Classics season kicks off this weekend in Flanders

The season of cobbles and short, steep climbs begins Saturday with the 70th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Gent, Belgium, followed the next day by Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne to the southwest. Both races are at the mercy of late February and early March weather and have been cancelled in the past, the KBK as recently as 2013.

Ian Stannard (Great Britain/Sky) is back to defend his title at the Omloop, as is the man the Brit beat in a thrilling two-man sprint, Greg van Avermaet (Belgium/BMC). Stannard’s teammate and compatriot, Bradley Wiggins, begins a Classics journey that will culminate with his final professional road race at Paris-Roubaix. Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium/LottoNL-Jumbo), the 2012 champion, is also due to start. Etixx-QuickStep sends a strong squad containing Tom Boonen, Tour of Qatar winner Niki Terpstra and Zdeněk Štybar.

The Omloop rolls over some of the cobbles and climbs of the Tour of Flanders in its 200-km, including the Taaienberg, Valkenberg and the 10% Molenberg ascent 39-km from the finish line. There is also a women’s race of 124-km in the morning, last year taken by Amy Pieters (The Netherlands/Liv-Plantur) after Brit Lizzie Armitstead’s early move was reeled in.

Sunday’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne has a route that isn’t as selective as the Omloop, which means that sprinters tend to have a chance. Mark Cavendish (Great Britain/Etixx) skips the Omloop in favour of KBK, which he won in 2012. Andre Greipel (Germany/Lotto-Soudal), Alexander Kristoff (Norway/Katusha), Arnaud Démare (France/FDJ) and Nacer Bouhanni (France/Cofidis) plan on thwarting Cavendish and his three-time winner teammate Boonen.

Canadian Hugo Houle (Ag2r) has been enlisted for double duty over the weekend, while Europcar’s Antoine Duchesne will contest the Omloop and Dominique Rollin (Cofidis) gets the call for the KBK. All three Canadians have logged 13 race days so far this season.