppose what it boils down to is the thrill of adventure. There are only so many smooth tarmac roads one can take, before one craves something a bit more rousing. Some people buy gravel bikes to satiate that thirst, others go for flat-handlebarred mountain machines. All I need is a dab of air released from my tyres, and I’m raring to go.

You can keep your blemish-free Mallorcan asphalt, I’ll be where the cobbles are.

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) proved the fastest of a four-man group to become the first African winner of Gent-Wevelgem.

The 21-year-old Eritrean launched his sprint early, but held off Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma), Dries Van Gestel (TotalEnergies) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) to top the podium in Wevelgem. 

The race, the second of the six spring Classics held in the cycling heartlands of Flanders, was shaken up by last year's winner, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma). The Belgian champion broke free over the final climb, but was reeled in by the peloton who were ultimately outwitted by the four escapees.

Girmay's historic victory comes just two days after he took an assured fifth place at the E3 Saxo Bank Classic on Friday.

How it happened

The 248.9km route rolled north out of Ypres on a flat loop through the First World War battlefields. After 152km, the riders would tackle a circuit of nine hellingen, including three passes over the iconic Kemmelberg. Once the final climb had been crested, a 34km run-in to the finish line would remain to decide the winner. 

It took over 30km of racing for the breakaway to form. The seven-man group, composed of Jelle Wallays (Cofidis), Alexander Konychev (BikeExchange-Jayco), Nikias Arndt (DSM), Ludovic Robeet (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-WB), Lindsay De Vylder (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Lars Saugstad (Uno-X) and Johan Jacobs (Movistar), quickly stretched out a gap of over five minutes to the peloton.

A few mechanical mishaps provided the only real action in the first three hours of racing. The riders, so often affected in this Classic by strong wind gusts and grim weather conditions, enjoyed a Sunday morning spin in the sun.

With 105km to go, the peloton was dealt a wake-up call when a crash split the pack, leaving some with grazed elbows and ripped shorts. The riders had avoided the ‘death ridge’ that separates the concrete slabs of the road, but came unstuck when a narrow lane pinched the width of the group, causing those on the flanks to tumble into the grass ditch. 

The pace accelerated on the approach to the Scherpenberg, the first of the steep inclines, as Bahrain Victorious and Jumbo-Visma battled for control on the front. The breakaway’s advantage was slashed to less than two minutes, and Van Aert came through to lead the peloton over the initial climbs.

Milan-San Remo winner Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) then tore the peloton apart on the first descent of the Kemmelberg, forming a group of 18 riders. Of the early escapees, only Jacobs was able to withstand the chasing group, and maintained a gap of just a handful of seconds through the three unpaved ‘plugstreets’. 

The peloton regrouped with 56km remaining and five punchy climbs still to be conquered. Kasper Asgreen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Van Aert were the first to crest the Kemmelberg on the second pass of the cobbled climb, but were unable to shake off the sprinters at this stage.

The final climb of the day came in the more challenging eastern ascent of the Kemmelberg. Angled at an average gradient of 9.2%, with pitches reaching 23%, the ramp provided the perfect launch pad for the Belgian champion. Van Aert gained a few seconds on his rivals, who caught him on the descent to form an eight-man group that included his Jumbo-Visma teammates Tiesj Benoot and Christophe Laporte.

The race leaders, however, were soon caught. With 24km to go, Laporte went on the attack with Girmay, Stuyven and Van Gestel. The four riders hurtled under the 10km banner with an advantage of 37 seconds.   

Into the final 5km of the race, the reduced group continued to co-operate well to hold off the chasers. Girmay, having hovered behind his rivals in the final kilometre, opened his sprint with 250m to go and kicked powerfully through the pedals, beyond his fellow escapees. 

As he crossed the line, The Eritrean raised his arms aloft to celebrate his first victory at WorldTour level and a historic first for Africa in the Belgian Classic.

Results

Gent-Wevelgem 2022: Ypres to Wevelgem (248.9km)

1. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, in 5-37-57
2. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Jumbo-Visma
3. Dries Van Gestel (Bel) TotalEnergies
4. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo, all at same time
5. Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team DSM, at 8s
6. Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
7. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
8. Iván García Cortina (Spa) Movistar Team
9. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
10. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, all at same time

The Classics are finally back this weekend with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and here’s how you can live stream the Belgian one-day race.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, which form Opening Weekend, are two of the few races that have remained undisturbed in their usual calendar spot throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2021, Davide Ballerini (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) beat out Groupama-FDJ's British rider Jake Stewart in the sprint, with Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Premier Tech) third.

This year will once again see a number of notable names racing for one of the first big wins available this season.

The 2022 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad takes place on Saturday, February 26 with both the men and women racing.

In the men’s race, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl takes a stacked line-up, although will be there without defending champion Davide Ballerini. Instead, Yves Lampaert and Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen will feature, as will past Omloop victor Zdenek Štybar.

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) are two other big names on the start list, while Classics veterans Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r Citroën) and John Degenkolb (DSM) will also be present.

Meanwhile, in the women's edition, world champion Elisa Balsamo will race in the rainbow jersey for Trek-Segafredo, a strong field also including Lotte Kopecky (SDWorx), Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Lorena Wiebes (DSM).

If you can't be in Belgium to get the mud kicked up directly into your face at the roadside, your only other option, really, is to watch the action on television.

Here are all the ways you can live stream Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2022: 

WATCH OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD 2021 IN THE UK

There was some concern for British cycling fans in 2021 leading up to the first cobbled Classic of the year, as regular cycling broadcasters GCN and Eurosport had been unable to obtain rights to show the racing.

Luckily, just three days before the race, GCN and Eurosport announced they had been able to broker a last-minute deal with the race organiser to obtain the rights to show the race.

Things are much calmer for 2022, and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will be broadcast as usual on both GCN and Eurosport on Saturday.

The women’s race will be live on GCN+ 3.30pm-4.30pm, while the men's race will be broadcast from 12.30pm-4.30pm, according to their schedule.

To gain access to Eurosport coverage you can subscribe to the Eurosport Player app for £39.99 a year or £6.99 per month.

Access to the GCN Race Pass costs £39.99 a year, with a special launch offer of £19.99 for the year currently available.

Not at home for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2022? No worries – just download and install a VPN and choose your location to watch live as if you were back home. Full instructions below.

You may find access to your favourite home broadcaster is restricted by location. Luckily there is a way you can keep watching anyway – downloading and installing a VPN, which allows you to trick your computer into thinking it’s back at home. This allows you to find your native broadcaster coverage without having to resort to an illegal steam, as long as you stick to the terms and conditions set out by the broadcaster.

Setting up a VPN is simple – just download, install, open the app and select your location.

Try out ExpressVPN  for its speed, security and simplicity to use. We also like that it’s compatible with so many devices and streaming services (e.g. Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox, PS4, etc).

There are other great options out there of course, but Express VPN gives you the added benefit of a 30-day money back guarantee and three months free with a yearly plan.

LIVE STREAM OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD 2021 FROM THE USA, CANADA AND AUSTRALIA

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will be available to watch in the USA, Canada and Australia thanks to FloBikes, which will have live coverage from both the men’s and women’s races.

Coverage from the men’s race will start at 8am EST and finish at around 11.30am, with the women’s race being shown from 10.30am EST and finishing around 11.30am.

To watch Flo Bikes you’ll need a subscription to view (plans start from $12.50 a month).

WATCH OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD 2021 IN EUROPE

If you’re a cycling fan living in mainland Europe, there are a few options available for you to watch Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Firstly, GCN and Eurosport will have exclusive broadcast rights to the racing across most of Europe, except for Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg where the racing will be live non-exclusively.

The action will also be shown live on Sporza and RTBF in Belgium, L’Equipe in France and NOS in the Netherlands.

US national champion Ruth Winder won the tightest of sprints at Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday (April 14).

The Trek-Segafredo rider won by a matter of millimetres after SDWorx rider Demi Vollering celebrated early, the American pipping the Dutch rider on the line.

Winder and Vollering had been on the wheel of Elisa Balsamo (Valcar Travel and Service) when she opened her sprint, and the two emerged from her slipstream to duke it out for the win, with the Italian coming in third.

A six-woman group had broken away at the beginning of a final 22km lap, and worked flawlessly together to build a lead of over a minute on the chasing group. Vollering had already done a lot of work, and seemed confident as the kilometres ticked by, leading onto the final climb to the line and for much of the penultimate kilometre.

Winder remained well hidden in the group, and though her Dutch rival was able to slip back into the group in the closing 1000m, the American only put her nose in wind as she opened her sprint.

Brit Jos Lowden has had an excellent season for Drops-Le Col and bagged her best result in Overijse with fifth place.

Trek-Segafredo and SDWorx are the two deepest teams in the peloton but Trek only had three wins to their name coming into Wednesday's race.

How it happened

Brabantse Pijl has only been a UCI classified event since 2018, when Marta Bastianelli (Alé-BTC Ljubljana) won, but was previously known as the Pajot Hills Classics, which had two editions in 2016 and ’17.

Since the rebranding it has become increasingly important as a cross-over race from the cobbles of northern Belgium to the hillier races of the south.

An uphill finish and a total of 22 climbs, some of which were covered three times on a closing circuit, the race provides a stiff challenge for those building their form ahead of those better known events to follow.

The race headed east to start, hitting the closing circuit and the short but sharp Hertstraat the first of the ascents which would be covered three times, just after joining the closing circuit with 65km covered.

Ridden twice, that 22km circuit contained five climbs, including the final one kilometre at an average 4.3 per cent gradient to the line.

The only early action came on the the climbs, with teams like Parkhotel-Valkenburg, Canyon-SRAM attempting to animate before finally one of Lotto-Soudal’s attacks resulted in Jesse Vandenbulcke got away.

The Belgian was only able to gain 25 seconds lead though, other teams reacting and towing the whole peloton back together as the race entered the final 80km. This set off a ripple effect though, with first Tibco-SVB trying their luck and Rupelcleaning also getting away.

Even Trek-Segafredo’s Lauretta Hanson tried her luck, but the race stayed resolutely together, the peloton apparently content to wait for the flurry of climbs that would come on the local lap. Here, on the cobbled Hertstraat the pace lifted significantly, and the peloton’s back door began to creak open, riders being dropped.

Moskesstraat, another cobbled climb, saw the attacks begin in earnest, a group of around five women getting off the front, and while they were unable to consolidate their pace saw more women dropped, as the peloton began to thin dramatically.

By the time the race crossed the line for the first time, with 44km to go, less than half the 140 starters remained, though the race calmed once again.

Seven women emerged from the first ascent of the Hagaard, just after the finish line, and though they upped the pace they were joined by three more, including Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) undermining cooperation, the pace easing and a large group re-formed.

More attacks form the bunch came on the uphill approach to the line next time round, Annemiek van Vleuten setting up her Movistar team mate, Leah Thomas who led the way drawing five others with her. The American was joined by her compatriot national champion, Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo), Demi Vollering (SDWorx), Juliette Labous (DSM), Elisa Balsamo (Valcar Travel and Service) and Brit Jos Lowden (Drops-Le Col) who led onto the final lap.

The six women led the race by 30 seconds as they reached the top of the Hertstraat for the final time. Behind both BikeExchange and FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope had missed the move and tried to close the gap but the leaders took an advantage of 55 seconds into the final 10km.

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On the Moskesstraat climb Emila Fahlin (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) led a counter attack but succeeded only in taking Van Vleuten, Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio with her, and with each having a team mate ahead, the move broke down.

Despite a chase by another Brit, Amelia Sharpe (NXTG) and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Liv Racing), as the leading group hit the bottom of the climb to the line they led by more than one minute.

Result

Brabantse Pijl Elite Women, Lennik - Overijse (127.3km)

1. Ruth Winder (USA) Trek-Segafredo in 3-20-00

2. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx

3. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service

4. Leah Thomas (USA) Movistar

5. Jos Lowden (Gbr) Drops Le Col), all at same time

6. Juliette Labous (Fra) DSM, at 6 sec

7. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) SDWorx, at 57 sec

8. Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope

9. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Trek-Segafredo

10. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Liv Racing ,all at same time

Lorena Wiebes took the first win of her season after a scrappy sprint at the first-ever women’s Scheldeprijs on Wednesday. The Dutch sprinter benefitted from a strong and determined lead out from her DSM team, patiently hiding on Norwegian team-mate Susanne Andersen’s wheel until the final 100m.

A number of teams had tried to impose themselves on the final, with Movistar particularly visible, though Emma Norsgaard opened up too early, finishing second. Continental team Valcar Travel and Service are another squad with a proven lead out and Elisa Balsamo managed third place.

As is so often the case in the men’s race in Schoten the final was particularly messy, with other teams also getting in the mix in the final. Sarah Roy was placed well in the closing kilometre by BikeExchange team-mate Teniel Campbell, but was stranded in the wind too early, was the first to start her sprint and only managed seventh.

British squad Drops-Le Col bagged an excellent fourth place with Emilie Moberg backing up the squad’s third place result at Ronde de Mouscron on Monday.

It’s been a tough opening to the season for Wiebes. The former Dutch champion crashed hard on the opening stage of the Healthy Ageing Tour, and she has failed to reach the podium even in races she would expect to win, her best result to date fifth at Nokere Koerse.

How it happened

First run in 1907, after 108 editions the men’s Scheldeprijs is one of the oldest races held in Flanders, however this was the first edition of a woman’s race. The new addition means organiser, Flanders Classics’ entire road cycling portfolio now has both men’s and women’s events.

All of these are now UCI classified at either WorldTour, ProSeries or, like Wednesday’s race at 1.1 level, and a major step forward for the women’s sport, especially as all the company’s events are televised or live streamed.

At 136km, with high winds and rain the race provided a real challenge, despite the entirely flat parcours, which began with an opening loop of 86km into the countryside, before heading back to Schoten, near Antwerp for three 16km local laps.

Such were the conditions that some riders were dropped very early on, and by the time 25km were done a group of 16km women had formed at the front.

This included some of the pre-event favourites, with Elisa Balsamo (Valcar Travel and Service), 2016 world champion Amalie Dideriksen (Trek-Segafredo) and British champion Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) all present. However, with three women there, Lorena Wiebes’s DSM squad were the best represented, though also in the group was German champion Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT), a hugely capable sprinter, and second at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders.

However, despite their strength with so far to go the will seemed to go out of the leading group, and they were caught with 94km remaining. Around 10km later the peloton split in half, a crash finishing what the wind had started, though even the consequent 30-second gap was soo closed. The race then entered a period of relative stasis, frequent villages and trees meaning the route was never exposed to the elements long enough to make a real difference.

A huge crash when a rider hit a pothole on a short cobbled sector just before the race hit the closing circuit caused another split, and though the peloton re-formed another pile up wreaked havoc, with Alice Barnes the highest-profile casualty.

However, even then a full peloton crossed the finish line at the start of the closing three laps, 48km from the finish. Just one kilometre later though, Daniek Hengeveld (GT Krush Tunap) attacked the race just as she did during stage one of the Healthy Ageing Tour in early March. That day she was only caught inside the final 200m, but despite the threat posed by the 18-year-old, the peloton let her build a lead.

Even inside the final 30km Hengeveld’s lead was growing, the bunch only reacting when she led by 1-20; DSM, Ceratizit-WNT, Trek-Segafredo, Movistar and Valcar Travel and Service all contributing to bringing her back.

As Hengeveld took the bell with one lap to go the gap was down inside 20 seconds with the sprinters’ teams eating away at the lead and she was caught shortly after.

This invited further attacks, with 2019 Giro Rosa stage winner Letizia Borghesi (AromItalia Basso Bikes Vaiano) getting away. However, her highlighter-green kit meant she could never be lost against the greyness of the day and she was left dangling until being caught four kilometres out as the lead-outs went to work.

Result

Scheldeprijs Elite Women 2021: Schoten - Schoten (136km)

1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) DSM in 3-26-49

2. Emma Norsgaard (Den) Movistar

3. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service

4. Emilie Moberg (Nor) Drops Le Col

5. Lisa Klein (Ger) Canyon-SRAM

6. Arlenis Sierra (Cub) AR Momex

7. Sarah Roy (Aus) BikeExchange

8. Sandra Alonso (Esp) Bizkaia Durango

9. Amalie Dideriksen (Den) Trek-Segafredo

10. Charlotte Kool (Ned) NXTG Racing all at same time.

Groupama-FDJ have had to pull out from racing at the Belgian one-day race of Scheldeprijs due to a positive Coronavirus test within the team.

The French squad were set to start with their star sprinter and French champion, Arnaud Démare, who recently took his first win of the season at La Roue Tourangelle where he beat Nacer Bouhanni (Akéa-Samsic) to the line.

The team put out a short Tweet earlier this morning (April 7) saying: "We will not take the start of the Scheldeprijs this Wednesday, due to the positive test for Covid-19 of one of our team members."

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It is not yet clear whether the positive was within the riders or the staff, but the team have taken the correct procedure.

Other teams have had to do the same at other big races with Alpecin-Fenix, Bora-Hansgrohe, Trek-Segafredo, and Kern-Pharma all having to abandon races due to positive tests from riders or staff members.

Démare will likely be frustrated as he would have wanted to kick start his season after getting his first win of the year. The French champion won 14 times in 2020, which made him the rider with the most wins in the year. It also earned him the points jersey at the Giro d'Italia, where he took four wins.

The weather has also played a part in the team presentation having to be cancelled due to the bitterly cold weather and snow.

This meant that the riders in both the men's and women's races did not do the usual sign-on on the stage and instead went straight to the start line.

Scheldeprijs finishes in the town of Schoten with the men's race starting in Terneuzen before taking on a windswept 193.8km whereas the women's race started and finishes in Schoten after 136.2km.

The race usually comes down to a mass sprint finish with some of the biggest names in the sprinting world taking to the men's race. The now retired Marcel Kittel holds the record for the most wins with five wins between 2012 and 2017.

This year sees the first-ever women's edition of the race and the race has attracted some big with top sprinters like Lorena Wiebes (DSM), Marta Bastianelli (Alé-Ljubljana-BTC), Elisa Balsamo (Valcar-Travel & Service), and Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) all riding.

Annemiek van Vleuten won the Tour of Flanders for the second time with a signature attack.

The European champion launched her move on the Paterberg, the race’s final climb some 13km from the finish, and held off a group of seven chasers.

German champion Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT) won the sprint for second place, with Grace Brown (BikeExchange) in third.

Brown had attacked a group of eight women which had been led by Anna van der Breggen on the Oude Kwaremont, and was joined by Van Vleuten on the run into the Paterberg. The pair were caught immediately before the 90-degree turn onto the Paterberg and it was here the Dutch rider went.

The chasing group of seven contained two riders from SDWorx and initially cooperation was not good, allowing Van Vleuten to grow her lead. However, the victory as only certain inside the final two kilometres.

The win is the first WorldTour win for Movistar’s women’s team since their creation in 2018 and is exactly what the Spanish squad signed her to do. She also becomes only the third woman to win the race twice in its 18 editions, coming 10 years after her last victory, taken on a different course, finishing in Meerbeke.

How it happened

As it has done since 2012, the 18th edition of the women’s Tour of Flanders started and finished in Oudenaarde, the peloton riding 152.4km in between. While the race was some six kilometres short the longest edition, it was nearly 60km longer than the first race won by Zulfiya Zabirova in 2004.

The 2021 race contained 13 of the short sharp climbs the Flemish Ardennes is known for, more than any others year, and finished with the regular Oude Kwaremont/Paterberg double. The top of that final climb came some 13.2km from the famous finish line across a wide and otherwise anonymous road immediately west of Oudenaarde.

With the late start designed, and already proven, to improve television viewing figures, 143 women were allowed a lie in before rolling out of town at 1pm. Of the 24 teams Trek-Segafredo were the only squad to start the day with fewer than the permitted six riders, the US outfit fielding only five.

After 10km two riders escaped the bunch, former German time trial champion Mieke Kröger (Coop-Hitec Products) and Fien van Eynde (Doltcini van Eyck) gradually building a lead of 30 seconds on a seething bunch.

However, the bunch were never quite happy, and on the approach to Lippenhovestraat the speed upped and the leading duo were caught, only for Femke Markus (Parkhotel-Valkenburg) to get away after Paddestraat.

The Dutch woman was then joined by Rozanne Slik (Bingoal Casino-Chevalmire) Amber Aernouts (Doltcini van Eyck), Inga Čečuliene (AromItalia Basso Bikes Vaiano) and Emilie Moberg (Drops Le Col), the five riders maintaining a lead of 35 seconds over the first climb, the Kattenberg.

But as the race reached Holleweg, the third cobbled section, the gap came down and over the Edlare they were caught, the bunch staying together for the next 40km.

Only on the Berg Ten Houte when Liv Racing’s Canadian Alison Jackson hit the front did the race really stretch, Movistar keeping the pace high over the top and causing the peloton to split.

It split again when, inside 45km to go, European champion Annemiek van Vleuten attacked the Kanarieberg, leading a group of only 15 women onto the descent, and though that group swelled, Trek-Segafredo’s Audrey Cordon-Ragot attacked.

The French champion led by 15 seconds as she reached the top of the Taaienberg, what was left of the peloton apparently happy to allow her some freedom as that took a feed.

Despite a couple of speculative probes off the front of that chasing group, Cordon-Ragot, a former national time trial champion, was able to stretch her advantage to 50 seconds as she began the Kruisberg, with only 29km remaining.

On the smooth tarmac of Hotond a flurry of attacks caused the gap to come down, Soraya Paladin (Liv Racing) closing in, while the bunch monitored within touching distance ahead of the Oude Kwaremont.

Cordon-Ragot was caught at the bottom of the climb, while one of the pre-race favourites, Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky was put out of the race after suffering a mechanical, as ahead of her the race shattered.

>>> Kasper Asgreen outsprints Mathieu van der Poel to win Tour of Flanders 2021 

Only eight women emerged from the top of the climb, and from that Grace Brown (BikeExchange) attacked and was joined by Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), and while they were caught before the Paterberg, Van Vleuten went again on the steepest section.

Result

Tour of Flanders Elite Women, Oudenaarde - Oudenaarde (152.4km)

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Movistar

2. Grace Brown (Aus) BikeExchange

3. Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Ceratizit-WNT

4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo

5. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx

6. Marta Cavalli (Ita) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope

7. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope

8. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SDWorx

9. Eugenia Bujak (Sui) Alé-BTC Ljubljana

10. Kristen Faulkner (USA) Tibco-SVB

The start list for the 2021 edition of the Tour of Flanders has not yet been confirmed but here are the names currently down to race.

Belgium’s cobbled Monument takes place on Sunday, April 4 this season, after being held in October last year due to Covid-19, and we'll be treated to a stellar line-up of talent.

Defending champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) is down to start with the usual solid team around him as they come up against the likes of Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r-Citroën) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) who comes to the race with the first Monument, Milan-San Remo, in his back pocket.

On-form Deceuninck-Quick-Step brings with them a strong team, including World Champion, Julian Alaphilippe, who makes his second appearance at the race after crashing out last year, Yves Lampaert, Kasper Asgreen and Zdeněk Stybar.

One of the biggest stars on the list is the on-form Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), as he looks to continue his amazing form going into the cobbled monuments.

Other big names on the start list include Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Oliver Naesen (Ag2r-Citroën), Sep Vanmarke (Israel Start-Up Nation), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).

In the women's race, defending champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (SD Worx) will be hoping that she can be involved in the finale yet again in her final season.

Current world champion and team-mate of Van den Broek-Blaak, Anna van der Breggen, is likely going in as the favourite but she faces stiff opposition from European Champion Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar) and Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) who comes to the race off the back of her victory at Gent-Wevelgem.

Other on-form riders and real dangers for the race win are yet more SD Worx riders in Jolien d'Hoore and Amy Pieters. Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky (Lotto-Soudal) and German champion Lisa Brennauer (Ceretizit-WNT) are two other fast riders who can make it over the cobbles too.

Trek-Segafredo have a very solid team yet again with Elisa Longo-Borghini and Lizzie Deignan likely down as the main leaders but with Ellen van Dijk as well as the world cyclo-cross champion Lucinda Brand as an outsider.

Other names to look out for are Marta Bastianelli (Alé-BTC-Ljubljana), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Cecile Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), Emme Norsgaard (Movistar), Grace Brown (BikeExchange) and Elisa Balsamo (Valcar-Travel & Service).

>>> The Monuments: Cycling’s five biggest one-day races

Men's Tour of Flanders 2021 start list

Alpecin-Fenix

VAN DER POEL Mathieu

VERMEERSCH Gianni

DE BONDT Dries

DILLIER Silvan

RICKAERT Jonas

VAKOČ Petr

VERGAERDE Otto

EF Education-Nippo

BETTIOL Alberto

SCULLY Tom

VALGREN Michael

RUTSCH Jonas

LANGEVELD Sebastian

KEUKELEIRE Jens

BISSEGGER Stefan

Total Direct Energie

TERPSTRA Niki

VAN GESTEL Dries

TURGIS Anthony

BOASSON HAGEN Edvald

GAUDIN Damien

SOUPE Geoffrey

PETIT Adrien

Movistar Team

GARCÍA CORTINA Iván

CULLAIGH Gabriel

HOLLMANN Juri

JACOBS Johan

MAS Lluís

MORA Sebastián

ERVITI Imanol

Deceuninck - Quick-Step

LAMPAERT Yves

ALAPHILIPPE Julian

BALLERINI Davide

DECLERCQ Tim

ASGREEN Kasper

ŠTYBAR Zdeněk

SÉNÉCHAL Florian

Lotto-Soudal

WELLENS Tim

DEGENKOLB John

DE BUYST Jasper

VAN MOER Brent

FRISON Frederik

VERMEERSCH Florian

Bora-Hansgrohe

SAGAN Peter

BODNAR Maciej

OSS Daniel

BURGHARDT Marcus

POLITT Nils

SAGAN Juraj

PÖSTLBERGER Lukas

Ag2r-Citroën Team

NAESEN Oliver

VAN AVERMAET Greg

SCHÄR Michael

DEWULF Stan

VAN HOUCKE Gijs

NAESEN Lawrence

TOUZÉ Damien

Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-Wallonie Bruxelles

LIVYNS Arjen

DUPONT Timothy

ROBEET Ludovic

VANENDERT Jelle

REX Laurenz

MENTEN Milan

WIRTGEN Luc

Team BikeExchange

MEZGEC Luka

DURBRIDGE Luke

BAUER Jack

EDMONDSON Alex

MATTHEWS Michael

KONYCHEV Alexander

JANSEN Amund Grøndahl

Astana-Premier Tech

GIDICH Yevgeniy

HOULE Hugo

LUTSENKO Alexey

FEDOROV Yevgeniy

GRUZDEV Dmitriy

PERRY Benjamin

STALNOV Nikita

Bahrain Victorious

SIEBERG Marcel

FENG Chun Kai

COLBRELLI Sonny

MILAN Jonathan

HALLER Marco

HAUSSLER Heinrich

BAUHAUS Phil

Groupama-FDJ

MADOUAS Valentin

GENIETS Kevin

KÜNG Stefan

LUDVIGSSON Tobias

LE GAC Olivier

LIENHARD Fabian

Team Qhubeka-Assos

NIZZOLO Giacomo

CAMPENAERTS Victor

GOGL Michael

WALSCHEID Max

WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz

VINJEBO Emil

CLAEYS Dimitri

Team Jumbo-Visma

VAN AERT Wout

DEKKER David

AFFINI Edoardo

WYNANTS Maarten

ROOSEN Timo

EENKHOORN Pascal

VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan

Israel Start-Up Nation

HOFSTETTER Hugo

VANMARKE Sep

GREIPEL André

ZABEL Rick

BIERMANS Jenthe

HOLLENSTEIN Reto

VAN ASBROECK Tom

Ineos Grenadiers 

PIDCOCK Tom

KWIATKOWSKI Michał

ROWE Luke

DOULL Owain

VAN BAARLE Dylan

BASSO Leonardo

Team DSM

BENOOT Tiesj

EEKHOFF Nils

ARNDT Nikias

SÜTTERLIN Jasha

KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren

NIEUWENHUIS Joris

DENZ Nico

Trek-Segafredo

STUYVEN Jasper

KIRSCH Alex

PEDERSEN Mads

THEUNS Edward

MULLEN Ryan

DE KORT Koen

SIMMONS Quinn

UAE Team Emirates

KRISTOFF Alexander

TRENTIN Matteo

MARCATO Marco

BYSTRØM Sven Erik

FORMOLO Davide

OLIVEIRA Ivo

OLIVEIRA Rui

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

ALLEGAERT Piet

LAPORTE Christophe

BOHLI Tom

DRUCKER Jempy

WALLAYS Jelle

VANBILSEN Kenneth

MORIN Emmanuel

Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

MARIT Arne

WARLOP Jordi

BEULLENS Cédric

WILLEMS Thimo

VAN DEN BOSSCHE Fabio

DE VYLDER Lindsay

VAN POUCKE Aaron

B&B Hotels p/b KTM

DEBUSSCHERE Jens

BACKAERT Frederick

COQUARD Bryan

BARTHE Cyril

DE BACKER Bert

LECROQ Jérémy

MOZZATO Luca

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

VAN POPPEL Danny

VLIEGEN Loïc

KOCH jonas

DE GENDT Aimé

VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter

PASQUALON Andrea

KREDER Wesley

Arkéa-Samsic

RUSSO Clément

BARGUIL Warren

CAPIOT Amaury

SWIFT Connor

NOPPE Christophe

DECLERCQ Benjamin

LOUVEL Matis

Women's Tour of Flanders 2021 start list

SD Worx

VAN DER BREGGEN Anna

D'HOORE Jolien

VAN DEN BROEK-BLAAK Chantal

CECCHINI Elena

PIETERS Amy

MAJERUS Christine

Team BikeExchange

CAMPBELL Teniel

BROWN Grace

ROY Sarah

SPRATT Amanda

FIDANZA Arianna

TENNIGLIO Moniek

Liv Racing

KOPECKY Lotte

JACKSON Alison

PALADIN Soraya

BERTIZZOLO Sofia

KUIJPERS Evy

KOREVAAR Jeanne

Trek-Segafredo

VAN DIJK Ellen

DEIGNAN Lizzie

LONGO-BORGHINI Elisa

CORDON-RAGOT Audrey

BRAND Lucinda

WINDER Ruth

Team DSM

MACKAIJ Floortje

LABOUS Juliette

LIPPERT Liane

KIRCHMANN Leah

ANDERSEN Susanne

KOCH Franziska

Canyon-SRAM Racing

BARNES Alice

BARNES Hannah

AMIALIUSIK Alena

NIEWIADOMA Kasia

KLEIN Lisa

CROMWELL Tiffany

Ceretizit-WNT Pro Cycling

BRENNAUER Lisa

CONFALONIERI Maria Giulia

LETH Julie

BANKS Elizabeth

ASENCIO Laura

TEUTENBERG Lea Lin

Valcar-Travel & Service

PIRRONE Elena

BALSAMO Elisa

CONSONNI Chiara

GUAZZINI Vittoria

SANGUINETI Ilaria

PERSICO Silvia

Movistar Team

BIANNIC Aude

ERIĆ Jelena

VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek

NORSGAARD Emma

GONZÁLEZ Alicia

THOMAS Leah

Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank

STEPHENS Lauren

YONAMINE Eri

KESSLER Nina

GIGANTE Sarah

FAULKNER Kristen

BUURMAN Eva

Parkhotel-Valkenburg

BREDEWOLD Mischa

RAAIMAKERS Marit

NOOIJEN Lieke

VAN DER HULST Amber

MARKUS Femke

GERRITSE Femke

FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitane Futuroscope 

GROSSETÊTE Maëlle

LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup

CAVALI Marta

FAHLIN Emilia

DUVAL Eugénie

CHAPMAN Brodie

Lotto-Soudal Ladies

NILSSON Hanna

VANDENBULKE Jesse

PLICHTA Anna

PARKINSON Abby-Mae

MEERTENS Lone

BRAAM Danique

Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport

VAN VELZEN Bryony

STEIGENGA Nicole

VAN EYNDE Fien

SCHWEINBERGER Christina

SCHWEINBERGER Kathrin

Plantur-Pura

ALVARADO Ceylin

CANT Sanne

BAKKER Manon

VAN DER HEIJDEN Inge

VAN ALPHEN Aniek

KASTELIJN Yara

Multum Acountants-LSK Ladies Cycling Team

VAN DER WOLF Rosalie

DUYCK Ann-Sophie

DE SMEDT Marijke

DELBAERE Fien

WATERREUS Kylie

VAN HOUTUM Céline

Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeire Cycling Team

BEX Nathalie

DE JONG Demi

SLIK Rozanne

DE JONG Thalita

RATTO Rossella

JONGERIEUS Claudia

Team Coop-Hitec Products

ANDERSSON Caroline

GJØS Martine

LUTRO Amalie

YSLAND Anne Dorthe

KRÖGER Mieke

RIFFEL Christa

Drops-Le Col s/b Tempur

CHRISTMAN Dani

PENTON Sara

MOBERG Emilie

MARTINS Maria

VAN DER DUIN Maike

VAN 'T GELOOF Marjolein

Massi-Tactic Women Team

BENITO Mireia

TRIAS Ariadna

LÓPEZ Belén

ORTEGA Patricia

MARTIN Isabel

PILOTE-FORTIN Gabrielle

Teamwork and course knowledge will be the deciding factor at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, according to Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig.

Sunday’s FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope team will be the strongest squad the charismatic Danish woman has led on the Belgian cobbles, and she is hoping they can dictate the race.

In 2019 she finished third behind Italian sprinter Marta Bastianelli (Alé-BTC Ljubljana), but Uttrup Ludwig knows she will need to risk all to take the win.

“She [Bastianelli] was flying and at the end I didn’t have any more energy, that was all I had to give, but it’s not a good idea to come home with a sprinter,” Uttrup Ludwig told an online press conference. “It’s super cool to get WorldTour podiums but now I think I really want to go for the win, and I would rather risk it and then get 20th. So you either risk big and you win big or you lose big.”

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In recent years FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope have steadily been internationalising their roster with the aim of having a 50/50 French and international squad. As part of that policy, Uttrup Ludwig joined last season and the team now has the depth to take on the bigger teams.

Emilia Fahlin joined in 2019 but has lacked form after suffering an injury, but her 2021 results have been improving each race, and last weekend the former Swedish champion finished sixth at Ghent-Wevelgem.

The addition of the hugely versatile Marta Cavalli has also proved a boon for the French squad. The Italian can compete in bunch kicks, bagged eighth at Strade Bianche, and also finished 10th and 11th in the two most recent editions of De Ronde. Uttrup Ludwig too has been going well, with top five finishes in Strade Bianche and Trofeo Binda.

“This is something that will play in our favour,” said 25 year-old Uttrup Ludwig. “In the end having multiple cards to play is always an advantage, it’s going to be super cool because I think we will start with cards to play.

“It will be about having numbers, and you’ll probably also see good team tactics because when the bunch is getting small in the final, if you still have two teams that have four or five riders even they can play the cards. If you only sit with one or two it’s hard to go on every attack so you have to choose which one you go to, and sometimes it’s luck that you chose the right one. Sometimes you’re not choosing the right one and then the race has gone.

Despite the increasing depth in the women’s peloton, SDWorx and Trek-Segafredo are still the strongest, but as we saw at Dwars Door Vlaanderen anything can happen anywhere.

The bunch will tackle 13 climbs and five other, flat cobbled sectors through the 152.4km race, with the traditional closing double of Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg often decisive. Uttrup Ludwig expects the action to start much earlier however.

“I think the final will play out before the Kwaremont, and often also winning race move has gone just after Hotond, but also everyone so keen and so motivated to be in the top 10 when we turn right into Kanarieberg because that is the start, so then you have to be ready.

“You need to know the course and you need to know your opponents.”

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Mathieu van der Poel came to Dwars door Vlaanderen 2021 as the defending champion and the rider with the most wins taking part in the race but he looked a shell of his normal self on the roads of Belgium.

Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) was dropped by the main favourites on the Knokteberg climb where he drifted back to the peloton that contained his team's on-form sprinter, Tim Merlier. The Belgian champion said he thought Van der Poel was joking when he said he wasn't feeling good.

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Merlier took third on the day behind eventual solo winner Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) and Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) and spoke to Het Nieuwblad after the race: "In the beginning I didn't have a good feeling because of the heat, but that was improved by cooling myself with water.

"When Mathieu [van der Poel] came to us, he said he was not good. At first I thought he was joking, but he wasn't.

"Then we decided to start riding, because Jasper [Philipsen] was also in the front with too many fast men. From then on it was tunnel vision, and we hoped we were going to get him back. First the other teams came to help a bit, but then the support was somewhat gone. We ended up short on those today.

"The heat played a very big role. I know that I have a lot of trouble with that, but apparently other riders too. Everyone was complaining. I don't think we should draw too many conclusions from it. On Sunday it will be 10 degrees cooler and the situation will be different."

The race was full-on from the start with only three riders managing to make the break, but they were caught with around 55km to go, moments later the winning move was made by Van Baarle and it was a fight for the minor places behind.

Van der Poel, who has won four times this season, was hardly ever near the front apart from one small move from the peloton which led to the forming of the chasing group that included Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r-Citroën) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo).

The Dutch champion did play a part in who got the podium places though thanks to one last big turn that he put in with just over a kilometre to go to pull back the Van Avermaet group, before finally getting dropped out of the back for good a few hundred metres later.

Other big names that seemed to either take it easy or suffer were world champion Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen (both Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), and Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ).

The next big race for him is the Tour of Flanders on Sunday where he will hope to be back to his usual powerful self on the bike.

Dylan van Baarle came out on top at Dwars Door Vlaanderen 2021 after going on a long-range solo effort with around 50km to go.

Van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) held off the chasing group including Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r-Citroën) and Milan-San Remo 2021 winner Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) who were not able to get close to the Dutchman as he held around 30 seconds' advantage for almost an hour.

The chasers were caught inside the final kilometre after a huge turn by Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) to work for his sprinters. Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) went on a late attack beating the bunch to second place with Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) taking third.

>>> Annemiek van Vleuten takes Movistar’s first win after a tense Dwars door Vlaanderen

How it happened

Dwars Door Vlaanderen takes in some of the hardest cobbled sectors including the Taaienberg and twice up the Knokteberg-Trieu as well as the Nokereberg, which is used as the finishing kick at Nokere Koerse.

The race started in Roeselare before winding its way around the tight roads of Belgium finishing in Waregem after 184.1km.

High paced from the start, the break had a near-impossible task. Three riders did manage to get away but only pulled out a maximum gap of 40 seconds. Those two riders were Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Soudal), Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) and Jelle Wallays (Cofidis). Vermeersch was dropped with 68km to go by the leaders.

Elia Viviani (Cofidis) and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) both went down in a crash with about 60km to go.

The Taaienberg came with 58km to go splitting the main group to bits with about 25 riders going clear as they caught the break. Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious) went off the front quickly followed by Hayter who tried to get away again.

As they were brought back Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Stan Dewulf (Ag2r-Citroën), Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Clément Russo (Arkéa-Samsic), Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), as well as Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) and Hayter, all went away with 53km to go.

Van Baarle then went solo and quickly pulled out a very large gap with 50km to go. Back in the peloton Van der Poel appeared for the first time but was unable to get away. Various attacks continued from the main bunch but none were really sticking.

Eventually, seven riders managed to get away including Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Florian Sénéchal (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) but they were all quickly brought back. Three riders pulled away from the peloton with 40km to go with Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka-Assos), Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) and Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange).

Teuns came back up to that trio with Sénéchal, Stuyven, Laporte, Van Avermaet and Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) with 35km to go with Van Baarle still holding over 30 seconds' gap.

Both Van Avermaet and Barguil tried multiple times to get away before Stuyven kicked hard with 18km to go but the Milan-San Remo winner only managed to pull five seconds off the solo Dutchman up-front.

Van Baarle still held 30 seconds over the top of the final cobbled climb of the Nokereberg. Van Avermaet continued to try and bridge the gap but there was no real impression on the gap with 10km to go.

And the gap didn't really change all the way to the line. The chase group was eventually caught by the peloton thanks to a monster turn by Van der Poel who looked a bit off-colour on the bike. Laporte tried a late move and managed to hold on for second place ahead of Merlier leading in the main bunch.

Results

Dwars Door Vlaanderen 2021, Roeselare to Waregem (184.1km)

No gaps given yet

1. Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers

2. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis

3. Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix

4. Yves Lmapaert (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

5. Tosh van der Sande (Bel) Lotto-Soudal

6. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates

7. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Ag2r-Citroën Team

8. Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie

9. Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

10. Jasper Stuyvan (Bel) Trek-Segafredo

Annemiek van Vleuten won for the first time in Movistar colours after a 36km two-woman breakaway at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday.

The European champion opened her sprint with 300m to go, out-sprinting Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) who finished second.

Niewiadoma's Canyon-SRAM team-mate, Alexis Ryan won the sprint for the podium, finishing third, with the chasing group around 20 seconds down.

In what was a fantastically attacking race, which produced a very tense final, the duo attacked on the Knokteberg, catching a group of six women, dropping them before the top, before working tirelessly into the finish straight.

The race was notable for the performance of Trek-Segafredo who took a super strong squad of six women to the start in Waregem. They dominated the early kilometres, using their strength to split the race on each of the climbs and cobbled sectors, however, they missed the race-winning move.

Though they had four women in the chasing group of around 20, they needed help from BikeExchange to bring the leaders' advantage within 15 seconds. However, when their Australian champion Sarah Roy punctured impetus went out of the pursuit.

Despite repeated and persistent attempts from a number of riders over the ensuing 25km, the gap fluctuated between 15 and 30 seconds, and even when other teams helped with a concerted pursuit, the leaders resisted.

How it happened

Only the fourth edition of the race since it became a UCI event in 2017, this year’s Dwars door Vlaanderen is the longest in its short history. Starting and finishing in Waregem, the 122.2km race took in 10 climbs - four of them cobbled - the Kluisberg being the first coming after 47km. 

There was an aggressive start to the day, the bubblegum pink jerseys of Valcar Travel and Service particularly active, and the pace was up and down as the bunch reacted, never allowing anything to get away.

The Kluisberg saw some dropped, though many of those were able to get back on on the descent and the subsequent flat. 

With Ellen van Dijk the winner of the two most recent editions, Trek-Segafredo arrived in Waregem with their ‘A’ squad, and it was here they made their presence felt, lifting the pace on the approach to climb two, Kortekeer, the first of a relentless series of climbs and cobbles.

With help from BikeExchange and AR Monex the peloton split on the climb, but it was the superstars of Trek-Segafredo who smashed the race over the top and ahead of the cobbled Maria Borrestraat.

Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini took to the front here and by the time she handed over to Lizzie Deignan for the Taaienberg a group of only around 30 women led the race. However, ahead of the cobbled Berg-ten-Houte the pace eased slightly allowing the group to double in size.

Halfway up Trek-Segafredo kicked off again, this time with their US champion Ruth Winder attacking and taking Liane Lippert (DSM) with her, and while this came back, the increase in speed in a narrow, difficult moment once again saw riders dropped.

It was all action now though, with Alison Jackson (DSM) attacking with Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) on her wheel, and when they were caught the British champion went again. But with one of Van Vleuten's team-mates on her wheel Barnes was left stranded on the front, and the move was caught at the bottom of Kruisberg.

Here Dutch champion Anouska Koster attacked, and for a while it seemed as though she would be allowed her head, but once again Trek-Segafredo pulled her back, only for six more women to get away over the Hotond.

Alison Jackson (Liv Racing), Leah Thomas (Movistar), Thalita de Jong (Bingoal Casino-Chevalmire), Julie van der Velde, Noemi Rüegg (Stade Rochelais Charente-Maritime) and Trek-Segafredo’s Audrey Cordon-Ragot built a lead approaching 30 seconds. However, with 36km to van Vleuten (Movistar) and Niewiadoma brought them back, immediately building their race winning move.

Result

Dwars Door Vlaanderen Women Elite, Waregen - Waregem (122.2km)

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Movistar, in 3-04-04

2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM at same time

3. Alexis Ryan (USA) Canyon-SRAM at 19 sec

4. Vittoria Guazzini (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service

5. Alison Jackson (Can) Liv Racing

6. Grace Brown (Aus) BikeExchange

7. Floortje Mackaij (Ned) DSM

8. Eugenia Bujak (Slo) Alé-BTC Ljubljana

9. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek-Segafredo

10. Stine Borgli (Nor) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, all at same time

Promoted to a WorldTour race in 2017, the Belgian one-day cobbled semi-classic Dwars Door Vlaanderen (March 31) maintains its mid-week Wednesday slot for 2021, following Ghent-Wevelgem and ahead of the Tour of Flanders the following Sunday.

Last year's events were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic but look to definitely be going ahead in 2021 as things stand.

The race, which takes in 11 hellingen and three cobbled sectors is shorter than editions prior to 2018, comprising only 1824.1km between Roeselare and Waregem with the women's peloton taking on similar parcours, which has n ot yet been released.

Despite falling between two major Classics weekends, Dwars Door Vlaanderen still boasts an impressive start list, with defending two-time champion Yves Lampaert being part of a strong Deceuninck-Quick-Step team that features world champion Julian Alaphilippe and recent E3 Saxo Bank Classic winner Kasper Asgreen.

Defending champion, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) is set to return to racing at Dwars Door Vlaanderen before he looks to defend his title at the Tour of Flanders.

Ineos Grenadiers could possibly field their strongest Classics team since Milan-San Remo with Michał Kwiatkowski, Tom Pidcock and Dylan Van Baarle all down to ride.

Oliver Naesen, Greg Van Avermaet (both Ag2r-Citroën), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) and Sep Vanmarke (Israel Start-Up Nation) are just some of the big names expected to be on the start line in Roeselare.

Some of the fastest riders in the world are also currently on the start list with Gent-Wevelgem runner-up Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos), Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Elia Viviani (Cofidis) among others.

In the women's side of the race, Ellen Van Dijk returns for a very strong Trek-Segafredo team as she looks to win her third Dwars Door Vlaanderen in a row.

Alongside her is former world champion Lizzie Deignan, world cyclo-cross champion Lucinda Brand, French champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot and WorldTour leader Elisa Longo-Borghini.

Trek-Segafredo will face stiff competition though with Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) making her return to racing alongside on-form team-mate, Emma Norsgaard.

Other big names to watch out for are Lorena Wibes (DSM), Grace Brown (BikeExchange), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Marta Bastianelli (Alé-BTC-Ljubljana) along with several other top names.

SD Worx are not on the start list meaning the likes of Anna van der Breggen, Amy Pieters and Chantal van dern Broek-Blaak will not be riding.

Dwars Door Vlaanderen 2021 men's start list

Deceuninck - Quick-Step

LAMPAERT Yves

ALAPHILIPPE Julian

ASGREEN Kasper

SÉNÉCHAL Florian

BALLERINI Davide

DECLERCQ Tim

STEEL Stijn

Movistar Team

ERVITI Imanol

HOLLMANN Juru

ERVITI Imanol

MAS Lluís

NORSGAARD Mathias

GARCÍA CORTINA Iván

SERRANO Gonzalo

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

DE GENDT Aimé

VAN POPPEL Danny

VAN POPPEL Boy

PASQUALON Andrea

KREDER Wesley

DE WINTER Ludwig

VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter

Lotto-Soudal

WELLENS Tim

GRIGNARD Sébastien

VERMEERSCH Florian

VAN MOER Brent

KLUGE Roger

VAN DER SANDE Tosh

FRISON Frederik

Ag2r-Citroën Team

VAN AVERMAET Greg

NAESEN Oliver

DEWULF Stan

NAESEN Lawrence

SCHÄR Michael

DUVAL Julien

JULIEN Anthony

EF Education-Nippo

BISSEGGER Stefan

BETTIOL Alberto

VALGREN Michael

KEUKELEIRE Jens

LANGEVELD Sebastian

RUTSCH Jonas

SCULLY Tom

Trek-Segafredo

STUYVEN Jasper

DE KORT Koen

MULLEN Ryan

MOSCHETTI Matteo

REIJNEN Kiel

SIMMONS Quinn

Bahrain Victorious

TEUNS Dylan

HALLER Marco

HAUSSLER Heinrich

COLBRELLI Sonny

MILAN Jonathan

SIEBERG Marcel

WRIGHT Fred

Team Qhubeka-Assos

NIZZOLO Giacomo

CAMPENAERTS Victor

WALSCHEID Max

CLAEYS Dimitri

HANSEN Lasse Norman

VINJEBO Emil

STOKBRO Andreas

UAE Team Emirates

KRISTOFF Alexander

TRENTIN Matteo

GIBBONS Ryan

LAENGEN Vegard Stake

BYSTRØM Sven Erik

OLIVEIRA Ivo

OLIVEIRA Rui

Israel Start-Up Nation

BIERMANS Jenthe

VAHTRA Norman

RENARD Alexis

HOFSTETTER Hugo

BARBIER Rudy

VAN ASBROECK Tom

BOIVIN Guillaume

Groupama-FDJ

DÉMARE Arnaud

LUDVIGSSON Tobias

SINKELDAM Ramon

KÜNG Stefan

LE GAC Olivier

MADOUAS Valentin

LIENHARD Fabian

Astana-Premier Tech

PERRY Benjamin

FEDOROV Yevgeniy

GIDICH Yevgeniy

GRUZDEV Dmitriy

HOULE Hugo

ZAKHAROV Artyom

STALNOV Nikita

Bora-Hansgrohe

ACKERMANN Pascal

POLITT Nils

MEEUS Jordi

BODNAR Maciej

BURGHARDT Marcus

GAMPER Patrick

SCHWARZMANN Michael

Team Jumbo-Visma

DEKKER David

EENKHOORN Pascal

AFFINI Edoardo

KOOIJ Olav

PFINGSTON Christoph

VAN EMDEN Jos

WYNANTS Maarten

Team BikeExchange

BAUER Jack

PEÁK Barnabás

JANSEN Amund Grøndahl

EDMONDSON Alex

STANNARD Robert

DURBRIDGE Luke

KONYCHEV Alexander

Ineos Grenadiers

WURF Cameron

BASSO Leonardo

DOULL Owain

PIDCOCK Tom

GOŁAŚ Michał

VAN BAARLE Dylan

HAYTER Ethan

Team DSM

BENOOT Tiesj

EEKOFF Nils

KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren

DAINESE Alberto

KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjørn

NIEUWENHUIS Joris

MÄRKL Niklas

Total Direct Energie

TERPSTRA Niki

TURGIS Anthony

GAUDIN Damien

VAN GESTEL Dries

PETIT Adrien

SOUPE Geoffrey

MAITRE Florian

Alpecin-Fenix

VAN DER POEL Mathieu

DE BONDT Dries

MERLIER Tim

PHILIPSEN Jasper

RICKAERT Jonas

DILLIER Silvan

VERGAERDE Otto

Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-Wallonie Bruxelles 

LIVYNS Arjen

DUPONT Timonthy

REX Laurenz

WIRTGEN Tom

ROBEET Ludovic

MENTEN Milan

WIRTGEN Luc

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

VIVIANI Elia

LAPORTE Christophe

DRUCKER Jempy

WALLAYS Jelle

CARVALHO Andre

BOHLI Tom

VANBILSEN Kenneth

B&B Hotels p/b KTM

COQUARD Bryan

BACKAERT Frederik

DE BACKER Bert

BARTHE Cyril

DEBUSSCHERE Jens

LEMOINE Cyril

LECROQ Jérémy

Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

DE KETELE Kenny

VANHOOF Ward

SPRENGERS Thomas

APERS Ruben

WARLOP Jordi

REYNDERS Jens

VAN POUCKE Aaron

Arkéa-Samsic

BARGUIL Warren

MCLAY Dan

SWIFT Connor

WELTEN Bram

RUSSON Clément

NOPPE Christophe

DECLERCQ Benjamin

Dwars Door Vlaanderen 2021 women's start list

Trek-Segafredo

VAN DIJK Ellen

BRAND Lucinda

DEIGNAN Lizzie

CORDON-RAGOT Audrey

WINDER Ruth

LONGO-BORGHINI Elisa

Team DSM

WIEBES Lorena

GEORGI Pfeiffer

LIPPERT Liane

MACKAIJ Floortje

LABOUS Juliette

SOEK Julia

Team BikeExchange

BROWN Grace

ŽIGART Urška

CAMPBELL Teniel

ROY Sarah

TENNIGLIO Moneik

FIDANZA Arianna

Movistar Team

VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek

GUARISCHI Barbara

GONZÁLEZ Alicia

BIANNIC Aude

THOMAS Leah

RODRÍGUEZ Gloria

Liv Racing

PALADIN Soraya

BERTIZZOLO Sofia

KOREVAAR Jeanne

JASKULSKA Marta

KUIJPERS Evy

DEMEY Valerie

Canyon-SRAM Racing

NIEWIADOMA Kasia

BARNES Alice

BRADBURY Neve

CHABBEY Elise

RYAN Alexis

HARRIS Ella

Alé-BTC-Ljubljana

BASTIANELLI Marta

WRIGHT Sophie

BUJAK Eugenia

BOOGAARD Maaike

GUDERZO Tatiana

FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope

BORGLI Stine

CHAPMAN Brodie

MUZIC Évita

COPPONI Clara

LE NET Marie

GUILMAN Victorie

Team Jumbo-Visma

MATHIESEN Pernile

VAN DE VELDE Julie

BEEKHUIS Teuntje

KOSTER Anouska

SWINKELS Karlijn

Plantur-Pura

KASTELIJN Yara

CANT Sanne

BAKKER Manon

VAN DER HEIJDEN Inge

DE WILDE Julie

TRUYEN Marthe

Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport

DE GROOT Marieke

STEIGENGA Nicole

BERTEAU Victoire

AERNOUTS Amber

VAN EYNDE Fien

LENAERS Jade

Lotto-Soudal

PARKINSON Abby-Mae

NILSSON Hanna

VANDER SANDE Elise

PLICHTA Anna

MEERTENS Lone

Team Arkéa

BECKER Charlotte

ALLIN Pauline

LE DEUNFF Marie-Morgane

CURINIER Lea

LEVENEZ Sandra

FOUQUENET Amandine

Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeirse Cycling Team

JONGERIUS Claudia

VAN DEN STEEN Kelly

GHEKIERE Justine

DRUYTS Demmy

DE JONG Thalita

COMMISSARIS Caren

Parkhotel Valkenburg

MARKUS Femke

BOS Leonie

LIMPENS Pien

NOOIJEN Lieke

VAN HAAFTEN Kirstie

VAN BOKHOVEN Julia

Valcar-Travel & Service

GUAZZINI Vittoria

VIGIE Margaux

POLLICINI Silvia

PERSICO Silvia

ALZINI Martina

PIRRONE Elena

Team Coop-Hitec Products

KRÖGER Mieke

YSLAND Anne Dorthe

ANDERSSON Caroline

LUTRO Amalie

GASKJENN Ingvild

OLSEN Ann Helen

Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank

GIGANTE Sarah

BUURMAN Eva

ERATH Tanja

FAULKNER Kristen

KESSLER Nina

YONAMINE Eri

A.R. Monex Women's Pro Cycling Team

TEOLIS Jade

RAGUSA Katia

NOVOLODSKAIA Maria

SALAZAR Lizbeth Yareli

SPEROTTO Maria Vittoria

MILIAEVA Mariia

Massi-Tactic

HEINE Vita

KERN Špela

COLJÉ Maaike

TRIAS Mireia

BENITO Mireia

ESPÍNOLA Agua Marina

Drops-Le Col s/b Tempur

CHRISTMAS Dani

TACY April

TOWERS Alice

OLSEN Elise Marie

PENTON Sara

MARTINS Maria

Lviv Cycling Team

SOLOVEI Ganna

NAHRINA Anna

SHARGA Olena

MACGREGOR Bronwyn

CREAMER Lauren

DE ROECK Naomi

Multum Accountants

VAN HOUTUM Céline

WATERREUS Kylie

DELBAERE Fien

BADERGRUBER Anna

DE SMEDT Marijke

DUYCK Ann-Sophie

Team Rupelcleaning

GRÖNDAHL Antonia

SHARPE Alice

GRIFFIN Mia

BETZ Svenja

BECKERS Isabelle

VAN DE VEL Sara

NXTG Racing

SHARPE Amelia

KNAVEN Britt

AMMERLAAN Rozemarijn

BORGSTRÖM Julia

SOTO Catalina Anais

PLUIMERS Ilse

Bizkaia Durango

HOLDEN Elizabeth

FORTIN Emilie

GILL Nadine Michaela

CAMPOS Deniela

ALONSO Sandra

BLANCO Iurani

Aromitalia-Basso Bikes-Vaiano

ČEŠULIENÈ Inga

BALEIŠYTÈ Olivija

LELEIVYTÈ Rosa

BORGHESI Letizia

BORGHESI Glada

SERNISSI Gemma

Stade Rochelais Charente-Maritime

RÜEGG Noemi

LE BAIL Elodie

DEMAY Coralie

ABGRALL Noémie

GRANGIER India

SQUIBAN Maeva

Marianne Vos took Jumbo Visma Women's team first WorldTour victory at Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday. In what was an incredibly exciting final 35km, the former multiple world champion opened her sprint from way back in the group, with around 300m remaining, but was so strong no one was able to get near her.

Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky (Liv-Racing) and German champion Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT) repeated their results from last year's race, finishing second and third respectively in a keenly fought battle for the podium.

Despite a fast but strangely subdued opening 100km, the race was hugely exciting, with a number of moves coming after a split which came on the Kemmelberg, the last of seven climbs.

Groups came and went, but with 15km to go Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) and Soraya Paladin rode off the front of a group of seven, staying clear until Vos opened her sprint to the line.

How it happened

A fire in the closing kilometres of this, the fourth event of the Women’s WorldTour, added 1100m to the planned route, making for a total of 142.8km, stating in Ypres and finishing in Wevelgem.

As is customary at this race, early attacks were nullified, the bunch staying together in the opening 20km, and only succumbing to the strong crosswinds after around 25km. However, the race re-formed as it reached its northernmost point, in the village of Roesbrugge, before turning south and into a further stretch of crosswinds. 

Inside the closing 100km the race finally split, though even then only briefly, 17 women emerging from another stretch of crosswinds, 18km ahead of the Scherpenberg, the first of seven climbs. But even such a large group could not stay away, and once more it came back together.

A fast start which had prevented any escapes, but the pace lifted even further as the climbs approached and the peloton began to be whittled away from behind as riders slipped out of the back through that and the ensuing three climbs. However, a large group emerged from those climbs and entered the first of the gravel Plugstreets.

While the race was stretched on those Plugstreets it seemed the whole peloton was waiting for the second double ascent of the Monteberg and Kemmelberg to kick off the real aggression. And as they approached the pace ramped up, gradually causing more riders to drift off the back. 

More women were dropped on the Monteberg as the big teams set a high pace at the front, before Trek-Segafredo’s Elisa Longo Borghini lit the touch paper on the cobbles of the Kemmelberg.

Wearing the purple WorldTour leader’s jersey, the Italian champion emerged from the descent with Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) for company. The pair are well matched and worked very well in trying to hold off a group of five women, but when they were joined by Vos and SD Worx’s Amy Pieters, the impetus left and a peloton of around 30 women formed at the head of the race.

With her Jumbo-Visma team-mate Vos safe in the group, with 30km remaining Brit Anna Henderson made a big move, escaping alone and leaving an unconvinced peloton looking to each other to chase.

The 22-year-old Henderson soon had a decent advantage and rode through Grote Markt in Ypres 25 seconds ahead, but on the windswept road towards the finish Trek-Segafredo put the race in the gutter catching the Brit almost instantly, forming a leading group of nine. However, that lasted for less than a kilometre before Longo Borghini attacked, taking Italian compatriot Soraya Paladin (Liv Racing) with her.

As the two Italians built a lead the group they had attacked swelled to 40, though despite this they entered the final 10km with an advantage of 30 seconds as it was left to BikeExchange and Valcar Travel and Service to monitor the gap. However, in the last five kilometres other joined the chase and they were caught with only 300m to go. 

Result

Ghent Wevelgem Women 2021: Ypres - Wevelgem (142.8km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo Visma in 3-45-08

2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Liv Racing

3. Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Ceratizit WNT

4. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service

5. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana

6. Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope

7. Kristen Faulkner (USA) Tibco SVB

8. Sarah Roy (Aus) BikeExchange

9. Emma Norsgaard (Den) Movistar

10. Lauren Stephens (USA) Tibco SVB all at same time

Bora-Hansgrohe have been forced to pull out of this year's E3 Saxo Bank Classic due to a positive Covid-19 test for one of their riders.

British sprinter Matt Walls was a replacement rider for Lukas Pöstlberger but he later tested positive meaning the whole team had to abandon the race.

>>> ‘I’m getting better all the time’: Geraint Thomas pleasantly surprised by encouraging early-season form

The team released a statement saying: "After Matthew Walls' positive test result was received and confirmed by a second test, several PCR test were carried out on all other team members yesterday, all of which were negative.

"Despite this, according to the instructions of the Belgian Cycling Federation, the team is not allowed to take part in today's race."

While his team-mates didn't test positive they still had to pull out of the racing, which will be a disappointment for the team's leader, Nils Politt, who was showing some good form in recent races.

The rest of the team that has been forced to leave the race are Daniel Oss, Juraj Sagan, Patrick Gamper, and Maciej Bodnar as well as all the staff members.

Star rider, Peter Sagan and his brother Juraj have both suffered from Covid-19 at a training camp. This hampered the former world champion's build-up to his season, forcing him to race Tirreno-Adriatico before Milan-San Remo and then go to the Volta a Catalunya instead of E3 and Ghent-Wevelgem.

>>> ‘They’re not intimidated, they’re like seasoned professionals straight away’: Enthusiasm of young American riders ‘inspiring’, says Brent Bookwalter

Twenty-two-year-old Walls is making his WorldTour debut season for Bora-Hansgrohe this year and has already put in a couple of great rides with two top-10s in sprints at the Tour de la Provence but he has struggled in recent races.

Bora-Hansgrohe aren't the first team to have to pull out of races, Alpecin-Fenix has had to abandon two races, the Belgian team had to abandon after stage one of the UAE Tour and also had to pull out of the Volta a Catalunya due to positive tests.

Attention returns to the northern European cobbled Classics this weekend, with E3 Saxo Bank Classic (formally known as E3 Harelbeke) on Friday (March 26).

As one of the major pre-Tour of Flanders races as well as being a prestigious event in its own right, E3 Saxo Bank Classic often commands a star-studded start list. This year is no different, with all of the major spring Classics contenders in attendance.

Defending champion Zdeněk Štybar of Deceuninck - Quick-Step is down to ride along with the usual immensely strong Classics squad.

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) is down to ride with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) yet again as they continue their rivalry. Milan-San Remo winner Jasper Stuyvan (Trek-Segafredo) will lead a strong team.

Former world champion, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) - winner in 2014 - is currently racing the Volta a Catalunya as he continues to look for better condition before his main season goals. Sagan's team had to pull out of the race anyway due to a positive Covid-19 test for British rider Matthew Walls just hours before the race start.

With the race covering many of the same roads as the Tour of Flanders, there will be tough competition in the race for the title with the likes of Yves Lampaert and Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r Citroën), Sep Vanmarke (Israel Start-Up Nation), Tom Pidcock and Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) and many more in a star-studded line-up.

E3 Saxo Bank Classic 2021 start list

Deceuninck - Quick-Step

LAMPAERT Yves

BALLERINI Davide

DECLERCQ Tim

ASGREEN Kasper

SÉNÉCHAL Florian

ŠTYBAR Zdeněk

VAN LERBERGHE Bert

Total Direct Energie

TERPSTRA Niki

BOASSON HAGEN Edvald

MAITRE Florian

GAUDIN Damien

SOUPE Geoffrey

VAN GESTEL Dries

TURGIS Anthony

Lotto-Soudal

GILBERT Philippe

DEGENKOLB John

VAN MOER Brent

FRISON Frederik

OLDANI Stefano

DE BUYST Jasper

VERMEERSCH Florian

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

DE GENDT Aimé

KREDER Wesley

VAN DER HOORN Taco

VLIEGEN Loïc

DEVRIENDT Tom

DE WINTER Ludwig

VAN POPPEL Boy

AG2R Citroën Team

NAESEN Oliver

VAN AVERMAET Greg

DEWULF Stan

TOUZÉ Damien

DUVAL Julien

SCHÄR Michael

VAN HOECKE Gijs

Team Jumbo-Visma

VAN AERT Wout

DEKKER David

EENKHOORN Pascal

AFFINI Edoardo

ROOSEN Timo

VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan

WYNANTS Maarten

Movistar Team

CULLAIGH Gabriel

ERVITI Imanol

SERRANO Gonzalo

HOLLMANN Juri

CARCÍA CORTINA Iván

JACOBS Johan

MAS Lluís

Team BikeExchange

MATTHEWS Michael

PEÁK Barnabás

BAUER Jack

KONYCHEV Alexander

DURBRIDGE Luke

EDMONDSON Alexander

STANNARD Robert

Astana-Premier Tech

FEDOROV Yevgeniy

ZAKHAROV Artyom

MARTINELLI Davide

GIDICH Yevgeniy

GRUZDEV Dmitriy

HOULE Hugo

PERRY Benjamin

Bahrain Victorious

COLBRELLI Sonny

TEUNS Dylan

HALLER Marco

SIEBERG Marcel

HAUSSLER Heinrich

MILAN Jonathan

FENG Chun Kai

EF Education-Nippo

BETTIOL Alberto

SCULLY Tom

LANGEVELD Sebastian

BISSEGGER Stefan

KEUKELEIRE Jens

SCULLY Tom

BEPPU Fumiyuki

Groupama-FDJ

GENIETS Kevin

STEWART Jake

LIENHARD Fabian

KÜNG Stefan

LE GAC Olivier

BRUNEL Alexys

GUARNIERI Jacopo

Team Qhubeka-Assos

CAMPENAERTS Victor

CLAEYS Dimitri

GOGL Michael

VINJEBO Emil

HANSEN Lasse Norman

STOKBRO Andreas

CLARKE Simon

Israel Start-Up Nation

VANMARKE Sep

BIERMANS Jenthe

ZABEL Rick

GREIPEL André

RENARD Alexis

WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads

VAN ASBROECK Tom

Ineos Grenadiers

PIDCOCK Tom

BASSO Leonardo

DOULL Owain

VAN BAARLE Dylan

GOŁAŚ Michał

NARVÁEZ Jhonatan

WURF Cameron

Team DSM

BENOOT Tiesj

DENZ Nico

SÜTTERLIN Jasha

KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren

EEKHOFF Nils

NIEUWENHUIS Joris

SALMON Martin

Trek-Segafredo

STUYVEN Jasper

LIEPINŠ Emils

KIRSCH Alex

THEUNS Edward

PEDERSEN Mads

REIJNEN Kiel

SIMMONS Quinn

UAE Team Emirates

KRISTOFF Alexander

TRENTIN Matteo

GIBBONS Ryan

GAVIRIA Fernando

OLIVEIRA Ivo

OLIVEIRA Rui

BJERG Mikkel

Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

BEULLENS Cédric

DE VYLDER Lindsay

COLMAN Alex

DE WILDE Filles

VANHOOF Ward

SPRENGERS Thomas

VAN POUCKE Aaron

Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles

LIVYNS Arjen

MENTEN Milan

WIRTGEN Luc

PAQUOT Tom

MERTZ Rémy

SUTER Joel

VANENDERT Jelle

Vini Zabù

DI RENZO Andrea

TORTOMASI Leonardo

VAN EMPEL Etienne

VAN ELZAKKER Wout

GONZÁLEZ Roberto Carlos

PETELIN Jan

SCHNEITER Joab

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

WALLAYS Jelle

BOHLI Tom

DRUCKER Jempy

ALLEGAET Piet

CONSONNI Simone

CARVALHO Andre

SAJNOK Szymon

Alpecin-Fenix

VAN DER POEL Mathieu

MEURISSE Xandro

VAKOČ Petr

DE BONDT Dries

VERMEERSCH Gianni

VERGAERDE Otto

DE TIER Floris

Uno-X Pro Cycling Team

HVIDEBERG Jonas Iversby

HOELGAARD Markus

HALVORSEN Kristoffer

TILLER Rasmus

WÆRSTED Syver

RESELL Erik Nordsaeter

SKAARSETH Anders

E3 Saxo Bank Classic and Ghent-Wevelgem could be joining the list of races either to be cancelled or postponed due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Belgium in recent weeks.

The worrying rise in virus cases has sparked discussions about a possible country-wide lockdown in Belgium which could happen in the next couple of days. Race organisers hope that the vital build-up races for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, which itself is rumoured to be postponed, can go ahead.

>>> Paris-Roubaix 2021 postponed, according to report

Jacques Coussens, PR manager of E3 Saxo Bank Classic, told Het Nieuwsblad: "Of course, all the news about a potential lockdown worries me. If the government says that there will be another hard lockdown, I fear for our course. But, to be clear, I still assume there will be racing. I'm not the government, of course, and they decide. But if I were government, I would say let that race continue."

E3 was one of the races that were cancelled in 2020, so the organiser is very keen to hold the race in 2021 after taking extra safety measures for both riders and the few fans that will be at the race. The organiser will use new safety barriers and robots to tell people to wear masks and detect people who have a fever.

Co-organiser of Ghent-Wevelgem, Griet Langedock, also told Het Nieuwsblad: "You could say that for the third time in a year we have clenched our buttocks. In March last year, our concerns came true and Ghent-Wevelgem was cancelled. We then moved to the beginning of October, but then there was also an edge because the new Corona wave breaking through. Ghent-Wevelgem then arrived not a day too early. And now it is shocking again."

Ghent-Wevelgem did go ahead in 2020 but in the Autumn, but even then it was touch-and-go due to the second wave of Covid-19 in Europe. Both the men's and women's races were able to go ahead with Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) winning the former and Jolien D'hoore (then Boels-Dolmans) taking the latter.

Tomas Van Den Spiegel, CEO of Flanders Classics was asked if he could see the races like the Tour of Flanders being cancelled, but said organisers had already shown that races can go ahead without fans, as they did in October of last year, and they are ready to do it again if needed. He added that the threat of cancellation was an incentive for fans to stay home and watch on their TVs instead of standing on the roadside.

Van Den Spiegel told Sporza: "We are still confident that this will not have any consequences for the Tour of Flanders. I think we showed in October during a very bad period that you can organise a course very safely."

The upcoming Classics are set to see some of the biggest names in the sport battle it out for victory, including Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r Citroën Team), and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) as they build-up to their main goals for the season.

The cobbled Classics continue with Ghent-Wevelgem being the next race that goes over the rough stuff in Belgium in 2021 with the race taking place on Sunday (March 28).

Given the relatively flat finish to the race, teams often allocate leadership to two riders: a Classics specialist and a sprinter. The Classics riders are there if the race splits up due to cobbles, climbs or crosswinds, and the sprinters are present to contest a mass finish should the peloton stay together.

The men's field includes defending champion, Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) who will be hoping to become the first Dane to win the race twice.

One of the biggest threats to the former world champion is the current Dutch champion, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), who is coming to the race off the back of some amazing performances at Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico, as well as a top ten at Milan-Sanremo.

Arguably the main favourite is the 2020 Milan-Sanremo winner and multiple Tour de France stage winner, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who returns to action to face Van der Poel, in 2020 the two rivals cancelled each other out by following each other's wheel and letting the others go ahead.

Other big-name sprinters in the start line include Sam Bennett (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) and Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix).

In the women's race there is a focus on the sprinters with defending champion Jolien D'Hoore (SD Worx) ready to defend her title against the likes of Kirsten Wild (Ceratizit-WNT), Marta Bastianelli (Alé-BTC-Ljubljana), Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM), Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) and Lotte Kopecky (Liv Racing) are ready for a dash to the line.

But if the race breaks up on the cobbles then other big names are, Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) who has a very strong team around her with Elisa Longo-Borghini, Ellen van Dijk and Amalie Dideriksen all in the team.

Grace Brown (BikeExchange) will be confident coming into this race with a very strong display at Nokere Koerse where she finished behind former European champion, Amy Pieters (SD Worx).

One name that will be worth watching out for is former cyclo-cross world champion, Ceylin Alvarado who will be riding for the Ciclismo Mundial team alongside fellow CX star Sanne Cant.

Other notable names are Christine Majerus (SD Worx), Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT), Liane Lippert (Team DSM), Marlen Reusser (Alé-BTC-Ljubljana), Alice and Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM), Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and Elisa Balsamo (Valcar-Travel & Service).

Here are the men's and women's start lists...

Ghent-Wevelgem 2021 men's start list

Trek-Segafredo

MOSCHETTI Matteo

PEDERSEN Mads

STUYVEN Jasper

THEUNS Edward

KIRSCH Alex

SIMMONS Quinna

MULLEN Ryan

UAE Team Emirates

GAVIRIA Fernando

BYSTRØM Sven Erik

KRISTOFF Alexander

BJERG Mikkel

TRENTIN Matteo

OLIVEIRA Ivo

RICHEZE Max

Bora-Hansgrohe

ACKERMANN Pascal

OSS Daniel

BURGHARDT Marcus

PÖSTLBERGER Lukas

SCHWARZMANN Michael

SELIG Rüdiger

Deceuninck - Quick-Step

BENNETT Sam

LAMPAERT Yves

SÉNÉCHAL Florian

BALLERINI Davide

STEELS Stijn

ŠTYBAR Zdenek

VAN LERBERGHE Bert

Lotto-Soudal

DEGENKOLB John

GILBERT Philippe

FRISON Frederick

VERMEERSCH Florian

OLDANI Stefano

VAN DER SANDE Tosh

DE BUYST Jasper

AG2R Citroën Team

NAESEN Oliver

VAN AVERMAET Greg

SARREAU Marc

DEWULF Stan

SCHÄR Michael

VAN HOUCKE Gijs

TOUZÉ Damien

Astana-Premier Tech

FEDOROV Yevgeniy

MARTINELLI Davide

ZAKHAROV Artyom

GIDICH Yevgeniy

GRUZDEV Dmitriy

HOULE Hugo

PERRY Benjamin

Bahrain Victorious

SIEBERG Marcel

COLBRELLI Sonny

BAUHAUS Phil

FENG Chun Kai

HAUSSLER Heinrich

HALLER Marco

MILAN Jonathan

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

PASQUALON Andrea

DE GENDT Aimé

VLIEGEN Loïc

VAN POPPEL Danny

VAN POPPEL Boy

KREDER Wesley

VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter

EF Education-Nippo

BETTIOL Alberto

KEUKELEIRE Jens

LANGEVELD Sebastian

BISSEGGER Stefan

VAN DEN BERG Julius

Groupama-FDJ

GENIETS Kevin

KÜNG Stefan

DÉMARE Arnaud

LE GAC Olivier

LIENHARD Fabian

LUDVIGSSON Tobias

SINKELDAM Ramon

Team BikeExchange

MEZGEC Luka

GROVES Kaden

DURBRIDGE Luke

KONYCHEV Alexander

BAUER Jack

JANSEN Amund Grøndahl

STANNARD Robert

Movistar Team

CULLAIGH Gabriel

GARCÍA CORTINA Iván

MAS Lluís

HOLLMANN Juri

MORA Sebastián

ERVITI Imanol

JACOBS Johan

Team Qhubeka-Assos

NIZZOLO Giacomo

CLAEYS Dimitri

GOGL Michael

STOKBRO Andreas

WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz

WALSCHEID Max

VINJEBO Emil

Team Jumbo-Visma

VAN AERT Wout

AFFINI Edorado

VAN EMDEN Jos

WYNANTS Maarten

EENKHOORN Pascal

ROOSEN Timo

VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan

Israel Start-Up Nation

VANMARKE Sep

GREIPEL André

WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads

VAN ASBROECK Tom

RENARD Alexis

ZABEL Rick

VAHTRA Norman

Ineos Grenadiers

VAN BAARLE Dylan

BASSO Leonardo

DOULL Owain

GOŁAŚ Michał

NARVÁEZ Jhonatan

Team DSM

DENZ Nico

BOL Cees

EEKHOFF Nils

SÜTTERLIN Jasha

KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren

ARNDT Nikias

PEDERSEN Casper

Alpecin-Fenix

VAN DER POEL Mathieu

DE BONDT Dries

VERMEERSCH Gianni

MERLIER Tim

RICKAERT Jonas

PHILIPSEN Jasper

THWAITES Scott

Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

VAN DEN BOSSCHE Fabio

VAN ROOY Kenneth

GHYS Robbe

WARLOP Jordi

BEULLENS Cédric

MARIT Arne

WILLEMS Thimo

Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles

DUPONT Timothy

WIRTGEN Tom

PAASSCHENS Mathijs

REX Laurenz

ROBEET Ludovic

SUTER Joel

VALLÉE Boris

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

VIVIANI Elia

CONSONNI Simone

ALLEGAERT Piet

LAPORTE Christophe

WALLAYS Jelle

SABATINI Fabio

DRUCKER Jempy

Total Direct Energie

TERPSTRA Niki

VAN GESTEL Dries

LAWLESS Chris

BOASSON HAGEN Edvald

PETIT Adrien

SOUPE Geoffrey

TURGIS Anthony

B&B Hotels-Vital Concept p/b KTM

DEBUSSCHERE Jens

VAN GENECHTEN Jonas

BACKAERT Frederick

DE BACKER Bert

LECROQ Jérémy

COQUARD Bryan

BARTHE Cyril

Ghent-Wevelgem 2021 women's start list

SD Worx

D'HOORE Jolien

CECCHINI Elena

MAJERUS Christine

PIETERS Amy

FOURNIER Roxane

UNEKEN Lonneke

Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling

WILD Kirsten

BRENNAUER Lisa

LETH Julie

RIJKES Sarah

CONFALONIERI Maria Giulia

LACH Julie

Lotto Soudal Ladies

BRAAM Danique

CASTRIQUE Alana

PARKINSON Abby-Mae

PLICHTA Anna

NILSSON Hanna

VANDENBULKE Jesse

Plantur-Pura

ALVARADO Ceylin

CANT Sanne

BAKKER Manon

VAN ALPHEN Laura

KASTELIJN Yara

SÜßEMILICH Laura

A.R. Monex Women's Pro Cycling Team

SIERRA Arlenis

NOVOLODSKAIA Maria

SALAZAR Lizbeth Yareli

TEOLIS Jade

RAGUSA Katia

SPEROTTO Maria Vittoria

BTC City Ljubljana

BASTIANELLI Marta

REUSSER Marlen

BUJAK Eugenia

TREVISI Anna

GUDERZO Tatiana

CHURSINA Anastasiia

Canyon-SRAM Racing

BARNES Hannah

BARNES Alice

AMIALIUSIK Alena

CHABBEY Elise

KLEIN Lisa

NIEWIADOMA Kasia

Liv Racing

KOPECKY Lotte

KOREVAAR Jeanne

PALADIN Soraya

BERTIZZOLO Sofia

JACKSON Alison

Team Jumbo-Visma Women

VOS Marianne

HENDERSON Anna

KASPER Romy

MATHIESEN Pernille

VAN DER BURG Nancy

MARKUS Riejanne

FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope

KITCHEN Lauren

FAHLIN Emilia

BORGLI Stine

CAVALLI Marta

DUVAL Eugénie

GROSSETÊTE Maëlle

Drops-Le Col s/b Tempur

CHRISTMAS Dani

PENTON Sara

VAN 'T GELOOF Marjolein

MARTINS Maria

MOBERG Emilie

VAN DER DUIN Maike

Team BikeExchange

BROWN Grace

CAMPBELL Teniel

ROBERTS Jessica

ALLEN Jessica

FIDANZA Arianna

ROY Sarah

Movistar Team

NORSGAARD Emma

GUTIÉRREZ Sheyla

GONZÁLEZ Alicia

BIANNIC Aude

ERIĆ Jelena

GUARISCHI Barbara

Parkhotel Valkenburg

BREDEWOLD Mischa

BUYSMAN Nina

RAAIJMAKERS Marit

GERRITSE Femke

NOOIJEN Lieke

VAN DER HULST Amber

Team DSM

WIEBES Lorena

MACKAIJ Floortje

KIRSCHMANN Leah

LIPPERT Liane

ANDERSEN Susanne

KOCH Franziska

Trek-Segafredo 

VAN DIJK Ellen

DEIGNAN Lizzie

LONGO-BORGHINI Elisa

DIDERIKSEN Amalie

WINDER Ruth

WORRACK Trixi

Valcar-Travel & Service

BALSAMO Elisa

CONSONNI Chiara

PIRRONE Elena

SANGUINETI Ilaria

GUAZZINI Vittoria

PERSICO Silvia

NXTG Racing

BORGSTRÖM Julia

AMMERLAAN Rozemarijn

KNAVEN Britt

BOSSUYT Shari

HOOLWERF Cathalijne

DE ZOETE Mylene

Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeire Cycling Team

DE JONG Thalita

RATTO Rossella

DE JONG Demi

BEX Nathalie

JONGERIUS Claudia

DRUYTS Lenny

Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport

SCHWEINBERGER Kathrin

SCHWEINBERGER Christina

STEIGENGA Nicole

BERTEAU Victoire

KULYNCH Olha

VAN VELZEN Bryony

Multum Accountants-LSK Ladies Cycling Team

DEFOUR Lara

DELBAERE Fien

VAN HOUTUM Céline

WATERREUS Kylie

BADERGRUBER Anna

DUYCK Ann-Sophie

Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank

STEPHENS Lauren

FAULKNER Kristen

DIXON Leah

PEÑUELA Diana

ERATH Tanja

BUURMAN Eva

Team Coop-Hitec Products

ANDERSON Maroline

OLSEN Ann Helen

GASKJENN Ingvild

GJØS Martine

KRÖGER Mieke

RIFFEL Christa

Team Rupelcleaning

GRÖNDAHL Antonia

SHARPE Alice

GRIFFIN Mia

MURPHY Kelly

BETZ Svenja

VAN DE VEL Sara

World champion Anna van der Breggen began her final season with a win at Omloop het Nieuwsblad. The Dutchwoman benefitted from a dominant performance from her newly named SDWorx team.

The Dutch squad placed two women on the podium, with Amy Pieters finishing third behind Danish champion Emma Norsgaard (Movistar).

As usual the climb of Kapelmuur proved key, thinning a group which caught Van der Breggen’s team mate Demi Vollering who had been up the road, but it was Bosberg where the rainbow jersey made her move.

Here, over the top of the day’s final climb she had a small gap, and while the pursuit remained concerted, despite the presence of three SDWorx riders, no one was able to get on terms with an imperious Van der Breggen.

Van der Breggen’s victory makes it two wins from four starts since she won the rainbow jersey in similar dominant style at Imola last September. It is also the first win for the team since changing its name from Boels-Dolmans and undergoing a significant restructuring and change in personnel.

How it happened

Saturday’s 124.4km race began in Ghent, the peloton taking on eight cobbled sectors, including among the same number of climbs, the legendary ascent of Kapelmuur, topping out some 17km from the finish in the East Flanders town of Ninove.

Within just four kilometres a group of three women headed up the road, Brit rider Lizzy Bennett (Drops-LeCol) joined by Kylie Waterreus (Multum Accountants LSK) and Claudia Jongerius (Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeire).

The three women were allowed their heads, soon building a lead of 3-30 after the first hour and 39km of racing. By the time they reached the race’s first cobbled sector, the Huisepontweg, with 67km remaining, the gap was out to 5-30, the bunch having been caught at a closed railway crossing.

Gaps this large are unusual in the women’s sport, but such was the power of the peloton as soon as they were released their deficit began to tumble. As they crested the Wolvenberg, closing in on the final 50km, the lead had been reduced to less than 2.30, the peloton pack behind.

It was on the Holleweg that the SDWorx team of world champion Anna van der Breggen came to the front, with the teams of all the favourites attentive on their wheels, though the race settled briefly as the leaders came into sight, just before the Molenberg.

A late dig form Jongerius ensured she was the last to be caught, but at the top of the Molenberg SDWorx returned to the front, stringing out a peloton already stretched by the climb, and eventually snapping the elastic.

It was here the hopes of 2016 winner, Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) were dashed when she and last year’s winner Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) were caught behind a split, which continued to open under pressure from SDWorx.

The revamped Dutch team’s strength made for a breathless final and forced a leading group of 35 women, including all six of their squad, and with such strength they were able to apply pressure on each of the climbs while retaining all options for the final. One of these digs on the Elverenberg with 30km to go, saw new signing Demi Vollering get up the road.

With such an imbalance of power the chase lacked cohesion, Vollering’s team mates jumping on any effort to close the gap. Working for Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky, only Liv Racing were happy to commit riders to the pursuit.

Vollering reached Geraardsbergen, home of the testing cobbled climb of the Kapelmuur with a lead of only 30 seconds, and as the road kicked up the lead began to drop.

As the road began to ramp up steeply, the cobbles becoming more aggressive, Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) attacked the pack, and though she was caught near the top so was Vollering, and a group of ten women emerged ahead of the day’s final climb, the Bosberg.

On the lead in to the climb, Longo Borghini went again, though she was joined by two reluctant companions and the Italian was caught by Van der Breggen on the cobbled climb. 

With the cancellation of the regular women’s opening weekend Sunday race, Omloop Het van Hageland and no women’s race at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the next time the women’s peloton are in action will be Le Samyn des Dames on Tuesday.

Result

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Women, Ghent - Ninove (124.4km)

1. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SDWorx in 3-21-00

2. Emma Norsgaard (Den) Movistar, at 23 seconds

3. Amy Pieters (Ned) SDWorx, at same time

4. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Liv Racing

5. Hannah Barnes (Gbr) Canyon-SRAM

6. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana

7. Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Ceratizit WNT

8. Grace Brown (Aus) Bike Exchange

9. Marta Cavalli (Ita) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, all at same time

10. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 26s

Spectators have to stay at home to watch the much loved cobbled Classics of Flanders, including the Tour of Flanders, as uncertainty continues with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Autumn saw the remaining Classics in Belgium raced with no fans officially allowed on the course, with most members of the public respecting those choices to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

But even with the talk of multiple vaccines coming into use the organiser of many prestigious races, Flanders Classics, has taken the decision early to have no fans at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Ghent-Wevelgem, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Scheldeprijs and Brabantse Pijl, as well as Belgian Monument the Tour of Flanders.

>>> Harry Tanfield finds last minute WorldTour contract after initially signing with Ribble-Weldtite

CEO of Flanders Classics, Tomas van den Spiegel said in an interview with DeMorgen: "This is how we will work throughout the classic spring.

"Of course I would rather see Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) drive up the Oude Kwaremont side by side through a sea of people,

"Unfortunately that will not be the case in 2021 either."

The races that did take place in 2020 did not disappoint with some amazing performances by multiple riders including new world champion, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) coming out as a top Cobbled Classics contender with a win at Brabantse Pijl before crashing out of the Tour of Flanders.

We also got the much anticipated battle between Van der Poel and Van Aert in De Ronde along with many other epic rides, showing that the races can take place without fans.

With the hope of multiple coronavirus vaccines on the horizon , Van den Spiegel has still maintained that he does not want to move the races in the calendar again saying it would create uncertainty.

Several safety measures were taken and the plan is that they will be again, Van den Spiegel continued: "It has turned out that cycling races can take place without an audience.

"It never occurred to us not to organise the Omloop, Gent-Wevelgem or the Ronde. Not really. We can do this one more time, then it really isn't possible anymore."

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the first Classic scheduled for 2021, due to be raced on February 27.

Greg Van Avermaet could line up at the Tour of Flanders just two weeks after suffering a fractured vertebrae and collapsed lung at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Belgian crashed hard in the one-day Classic, but says he is feeling much better and will wait until the end of the week to decide if he is well enough to race the cobbled Classic.

"I feel much better than I did nine days ago. I'm back cycling, I haven't thrown the towel in yet," Van Avermaet told Het Nieuwsblad. "When I was lying on the ground in Liège, I decided to wait for the results and my feelings before making a final decision. I wanted to decide as late as possible whether or not to ride."

Van Avermaet says the pain he's still experiencing is more bearable when he's riding, although were it any other race rather than Flanders he'd have a better chance of making the start line.

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"Of course there is still a greater chance that I will not ride than I will. It's not like I'm in super shape here. The pain is more bearable on the bike, I have to look at it day-by-day and see if I can feel better towards the end of this week and also be one hundred percent capable of riding the Tour of Flanders. Because this is not a 'race' around the church tower. Then you have to be 100 percent ready," he said.

Whether or not he does line-up on Sunday will largely depend on what contribution he thinks he can make. Having finished on the podium three times previously, Van Avermaet wants to go there and race, not just simply make up the numbers.

"I can ride from Antwerp to Oudenaarde every day. I want to play a part. That will decide it in the coming days," he said. "At the moment I can ride but there is still a difference between riding and racing."

Van Avermaet also says the news of Paris-Roubaix's cancellation was hard to take, saying if he can't line up at Flanders then all his hard work will have been "almost all for nothing".

"I still have to experience that a bit myself," Van Avermaet said of riding on cobbles with his injuries. "The shocks in themselves are not too bad. When I am stable in the saddle I have the least pain, it only starts when I have to straighten out. The slopes will be a bit more difficult than the cobbles.

"I now want to take advantage of every day and hope I can recover as best I can. It has just been a very exciting year, we have all prepared so much. In my case, it was almost all for nothing. After Liège, I thought about starting the races that suited me best and then something like this happens. It is quite hard to face the truth."

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The Muur Van Geraardsbergen has officially been cut from the 2020 Tour of Flanders route.

Back in November, the mayor of Geraardsbergen said the climb could be cut from the race as local authorities struggled to justify the hefty price tag of €50,000 for its inclusion, with Guido De Padt suspecting that not wanting to pay may have resulted in its removal.

"We were not aware of Flanders Classics' intention to change or shorten the course. Let alone that we knew we would fall victim to that," De Padt told Sporza. "You wrong all those Flemish people...by leaving the Muur out of the course.

"The Tour of Flanders has grown with the Muur. And the Muur has grown with the Tour of Flanders. I am not a doom-monger or superstitious but sometimes I get the impression that what happened last year has now played a role. But we don't want to pay money for a passage a hundred kilometers from the finish."

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Race organisers have said the decision to cut the climb has nothing to do with any financial dispute with local authorities, instead pointing to the fact including the Muur in this year's course would mean a 30km detour to an already 240km-long course.

"[With Antwerp as the departure and Oudenaarde as the finish and definitely wanting to keep the final duo Kwaremont-Paterberg," Tomas Van den Spiegel, chairman of the board of Flanders Classics, said. "Cutting in Brakel in the trip to and from Geraardsbergen was therefore the only option. That is a detour of about 30 kilometres."

Van Den Spiegel says their concern over not extending the course is due to the already packed schedule of the salvaged 2020 season, with the Tour of Flanders slated for October 18th, coming at the end of a crammed two months of racing starting on August 1st, the Belgian race taking place during the Giro d'Italia with the Vuelta a España then beginning two days after the cobbled classic.

"I can understand that people are not satisfied with that, but we really wanted to send a signal to the riders. A number of teams were concerned about the busy schedule," Van Den Spiegel explained. "By shortening our race we want to make everyone's life easier in these times. Let's hope we can organise a full Tour of Flanders and other competitions again in 2021."

These explanations appear to have fallen on deaf ears, as De Padt says Geraardsbergen will now once again explore other options for their fabled climb. "The organization must now make clear where it really wants to go with the Muur. That could enable us to take other paths. When a decision was made a few years ago to take the Muur out of the Tour of Flanders, we brought an arrival of the BinckBank Tour to Geraardsbergen. We will now also take other initiatives to bring the people to Geraardsbergen."

Greg Van Avermaet took an emphatic win in the virtual Tour of Flanders, distancing his rivals with 12km remaining to take a solo victory.

Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale) finished second behind the CCC rider with Nicolas Roche (Sunweb) in third, taking the last step on the podium.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) finished fourth after he was distanced in the final few kilometres, with Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and reigning champion Alberto Bettiol (EF Pro Cycling) the first two members of the six-man break to be dropped.

The final 32km of the real Tour of Flanders route were raced on the Bkool indoor training platform and featured the iconic climbs of the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg.

How it happened

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) led from the off with Greg Van Avermaet also present at the front.

Last year's winner of the real race, Alberto Bettiol, found himself off the back of the group at the start before getting himself back in.

After a few kilometres a group of six riders started going off the front and had established their move with 10km race, featuring Oliver Naesen, Thomas De Gendt, Bettiol, Remco Evenepoel, Van Avermaet and Nicolas Roche.

Michael Matthews (Sunweb) led the chase behind, trailing by 13 seconds, while Naesen and De Gendt took the initiative up front, with Naesen putting out 500w with 18km to go.

Bettiol was soon distanced as Evenepoel remained in his saddle up the Oude Kwaremont while De Gendt and Roche danced on their pedals.

Evenepoel then came to the fore alongside De Gendt, opening up a gap of three seconds as the younger Belgian really put the hammer down, only to be reeled back in by Van Avermaet after another kilometre had passed.

Michael Matthews' avatar then came to a stop as the Australian stopped pedalling within the confines of his house. When the camera cut to the Sunweb rider getting off his bike you could hear one of his children noisily entering the room, not quite the same as a sour-faced rider getting into the back of a team car after climbing off.

With 13km to go, Stuyven was the nearest chaser, finding himself 17 seconds behind the leading group of five, who looked set to contest the victory.

Evenepoel was the next to be distanced on the Paterberg as Van Avermaet opened up a two-second gap on Naesen, De Gendt and Roche.

Van Avermaet's gap was up to five seconds with 11km to go, then eight at 10km as he pushed out 48km/h, equating to 500w with a cadence of 97.

The race was on. De Gendt removed his cap, Naesen hunched over his bike and Roche opened up his jersey as the sun poured in through the window of his Monaco living room.

Evenepoel now found himself 43 seconds back in fifth place as Van Avermaet stabilised at 450w, the chase group eight seconds back with 5km to go.

Van Avermaet was proving to be unstoppable, opening up an 18-second gap with 3km remaining. Naesen attacked Roche and De Gendt 500m later, with De Gendt now dropped.

Naesen went again with just over 1km to go but couldn't make any ground up on Van Avermaet, who sailed across the line in first place. Naesen secured second place, however, pipping Roche to the line as De Gendt finished fourth.

Virtual Tour of Flanders 2020

1. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC, in 43-17

2. Oliver Naesen (Bel) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 20 seconds

3. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Sunweb, at 21s

4. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 50s

5. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo, at 1-33

6. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 1-42

7. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 2-08

8. Wout van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma, at 2-21

9. Mike Teunissen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 2-38

10. Zdeněk Štybar (Cze) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 3-29

11. Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 3-29

12. Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Pro Cycling, at 3-39

DNF - Michael Matthews (Aus) Sunweb

"It was just like how I go into every race. It was my second time doing Flanders so it was still fairly new to me but I'd done a lot of homework on the race, I knew all the cobbles and everything."

After three years at UnitedHealthcare, Coryn Rivera arrived at Sunweb in 2017. By the time she arrived at the Tour of Flanders, only her seventh race with the Dutch team, she had already won Trofeo Binda and finished third at Gent-Wevelgem. Flanders offered up a third opportunity in less than two weeks of glory for the Californian, even if winning wasn't necessarily at the forefront of her mind.

"It wasn't a huge goal of mine or anything I just kind of went into it like I do with any race, to try and do my best performance, to do my best for the team."

On the bus before the start the plan was simple enough, to have a number of riders in the front selection towards the end of the race. More riders equal more chances of victory, more matches to burn, especially in a tough race like Flanders.

"I think we definitely wanted to have more numbers towards the end of the race. Normally there's always some sort of attack that goes before the Kwaremont and we'd missed that move, I think it was a break of four that went."

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This wasn't just any breakaway of four riders, Anna van der Breggen attacked on the Oudestraat and took Annemiek van Vleuten, Elisa Longo-Borghini and Kasia Niewiadoma with her.

"Then we were trying to close the gap to them and have Ellen [Van Dijk] bridge across on the Kwaremont," Rivera explains, "and I remember Lucinda [Brand] doing a great pull before the Kwaremont."

Rivera's team-mates pressed on ahead but after the climb she could see the plan hadn't worked and they hadn't made it across. "I then had to get back to that group and see what I could do," says Rivera.

"And then at the top of the Patenberg, both Ellen and I were suffering but at that point the chances of bridging across to that group were getting slim so we made the call to go for the sprint and close down the move up ahead. So from there that was where the goal had shifted and that was what we were going to do, that was our final plan for the day."

What goes through a rider's head when it's getting towards the business end of a race and such an elite quartet has disappeared off the front? Is the race pretty much over?

"You kind of have to block it out, it's never over until it's over but I mean, obviously, they kind of played games and that helped us close the gap. You can't just be like, 'oh, dang, there goes the race' because then you end it for yourself."

Rivera and Van Dijk kept on fighting, the perennial uncertainty of a bike race fuelling their hope. It was only in the final few kilometres that Rivera began dreaming of a result. Not of winning though, merely of a top 10 finish.

"Going into the last 5km, you know on that long stretch from the Oudenaarde, I was thinking 'ah damn we're pretty close, it'd be cool to do a top 10 at the Tour of Flanders!'"

Over the phone, Rivera is calm and collected, methodical in her approach to conversation, which is how it seems her approach to racing also goes. Following a plan of action but then going with the flow when it needs to be adapted. However, when the plan...goes to plan, emotion starts to creep in.

"We were getting closer and closer to catching them and Ellen was really putting a lot of work in. I was like, I really can't mess this up! And then we went under 1km to go and caught them.

Then I was thinking, 'ah s**t ,this is getting real, the pressure is on me now to do my job'. Ellen had just been pulling for the last 10km and I was just thinking 'don't mess this up'."

Into the final 1km and Rivera is tucked safely away in the middle of the pack of 18 or so riders, her head bobbing up and down. "Then I saw that Boels were kind of doing a bit of a lead-out and I was a little further back and wanted to get in front of this little bubble," Rivera says.

As riders peel off the front Boels-Dolmans then start to wind things up for Chantal Blaak with 300m to go. "I then jumped as well," Rivera explains. "I think it was a little bit early, but I wanted to get ahead of that little bubble I was in and then it was like a drag race.

"Finally, I got even with Chantal and I was like, s**t, maybe I can win this and then I got ahead of her, then she got close to me and then I got ahead of her.

"Then I picked my head up and I looked where the finish line was and I was like 'oh my God, that's so far!' I was thinking don't look, just keep going and I kept pushing.

"I looked up again and there was still 100m to go and thinking 'oh damn this thing is so far!'

"I just kept pushing and pushing and I was waiting for someone to pass me but no-one ever passed me and then I crossed the line and I was just in disbelief that I had won Flanders."

Is that how Rivera likes to win sprints? Long drags to the line?

"It kind of just depends on the situation and what I can benefit from. I think it was good for me to go a little bit early there and I was obviously feeling strong and I could hold everyone off. But sometimes it can be a late sprint, like what I did in the RideLondon Classique in 2017 is also good for me.

"It just kind of depends on the situation in the race finish. I can adapt pretty well but normally I'm a short, punchy sprinter. When it's crazy fast downhill I tend to struggle a little bit."

Adaptation in pursuit of victory seems to be the name of the game for Rivera during a race, but coming to terms with the win she'd just pulled off wasn't as simple. The overhead replay shows the then 24-year-old clutching her head in complete disbelief.

"It's not something that I even dreamed of. It was just one of those things where everything came together that day and I just couldn't believe it and I was flooded with emotion. My dad was there watching, my boyfriend was also there watching. So it was a really special time and I mean, everyone on the team that day put in their two cents, we all worked hard for that one. And it was just good to see everyone after the race and everyone is in tears...at least, I was in tears and freaking out. It was just a special day and I was glad I could spend it with a lot of people."

A special day indeed as Rivera had become the first American to ever win the Tour of Flanders. The second-ever United States citizen to claim a Monument of cycling, following Tyler Hamilton's 2003 Liège-Bastogne-Liège victory.

"It's a cool fact about my win and it's something I'll hold close to me and that I can say forever. I'll always be the first in history, the first American, male or female, so that's pretty cool," Rivera says.

You'd think that would be enough to send it right to the top of the most cherished wins on her palmarès, but it's not that simple.

"It's up there," Rivera starts, "Binda was also emotional and later that year we won the team time trial worlds, and you know that's a world title so that's pretty special."

Binda and Flanders were the start of a purple patch for the Californian as she went on to take victory in London at the end of July, continuing her success into 2018 with the overall victory at the Women's Tour.

"When I won the Women's Tour I never thought of myself as a stage racer, I mostly like one-day races so surprised myself there."

But if push comes to shove, surely Flanders is up there?!

"Each one has its own respective vibe to it but for sure Flanders was special, I don't really rank them but if I had to, maybe, Flanders would be number one.

"Each one has its own story so I can't really like compare them yeah but for sure Flanders. My reaction, the emotion involved. Ah, yeah."

The 2020 edition of the Tour of Flanders is looking increasingly unlikely to go ahead after the Belgian sports minister said it wasn't "realistic" for the race to happen amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

"Let's be honest," Ben Weyts told Belgian radio, "I don't think it's going to be feasible. That a whole peloton from all over the world could settle in Flanders a few days after April 3…we must also show a sense of responsibility."

It would be the first time since 1918 the cobbled Classic hasn't taken place and follows the cancellation of other prominent races such as the Giro d'Italia, with Belgium's March Classics such as E3 BinkBank Classic and Ghent-Wevelgem also likely to get cut. Race organisers say they expected little else and understand the race is likely to be cancelled.

"What the minister said was already in the air," Tomas Van Den Spiegel told Het Nieuwsblad, speaking on behalf of Flanders Classics. "You cannot impose measures until April 3 to organise the largest festival in Flanders on April 5. We must understand that it is going in the direction of being cancelled. And if you hear this message from the minister, it seems irreversible."

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Paris-Roubaix is also expected to be on the chopping block, scheduled for one week after the Tour of Flanders, with De Telegraaf suggesting these races could be rearranged for the autumn or even November.

"Regardless of whether it will be possible, it will have a completely different experience," EF Pro Cycling's Sebastian Langeveld said. "This is because of the way I prepare, training all winter, doing all things with those top races in mind. But Paris-Roubaix will remain Paris-Roubaix. Although there will be more leaves hanging on the trees."

After the culmination of the final stage seven of Paris-Nice, with stage eight already being cut as a compromise to dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, it is unknown when top-level racing will return.

Hugo Hofstetter broke down in tears after coming out on top in a reduced bunch sprint at the Wallonie cobbled Classic, Le Samyn, on Tuesday.

The Israel Start-Up Nation rider stayed in the leading group, following the right wheels and leaving it late to pass Aimé De Gendt (Circus-Wanty Gobert), winning the sprint relatively comfortably.

Behind Hofstetter and De Gendt was a surprise with 22-year-old David Dekker (SEG Cycling Academy) out sprinting the likes of Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) to take third place.

Deceuninck-Quick-Step controlled the day trying to set up a sprint finish before their fast-man Álvaro Hodeg was dropped on the final lap.

After that, all the focus was on defending champion, Florian Sénéchal, who managed fifth place in the end.

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Frenchman Hofstetter has started this season well and is looking strong in the Classics. He managed sixth place at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday (March 1) along with a top 10 on a stage of the Vuelta a San Juan.

How it happened

A break of six riders that included Brit, Adam Kenway (Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK) got away early on the 201.9km route, but they were caught soon after starting the 26.9km long finishing circuits

The peloton broke down early on the finishing laps with Deceuninck-Quick-Step controlling the pace along with NTT Pro Cycling.

The usual Le Samyn rain started to come down as the peloton split up more and more as they took on the cobbled sections.

The open roads between sectors saw Deceuninck pepper the peloton with attack after attack but none managed to drag anything away.

Two-time winner Niki Terpstra (Total Direct Energie) was dropped on a cobbled sector with 56km to go due to a puncture. While he did manage to get back on as the lull in pace brought the peloton back together, he didn't manage to make the decisive split.

Sénéchal pushed on the hardest sector and pulled a break of about 20 riders clear, but Circus-Wanty Gobert then had the numbers over Deceuninck and took control.

Sénéchal, along with Alex Kirsch (Trek-Segafredo), David Dekker (SEG Racing Academy) and Michael Gogl (NTT Pro Cycling), then went clear just before the start of the final lap but were brought back going into the final lap of the circuit.

A large peloton went into the final lap. Álvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), who was well placed and being worked for, couldn't handle the pace on the cobbles and lost contact, leaving it up to his team-mates.

Tim De Clercq (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) tried several attacks which were all brought back, before settling in to try and work for Sénéchal.

The final few cobbled sectors split the race to leave just 12 riders up the road, including defencing champion, Sénéchal and sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling).

Kirsch tried various late snipes off the front but didn't manage to make any move stick.

The Rue de Belle Vue, the final cobbled sector of the circuit, obliterated the group breaking it into two groups of four and seven, dropping Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) out of contention.

The two groups came back together going into the last kilometre where Kirsch tried one last attack.

Clément Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale) went into the last corner in the lead where he was forced to open up his sprint early.

De Gendt and Dekker got by first before Hofstetter powered by in the last 50 metres to take the win.

It's the French sprinter's second career win after he took a stage in the Tour de l'Ain.

Results

Le Samyn 2020: Quaregnon to Dour (201.9km)

1. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation

2. Aimé De Gendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert

3. David Dekker (Ned) SEG Cycling Academy

4. Clément Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

5. Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Deceuninck-Quick-Step

6. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling

7. Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo

8. Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix

9. Tim De Clercq (Bel) Deceuninck-Quick-Step

10. Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Team Total Direct Energie

Former world champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak dominated Le Samyn des Dames on Tuesday, winning with a solo breakaway.

The Boels-Dolmans rider attacked a lead group of 14 women around 58km from the line, eventually winning with an advantage of nearly two minutes.

Behind her the peloton was shattered by the cobbles and wind, and a chase group battled for the podium places. Eventually the winner's team mate, Christine Majerus led the chase in second, with Lotte Kopecky (Lotto-Soudal), fresh from the track worlds, in third place.

Boels-Dolmans dominated the race with four of their seven starters finishing in the top ten, while the win was also van den Broek-Blaak’s third victory at the event.

Last year was a tough one for the Dutch woman. Though she won early in the season, a back injury derailed the rest of her year, leaving the 2019 Omloop het Nieuwsblad as her only success. Tuesday’s win came after she finished fourth at this year’s Omloop, showing the 2017 world champion is back on form.

How it happened

Only 95km, the undulating route between Quaregnon and Dour, in the far west of Belgium, included five sectors of cobbles, each of them ridden three times.

After leaving the start, the peloton headed towards the closing circuit, joining it two kilometres after the finish in Dour, crossing the line for the first time after 41.1km. They then tackled two full laps of the 26.9km loop.

Despite a couple of minor crashes in the opening kilometres, it was only on the first passage of the Rue du vert Pignon that any of the 149 riders began to struggle, though they re-formed after the 1400m cobbled sector.

However, with the wind blowing, before the race reached the second pavé sector the bunch split,  a group of 14 women heading up the road. Boels-Dolmans had three women in that leading group, including last year’s winner, Jip van den Bos.

However, the first time over the the Rue de Belle Vue, the last cobbled sector of each circuit, the Dutch squad sent former world champion, Chantal van den Broek-Blaak up the road, the Dutch woman gaining 20 seconds nearly instantly.

The 13 women chasing included two from Lotto-Soudal, and while the peloton lost ground, the varying ambitions in the chase group also allowed van den Broek-Blaak to increase her advantage to two minutes. 

With mechanicals diminishing the chasers they soon began to drop back, though five women were able to avoid the clutches of what remained of the peloton. Meanwhile, as the race entered its final 30km, van den Broek-Blaak’s lead was now over three minutes.

The chasing group of Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo), Aude Biannnic (Movistar), Lotte Kopecky (Lotto-Kopecky) managed to bring that deficit back, but the presence of leaders’ team mates Christine Majerus and van den Bos helped maintain it at around two minutes.

With the gap static, the closing kilometres were a fascinating battle for the podium. Majerus was first to attack, forcing van Dijk to close the gap. Biannic had a go, and van Dijk another, but it came to a five way sprint won by the Luxembourg champion.

Result

Le Samyn des Dames: Quaregnon to Dour (94.9km)

1. Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Ned) Boels-Dolmans in 2-35-01

2. Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels-Dolmans at 1-50

3. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Lotto Soudal

4. Jip van den Bos (Ned) Boels-Dolmans

5. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at same time

6. Aude Biannic (Fra) Movistar at 1-56

7. Lonneke Uneken (Ned) Boels-Dolmans 3-43

8. Marjolein van’t Geloof (Ned) Drops

9. Claire Faber (Lux) Illi Bikes

10. Alba Teruel (Esp) Movistar

13. Lizzy Bennet (Gbr) Drops at same time

The 2020 Opening Weekend was an exciting start to the new Classics campaign, as we saw some of the favourites fighting hard on the winding Belgian roads.

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) finally had the perfect race to win Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, while Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) fulfilled her promise to win her first race of the season in the women’s edition.

Wind, rain, the cobbles, the tight and twisting roads of northern Europe, and the endless short and sharp climbs put these among the toughest races on the calendar, but what can the power numbers behind these performances reveal?

We take a look at the data to find out who put in the most impressive displays of power.

Stuyven was on glowing form on Saturday (March 1) for Omloop, as he out-sprinted Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) to take his first major win since Kuurne in 2016.

Both Belgians were ultra-strong all day, as Velon reveals that Stuyven held an average of 315 watts (or 4.04 watts per kilogram) during the five hours of racing, with a normalised power of 370w owing to the relentlessly undulating course and the need to sprint out of the corners.

His rival Lampaert was able to conserve his energy better throughout the day, averaging 275w over the 200km race (or 3.67w/kg) and still making it into the final selection.

Lampaert himself put in a massive performance in the final stages, as he launched a significant attack on the Muur van Geraardsbergen to break up the leading group, holding 575w for 1-01 to cause a rift in the leaders.

After the tough day in the saddle, with an average speed of 39.3km/h, Stuyven still needed a huge boost of watts to beat Lampaert, hitting a 1,410w maximum in the 14-second sprint to the line.

In the women’s race, unfortunately Van Vleuten doesn’t upload her power data, but she took three QoMs on the day, including setting the fastest time on the 17km-long Finale Omloop 2019 segment.

Floortje Mackaij from Sunweb was one of the strongest contenders on the day, as she attempted to follow Van Vleuten on the Muur van Geraardsbergen but just couldn’t hold on to the world champion’s wheel.

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The Dutchwoman held 346w for the 3-41 duration of the 1km Muur segment and then went on to maintain 241km for the final 17km segment, taking second on the Strava leaderboard behind Van Vleuten.

Britain’s Lizzy Banks (Bigla-Katusha) was also a fantastic performer on the day, finishing sixth.

She held 218w for the 3-55 of racing and hit a maximum power of 922w.

On the Muur, she held 343w to crest the climb in a personal best time of 3-45.

Lorena Wiebes took the first win of her 2020 campaign at Omloop van het Hageland on Sunday. The Dutch champion out-sprinted last year’s winner Marta Bastianelli after the wonderfully aggressive race came back together on the last of five, 15km laps.

Wiebes remained hidden throughout the race, protected consummately by her Parkhotel-Valkenburg team. She was only visible inside the final two kilometres, where her striking Dutch jersey could be seen immediately behind that of the equally obvious Italian champion, Bastianelli, who won last year’s event. 

Trek-Segafredo were unable to capitalise on an incredibly aggressive performance. They had been extremely active throughout the race, leading the bunch and placing riders in the numerous breakaways which punctuated the Belgian event. However, the US squad could not prevent the expected bunch sprint, which Wiebes won with relative ease. 

Wiebes had hoped to leave Parkhotel Valkenburg over the winter, though stayed with the squad after the threat of legal action over her contract, and may be happy she did after Sunday’s result.

How it happened

With no Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the women’s opening weekend traditionally heads for the 130km Omloop van het Hageland, which takes place east of the Belgian capital, Brussels, between Tienen and Tielt-Winge.

The route took the peloton on an opening leg of 54km before crossing the finish line and taking on five laps of 15km around the finish town, which contained the race’s signature climb, the Roeselberg.

The race was hugely entertaining, with numerous attacks and breakaways, making any lull in the action a surprise.

With no early breakaway, Trek-Segafredo took responsibility for much of the early work, some of their big guns keeping the pace high. This tactic forced a split on the climb’s first ascent, leaving only around 20 women at the front before crossing the finish line for the first time.

A subsequent brief spell of crosswinds finally saw a two woman breakaway, with Tayler Wiles (Trek-Segafredo) joining forces with Romy Kasper (Parkhotel-Valkenburg).

Just after they crossed the line for the first time, the leading duo were joined by three others, but the peloton were in hot pursuit and the race re-formed, Bigla-Katusha and Mitchelton-Scott taking over on the front.

The race then settled, riders taking time to re-fuel, while Wiebes's Parkhotel-Valkenburg team came to the front. After this brief period, Mitchelton-Scott’s Lucy Kennedy attacked at the bottom of the climb, not only taking maximum queen of the mountain points, but taking four women with her.

The four tried to get away, but were soon caught and a further group of five headed up the road, Trek-Segafredo once again represented. They were soon joined by four more, and with 43km remaining, the day’s break finally formed.

Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Trek-Segafredo), Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott), Aude Biannic (Movistar), Silvia Persico (Valcar Travel and Service), Romy Kasper (Parkhotel-Valkenburg), Eri Yonamine (Alé-BTC Ljubljana), Lone Meertens (Lotto-Soudal) and the Bigla-Katusha pair of Mikayla Harvey and Marlen Reusser soon had a lead of 50 seconds.

However, just as it seemed the nine would be allowed their head, Cordon-Ragot’s team mate, Lucinda Brand bridged across. The Dutch woman dragged the dropped Persico and Kasper back to the leading group, but her arrival caused a reaction in the peloton.

Despite having Yonamine ahead, Alé-BTC Ljubljana took up the chase, and with help from FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, who did want to allow the winning break too much leeway as they did in yesterday's Omloop het Nieuwsblad, brought the leaders to heel inside the final 25km.

Another brief lull in the action was once again brought to a halt by Trek-Segafredo. Wiles attacked first, then van Dijk before Brand went after Mitchelton-Scott’s ever aggressive Grace Brown.

Yonamine went with them, but with Bastianelli in the bunch behind, the Japanese champion was not allowed to work, sitting on while the advantage increased to 30 seconds as the final lap began.

They were not able to build a conclusive lead though, and on the final ascent of the Roeselberg, with just 6km remaining were caught, though the race was not yet done for Trek-Segafredo.

The moment it came back together Wiles had another go, Yonamine going with her and once again sitting on. But as had happened so many times before, they were unable to build a lead and the race settled in for a bunch sprint.

Result
Omloop van het Hageland: Tienen - Tielt-Winge (130km)

1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Parkhotel-Valkenburg in 3-30-05

2. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana

3. Emma Norsgaard (Den) Bigla-Katusha

4. Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope

5. Teniel Campbell (TTo) Valcar Travel and Service

6. Charlotte Kool (Ned) NXTG Racing

7. Lotta Hentalla (Fin) Trek-Segafredo

8. Arianna Fidanza (Ita) Lotto Soudal

9. Ilaria Sanguineti (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service

10. Jelena Erić (Srb) Movistar all at same time

Jasper Stuyven beat Yves Lampaert in a two-up sprint to claim victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2020.

The Trek-Segafredo rider proved to be the strongest of the group that went clear with 70km left to race, with a whittling down process leaving Stuyven as the eventual victor.

Søren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) finished third after being detached from the duo as they attacked each other with 2km to go, while Matteo Trentin (CCC) took fourth after he was dropped on the Kapelmuur.

Deceuninck - Quick-Step's Lampaert looked to have played the finish right, staying in Stuyven's wheel as they came around the final bend.

Lampaert then launched his sprint while Stuyven had his head turned around watching his Belgian compatriot. Therefore, all Stuyven had to do was close the door and use his fresher legs to stay ahead of Lampaert and cross the finish line first.

>>> Annemiek van Vleuten wins a gritty Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in the rainbow stripes

How it happened

Early scrapes indicated proper bike racing was back on the menu as a level crossing came down to inhibit the early break while Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) was passed a screwdriver to make some adjustments to his bike as the peloton sped away from Ghent towards Ninove.

Miserable conditions began battering the peloton after 50km of racing, with the peloton then splitting in cross-tailwinds 20km later.

Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and an Ineos quartet of Ian Stannard, Owain Doull, Luke Rowe and Ben Swift found themselves in the front half and drove the pace towards the breakaway. This had the effect of eventually bringing the race all back together with 100km to go.

Heinrich Haussler was looking in fine form as he led the peloton on the cobbles following the Katteberg, with his Bahrain-McLaren team-mate Marcel Sieberg left holding his head after a crash left him trailing behind.

Echelons appeared once more with 88km to go as the reduced bunch approached the Paddestraat. The leading group of 15 riders included CCC's Greg Van Avermaet and Matteo Trentin, Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale), Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Tiesj Benoot (Sunweb), as well as Wout Van Aert and Haussler.

Van Aert then almost casually came up past Haussler going off the front, with the Australian then following. After this brief show of strength, the pair waited up for the rest of the group behind, before going once more with 77km to go.

Trentin then attacked, before Stannard stretched his legs, with Greg Van Avermaet then putting in a powerful move. Not much seemed to be sticking, until an eight-man move peeled off the front, with Ineos' Luke Rowe desperately trying to pull it back in.

Yves Lampaert had team-mate Tim Declerq for company, the rest of the move including Trentin, Jumbo-Visma's Mike Teunissen and Sunweb's Søren Kragh Andersen.

With 60km remaining their gap had increased to a minute, as Haussler and Bora-Hansgrohe's Lukas Postlberger got themselves involved a counter-attack behind, trying to escape the 40-strong reduced bunch.

20km later the gap was up to 2-45 as Van Aert and EF Pro Cycling's Sep Vanmarcke attacked.

The front group appeared to be weakening as their gap came down to 1-30 on the Leberg, which gave Van Aert the encouragement to attack yet again, this time taking Benoot with him and bridging across to the Haussler chase group, but by 25km to go the chase group had been brought back in by the larger chase group behind.

Up ahead, Declerq worked hard for Lampaerts, maintaining the lead group's 1-45 advantage with 18km to go as the road rises up towards the Kapelmuur climb. Declerq then started dropping off before Lampaert and Stuyven went flat out on the 20 per cent gradients. The pair begin to pull away as Kragh Andersen and Trentin gave chase.

1-3o remained the gap with 13km to go. The leading trio of Stuyven, Lampaert and Kragh Andersen didn't want to allow fast finisher Trentin back into the fold so kept the pace up, which secured their gap back to the larger chase group.

Flicks of the elbow began to be ignored with 11km remaining, either as cat-and-mouse games were introduced or riders in the leading trio began to play games.

Trentin was 11 seconds behind with 9km to go, increasing to 18 seconds 3km later. Into the closing kilometres, Lampaert accelerated with just over 2km to go before Stuyven countered and Kragh Andersen wasn't able to respond.

Lampaert looked to have tactically outclassed his rival as he let Stuyven lead him out round the final corner, but his fellow Belgian proved to have the fresher legs and faster finish as he eased to the win, cleverly closing off the gap Lampaert was trying to get through. However, had the window stayed open the Deceuninck - Quick-Step rider wasn't looking like he had the legs to come round him.

Results

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2020: Ghent to Ninove (200km)

1. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo, in 5-03-24

2. Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at same time

3. Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Sunweb, at six seconds

4. Matteo Trentin (Ita) CCC, at 39s

5. Tim Declerq (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 1-28

6. Mike Teunissen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma

7. Oliver Naesen (Bel) Ag2r La Mondiale

8. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto-Soudal

9. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ

10. Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, all at same time

Another remarkable performance from world champion Annemiek van Vleuten saw her win the women’s race at Omloop het Nieuwsblad on Sunday. The Dutchwoman attacked at the bottom of the Kapelmuur, 17km from the line, and soloed to the finish in characteristic style.

A group of five women had formed after the climb and set about chasing van Vleuten, but with five teams represented, the pursuit was not cohesive.

Over the top of the race's final climb, the Bosberg, Ellen van Dijk, returning to action after a serious crash last season, attacked, though was unable to get away.

However, that move dropped British rider Lizzy Banks (Bigla-Katusha), leaving just four riders to chase down a growing lead.

As the race progressed towards the finish in Ninove, and Van Vleuten’s advantage grew to over 35 seconds, and the chasers began to look at each other, appearing to accept their fate.

With Van Vleuten secure over the line, last year's winner Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) started her sprint early, however Marta Bastianelli (Alé-BTC Ljubljana) came over the top to take second place ahead of Floortje Mackaij (Sunweb), with van den Broek-Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) fourth.

Riding only her second cobbled classics campaign, and after positioning herself perfectly all day, Banks finished an excellent sixth place.

How it happened

The 126.5km race rolled out of Ghent in rapidly deteriorating weather, rain and high winds likely to affect the peloton as they headed for the 10 Flemish bergs and five cobbled sectors.

Attacks began in the opening kilometres, with Nicole Hanselmann (Doltcini-Van Eyk) getting away alone. The Swiss rider made the news for doing the same last year when she caught the back of the men’s race convoy, causing her event to be briefly halted.

There were no such issues this year though, with Hanselmann unable to gain any meaningful advantage she was caught after only 10km, swapping places with team-mate Marieke van Witzenburg.

She suffered the same fate though when a small group tried to bridge and succeeded only in bringing the race back together. Doltcini-Van Eyk were clearly feeling feisty though, sending  Christina Schweinberger up the road, and she was soon joined by Maaike Boogaard (Alé-BTC Ljubljana) and Femke Markus (Parkhotel-Valkenburg).

Her legs unable to match the team's ambition, Schweinberger was soon dropped and overtaken by lone chaser Emily Newson (Tibco-SVB), the American joining the leaders to form a group of three at the front.

However, though the trio built a lead of 50 seconds, as they reached the day’s first cobbled sector, Haaghoek, after 42km, they were caught, Boels-Dolmans upping the pace in an attempt to split the peloton.

At 2km, Haaghoek stretched the bunch, and when British rider Lizzy Banks (Bigla-Katusha) took to the front on the Leberg, more women were left trailing off the back. This set a pattern, the pace lifting and dropping the leading group consequently thinning then swelling.

One of the increases in pace came with 73km remaining, Sunweb taking to the front on a corner. There van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) suffered a dropped chain, leaving her stranded at the side of the road and forced to endure a long ride to get back on.

While she eventually rejoined the bunch, the succession of climbs and cobbled sectors combined with pressure from Sunweb and Boels-Dolmans to leave many others scattered across Flanders.

The conclusive selection came 48km from the line, when once again Sunweb lifted the pace. Many of the big teams were well represented in that group, and they shared the work, increasing the gap to a large bunch as the race’s decisive points approached.

With 32km to go a brief dig from American champion Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) on the Tenbosse set a flurry of attacks in motion on the run into Geraardsbergen, and the Kaplemuur climb.

Van Vleuten made her move at the very bottom, leading round the corner onto the cobbles, then riding her rivals off her wheel as the gradient bit, dropping Sunweb’s Floortje Mackaij, and leaving the remainder of the group was in tatters.

Over the top, her lead was just 11 seconds, but the chase was not yet organised, and by the time the five riders began working the win was gone. 

Result

Women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2020: Ghent - Ninove (126.6km)

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton Scott, in 3-34-55

2. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana, in 42 seconds

3. Floortje Mackaij (Ned) Sunweb

4. Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Ned) Boels-Dolmans), both at same time

5. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek Segafredo, at 44s

6. Lizzy Banks (Gbr) Bigla-Katusha, at 1-13

7. Eugenia Bujak (Slo) Alé- BTC Ljubljana, at same time

8. Chloe Hosking (Aus) Rally Cycling, at 1-30

9. Jip van den Bos (Ned) Boels-Dolmans

10. Aude Biannic (Fra) Movistar, both at same time

Mathieu van der Poel will miss Opening Weekend because of illness, his team have announced.

The Dutch superstar had been set to race Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne this weekend, but he has come down with flu and high fever.

Van der Poel was favourite for the Belgian one-day races, after a phenomenal cyclocross season that saw him retain his world champion’s jersey.

His Alpecin-Fenix team announced on Twitter: "Mathieu van der Poel will not be at the start of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad this weekend. Van der Poel has the flu and because of high fever starting Wednesday night, he won't be able to race."

The bookies had Van der Poel down as 2/1 favourite for Omloop on Saturday (February 29), after he made is road racing return at the Volta ao Algarve last week.

Van der Poel, 25, dominated the cyclocross season, winning 24 out of the 25 races he entered.

After taking a two-week break, Van der Poel then started his road season in Portugal where he was working in a support role for Sacha Modolo.

His best result was 33rd on the second stage on the way to the summit of Alto de Fóia.

The Alpecin-Fenix team will now be made up of Petr Vakoč, Otto Vergaerde, Dries De Bondt, Floris Detier, Kristian Sbaragli, and Scott Thwaites.

Van der Poel's next race is scheduled to be Strade-Bianche and Milan San-Remo.

>>> Annemiek van Vleuten: ‘I don’t feel more pressure in the rainbow jersey, just more motivated’ 

He is also expected to race the Volta a Catalunya, then Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Brabatnse Pijl, Amstel Gold and Flèche Wallone.

This summer he will be stepping away from the road bike however, as he is targeting the Olympic gold medal in the mountain bike event in Tokyo, before looking to the cyclocross season once again.

Every cycling article you'll read over the next few days will begin like so: 'The opening weekend in Belgium is upon us and that means the start of the proper cycling season'.

What it also means, however, is that the bookmakers can breathe a huge sigh of relief. No longer do they have to depend on punters putting on ridiculous football accas every weekend to keep them bouyant. Now the true cash cow of cycling fans putting £2 each way on the likes of Oliver Naesen and Nils Politt will fill their coffers and ensure no gambling firms fall on hard times this year.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is on Saturday February 29, with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the following day. A number of Classics specialists will take the start line, hoping to open their account this spring with a win.

Alpecin-Fenix's Mathieu van der Poel lines up for his first full Classics season, with the veterans Greg Van Avermaet and Zdeněk Štybar, who is the defending champion, also hoping to add another victory to their palmarès.

But which rider is the favourite? Who better to give us some insight than our benevolent gambling industrial complex overlords.

>>> Wout van Aert takes Strava KoM from Chris Froome

Mathieu van der Poel is the clear favourite at 2/1, the 2019 Amstel Gold Race winner continued his road form last season with overall victories at the Arctic Race of Norway and the Tour of Britain before defending his cyclo-cross world championship title during a strong winter campaign. Now back on the road and primed for his first full Classics calendar, the Dutchman is the heavy favourite to get his spring off to a winning start.

Second favourite is CCC's Greg Van Avermaet at 8/1, who has won the race twice before in 2016 and 2017 and also finished runner-up in the 2019 edition. He concluded his 2019 season strongly with a top 10 at the Yorkshire Worlds as well as a victory at the GP de Montréal and third place at GP de Québec. In the final year of his contract with the Polish squad, the 34-year-old will be determined to get back to winning ways after a lean few years.

The defending champion is Deceuninck - Quick-Step's Zdeněk Štybar and the Czech rider is given odds of 12/1 to retain his title. The 34-year-old already has a win in 2020, taking stage six of the Vuelta a San Juan in January.

Wout Van Aert will return to road racing for the first time since his Tour de France TT crash at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad ahead of a busy spring schedule. The Jumbo-Visma rider will be hoping to improve on his 13th place in last year's race and is 12/1 to take home the win. Judging by his Strava, Van Aert is back in form after the injury, having taken a KoM off Chris Froome in Tenerife.

Is Matteo Trentin still hurting after losing the rainbow bands to Mads Pedersen in Yorkshire? The Italian has his first opportunity to register a significant result and put the world road race behind him at Omloop in what will be his first race Classics campaign for CCC. He's valued at 17/1.

Bob Jungels (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale) are both offered at 18/1. Jungels won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the day after finishing 16th in last year's Omloop, while Naesen managed to sneak into the top 10. Jungels' team-mate Yves Lampaert is ninth favourite at 23/1 and finished inside the top seven places of both opening weekend races.

Rounding out the top 10 of favourites are Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) at 25/1 and Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-McLaren) at 28/1. Stuyven finished fourth at the 2018 race before a 40th place finish last year, where Teuns came fifth in his first appearance at the Belgian race.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2020: Winner odds (oddschecker)

Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix - 2/1

Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC - 8/1

Zdeněk Štybar (Cze) Deceuninck - Quick-Step - 12/1

Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma - 12/1

Matteo Trentin (Ita) CCC - 17/1

Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck - Quick-Step - 18/1

Oliver Naesen (Bel) Ag2r La Mondiale - 18/1

Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step - 23/1

Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo - 25/1

Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-McLaren - 28/1

All odds are correct at time of publication

We could be in for a show this Opening Weekend, as the Classics get underway with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

Weather for the first Classics of the year is looking inclement, with gusts and downpours expected throughout the weekend.

Another storm is expected to batter northern Europe this weekend, as Storm Ellen promises to bring high winds.

You can check the start list for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad here. 

Here is the forecast for Opening Weekend, according to the Met Office

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – Saturday, February 29 

The men’s edition kicks off at 11.35am local time (10.35am UK time) with the women’s peloton taking to the course 10 minutes after.

At the start in Ghent, its expected to be cloudy but not raining.

Temperatures will also be a relatively mild 10 degrees, but with a southern wind of 20mph and gusts from between 38 and 44mph.

By 1pm, the rain is expected to come down as the Met Office currently says there is a 60 to 70 per cent chance of downpours between 1pm and 4pm in Ghent.

Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne – Sunday, March 1

Then for Kuurne, chances of rain are down but the wind should still be high.

Cloudy skies can be expected for the start of the race with a 20 per cent chance of rain. Winds are expected to be around 20mph in a south-westerly direction for much of the day, but there will also be gusts of 40mph, which could make for some sketchy moments in the peloton.

>>> Deceuninck – Quick-Step name immensely strong team for Opening Weekend

Into the afternoon, the chances of rain increase to around 40 per cent at 1pm and continuing through until the evening.

But on Sunday the cold could be a factor, with temperatures sitting around around seven degrees while the win will make the ‘feels like’ temperature more like two or three degrees, so the hardened Classics riders may thrive in some challenging conditions.

The latest poster for E3 BinckBank is another bizarre addition to the catalogue, as Patrick Lefevere and Greg Van Avermaet have appeared in fancy dress.

Belgian Classic E3, which falls on March 27 this year, has drawn criticism in previous years for “being out of touch” after using nude women to advertise the race.

This latest instalment is less controversial but just as strange, as it features a collection of former winners of the one-day race dressed as characters from a popular Belgian sitcom, including Greg Van Avermaet dressed as a character Carmen Waterslaeghers-Vandormael.

The poster also includes Deceuninck – Quick-Step boss Lefevere, as well as retired Classics stars Peter Van Petegem, Johan Museeuw, Freddy Maertens and Eddy Planckaert.

Last year E3 BinckBank, formerly known as E3 Harelbeke, unveiled a poster for the 2019 event which featured two women wearing only body paint lying on top of each other to form a frog.

The picture, accompanied by the strap line ‘Who shall crown himself prince in Harelbeke?, attracted criticism for being “out of touch campaigning". The 2019 edition of the event was won by Quick-Step's Zdenek Štybar.

Before that, in 2015 the marketing images for the race feature a rider about to grab a woman’s exposed bum, with that image later being taken down.

The UCI responded to the controversial poster, saying: “The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) was extremely unhappy with the promotional poster of the 2015 E3 Harelbeke.”

“We have reminded the organiser of its responsibility and the UCI Regulations and they have agreed to take off the poster from all communication platforms.”

>>> Milan-San Remo, Tirreno-Adriatico and Giro d’Italia all under threat after Italian coronavirus outbreak 

In 2016, the poster featured a priest, with the tag line ‘cycling is holy, winning is sacred’, whilst 2017 shocked us all with a baby covered in tattoos, one reading ‘mommy’s rebel’.

Last year’s race featured a cowboy – with the tag line ‘who will be the sheriff of the Texas of Flanders?’-  and was supported by female dancers in ‘cowgirl’ outfits.

Annemiek van Vleuten plans to come out swinging this season as she targets the Classics.

The Dutch superstar has evolved from a one-day specialist into a dangerous climber and stage racer in recent seasons, but this year turning her focus back to the spring.

Van Vleuten dominated across the board in 2019, winning Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Giro Rosa and then capping it off with her first World Championship road race victory in Yorkshire.

The 37-year-old said: “Usually I’m a slow starter in the spring Classics, but this time I expect to be ready for [Omloop Het] Nieuwsblad and carry that forward, so this is pretty exciting for me.

“They’re all races that really suit me, I don’t particularly like the weather but I can deal with it.”

The Mitchelton-Scott rider’s winter training has been brutal, with the Dutch national champion training with the men’s squad during their point-to-point camp in Italy and spending a lot of time riding at altitude in Colombia.

Van Vleuten hope the intense preparation will put her in good stead for the early season as she starts racing at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on February 29, then heads back to Strade Bianche on March 7.

She said: "I'm not racing a lot, but the races I am doing, I am really targeting. After coming so close a few times last year I am really looking forward to racing them again this year. If you come second then there is the possibility to win.

"I will be proud to wear the rainbow jersey in races, as a champion, and of course if I can win in the jersey it would be very special, but winning is always special, whether you're wearing the jersey or not."

After Strade Bianche, she will then race Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallone and then Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

>>> Mark Cavendish: ‘Rod Ellingworth always stood by me when people you thought were your friends didn’t’ 

Van Vleuten added: “I think this pre-season has been my best preparation so far from the last five or six years," Van Vleuten indicated. "I have had no setbacks."

"I started with a really good off-season; happy, relaxed, going on a holiday and then the training has been going really well since then, especially going to Colombia twice, so I am really looking forward to the spring.

"Knowing how my preparation was last year, with the big setback and injury from the 2019 world champs and still doing so well in the Classics campaign, it really gives me a bit more confidence and belief that I will be a contender in every race at the start of the season."

Ag2r La Mondiale 6/10

The team were dependent on their classics star Oliver Naesen, who duly delivered with a couple of high-profile podium finishes at Milan-San Remo and Ghent-Wevelgem, as well as seventh at the Tour of Flanders. A major victory remained elusive, however.

Astana 5/10

While the team’s climbing contingent were winning stage race after stage race, the Classics squad were more subdued. The spring got off to a good start with fourth for Alexey Lutsenko at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and second for Jakob Fuglsang at Strade Bianche, but this pair and the team’s other top riders prioritised races away from the cobbled Classics.

Bahrain-Merida 4/10

Matej Mohorič showed plenty of enthusiasm without ever quite featuring in the business end of races, although fifth at Milan-San Remo was a very good result in one of the spring’s most important races. They might have enjoyed more success had Dylan Teuns opted to follow-up fourth at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with more appearances on the cobbles, but he’s prioritising the Ardennes Classics instead.

Bora-Hansgrohe 6/10

It’s fair to say that Peter Sagan’s spring was, by his own exceptionally high standards, a bit of a disappointment, even if top five finishes at both Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix would be considered a success by virtually any other rider. The team had more luck in the semi-Classics, however, with Pascal Ackermann sprinting to victory at Bredene Koksijde and second at Nokere Koerse.

CCC Team 5/10

Star rider Greg Van Avermaet was his usual consistent self in the cobbled Classics, making the podium at both Het Nieuwsblad and E3 BinckBank Classic, but came up short at the major targets (Flanders and Paris-Roubaix). As the Belgian himself pointed out in the aftermath of Ghent-Wevelgem, he could have done with more support from his CCC team-mates, who often left him isolated.

Deceuninck - Quick-Step 10 / 10

If anything, this spring was even more of a success for Deceuninck - Quick-Step than their historically prolific 2018 campaign. From their clean sweep at opening weekend courtesy of Zdenek Štybar and Bob Jungels to Philippe Gilbert’s legend-enhancing victory at Paris-Roubaix, they were again virtually unbeatable throughout the spring, with Julian Alaphilippe’s Milan-San Remo / Strade Bianche a particular highlight.

>>> Strava stats reveal how gruelling Paris-Roubaix really is

Dimension Data 2/10

The hope was that new signing Michael Valgren would infuse some much-needed quality into the Classics line-up, but the young Dane was strangely anonymous all spring, showing none of the form that saw him win Het Nieuwsblad and Amstel Gold for Astana last year. The likes of Edvald Boasson Hagen and Giacomo Nizzolo were also found wanting.

EF Education First 9/10

Alberto Bettiol finished off a perfect team performance to win the Tour of Flanders, a result that exceeded EF Education First’s wildest ambitions. The situation looked bad at the beginning of the spring, with star man Sep Vanmarcke making a slow start, but Bettiol was a revelation in a leadership role, while Vanmarcke recovered to play a key role in the Flanders victory and was himself a strong fourth at Paris-Roubaix.

Groupama-FDJ 3/10

It was a quiet campaign for the French team. Arnaud Démare was regularly dropped from the key groups and was missing in the sprinter-orientated Classics he usually excels in, while new signing Stefan Küng only really got going at Paris-Roubaix, where he finished eleventh.

Lotto-Soudal 5/10

Both Tiesj Benoot and Jens Keukeleire were consistent without being spectacular, while the former’s campaign ended in tears following a horrible collision with a team car at Paris-Roubaix. Perhaps the team would’ve been better off had Tim Wellens, who was an impressive third at Het Nieuwsblad, chosen to target the other cobbled Classics?

Mitchelton-Scott 4/10

Matteo Trentin was a feature in pretty much all the major classics, but could not convert his good form into top-10 finishes (seventh at E3 BinckBank Classic, seventh at Ghent-Wevelgem, ninth at Het Nieuwsblad). The team as a whole didn’t manage any podium finishes.

Movistar 4/10

The cobbled roads of northern Europe are not exactly the natural habitat of this Spanish team of lightweight climbers, so their blue jerseys were, inevitably, a rare sight during the spring. Nonetheless, Alejandro Valverde impressed on his Tour of Flanders debut, finishing eighth.

Katusha-Alpecin 7/10

The on-going problems with the team’s marquee signing Marcel Kittel continue to rumble on, but a new star emerged in the shape of Nils Politt. The 25-year old German got better and better as the spring progressed, peaking with a sensational ride at Paris-Roubaix, where only a superior sprint from Philippe Gilbert stood before him and a shock victory.

Jumbo-Visma 7/10

By adopting a new, more assertive approach to the classics, Jumbo-Visma showed great faith in their new rider Wout van Aert, who repaid them with prestigious podium finishes at Strade Bianche and E3 BinckBank Classic. He was unlucky not to pull off a victory, but the team’s avoided a winless campaign thanks to Dylan Groenewegen at Three Days of De Panne.

>>> Rider who was locked out of velodrome last year finishes top-10 in 2019 Paris-Roubaix

Team Sky 6/10

There were impressive performances by the team’s younger contingent in the semi-Classics, with Owain Doull, Kristoffer Halvorsen and Christopher Lawless podiuming at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Bredene Koksijde and Scheldeprijs respectively. However, aside from Michal Kwiatkowski’s third place finish at Milan-San Remo, the more established names like Gianni Moscon, Luke Rowe and Dylan van Baarle underwhelmed in the biggest races, despite showing some flashes of form.

Sunweb 6/10

Were it not for a crash at Paris-Nice, Michael Matthews would probably have competed in a fuller program of cobbled classics, but he made the most of his limited appearances by finishing a more than respectable sixth on debut at the Tour of Flanders. In his absence, Cees Bol sprinted to victory at Nokere Koerse and Maximilian Walscheid was second at Scheldeprijs.

Trek-Segafredo 3/10

Sports director Steven de Jongh expressed his concern that Trek-Segafredo’s classics line-up did not, for whatever reason, appear to be at the right level following a poor showing at Het Nieuwsblad, and the rest of the spring saw little improvement. One great showing at Ghent-Wevelgem, where Mads Pedersen impressed with several late attacks and John Degenkolb sprinted for second place, was an exception to the general disappointment.

UAE Team Emirates 8/10

You might have thought new star signing Fernando Gaviria would have been the man to ignite UAE Emirates’ spring, but instead it was old-timer Alexander Kristoff who rediscovered his best form to win Ghent-Wevelgem and place third at the Tour of Flanders. Gaviria managed to place second at Three Days of De Panne, while young talent Jasper Philipsen was third at Nokere Koerse.

With Paris-Roubaix coming up this weekend the harshest cobbles of the season are just a few days away, which means that pro mechanics are working feverishly to prepare their riders' bikes for the demands of the pavé.

You might think that all that needs doing is to fit some 28mm tyres, then off you go, but there's much more to it for riders in search of Roubaix glory.

1. Special bikes

The cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are so ferocious that for years the pros have used specially designed bikes better equipped to handle the battering.

Some examples include the Specialized Roubaix, recently updated with pioneering front end 'Futureshock' suspension. Team Sky will be riding the new Pinarello Dogma FS which has full electronic suspension and the Trek Domane has a special customisable 'IsoSpeed' adjuster that allows the frame to flex.

The idea behind these bikes is to keep the riders feeling as fresh for as long as possible, giving them an extra advantage in the sprint for victory.

2. Double wrap bar tape

While 250km of racing over roads that you'd think twice about driving down will take a significant toll on the legs, the relentless juddering will also numb the hands and arms. To combat this, many pros will double (or even triple) wrap their bar tape in an attempt to provide extra cushioning for their hands, wrists, and shoulders.

>>> How to wrap handlebar tape (video)

This is also often complemented by gel inserts positioned underneath the bar tape, which provide a little extra protection from the cobbled terrain, especially as frame manufacturers generally concentrate on providing a comfortable rear end for their bikes, occasionally neglecting to provide any extra cushioning at the front.

3. Bar tape on pedals

One less obvious place to put some extra bar tape is on your pedals, but we've seen pro teams such as Lotto-Soudal do this in the past. This not only has the same effect as putting extra bar tape around the handlebars (i.e. vibration dampening), but should also help to stop the cleats from slipping around in the pedals and even popping out when riding over really rough road surfaces.

>>> The best cycling clipless pedals

Of course the other pedal modification we've seen is riders using pedals that have been specifically designed for racing in muddy and wet conditions, such as the Speedplay Pavé pedals that Fabian Cancellara used for a number of years.

4. Wider tyres

The classic bike modification for the cobbles is to fit wider tyres. Back in the day, riders would flirt with 25mm tyres run at a lower pressure for extra comfort and traction, especially in wet conditions. However, with wider tyres now being the norm for most road racing, it's common to see riders using 28mm or even 30mm tyres for the Classics. Most modern endurance bikes are capable of accommodating the increased size.

>>> How to puncture proof your tyres (video)

Tubular tyres will be used by most of the pros but there could potentially be some riders who opt to set their wheels up tubeless. Not least because it allows you to run your tyres at a lower pressure.

>>> Should you change to tubeless tyres (video)

For Paris-Roubaix in particular, many pros shun their tyre sponsors in favour have hand-sewn tubular tyres made specifically for the event, with FMB and Dugast in particular having some star name clientele.

5. Lower pressures

Of course there's no point using 28mm tyres for extra comfort and grip then pumping them up to 120 psi, so all of the pros will be running their tyres at lower pressures, particularly if the rain begins to fall.

Most professional riders are fastidious about their bike setup, but no more so than for the cobbles, where they will know exactly what psi they want their tyres pumped up to. In general most go for 65-85 psi, although this could be lower if there's a forecast for rain.

6. Big small chainring

It might now have a an uphill cobbled sector, but Paris-Roubaix isn't going to rival the Tour of Flanders for climbing any time soon, so many pros opt for a bigger small chainring, usually meaning either a 53/42t or 53/44t setup, with the small chainring only being called into action if it's a muddy day and the going is tough over the cobbles, or during lulls in the pace between sectors.

>>> Is it the end for the 34t chainring?

A few riders will also decide to fit a bigger outer chainring, usually a 54t or 55t, which will really come in handy for fast races, particularly if there is a south-westerly wind blowing in Paris-Roubaix.

7. Different wheels

Back in 2007, Stuart O'Grady punctured in the Arenberg Forest, got a spare wheel from neutral service, regained contact with the front group, then rode away for a glorious solo victory. Impressive enough anyway, even before you consider that the wheel he was given from neutral service made its way out of the factory in 1986.

>>> Do you need deep section carbon wheels?

While most of the riders will opt for carbon wheels, we will still see quite a few opting for higher spoke count aluminium wheels in an attempt to avoid mechanicals, while team cars will also often carry aluminium rather than carbon wheels so as not to ruin too many pricey deep section wheels.

8. Remote shifters

One major benefit of electronic groupsets is the ability for riders to position shifting buttons in multiple places on their handlebars, giving the ability to change gear without needing to move their hands to the brake levers.

>>> Are electronic groupsets necessary

We've seen multiple setups over the years, but the standard option is to have sprint shifter on the inside of the drops, and climbing shifters on the tops to allow riders to respond to attacks when riding over the cobbles with their hands on the tops of the bars.

9. Top mount brake levers

You see it less and less nowadays, but another modification that used to be favoured by riders who tackled the cobbles with their hands on the tops was the top mount brake lever, something which was seen on John Degenkolb's Giant Defy when he won Paris-Roubaix in 2015.

>>> How to use your brakes properly (video)

Having a brake lever in this position allows riders to adjust their speed over the cobbles without changing their hand position, a vital ability to have when you've got riders crashing in front of you and spectators stepping into your path to get pictures.

However, you're much more likely to see riders using the normal braking levers nowadays, especially since bike companies have developed the front end comfort of the bikes.

10. Chain catchers

A dropped chain at a vital moment could be the difference between victory and an anonymous finish five minutes down in 37th place. And given the rough ride that your drivetrain gets over the cobbles, it's a testament to modern groupsets that we don't see chains coming off left, right, and centre as soon as any race hits the cobbles.

>>> How to change your chain (video)

One reason for this is that many teams choose to fit a chain catcher, which stops the chain being juddered off the chainrings and getting stuck around the bottom bracket.

11. Grip tape on bottle cages

The rough ride of the cobbles also takes its toll on bottle cages, and the vibrations will often work loose bottles sending them rolling across the road. To avoid this many teams fit steel bottle cages instead of their normal carbon-fibre ones which can be shaped to give a secure hold of the bottle.

This is often complemented by grip tape, which might do no good whatsoever to the bottle, but should keep it securely held in place to ensure that a rider will be well hydrated come the end of the race.

Marta Bastianelli continued her fine streak of form on Sunday, winning the Tour of Flanders. The Italian out-sprinted Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) in second place and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla), after the trio rode the closing 13km alone.

The group had formed on the run in to the final climb, the Paterberg, only 13km from the finish in Oudenaarde, and had initially included Canyon-SRAM’s Kasia Niewiadoma. The former Polish champion though was dropped at the top of the climb and unable to close the gap.

>>> Alberto Bettiol takes first career victory with spectacular solo ride at Tour of Flanders 2019

As the kilometres ebbed away and with European champion Bastianelli the strongest sprinter of the three it was down to the others to attack, and Van Vleuten was particularly active. The world time trial champion seemed below par and was unable to get a gap, with Bastianelli closing her down each time. 

The trio had little time for cat and mouse, however, as a group of four was chasing hard in the closing 10km, and was within 25 seconds as they passed under the flame rouge with one kilometre to go. 

It has been an extraordinary season for the former world road champion. She is yet to finish lower than eighth in 10 race starts, and now has three wins to her credit. She is also now the clear leader in the WorldTour standings.

How it happened

At 159km, this year’s Tour of Flanders was the longest since the women’s event was created in 2004. Won by Zoulfia Zabirova, that inaugural edition was just 94km, the increase in distance an indication of how the sport has developed in the intervening seasons.

This year that greater distance ensured the bunch were happy to let a large group of riders get away, and after only six kilometres four women led by 30 seconds, and they were soon chased down by three others.

Ilaria Sanguinetti (Valcar-Cylance), Giulia Marchesini (AromItalia-Vaiano), Kseniya Dobrynina (Sevetto-Piumate Beltrami TSA), Silvia Valsecchi (BePink), Séverine Eraud (Doltcini-Van Eyck), Kylie Watterreus (Healthmate-Cycle Live) and Chanella Stougje (Hitec Products) worked well and by the time 30km had passed their lead had increased to 3.15.

Behind there were some significant crashes. Winner in 2017, Coryn Rivera (Sunweb) was forced to abandon, and she was followed by Jip van den Bos, who was one of three Boels-Dolmans riders to hit the ground early on.

Passing through the start in Oudenaarde with 44km ridden, the lead remained in excess of three minutes, though that was to change as the intensity increased on the ten climbs which peppered the latter part of the race.

The Muur in Geraardsbergen saw the break begin to fall apart, Valsecchi, and Dobrynina losing contact, and the peloton followed suit on the vicious cobbled slopes.

With 60km to go the teams of the race favourites began to move to the front and the gap was reduced to the one minute as the race entered the closing 50km.

Here, as the bunch approached the climb of Kanarieberg, the pace increased spectacularly and the break was caught before Canyon-SRAM’s Tiffany Cromwell launched an attack.

Though she was caught at the top the race was now on and there would be little let up. 

First Trek-Segafredo, then Boels-Dolmans and Mitchelton-Scott came to the front, their pressure ensuring the bunch lost numbers on every incline. 

A brief lull in traction on the run in to the Oude Kwaremont saw some get back on, but when Bastianelli opened it up during the second half of the day’s longest cobbled climb, the race finally split apart.

Over the top Ludwig attacked the group which then included Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv), but when she punctured and Niewiadoma was dropped the podium was decided.

Result

Tour of Flanders 2019 (Women’s WorldTour): Oudenaarde - Oudenaarde (159.2km)

1. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Team Virtu, in 4-16-50

2. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott

3. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) Bigla, all at same time

4. Sofia Betizzolo (Ita) Team Virtu, at 7 seconds

5. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek-Segafredo

6. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM, all at same time

7. Chantal Blaak (Ned) Boels-Dolmans, at 10s

8. Lisa Brennauer (Ger) WNT-Rotor, at 55s

9. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Sunweb

10. Amy Pieters (Ned) Boels-Dolmans, all at same time

Bob Jungels thought he would just be learning about the cobbled Classics, instead he is riding at the sharp end with Deceuninck-Quick-Step heading to his debut in the Tour of Flanders on Sunday.

The Luxembourger will not defend his 2018 Liège-Bastogne-Liège title with his 2019 cobbled Classics campaign and Giro d'Italia ride in May.

"Before we started the classics campaign, I was looking at it as an introduction, but as it turned out, I performed quite well," he told Cycling Weekly.

>>> Greg Van Avermaet: ‘If I never win Flanders it won’t change my life’

"It was a surprise on one hand, but on the other hand, I knew I had good condition. If the race is hard, always the strong riders come out on top. In the end, I'm very glad that I made this decision."

Jungels won the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne early in March and helped position Zdeněk Štybar for his victory in E3 BinckBank Classic. The Classics super-team now selected him to race in its Tour of Flanders roster.

Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) and former Classics rider Tom Boonen named Jungels as one of the favourite to win on Sunday, when he will ride Flanders for the first time.

"Everything is possible in cycling, especially when you have a race around 250km. It's always very unpredictable who's coming out on top. Until now, I've come out well in long races, so we'll see how it goes," Jungels said.

"Of course, you have plenty things you have to learn, but I've learned quite a lot in the last weeks. I see myself going better and better from race to race."

Deceuninck-Quick-Step have won nearly every one-day race this spring with Julian Alaphilippe in Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo and Zdeněk Štybar on the cobbles in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3. Jungels won the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne with a solo attack.

"We've been very successful so far this spring. We have a strong team, like every year. Of course there's some pressure but there's plenty of other riders out there who've done great in the last races," he continued. "I think it's going to be an open [Flanders], I hope to be up there and maybe come with a surprise."

The cobbled push and focus on the Giro d'Italia overall means Jungels will cut the Ardennes Classics from his programme. Already he was not going to race the Amstel Gold Race and the Flèche Wallonne, but now he will skip Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Last year, he won the race with a 19.6km solo attack.

"I'm really happy I took that decision together with the team to join the Flanders Classics team. It was a bit of a hard decision with Liège-Bastogne-Liège, winning last year, then leaving the Ardennes out for this year, but I've been successful in the Flanders Classics and I also feel very well on the cobbles in these races. I still have plenty of things to learn, but It's coming with age.

"It gives you more time, my last Classic [is the] Tour of Flanders, so I have much more time to be ready for the Giro d'Italia, to do my altitude. Before it was always hard to combine being good in the classics and then the Giro. That's definitely a good point about this race programme."

Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) took one for the books on Wednesday, his first WorldTour race win in a fast moving career.

The 24-year-old Dutch rider, already twice cyclocross world champion, is competing in the cobbled Classics for the first time in 2019 and won the mid-week Dwars door Vlaanderen in Waregem, Belgium.

>>> Tour of Flanders 2019 provisional start list

"It's something you remember, your first WorldTour race that you won," van der Poel said on the significance of the victory.

"It's always nice to win, and the feeling of winning is a little bit the same. It's just bigger now. If you win in a small race or a bigger race, the feeling is the same."

The signs were there. Van der Poel had just finished his longest race on Sunday, completing 251.5 kilometres and placing fourth in Ghent-Wevelgem.

"After Ghent-Wevelgem as well, I said, 'I think I am a rider with the least amount of race days [among the road riders here]," he said. "I haven't raced a lot. I maybe have the lower race days of all riders. Same today. I need the race kilometres to get better."

Van der Poel made the move with experienced professionals Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) and Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal), and then handled them in the sprint.

"I have done two times this distance. I knew I had a chance today," he continued. "I was at the right place at the right moment this time when I attacked. Then I knew when we were five or six guys at the front that we were going to ride for victory."

The race kilometres will serve him as he builds through his spring campaign, especially with his debut in the Tour of Flanders coming up on Sunday. He is not familiar with the race, only having raced the Koppenberg in his cyclocross campaign over the past winters

"Ghent-Wevelgem and Flanders are completely different. I would not say I am a big favourite, but just underneath them. But I hope so," he added.

"In Wevelgem it was still 30 kilometres to the finish line [after the last climb]. In Flanders, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg are just 20 kilometres to the finish. The group that has gone there most of the time stays gone.

"If I have the legs maybe it is possible [to get away on Paterberg] but I am not the only guy who is going to try it."

The Classics are variously adored, feared and eulogised thanks to their tough sections of cobbles. These secteurs pavés can make or break the best-laid plans and set champions apart from mere riders.

Here look at the Koppenberg and run through the other defining cobbles, bergs and climbs that will likely decide the outcomes of the cobbled Classics, and in particular the Tour of Flanders.

The Koppenberg

Length: 620m, Elevation: 64m, Max gradient: 22%, Toughness: 5/5

It’s one of the toughest cobbled climbs in Flanders, a place where cobbled climbs are legion — but this one is special.

If you’re still wondering how something can be unrideable, even for professional cyclists, then you haven’t seen the Koppenberg. It rears up in front of you like a wall and the grass banks enclose you in a dank corridor as you climb. The size of the cobbles and slow speed mean that cycling up here is like sailing a dinghy into a force-10 gale.

There’s no real run-up to the Koppenberg. A 90-degree corner in Melden, the village at its foot, drops Tour of Flanders riders to a crawl. The gradient almost immediately rises out of it on cobbles. Then you hit the climb proper, and it’s brutal. It goes from 12 to 20 per cent in the first 200 metres. And there are still 400 metres to go.

In the past, the only place to ride was in the gutters, because when the Koppenberg first entered cycling its head-sized cobblestones were as rough as a mouthful of broken teeth. If the gutters were blocked riders would try the cobbles, but the camber was so great they had to be cycling gymnasts to make progress. Any kind of surface moisture caused chaos.

In its first appearance in the Tour of Flanders, in 1976, there was mayhem. The first four got up OK, then rider five spun his wheels and the rest stumbled into him.

Ten places back the great Eddy Merckx had to get off his bike and walk. Few hills have a scalp like that.

The Koppenberg played a huge part in the Tour of Flanders. Some suggested it unfairly affected the race, and that the surface was dangerous.

They were vindicated in 1987 when Jesper Skibby led the race, slipped and fell on the Koppenberg, and the car following him ran over his bike. It nearly ran over him.

Resurfaced and reintroduced

The hill was taken out of the race and spent 15 years in the wilderness until a new, €250,000 surface of Italian cobblestones was laid and the road was widened in 2001. This changed the Koppenberg but it was still a tough challenge.

Even now riding up the centre of the road requires a tip-toe application of power, plus the sixth sense of a guided missile to reach the top without stopping.

And stopping is a grim reality for many. Not only do riders depend on their own skill and power on the Koppenberg, they hope that those around them won’t run out of steam.

Slip and you are off, get baulked and you are off, stop and you are off, and the final 200 metres are a trot if one can be mustered, or a grim trudge if it can’t.

The last part of the climb eases to 13 and then to 11 per cent. Then there’s a short section of flat and a snaking descent back down to the main road.

The Koppenberg is done; 600 metres of cobbles with an average gradient of 11.6 per cent, 64 metres of height gain, and a huge place in cycling history.

Taaienberg

Length: 880m, Elevation: 57m, Max gradient: 18%, Toughness: 3/5

Tom Boonen loved the Taaienberg, and we love watching YouTube videos of Belgium’s hero putting his rivals to the sword with a blast up the right-hand gutter on this climb. These cobbles are a matter of power over technicality.

Mariaborrestraat, Steenbeekdries & Stationsberg

Length: 2,400m, Elevation: 2m, Toughness: 3/5

The undulating trio of the Mariaborrestraat, Steenbeekdries and Stationsberg show that cobbles in the Spring Classics don’t just have to be flat or uphill. Typical of the everyday cobbled roads across Flanders, they’re a ‘plug in and play’ solution for race organisers who can use one, two or all three in a race — and they are always hit at speed. In particular by the local buses.

Kemmelberg

Length: 1,400m, Elevation: 109m, Max gradient: 22%, Toughness: 4/5

Carpeted in thick-set stones laid in neat, cemented rows, the climb is the showpiece of Ghent-Wevelgem. Climbed from the south-east, it formerly included a cobbled descent down the northern face. Following a series of crashes, however, organisers decided this was a silly idea and diverted the race down a tarmac road.

Cassel

Length: 2,800m, Elevation: 53m, Max gradient: 13%, Toughness: 2/5

A number of pretty, winding cobbled ascents lead up to the town and converge on a cobbled square. Cassel is like a diet version of a cobbled climb. Just 30 minutes from Calais, it is a great place to visit any time of year except for the Monday following the Tour of Flanders when the town is full of hungover revellers.

Muur van Geraardsbergen

Length: 1,075m, Elevation: 92m, Max gradient: 20%, Toughness: 3/5

Preceding the iconic curved road up by the chapel is a kilometre slog through the town, enough to sap the zap out of most legs by the time they reach the slim brown cobbles. Like many things, the addendum up to the chapel (the ‘Kapelmuur’ to give it its proper name) is smaller in real life than it looks on TV. But it still sends shivers down your spine.

Paterberg

Length: 400m, Elevation: 48m, Max gradient: 20%, Toughness: 2/5

An exhibition in how to beautifully cobble a road, what makes the Paterberg hard is the 20 per cent gradient and a right-angled turn at the foot of the climb that kills off any momentum. Professionals will ride the final climb of the Tour of Flanders flat-out, but after 250km a small gap here can make all the difference.

Oude Kwaremont

Length: 2,200m, Elevation: 93m, Max gradient: 11%, Toughness: 4/5

A changeable, undulating climb, the crux of the Kwaremont comes near the summit when a final kick up can force a selection. Halfway up the climb is the village of Kwaremont — a small, boutique-y place with a number of resident artists and sculptors.

If you care to stop in the village square, you can even refresh yourself with a Kwaremont beer. At 6.6 per cent, it’s as strong as the climb’s gradient.

Mathieu van der Poel put in a commanding performance at Dwars door Vlaanderen to take the first WorldTour victory of his career.

Cyclocross world champion van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) sparked the winning move and formed part of a powerful group of five that came to the line together.

>>> Chaos at Dwars door Vlaanderen as men’s race stopped twice

Despite threats from proven Classics riders Bob Jungels (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal), van der Poel was dominant enough to sprint to a comfortable victory.

How it happened

The 2019 edition ran over 182.8km from Roeselare to Waregem West Flanders, with a combination of short sharp climbs and cobbled stretches.

A total of 11 climbs and eight pavé sectors awaited the peloton including the Taaienberg, Knokteberg and the final test, the Herlegemstraat at 7km from the line, mostly stacked in the final 60km of the race.

>>> All eyes on Roubaix for Taylor Phinney as knee issue disrupts Classics openers 

While Dwars door Vlaanderen is popular with riders targeting the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, a number of big names opted to skip the mid-week race including Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team).

Reigning champion Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) did line up however, as the Belgian champion hoped to make it three wins in a row.

An eight-rider group when clear in the opening half of the race, made up of Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hangrohe), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Ramon Sinkeldam (Groupama-FDJ), Michael Hepburn (Mitchelton-Scott), Jonas Koch (CCC Team), Zhandos Bizjigitov (Astana), Kris Boeckmans (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels) and Mihkel Räim (Israel Cycling Academy).

The breakaway built up a 2-30 advantage, before chaos unfolded 76km from home. 

A crash in the women's race up the road caused their race to slow, which meant the men's race behind needed to be neutralised.

The race was quickly restarted before officials once again suspended hostilities when it emerged the breakaway was now behind the peloton.

Eventually the race got going once again 6km later, but not before Pöstlberger was left behind by the breakaway and needed to be towed back to the front of the race by a motorbike.

Finally the break's advantage was restored and the race continued at the foot of the Kluisberg.

The race then started to open up on the Knokteberg when Dutch national champion van der Poel launched his attack, with four others following.

Van der Poel then found himself in a chasing group alongside team-mate Dries De Bondt, Kapser Asgreen (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Iván Cortina (Bahrain-Merida), and Anthony Turgis (Direct Energie).

The breakaway began to collapse over the relentless climbs, as the chasing group closed down the advantage.

Oliveira kicked on alone from the break, while the van der Poel group began to gain on the front of the race.

Pöstlberger had been caught by the chasers but kicked on alone in pursuit of Oliveira, quickly catching the Portuguese rider.

>>> How much prize money will the Tour of Flanders winner get?

But the undulating parcours took its toll on everyone out front, as Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) and Bob Jungels (Quick-Step) attacked from the peloton and quickly caught van der Poel's group.

Oliveira suffered a disastrous mechanical taking him out of the race, as Pöstlberger was joined by the chasing group at the front of the race.

That group - made up of Jungels, Benoot, van der Poel, Turgis and Pöstlberger - were strong enough to build up an advantage just shy of one minute with 15km to ride.

Groupama-FDJ hit the front of the peloton, carrying the pace for their sprinter Arnaud Démare, with EF Education First also providing one rider to assist with the pace.

The front group was temporarily torn apart on the Nokereberg, 10km from the line, as Jungels put in a huge attack on the shallow cobbled climb.

But the group came back together, still holding 47 seconds as they hit the final cobbled sector with 6km left to ride.

Jungels opened up once again on a slight rise inside 5km, trying and failing to expose any weaker rivals in the group.

The front group hit the 1km together as it became clear victory would come from this move.

Benoot was the first to show his cards, attacking at the flamme rouge but Jungels closed it down quickly with the rest following.

Turgis was next to go 200 metres out but van der Poel was glued to his wheel.

The cyclocross world champion sailed past Turgis with enough time to look behind and take his hands off the bars before the line, celebrating his first victory in a WorldTour race.

Results

Dwars door Vlaanderen 2019: Roeselare to Waregem (183km)

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus, in 4-05-54

2. Anthony Turgis (Fra) Direct Energie

3. Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

4. Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe

5. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto-Soudal

6. Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky, at 18s

7. Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 19s

8. Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

9. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

10. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida, all same time

The 103nd edition of the Tour of Flanders takes place on Sunday, April 7. It's a race not to miss, and Eurosport will serve up seven hours of live coverage for us to savour the cobbled spectacle.

The start list includes defending champion Nikki Terpstra (Direct-Energie) as well as former champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) also taking to the start line.

On-form Deceuninck-Quick-Step will be looking to add to their string of results, with a roster containing Philippe Gilbert, Yves Lampaert, Bob Jungles and Zdeněk Stybar.

Defending champion Anna van der Breggen will be missing the women's race, so we know there will be a new rider crowned. There's plenty of former winners on the start list, including Coryn Rivera (Sunweb), Annemiek Van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott), Ellen Van Dijk and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), plus Marianne Vos (CCC Liv).

>>> Tour of Flanders 2019: Latest news and race info

Coverage starts early at 9.15am UK time on Eurosport 1, with plenty of highlights programmes on over the following day or two if you can't get to the TV on Sunday.

The women's race will be livesteamed on Proximus Sports Facebook page. Proximus Sports has teamed up with 'In the Race' to offer live data from over 30 riders, including speed, heart rate and power output.

TV schedule

Sunday, April 7

09.00, Tour of Flanders Team Presentuation, Proximus Sports Facebok page

09.15-16.30, Tour of Flanders LIVE, Eurosport 1

12.00-13.30, Women's Tour of Flanders, Proximus Sports Facebook page

18:00-19:15, Tour of Flanders highlights, Eurosport 2

20.00-23.30, Tour of Flanders highlights, Eurosport 2

Monday, April 2

06.30-07.30, Tour of Flanders highlights, Eurosport 2

08.30-09.30, Tour of Flanders highlights, Eurosport 1

13.00-14.30, Tour of Flanders highlights, Eurosport 1

17.30-19.00 Tour of Flanders highlights, Eurosport 1

23:30-01:00, Tour of Flanders highlights, Eurosport 1

Social media/web

Official Twitter account: @RondeVlaanderen

Official website: www.rvv.be

Alexander Kristoff is back with a vengeance

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Alexander Kristoff ride like he did to win Ghent-Wevelgem this weekend.

With the significant exception of the stage win on the Champs-Élysées, his move to UAE Team Emirates last year did not bring the results expected from a rider of his quality, while the their signing of Fernando Gaviria for this season threatened to push him down the team’s hierarchy. Indeed, Kristoff endured another slow start to the spring, and finished outside of the top-10 in his best race, Milan-San Remo, for the first time since 2012.

>>> Ghent-Wevelgem performance gives Luke Rowe hope ahead of Tour of Flanders

All that meant most assumed he’d be leading out Gaviria in the sprint when the two found themselves in the leading group heading to the finish line at Ghent-Wevelgem. However, when the Colombian admitted to not feeling great, Kristoff seized upon the opportunity, to take victory in his trademark fashion - with a powerful sprint at the end of a long, gruelling day’s racing.

That he was so strong in the finale despite having used up precious energy in a fruitless solo pursuit of a leading quintet earlier in the race underlined just what strong legs he had. Out of relative obscurity, he must now be considered a major contender for the Tour of Flanders next week.

Jumbo-Visma take the race to Deceuninck-Quick-Step

Whereas Deceuninck-Quick-Step had been licenced to dictate the previous classics on their own terms, at Ghent-Wevelgem Jumbo-Visma took the race to them, and disrupted the Belgian team’s usual dominance.

Their first move was to place a total of five riders in a large early break that featured several dangerous riders, including Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie), Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) and Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus). Although a couple of Jumbo-Visma’s representatives had to drop back due to mechanicals, the team’s star man, Wout van Aert, remained.

Deceuninck-Quick-Step only had Tim Declercq present, and this numerical disadvantage put them in the rare position of being on the back step, forcing them to have to chase down the move.

The collective might of Zdeněk Štybar, Philippe Gilbert and Yves Lampaert ensured that the catch was always likely to be made (and it was, 18km from the line), but the effort required to do so meant the team struggled to control the many counter-attacks - in which Van Aert was again prominently involve - launched after that. Come the sprint, therefore, Deceuninck-Quick-Step were unable to implement their usual flawless lead-out train, and a stranded Elia Viviani could only manage nineteenth.

Jumbo-Visma also missed out on victory, with Danny van Poppel their highest finisher in fifth. However, by riding aggressively and ambitiously, they’ve set a template for how the previously invincible Deceuninck-Quick-Step can be beaten in the Classics.

Experience wins out over youth at Women’s Ghent-Wevelgem

There were signs of what the future of sprinting in the women’s peloton might look like at Ghent-Wevelgem, as 20-year old Lorena Wiebes and 19-year old Letizia Paternoster finished second and third respectively in the race’s climactic bunch sprint.

However, experience got the better of youth as Kirsten Wild - a rider who, at 36, is nearly twice their age - was crowned winner.

It became apparent earlier in the week that Wild was on great form, after she sprinted to victory at the Three Days of De Panne on Thursday. Once again, she produced a powerful sprint in the finishing straight to claim victory, her second Ghent-Wevelgem having also won here in 2013.

Having also finished second behind her at the Three Days of De Panne, Wiebes must be getting sick of the sight of Wild. But at such a young age, it’s likely her and Paternoster will start converting promising performances like these into major wins soon enough.

A sprint for the strong

If the same 30(ish)-man group that made it to the finish at Ghent-Wevelgem had contested a sprint in a more conventional, flat race, there would have been two clear favourites for the victory - Elia Viviani, and Fernando Gaviria.

Both have been on flying form this season, with four and three wins respectively, and have looked (with the exception of Dylan Groenewegen) like the quickest pure sprinters in the peloton.

However, a sprint at the end of such a long, arduous day of racing is a very different prospect, and both riders were evidently exhausted by the finish, with neither even managing to make it into the top-10.

Instead, all-rounders who can be considered as both classics specialists and sprinters came to the fore. Behind Kristoff, John Degenkolb also showed his quality to sprint for second, a welcome boost both to him (this was his second highest finish of the season), and his Trek-Segafredo team, who at last played a prominent role in a Classic with Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven also animating the race with late attacks.

And rounding off the podium was Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale), who, for the second time in as many weeks following his second place finish at Milan-San Remo, demonstrated just how strong a sprint he has at the end of such a long day of racing.

Sagan isn’t quite right

Whereas his underwhelming performance at the E3 BinckBank Classic on Friday could be explained away by an unfortunately timed mechanical, at Ghent-Wevelgem it seemed pretty clear that his form is a problem.

Tactically, he was bold and aggressive, first placing himself in the large breakaway group that went clear early in the day, and then, along with Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott), Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) and Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), formed part of the more select group of four (which later became five when Sky’s Luke Rowe bridged across) that emerged from that larger group with around 65km left to ride.

However, he toiled and grimaced on the decisive second ascent of the Kemmelberg, struggling to keep the wheel of his breakaway companions, who he would usually expect to drop on a climb like this.

Later, come the finish, he also failed to get involved in the sprint, rolling in a lowly 32nd, 13 seconds adrift.

With only a week left until the Tour of Flanders, Sagan is going to have to find his best form quick if he is to repeat his 2016 victory.

Team Sky's Luke Rowe created a spark in the team heading towards one of the biggest spring races on the calendar, the Tour of Flanders on Sunday.

After a quiet day on Friday in the E3 BinckBank Classic, he fired away in Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday. On the roads south in Flanders near the French border, he soloed away from the group to join the leading four with Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott).

>>> Elia Viviani disappointed after failing to finish off Quick-Step work at Ghent-Wevelgem

"Now, I think there can be a bit of excitement going into Flanders," Rowe said.

The Welshman eventually finished 18th as Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) won the race from a sprint.

The Tour of Flanders this Sunday starts in Antwerp, covers several of the famous climbs including the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg before its finish in Oudenaarde. Rowe knows the course well, having finished fifth in 2016.

Team Sky would have been happier with the performance in Ghent-Wevelgem having returned to the sharp end 48 hours after a puncture destroyed the E3 for Ian Stannard and the other riders including Rowe and Gianni Moscon who flew mostly under the radar.

Rowe joined the super group of 18 riders when Jumbo-Visma splintered the race in the crosswinds, with the early hours raced at over 50kph. That group broke up after the first ascent of the Kemmelberg and, not happy to miss it, Rowe later launched a solo attack of seven kilometres to join the four.

"I lost a year of my life there!" he continued. "Those four had gone clear and I'd kind of missed the boat which was disappointing. After the gravel roads I just sensed everyone was on their knees. I still had a little bit of gas left so I thought I'd hit out on a little climb and hopefully bring one or two with me. Then you look around and you're on your own!"

He was there before the second time up the Kemmelberg, but pressure from behind saw the main group with Kristoff return. Rowe launched one more time solo, but his chances ended 17km from the finish in Wevelgem.

"It's nice to bounce back. Through Paris-Nice and San Remo it's all gone pretty well and I felt good," he said. "For some reason or another E3 was just a massive fail for me and I was quite disappointed actually. I was quite keen to put things right this morning."

Rowe he made the mark he wanted before the two big monuments, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix the following Sunday.

He added: "Just to be at the front and have good legs and sensations is the important thing before the coming weeks."

WNT-Rotor’s Kirtsen Wild made it two wins from two sprints at Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday, taking her second WorldTour win of the year. In another powerful display, the Dutchwoman appeared invincible as she crossed the line well ahead of her rivals.

Behind her the young sprinters continued to shine, with Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg) placing second and 19 year-old Italian Letizia Paternoster (Trek-Segafredo) taking her first WorldTour podium in third.

The bunch finish came at the end of a remarkably uneventful race, the peloton seemingly happy to leave it to the sprinters. A group of around 50 riders emerged from the race’s climbs to tackle the final windy final 30kms, and despite repeated attacks, nothing was able to stay clear.

Despite those few aggressive late breakaway attempts, a number of different teams controlled the front in the final, with Wild’s WNT-Rotor squad ever present. Trek-Segafredo in the shape of Ellen van Dijk led for much of the closing two kilometres, but Paternoster paid for launching her effort slightly too late. 

However, her third place was enough for Trek-Segafredo to clinch only their second WorldTour podium, perhaps indicating the powerful squad are beginning to gel.

As if to illustrate the emergence of new, young talent, in five races so far this year three different women have led the WorldTour’s young rider classification. After finishing second in consecutive races, Lorena Wiebes now leads the competition, though Sofia Betizzolo (Virtu) remains to on her heels after giving up the jersey on Sunday after winning it last year. 

How it happened

By the time the peloton left the Grote Markt in the centre of the Flemish town of Ypres the flags which had started the day merely fluttering were tugging at the pole and an aggressive race seemed install.

On the exposed opening loop north of the town the race stayed together, despite the wind whipping across the road, and even when a concerted effort from CCC-Liv after 30km resulted in splits, the race soon re-formed.

Six climbs peppered the latter half of the race, and it was Boels-Dolmans who led onto the first of two ascents of the Baneberg, though some were caught out, despite their pace the race stayed largely in one piece.

Even the opening ascents of the Kemmelberg and Monteberg failed to make a huge difference, though by the time the race had finished with two of the gravel ‘Plugstreets’ the race had formed into two distinct groups.

And that is how it stayed. German Romy Kasper (Alé-Cipollini) led briefly after attacking on the second climb of the Baneberg, but was caught immediately before the Kemmelberg, setting the scene for the high paced final.

Result

Ghent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields: Ypres - Wevelgem (137km)

1. Kirsten Wild (Ned) WNT Rotor in 3-33-34

2. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Parkhotel-Valkenburg

3. Leitzia Paternoster (Ita) Trek-Segafredo

4. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Team Virtu

5. Amy Pieters (Ned) Boels-Dolmans

6. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Lotto-Soudal Ladies

7. Michela Balducci (Ita) AromItalia Vaiano

8. Elena Checchini (Ita) Canyon-SRAM

9. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar-Cylance

10. Marta Cavalli (Ita) Valcar-Cylance all at same time nbsp;