2017 Tour of Flanders preview: The climax of Belgian cobbles and hellingen season
Winners of first four Women's WorldTour races to contest RVV on Sunday
The relentless WorldTour schedule continues for both the men and women Sunday with the grueling Tour of Flanders, also known as the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The Greg Van Avermaet vs Peter Sagan saga flips to a new chapter, while the wide-open Women’s WorldTour could see a different winner in its fifth contest of the season.
The Men’s Race
The Course
At 259.5-kilometres, the 101st edition of the Tour of Flanders, the second of five Monument Classics, features 18 hills and five sections of cobbles. Back for the first time in six years, the Muur van Geraardsbergen, 1.1-km of maximum 20% grade leading to the famous chapel, returns at kilometre 165.
The Oude Kwaremont is climbed thrice, twice while paired with the Paterberg. The last pairing crests with 16.7-km and 13.2-km remaining until the finish in Oudenaarde respectively. Although he climbed the Kwaremont with Sep Vanmarcke, 2016 winner Peter Sagan attacked on Paterberg to finish solo.
The Contenders
There’s no doubt that Greg Van Avermaet is the favourite to take his first RVV triumph on Sunday. Once cycling’s Nearly Man, Van Avermaet is on an exceptional two-year roll. This season he’s won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem, earning a runner-up spot in the Strade Bianche.
The Belgian’s main rival remains Sagan, who was rather peeved with Quick Step’s Niki Terpstra for not working in the chase at Gent-Wevelgem. For years Sagan’s lament has regarded riders not working with him. The reigning RVV champ has taken this season’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne crown and stood on the podiums of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Milan-San Remo and Gent-Wevelgem.
Quick Step sends its usual in-the-thick-of-it contingent: Tom Boonen, Three Days of Panne champ Philippe Gilbert, DDV winner Yves Lampaert, Terpstra, Zdenek Stybar and Matteo Trentin.
An E3 Harelbeke podium will encourage AG2R’s Oliver Naesen. He’ll be wary of Belgian compatriots Jasper Stuyven (Trek), Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal), Vanmarcke (Cannondale) and Stijn Devolder (Verandas Willems-Crelen).
Orica-Scott can’t be seen as an far outsider, as Jens Keukeleire (yet another Belgian) and Australian Luke Durbridge have been in the mix of this spring’s action. Keukeleire’s runner-up to Van Avermaet in Gent-Wevelgem has to be seen as more of a triumph than a disappointment, while Durbridge’s fourth in both E3 and DDV reveals a 25-year-old rider peaking.
For the third spring running, Canadian Hugo Houle has been doing the yeoman’s job for AG2R, and his 34th in Gent-Wevelgem was his best early-season WorldTour one-day race result. Direct Energie’s Canuck Antoine “Tony the Tiger” Duchesne also lines up on Sunday.
The Women’s Race
The Route
Women’s WorldTour Ronde van Vlaanderen comes after after Strade Bianche, Ronde van Drenthe, Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Gent-Wevelgem.
Like the men’s race, the women’s Ronde Van Vlaanderen will take on the Muur-Kapelmuur, appearing as the seventh climb of 12 in a 153-km course. The Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg duo is also crested with just 13.2-km to go to the finish in Oudenaarde. Last year, the pack was down to 20 at the foot of the Kwaremont but after the Paterberg, two led with eight chasers. In a tight sprint Lizzie Deignan (née Armistead) nosed out Emma Johansson.
At the womens' race it was a matter of centimeters as World Champion Lizzie Armitstead won her third #WWT race. #RVV pic.twitter.com/EI9AgEPFob
— The Sticky Bottle (@stickybblog) April 3, 2016
The Contenders
After missing Gent-Wevelgem through sickness, Deignan is back to defend her crown.
The course might suit the winner of the last Sunday’s event, Lotta Lepistö, and series opener, Elisa Longo Borghini, the 2015 RVV champ, more than the Ronde Van Drenthe and Trofeo Alfredo Binda champs Amalie Diderikson and Coryn Rivera.
We asked @LepistoLotta,"Did the champagne celebration go better than Wednesday?" Her reply, "I'm not so sure." #gwewomen pic.twitter.com/5AHmjmHWge
— Bigla – KATUSHA (@BiglaKatusha) March 26, 2017
One can’t ignore Dutch riders like Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans), Omloop Het Nieuwsblad title-holder Lucinda Brand (Sunweb) or 2013 champ Marianne Vos (WM3 Energie).
So far in this year’s Women’s WorldTour, the best Canadian performances were in Strade Bianche where Boels-Dolman’s Karol-Ann Canuel was 15th and Sunweb’s Leah Kirchmann was 20th. Kirchmann, Alison Jackson (Bepink) and Cylance’s stalwart Joëlle Numainville start in Oudenaarde.
