After yesterday's small appetizer, Dwars door Vlaanderen, tomorrow will be the day when the Belgian classics season kicks off in earnest. With a course similar to the one found a week later in the Tour of Flanders, the WorldTour race E3 Prijs Vlaanderen-Harelbeke has built up a reputation as being the perfect testing ground for the greatest specialists who will go all out for the victory one last time before the real showdown in Vlaanderen's Mooiste. It's time for the big dress rehearsal and to find out who may stand at the top step of the podium in a week's time in Oudenaarde!

 

Many of the classics riders got the chance to reacquaint themselves with the cobbles and the Belgian hellingen when the Dwars door Vlaanderen opened the crucial three-week cobbled classics season but when the next leg of the series takes place tomorrow, there will be much more at stake. While Wednesday's race was a playing ground for the lieutenants and for the riders just below the best, the biggest classics stars will face off in their first big battle in tomorrow's E3 Prijs Vlaanderen.

 

The Belgian race is the second in the series of cobbled races in Belgium that take place over a two-week period from the Wednesday after Milan-Sanremo to the Wednesday after the Tour of Flanders and it is the one that resembles De Ronde the most. Traditionally held around one week ahead of Vlaanderen's Mooiste, it has become the perfect testing ground for the favourites for Vlaanderen's Mooiste.

 

Held for the first time in 1958, it was originally named Harelbeke-Anvers-Harelbeke but took the E3 name from the E3 motorway (now A14) which was built in the mid-sixties. Right from the beginning, it was thought to be a shorter version that mimicked the Tour of Flanders and offered the riders the perfect warm-up for one of the sport's biggest events.

 

Although dominated by Belgians in the early years, it quickly gained a lot of prestige and the list of early winners contain big names like Roger De Vlaeminck, Rik Van Looy, Freddy Maertens, and Jan Raas. As time have gone by, the race has gained a more international flavour and it has been won by most of the greatest specialists for the cobbled classics. Johan Museeuw, Peter van Petegem, Andrei Tchmil, Tom Boonen, Filippo Pozzato, and Fabian Cancellara are just some of the riders that have won the race within the last 20 years which is a clear indication of the importance of the event.

 

The Flemish races may be divided into two categories. Scheldeprijs, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, and Ghent-Wevelgem are races that the sprinters may realistically target and which have a rather predestined format determined by their history and their names.

 

In the second category, the Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and E3 are races for the hard men and classics specialists. These are the true Flemish classics as they are  designed in the same way. The course map is a complicated affair as the riders zigzag their way through a rather small area in the Flemish Ardennes, heading back and forth and often using the same roads numerous times. All the famous hellingen known from the Tour of Flanders are located in this small area and it is easy for the organizers to make changes from year to year, varying the climbs used for the different editions of the race.

 

Dwars door Vlaanderen falls in between those two categories as it is built much like the one from the second group but may also be won by the sprinters.

 

For many years, E3 was held on the Saturday before the Tour of Flanders where it combined with the Brabantse Pijl to form an important chance to prepare for next Sunday's big event. With the race being built up after the same formula as the Tour of Flanders and featuring many of the same climbs, it has always been an indispensable part of the calendar for every ambitious classics contender and the calendar date has made it a perfect opportunity to go all out one final time ahead of the race that counts the most. This has put the racing at a level that is almost on par with the one in De Ronde and so it was only natural for the UCI to grant the race WorldTour status for the 2012 season.

 

The increased status was given as part of a major reshuffle of the classics calendar that saw the race being moved to Friday while another WorldTour race, Gent-Wevelgem, took over Brabantse Pijl's slot the following Sunday. The two races now combine forces to form a solid block of WorldTour racing on the cobbles that both offer a lot of important points and give the riders the chance to prepare themselves for De Ronde.

 

However, the two races are very different and so are treated very differently by the classics stars. Even though Gent-Wevelgem may historically be number three in the hierarchy of the cobbled races (behind Paris-Robaix and the Tour of Flanders), it takes places in a different part of Belgium and is more suited to the sprinters than the Flanders favourites. Most of them do both races but while they hold something back in Sunday's race - except for a possible test of form on the Kemmelberg - they go all out in the E3 in a quest to go for glory. Gent-Wevelgem may have a lot of prestige but the real dress rehearsal for Flanders takes place tomorrow.

 

The race was long known as Tom Boonen's race. In his heydays from 2004 to 2007, he won four consecutive editions of the Belgian semi-classic. During his turbulent years in 2010 and 2011, he was, however, forced to give away the throne to archrival Fabian Cancellara who used stunning solo performances in those two editions to build up his major favourite role for the Tour of Flanders. In his magic 2012 season, Boonen was back to his best and it seemed only natural for him to add a fifth win in E3 to his almost all-inclusive list of classics victories that year.

 

Last year Boonen was still struggling with his form after his many health issues and instead the race turned out to be an almost identical copy of the battle between Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara that would play out one week later in the Tour of Flanders. Sagan overcame some early struggles by using his team to bring him back in contention just in time for the crucial selection to be made in a crosswinds section. However, he was unable to match Cancellara when the Swiss attacked on the Oude Kwaremont and from there it was a time trial all the way to the finish in Harelbeke. Sagan just managed to edge out Daniel Oss in the sprint for second after the Italian had made a solo attack inside the final kilometres. Cancellara and Sagan will both be back to get their first taste of the cobbles in 2014 while Oss has just come back from a knee injury and is still not ready to the strains of one of the hardest classics.

 

The course

As said, the E3 follows the same format as races like Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Tour of Flanders, and Dwars door Vlaanderen. With the Tour of Flanders being the exception, all those races have one of the cities in the Flemish Ardennes as their centre and they zigzag their way through the very tiny area of all the famous climbs. They cover several hellingen and pave sections before they return along flat roads to the start and finishing city. The narrow roads, steep climbs, and uncomfortable surface typically turn it into a race for the hardmen as the gradual selection means that only a handful are riders are usually left in contention by the time they return to the start and finish area. Compared to the most recent edition, the distance has been increased from 209 to 212km and the number of hellingen has gone up from 15 to 17. The main ascents are, however, the same and we can expect the race to unfold in much the same way as in previous years, with the key points being the same.

 

E3 Prijs Vlaanderen is intimately linked to the city of Harelbeke that acts as its race centre. From the start, the riders head along flat roads in an easterly direction towards the Flemish Ardennes but at it is customary for these classics, the first part of the race is flat. This means that the riders will stay away from the hilly zone as they pass the finishing city of the Tour of Flanders, Oudenaarde, and continue in a northeasterly direction all the way to the city of Burst. After 34km, they will get a chance to test their climbing legs on the Katteberg (600m, 6.7%, max. 8%) and 9km further up the road, they will do the Leberg (700m, 6.1%, max. 14%). The cobbled Paddestraat comes after 51.8km but this early part of the race will mainly serve to make the race longer and harder and allow an early break to take off.

 

Having reached Burst after 64.3km of racing, the riders turn to the right to continue in a southerly direction to the city of Overbolaere. Turning right, the riders head back towards Harelbeke in a westerly direction and having travelled a bit further south, they go straight through the heartland in the Flemish Ardennes. It is now time for them to zigzag their way up and down the many hellingen as the real race is about to start.

 

The first small appetizer comes 110.5km from the finish when the riders go up the La Houppe (3440m, 3.32%, max. 10%) and by now, the nervousness and battle for position will have started. It is still too early for the main contenders to launch an attack but it is important to be in a good position as a crash on these narrow roads can hold you back and mean that you will never see the front again. This automatically forces the pace to go up, meaning that the early break will gradually be pegged back, and we may see riders try to bridge across on these early hellingen.

 

The next one is Berg Stene (1560m, 7.3%, max. 10%) which comes 101.9km from the finish and is quickly followed by the cobbled Varentstraat that leads almost immediately into the Boigneberg (2180m, 5.8%, max. 15%). At this point there is no time for recovery as the hellingen come in very quick succession. 4km after the Boigneberg, the riders climb the first cobbled climb, the Eikenberg (1200m, 5.5%, max. 11%), with the cobbled Stationsberg (460m, 3.2%, max. 5.7%) which is a rather easy one, coming 5.7km further up the road.

 

The first acceleration from the race favourites may come on any of these climbs but as the Eikenberg is the hardest, it is where the action is most likely to kick off. If we haven't done so yet, we will be guaranteed to see the first big selection happen on the cobbled Taaienberg (650m, 9.5%m, max. 18%) which is one of the hardest climbs in the region. Among the many hellingen, it is Tom Boonen's favourite and he rarely passes it without going straight to the front to power all the way up from bottom to top, stringing out the group and drawing clear a select group of favourites.

 

After the Taaienberg, 82.2km still remain. Unfortunately, the ascent is followed by a longer flat section and depending on the level of cooperation between the race favourites, we may see some kind of regrouping. At this time, however, the gradual elimination process has started and from now on, the number of contenders will only be whittled down with every passing climb.

 

In fact, this is a very good place to launch attacks and the racing is usually very aggressive at this point until some kind of group has formed. Most of the favourites will be isolated at this point and this is a very good time to go up the road in an attempt to anticipate the accelerations from the major favourites.

 

The climbing resumes with 67.8km to go when the riders go up the Knokteberg (1530m, 5.3%, max. 13.3%) which is quickly followed by the Hotondberg (1200m, 4%, max, 8%) but none of these climbs are very difficult. A short flat stretch precedes the Rotelenberg (1100, 3%, max. 6%) which comes 55.4km from the finish and it leads almost immediately into the harder Kortekeer (1000m, 6.4%, max. 17%). From its top, however, there is a 10.4km flat section until the next climb, meaning that the race favourites are likely to keep their powder dry at this point.

 

The real finale starts with 41.4km to go when the riders hit the Kapelberg (900m, 4%, max. 7%). This is not where it is going to happen but the climb is a small appetizer from the Paterberg-Oude Kwaremont combination that will decide the race and be the place for the favourites to make their moves. The two climbs are the final ones in De Ronde where they come in the reverse order and both are simply brutal.

 

First up is the short, very steep, cobbled Paterberg (700m, 12%, max. 20%) which is where Cancellara dropped Sagan in last year's Tour of Flanders. It starts with 37.3km to go and from the top, only 3.5km remain until the riders reach the cobbled Kwaremont (2200m, 4.2%, max. 11%). This is an entirely different story as it is much less steep but a long, gradual uphill. This is where Cancellara launched his race-winning attack 12 months ago.

 

At this point, the main selection will have happened and after the top of the Kwaremont, we can expect that only a handful of riders remain in contention. The final 30.9km mostly consist of a long flat run back to Harelbeke but the section offers a few opportunities to form late attacks to make a selection. The first one comes 26.7km from the finish on Karnemelkbeekstraat (1530m, 4.9%, 7.3%) while the cobbled Varentstraat comes when 19.1km remain. The final challenge is the Tiegemberg (1000m, 6.5%, 9%) and those three obstacles will all be difficult at the end of a very long and hard race.

 

The final is almost completely flat and non-technical. There is a very short rise just before the flamme rouge as the riders travel along a long, straight road. At the top of this small hill, the riders turn left onto the flat finishing straight for the final 1100m of the race. Most often a rider arrives solo at the finish or a small group decides the race in a sprint in the centre of Harelbeke but one things is guaranteed: at the end of 212 brutal kilometres in the hardest Flemish terrain, only the strongest will be left.

 

The weather

After the sunny start to the season, the riders have battled rain and cold in Southern Europe this past wekk but in Belgium things are unusually warm at this time of the year. The weather made yesterday's edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen a rather easy affair and the riders can expect another pleasant day for bike racing when the Tour of Flanders dress rehearsal takes place in tomorrow's E3 Harelbeke.

 

When the riders take off from Harelbeke, they are likely to do so under a cloudy sky but as the day goes on, the sun will start to make its presence felt. The temperatures will stay at a rather constant 15 degrees which is far warmer than one can unusually expect for the Harelbeke race.

 

Last year the first big selection was caused more by the wind than the climbs but we are unlikely to see a repeat scenario in tomorrow's race. There will be a light breeze from an easterly direction, turning to a southeasterly direction as the race goes on. This means that the riders will generally have a headwind in the first flat part of the race before they turn into a tailwind for the second half. In the hilly zone, however, there are several changes of direction, meaning that the wind conditions will be changing very often. For the final run-in back to Harelbeke, there should be a tailwind though which only changes when the riders turn left 1km from the finish from where they will face a crosswind all the way to the line.

 

The favourites

In yesterday's Dwars door Vlaanderen, it was again proved that the outcome of the Flemish classics depends very much on the weather. If it is a calm, beautiful day, the courses may not be selective enough to avoid a rather big bunch arriving at the finish. On the other hand, brutal conditions may turn the races into true wars of attrition where the riders arrive at the finish in small groups.

 

With very pleasant weather forecasted for tomorrow's race, this suggests that tomorrow's race should not be too selective As we wrote in our preview, however, yesterday's race was the playing ground for the lieutenants and several riders chose to hold something back to save their energy for tomorrow's bigger battle. In Harelbeke, there will be much more at stake and all the biggest stars will be at the start line. History proves that they won't hold anything back as this is the final big test ahead of the Tour of Flanders for all the key contenders.

 

With the added amount of firepower of the likes of Fabian Cancellara, Peter Sagan, and Sep Vanmarcke who are all keen to see how they are ahead of the biggest cobbled races, and a harder course than the one used for yesterday's race. There is a bigger chance that tomorrow's race will be one for the hardmen and classics specialist. History proves that E3 Harelbeke is very rarely won in a sprint from a bigger group but it may occasionally happen as it did two years ago when Tom Boonen made use of a beautiful summer day in Belgium to take his fifth win in the event by beating Oscar Freire in a close 50-rider sprint.

 

The same could happen in tomorrow's race and it will all depend on team tactics and the balance of power between the main contenders. This year's E3 Harelbeke could come down to a sprint finish but our guess is that it won't happen.

 

The main reason for our prediction is that we expect Fabian Cancellara to stamp his authority on the race. It's usually characterizes the biggest stars that they rarely fail in the timing of their condition for the biggest events and the powerful Swiss is certainly no exception to that rule. His performances in the early season always leave a few question marks but by the time he takes to the start line of Milan-Sanremo, he seems to always be firing on all guns.

 

In 2014 this again seems to be the case. Many - ourselves included - were surprised not to see him make a move on the Poggio in Milan-Sanremo as he usually does, and it could be seen as a sign of weakness. With a rather big field, a headwind back to the finish, and the sprinters still having lots of firepower to bring things back together, it seemed to be a wise move by Cancellara to save his legs for the final flat stretch. The Swiss himself claimed that the Poggio is like a motorway where you go at 40km/h and that the days when he will use that climb to attack are over.

 

With Luca Paolini riding hard on the front in the finale, he decided to put everything into the sprint. It was always unlikely to give him the win but a second place in a sprint against some of the fastest riders in the world is a testament to his high level of form. If one adds the fact that he did an impressive time trial in Tirreno to beat the likes of Tony Martin and Bradley Wiggins and set his best-ever time on the San Benedetto del Tronto course (he is even a two-time winner of that stage) , it clearly indicates that Cancellara is just as strong as he usually is at this time of the year.

 

At the same time, his two main rivals, Peter Sagan and Tom Boonen, don't appear to be going too well at the moment and this only enhances his status as race favourite. Last Sunday, Cancellara again proved that he has a very good sprint at the end of a long, hard race - recall that he was fourth in the 2011 world championships which were decided in a bunch sprint - but against Sagan and Boonen he will usually be beaten. He needs to drop them in the finale but in the past he has so often proved that he has the skills to do so.

 

Cancellara will follow his usual race strategy of staying attentive over the first hellingen and then launch his own decisive attack on either the Paterberg or the Oude Kwaremont. The latter suits his powerful riding style better than the former which requires more explosiveness and the most likely scenario is that he will repeat last year's move on that ascent. Cancellara can keep that sustained powerful rhythm on the long, gradual uphill drag that very few can match, and only the very best have a chance of holding his wheel all the way up the climb. With a tailwind back to the finish, he will have a better chance of doing what he has so often done in the past: time trial his way back to the finish in Harelbeke.

 

In his first years with Leopard/Radioshack, he didn't have the strongest team at his disposal but last year his team really stepped up to support their captain. This year he can count on an even stronger line-up that includes a resurgent Stijn Devolder who seems to be back to his best, Gregory Rast and Yaroslav Popovych who proved excellent condition in Milan-Sanremo, the always reliable Hayden Roulston, Markel Irizar who performed really well yesterday, and young Jasper Stuyven who did a really great first cobbled classic yesterday. With Cancellara being the big favourite and many teams having several cards to play, that level of support will be of utmost importance to keep things under control until Cancellara launches his own attack. If he gets clear on his own, everybody knows that they won't see him again.

 

Last year Cancellara's biggest rival in the cobbled classics were Peter Sagan and the cobbled races are again the centrepiece of the Slovakian's spring campaign. Sagan is rarely holding anything back and tomorrow he will again go full gas as he needs an important boost of his confidence after his below-par Milan-Sanremo showing.

 

Until now, Sagan hasn't had much adversity in his young career but this year he doesn't appear to be at his usual very high level. All year he has not been sprinting nearly as good as he usually does. That's not necessarily a bad omen for the classics though as he also appears to be slightly leaner than he has been in the past which should be a benefit on the Belgian hellingen.

 

The big surprise was his performance in Sanremo. He was never expected to be the one to take the initiative on the Poggio where he was probably waiting for Cancellara's attack but he was not his usual attentive self and rode far back in the group. He is usually very strong in a sprint at the end of a very hard race but he was clearly empty on the Lungomare Italo Calvino in Sanremo.

 

Sagan admitted that he had expected more from himself and tomorrow will be the day for him to prove to both the cycling world and himself that he is ready for Flanders. Sagan usually rides the Flemish classics rather defensively as he relies on his strong sprint. For him, it is all about staying attentive near the front and try to go with Cancellara when he attacks on one of the two key hellingen near the end.

 

At the moment, we doubt that he is strong enough to match Cancellara's pace but no one can ever rule out the fabulous Slovakian. However, it will be interesting to see what happens if the escapes on the Kwaremont with Cancellara and possibly Sep Vanmarcke. If the trio is together, they may work together to stay away but if only Cancellara and Sagan remain at the top, things could be more complicated. In the past, Cancellara has very often been riding with Sagan despite the Slovakian's faster sprint but there are no guarantees. This could open the door for some kind of regrouping which would still open doors for Sagan as he can count on his fast sprint even from a bigger group.

 

As usual, however, Sagan can expect to be on his own in the finale. Oscar Gatto is clearly not at the level he was one year ago, and this will make it difficult for Sagan to keep things together in a hectic finale. Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Trek and Sky are likely to have strength in numbers and they are likely to play it aggressively if a group is still together after the Kwaremont. With little team support, it will be hard for Sagan to set up a sprint finish. Nonetheless, Sagan is clearly one of the favourites as he can win from all different scenarios.

 

This year we expect Sep Vanmarcke to take the final step into the elite of cobbled classics contenders that currently contains Cancellara, Sagan, and Tom Boonen. In 2013 he would probably already have been there if he hadn't been slowed down by a Tirreno crash but he managed to reach his best condition for Paris-Roubaix where not even Cancellara could drop him on the cobbles. This year he has had a seamless preparation and he has even been climbing and time trialing much better in his preparation races than he did one year ago.

 

Vanmarcke may not yet have the best results in the cobbled classics but in fact they should suit him even better than Roubaix. In Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, he was clearly the strongest rider in the race and no one was able to hold his wheel when he accelerated on the Taaienberg. In that race he lost out due to team tactics but one day later he confirmed his strength when he appeared to be at ease on Stijn Vandenbergh's wheel when the Belgian ripped the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne field to pieces on the Kwaremont.

 

Vanmarcke skipped Sanremo and yesterday's race to be fully ready for tomorrow and he will go all out for the win. We wouldn't be the least surprised if he is the only one who can match Cancellara on the Kwaremont and we could easily imagine a scenario where those two riders arrive at the finish. Vanmarcke has a very fast sprint and will be confident that he can beat Cancellara on the line - just recall how he beat Tom Boonen in the 2012 Omloop - and those two riders should have no trouble working together on the run-in to the finish. In general, Vanmarcke never follows wheels and he will be keen to make the race as hard as possible.

 

If things come back together after the Kwaremont, however, things will be more complicated. He doesn't have the strongest team as Lars Boom is still out with an elbow fracture and Maarten Wynants is unlikely to be there if a 15-rider group emerges at the end. With several teams likely to have strength in numbers, this could again see him lose out due to team tactics and he can't expect to beat Sagan or Boonen in a sprint either. However, Vanmarcke should be one of the strongest riders in the race and we wouldn't be surprised to see him take the biggest win of his career in tomorrow's race.

 

Tom Boonen is usually the big favourite to win this race and he seemed to be on track for great things when he ended Paris-Nice a few weeks ago. However, the personal tragedy that saw him miss Milan-Sanremo has clearly had a negative impact on his performance level and he was not where one would have expected him to be, in yesterday's Dwars door Vlaanderen. He made his usual test on the Taaienberg but usually he should ride away from everyone in yesterday's field when he goes full gas up that climb. Instead, Jens Keukeleire matched him pedalstroke for pedalstroke and Steve Chainel even bridged across to the dup while Boonen was giving it his all. When a big 15-rider group emerged in pursuit after the Paterberg, Boonen was not there and was only brought back into contention by his teammates Julien Vermote, Stijn Vandenbergh, and Gert Steegmans.

 

Boonen may of course have held something back but he seemed disappointed after the race. He claimed that he had to be satisfied with his ride but he found it hard to hide the fact that he had expected more from himself. Even at his top level, he seems to struggle a bit against Cancellara on the Flemish hellingen and this will make things even tougher for him in tomorrow's race. We doubt that he can follow the best on the final hellingen but of course no one can ever rule out Tom Boonen. Furthermore, he has the strongest team at his disposal and if there are no Omega Pharma-Quick Step riders in the front group after Kwaremont they may the firepower to bring things back together. Boonen is a fabulous sprinter at the end of a hard race and will have a great chance of prevailing if it comes down to a sprint from a bigger group. A sixth win is certainly within reach for Boonen but this year he has to accept that he more of an outsider than a big favourite.

 

Last year Sebastian Langeveld seemed to be the best of the rest behind the strong pair of Cancellara and Sagan but despite his strength he failed to achieve a major result. Having joined Garmin-Sharp, he is now back in his favourite races and he seems to be riding really well and has had a perfect preparation for the race. He did excellent work for Tom-Jelte Slagter in Paris-Nice and he was right there at the end of Milan-Sanremo.

 

Langeveld could easily emerge as one of the strongest on the hellingen and we wouldn't be too surprised if he is actually able to follow the best. This year he is likely to have taken a further step up and this should put him up there with the very best. His main disadvantage is his poor sprinting skills that require him to arrive alone at the finish. That's not an easy scenario to create as he won't drop the likes of Cancellara and Sagan on the climbs. In a small group at the end, however, he may use the tactical battle between the favourites to take off and then he can make use of his excellent time trialing skills to finish it off.

 

Geraint Thomas' results in the cobbled classics aren't outstanding, he has all the skills to excel in these races. Last year he was one of the strongest in this race and only bad luck prevented him from playing a bigger role in the Tour of Flanders. Due to his Olympic commitments, he missed the classics in 2012 but this year they are again the most important objectives of his spring season.

 

In Paris-Nice, Thomas proved his excellent conditions when he was clearly one of the strongest climbers in the race. He didn't suffer any major injuries in his crash on the final stage and lined up for Milan-Sanremo with big ambitions. The cold destroyed his race but his performance in that race is surely not indicative of his condition.

 

He chose to skip yesterday's race to be fully ready for tomorrow and this will make him a danger man. If a small group emerges at the end, Sky could be very well-represented with Thomas, Ian Stannard, Edvald Boasson Hagen, and Salvatore Puccio. Of those four riders, Thomas appears to be the strongest and he has a fast sprint to finish it off. Sky can use their strength in numbers as they did in the Omloop and Thomas may be the one to come away with the spoils.

 

Sky are likely to have strength in numbers in the final but the same can be said for Omega Pharma-Quick Step. The expectations for Zdenek Stybar in the cobbled classics have been huge and now it is time for him to start to fulfill them. Last year he did an excellent Paris-Roubaix but he still hasn't shined in the Flemish classics. On paper, however, those races should suit him better and his performances in Paris-Nice and Sanremo suggest that he is right where he needs to be.

 

Like Sky, Omega Pharma-Quick Step can send riders up the road to force their rivals on the defensive like they did it in Omloop Het Hieuwsblad and Stybar will be one of the cards to play. The Czech is not only very strong in this terrain, he also has a very fast sprint. Few riders would want to arrive at the finish with the cyclo-cross world champion and this will make him a danger man if the finale evolves into a tactical battle.

 

The next great card for Omega Pharma-Quick Step is Niki Terpstra. After yesterday's showing, no one will deny that he is in excellent condition at the moment as he managed to hold off a fabulous chasing group despite a strong headwind. His acceleration on the Paterberg was marvelous and he could emerge as the strongest Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider in the race. His main disadvantages are his poor sprinting skills and like Langeveld he needs to arrive alone at the finish. If Omega Pharma-Quick Step start sending riders up the road in the finale, that scenario is certainly not impossible.

 

Luca Paolini is usually one of the strongest riders in these races but until now he has had no chance to show his great condition. Bad luck ruined both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche for the veteran Italian but in Sanremo he showed his strength when he played a key role in Kristoff's win. Paolini may not be able to stay with the best on the climbs but he won't be too far behind. If a small group comes together near the finish, he has the tactical wit to exploit the situation. He may be isolated in the finale but he knows how to time his moves and he has a fast sprint to finish it off.

 

John Degenkolb is one of the few sprinters that doesn't have to wait for a sprint from a bigger group. In fact the strong German has proved that he is able to join the attacks on the hellingen. He may not be able to follow the very best but he won't be too far off. Due to his excellent sprinting skills, he is an obvious danger if he is there at the end and his incredible climbing in Paris-Nice suggests that he is currently in excellent condition. In Sanremo, he seemed comfortable on the Cipressa but a puncture at the bottom of the Poggio ruined his race. He may be able to count on Dries Devenyns in the finale to keep things together for a small group sprint and if things come back together for a sprint from a bigger group, he is one of the biggest favourites to win.

 

Finally, we will point to Daniele Bennati as a joker. The Italian had a difficult 2013 season but having overcome his health issues he seems to be back at full strength. In Sanremo, he seemed to be one of the strongest on the Poggio but the final crash derailed his sprint. He has always performed solidly in the Flemish classics and even though he won't feature among the best on the climbs, he won't be too far behind. With his fast sprint and excellent condition, he could be a danger man.

 

***** Fabian Cancellara

**** Peter Sagan, Sep Vanmarcke

*** Tom Boonen, Sebastian Langeveld, Geraint Thomas

** Zdenek Stybar, Niki Terpstra, Luca Paolini, John Degenkolb

* Greg Van Avermaet, Jurgen Roelandts, Daniele Bennati, Ian Stannard, Sylvain Chavanel, Johan Vansummeren, Johan Le Bon, Borut Bozic, Tyler Farrar, Sacha Modolo, Filippo Pozzato, Tony Gallopin, Alejandro Valverde, Stijn Vandenbergh, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Salvatore Puccio, Gerald Ciolek