Tour of Flanders
Sunday 6 April
Distance: 269km (males’s), 168.9km (girls)
End: 15:15 (males’s), 16:30 (girls’s) BST
The most important Belgian race of the 12 months is right here, doubtlessly the most important Monument of the 12 months, with the lads’s and girls’s Tour of Flanders. The cobbles and bergs come into play on a lumpy route which saps the legs and creates epic finishes.
This 12 months sees the return of Tadej Pogačar to the lads’s race, and he’ll go up in opposition to Mathieu van der Poel in a continuation of their rivalry; they should get previous Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen. Within the girls’s race, Lotte Kopecky and Elisa Longo Borghini will go up in opposition to Kasia Niewiadoma and Puck Pieterse, however there is no such thing as a Demi Vollering.
Keep in mind, TNT Sports activities is now the house of stay biking within the UK, so be sure you’re throughout methods to watch biking there, and the remainder of the world too.
5 issues to look out for on the Tour of Flanders
Kwaremont-Paterberg time
The Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg double punch has develop into some of the iconic areas in biking, with the Tour of Flanders’ organisers turning the 2 climbs into an area. The boys do the Kwaremont 3 times and the Paterberg twice, with the ladies doing each as soon as. It typically gives the launch pad for decisive assaults, and is the place most of the VIPs hang around too, therefore the repeated passes of the identical climbs.
Data to fall?
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Mathieu van der Poel may develop into the report holder for wins with a fourth victory at De Ronde, slightly than tied on three with Johan Museeuw, Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen, and some extra. The ladies’s report will even fall if Lotte Kopecky or Elisa Longo Borghini win, taking a 3rd Flanders title, shifting forward of Annemiek van Vleuten amongst others. It might be a historic day.
Equal prizes
Flanders Classics, the organisers, give equal prize cash out in any respect their highway occasions, with €50,000 in prize cash for the lads and the ladies on the Tour of Flanders; the winner will get €20,000. This is perhaps a drop within the ocean in comparison with the differing salaries, however it’s a step in the appropriate route. Additionally to notice, the ladies’s race follows the lads’s, with analysis displaying there are extra viewers and followers sticking round that manner.
Frites and beer
Wouldn’t it be a Belgian Basic if the odor of frites and beer didn’t waft throughout the highway? At key factors, just like the Kwaremont, there’s a mini-festival really feel, with stalls upon stalls for refreshment. The Kwaremont beer itself – 6.6% – is available, as is the bog-standard lager Jupiler. Nonetheless, be sure you attempt others, whether or not that’s the amusingly-named Bolleke, Orval, or a Westvleteren.
In Bruges
The beginning of the Tour of Flanders flips between Antwerp and Bruges yearly, and this 12 months it’s the flip of the latter, a chocolate-box metropolis within the very west of Flanders, the capital of West Flanders the truth is. The riders gained’t be too distracted by the cobbles, the medieval buildings and the canal, however maybe there are just a few Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson followers within the peloton.
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
Deal with: the Koppenberg
It is perhaps simply 550 metres lengthy, however it averages over 11%, and it options a few of the most horrific cobbles in the entire of the Tour of Flanders. Wet editions typically see a few of the finest riders on the planet strolling up it of their cleats, as a result of as quickly as one individual stops, there’s fairly the domino impact. It comes very far out in each races, however typically thins the pack down.
Tips on how to watch Tour of Flanders
It’s on TNT Sports activities within the UK and Eire, accessible through a TV bundle or a Discovery+ subscription. Learn extra in our methods to watch Tour of Flanders information.
The boys’s race is stay on TNT Sports activities 1 and Discovery+ from 9am BST, with the ladies’s version is stay on TNT Sports activities 2 and Discovery+ from 2pm BST.
Final 12 months’s Tour of Flanders podiums
Males’s
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck
2.Luca Mozzato (Ita) Arkéa-B&B Motels
3. Nils Politt (Ger) UAE Group Emirates-XRG
Ladies’s
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek
2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM
3. Shirin van Anrooij (Ned) Lidl-Trek
Riders to look at on the Tour of Flanders
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Group Emirates-XRG) *****
The Slovenian’s report on the Tour of Flanders. Two makes an attempt – fourth and first. He may have gained on his first go, had he not managed to complete off the rostrum in what gave the impression to be a two-up dash between him and Mathieu van der Poel. But to win a Monument this 12 months – may he achieve this at his second try?
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) *****
The queen of Flanders, it’s exhausting to look previous the world champion within the girls’s race. She won’t have gained final 12 months, however she has been imperious just about all over the place else. Offers with the load of a nation expertly, and is aware of these roads extremely properly. She won’t have Demi Vollering on the group anymore, however she does have Lorena Wiebes.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) *****
On the cusp of historical past with a fourth win. The Dutchman has proved that he can beat Pogačar, as he did at Milan-San Remo final month, however will he have the ability to keep on with him on the climbs? This might be key if he desires to interrupt the report. The good Classics rider of his technology.
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Group ADQ) ****
The defending champion has not hit the bottom operating in Europe this 12 months, after successful the UAE Tour, however will hope to be again at her finest on the race she has gained twice. The Italian is at all times within the thick of motion, and can use her nous to comply with key strikes. Don’t overlook Longo Borghini.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) ****
The Dane is but to win a Monument, however he’s at all times concerned in key battles. The 12 months Pogačar gained, 2023, his was the doomed assault which sparked all the pieces, and he nonetheless managed to complete third general. If he’s in a small group on the run-in to Oudenaarde, don’t guess in opposition to the previous world champion, a really quick finisher.
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) ****
The younger Dutchwoman has solely ever gained race on the highway, however it was a giant one – a stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift final summer time. She has been constant at one-day races this 12 months, by no means ending exterior the highest 10 in six races, and has the punch and the bike dealing with expertise to make a distinction on the cobbled climbs.
