A WorldTour record six Canadians slated for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The Flanders Classics begin on Saturday with the first WorldTour inclusion of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. A record six Canadians will face the cobbles and short hills of the men’s WorldTour race while five line-up for the UCI 1.1-rated women’s version.

The 72nd men’s race begins and ends in Gent, Belgium, is 198-km long and features 13 hellingen along with 10 sections of cobbles. There are neither hellingen nor cobbles for the first 51-km. The final cobbled climb of Molenberg might be decisive, but riders could try to make the main selection on the cobbled Eikenberg with around 50-km to go.

Profile of @OmloopHNB 2017, with the return of the Molenberg, made with @cronoescalada's editor by @RickyFilips95. -46 days. #OHN pic.twitter.com/DnsASjT2v1

— Lasterketa Burua (@LasterketaBurua) January 10, 2017

While the men’s route takes place west of the Schelde River, the women’s course is set both east and west of the river. Eight hellingen and six cobbled section are spread over 129-km. The last 55-km or so of both races are the same.

Because the Omloop is a new addition to the WorldTour, WorldTour teams’ participation is optional. Fifteen of the 18 WorldTour teams are racing along with 10 Pro Continental and Continental squads.

Canadian Svein Tuft lines up for Orica-Scott in his first race of the year. It’s his first Omloop since 2013. Hugo Houle is part of an AG2R team that has 2013 runner-up Stijn Vandenbergh (Belgium) as its hopeful. Both Canadians of Direct Energie, Ryan Anderson and Antoine Duchesne, will rattle the cobbles. Isreal Cycling Academy sends Guillaume Boivin and Ben Perry.

The favourites are title holder Greg van Avermaet (Belgium/BMC), who has become double world champion Peter Sagan’s main spring rival now that Fabian Cancellara has retired. Sagan and van Avermaet be wary of the usual Quick Step armada: Tom Boonen and Philippe Gilbert (Belgium), Niki Terpstra (The Netherlands), Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic) and Matteo Trentin (Italy). They’ll all keep an eye on Lotto-Soudal’s Tiesj Benoot (Belgium) and Cannondale’s Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium).

In the women’s race Canada is represented by Karol-Ann Canuel (Boels-Dolmans), Alison Jackson (Bepink Cogeas), Gillian Ellsay (Colavita-Bianchi), Joëlle Numainville (Cylance) and Team Sunweb’s Leah Kirchmann, runner-up in last year’s inaugural Women’s WorldTour.

Canuel will be working for 2016’s Dutch runner-up Chantal Blaak and 2014 champion Amy Pieters, who will be favourites on Saturday. The trio’s Danish teammate Amalie Dideriksen will be in her world champion kit. Tiffany Cromwell (Australia/Canyon-SRAM) was on the podium last season and took the title in 2013. Finn Lotta Lepistö (Cervelo-Bigla) could be a threat.

All four Druyts sisters will race for Sport Vlaanderen-Etixx.

The Women’s WorldTour finally gets underway March 4 at the Strade Bianche.