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Published on Thursday, 27 March 2014 21:55

E3 Harelbeke Preview

Friday 28th March, 212kms

Not long to go now.. The days are counting down to the Ronde Van Vlaanderen on the 6th April, but before then we have an exciting looking Dwars Door Vlaanderen on Wednesday followed by the E3 Harelbeke on Friday as riders start final preparations for the big Classics to come. 

The E3 Harelbeke has been going since 1958 and it was named after the E3 motoroway, which funnily enough is now known as the A14. As strange as the E3 Harelbeke sounds, I guess it's better than the A14 Harelbeke! It is a fantastic preparation for the Tour of Flanders as it is over a vast majority of the same terrain and cobbled climbs of the Ronde. 

The race starts in Harelbeke's Grote Markt and travels east with a pretty flat opening 110 km, but hit some cobbles around Oudenaarde and Zottegem. They reach the most easterly point at Ninove after 85 km and after turning west and going through Geraardsbergen and Brakel it starts to get tougher with a succession of short, sharp climbs some of which are cobbled as the race loops between Ronse and Oudenaarde.

The 12 hills in order are La Houppe, Berg Stene, Boigneberg, Eikenberg, Stationsberg, Taaienberg, Oude Kruikens, Kapelberg, Patersberg, Oude Kwaremont, Knokteberg and Tiegemberg. 

Fabian Cancellara was a brilliant winner of this last year, simply riding off the front of a quality leading group with 35kms to go at the top of the Kwaremont. You can see it (sort of as the director cut at just the wrong moment!) in the video below and he quickly put daylight between himself and Sagan, almost like a dress rehearsal for the Ronde just over a week after. Daniel Oss almost took a superb second after jumping from the chasing group of Thomas, Sagan, Langeveld and Chavanel but Sagan pipped him by milimetres on the line. 

It was Cancellara's 3rd win in the race following his victories in 2010 and 2011. Sandwiched between his wins in 2012 was Tom Boonen who took his record 5th win in the race, following his victories in 2004-07. 2009 winner Pippo Pozzato also lines up and it is a quality line-up again this year with the cream of the Ardennes Classics favourites here to get a nice preparation in to the legs. The full starting list can be found at the bottom of the page.  

The Route

The race is an out and back loop that heads out east and then comes back west to start the criss-crossing of the hellingen around Oudenarde and Ronse after around 120kms. It is the combination of the winds, climbs and cobbles that causes the race to fracture all ove the countryside over the last 100kms. 

The 12 hills in order are La Houppe, Berg Stene, Boigneberg, Eikenberg, Stationsberg, Taaienberg, Oude Kruikens, Kapelberg, Patersberg, Oude Kwaremont, Knokteberg and Tiegemberg. It's when they hit the Taiaenberg with 130km gone that things start to heat up - the 9.5% average over the 1250m will cause the first real significant splits. 

The next 5 Hellingen will see some more pressure being put on at the front and the peloton will be wittled down hill by hill. But it's when they hit the Paterberg and the Kwaremont within 5kms of each other that the final selection will probably be made. 

The Paterberg may only be 500m but it averages 12.5% while the Oude Kwaremont is cobbled for 1500m of its 2200m although its gradient averages 4.2%. It is the Paterberg and the Kwaremont that do the damage and where Cancellara blew away his rivals in the space of about 1 minute last year. 

There is one final bit of Pavé to cross with 197km gone, a 1km stretch at 6.5%, so if there is a select group up the road, this could be the last chance to try to get away solo. 

From there it is a relatively straight and flat run in to the finish in Harelbeke where there is a dead straight road for more than 2kms before they take a 90º left turn, go under the Flamme Rouge and head up an almost dead straight last kilometre. 

Contenders and Favourites

You have to start with the reigning champ, Fabian Cancellara, who is going for his 4th victory in this race. He is coming to the boil nicely ahead of the cobbled classics again and his 2nd place in Milan San Remo shows that he is in fine shape, outsprinting many supposedly superior sprinters like Cavendish, Sagan and Ciolek.

He was a very angry man crossing the finish line though, slamming his fist down on the handlebars in anger that he had let Kristoff go and not close it down sooner. He loves this terrain, loves this race and will be all out to make up for missing out on La Classicissima last weekend. He is biggest price at the moment of 5/2 with 888 Sport and I opened an account with them tonight to take that, he was 2/1 with Paddy Power, the only other bookmaker pricing it up on Wed night. I think if he does what he did last year on the Kwaremont there will be very few who can stay with him. With just over a week to Flanders he will be looking to worry his rivals and the best way to do that is to ride away from them like last year. 

If he does do that, only the likes of Sagan can can stay with him, but as we saw in this year last year and in the Ronde VV, when Spartacus decides to go for it, Sagan is just not able to stay with him. I think it could well be the same again with Sagan leading a chasing group that could include some of the following..

Niki Terpstra won the Dwar Doors Vlanderen today (Wednesday) in spectacular fashion, riding away from a pretty strong field. He was very impressive in winning the Tour of Qatar at the start of the season and he clearly is shaping well for a crack at the Classics again this year. He is a big looking 30/1 with 888 Sport, is only 14/1 with Paddy Power. 888 Sport were offering 7/1 on a top 3 placing though and I took that instead, he could well follow Cancellara home on his own or lead a small chasing group in. 

The Omega Farmers come here with an incredibly strong squad and they also have 5 time winner Tom Boonen, Zdenek Stybar, Stijn Vandenbergh and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck should Terpstra falter. I think Terpstra and Stybar will be the men to try to mark Cancellara when he goes and if they do pull him back then Boonen is the man for the sprint for them. Bearing in mind what Boonen has gone through recently though I don't want to be backing the poor guy. So at 5/1 I won't be on him but if you fancy him and you think it will come down to a bunch sprint then don't let me put you off backing him!

Peter Sagan should be there or thereabouts again but I don't want to back him to win as I think he just isn't good enough at the moment, he doesn't quite seem to be 100%. Sep Vanmaerke and Sebastian Langeveld are two who should be in the final selection going up the Paterberg and the Kwaremont, but I don't think either might be just good enough to win this. Langeveld was 5th last year, could see a similar result this year. 

Geraint Thomas is an interesting looking 66/1, he did very well in this last year to take 4th place, riding very strongly with the break but they were no match for Cancellara. He will be looking to put the disappointment of his Paris Nice crash behind him and could well be one for the final selection as well.

Greg Van Avermaet and Sylvain Chavanel are both going well at the moment and look like they are coming in to better form as the Classics approach. Chavanel was 6th last year, in a two man chase with Langeveld who finished 1'08" behind the winners but over a minute ahead of the main peloton. Chavanel has been doing a lot of 'public schooling' as they say in the horse racing world, getting in lots of attacks etc. with the Classics in mind. Van Avermaet was going very well in MSR last week, showing himself a lot at the front as the race charged down the Poggio. He eventually finished at the back of the winning move, but the runner-up in the Omloop was looking strong.

Luca Paolini was superb for Alexander Kristoff last week in the Milan San Remo, his turn at the front inside the last 2kms was super impressive. He towed him to the last 500m with the peloton strung out behind and looked very strong. He is free to do his own thing this weekend you'd think, and he came '2nd' in the bunch sprint last year behind Boonen, in 8th place. He could be one to go close at a big looking 66/1 with Paddy Power .

So it's another race to savour, unfortunately another race I will miss as work is getting in the way at the moment! I hope to follow occasional updates and find out that Cancellara has won it in a canter from Terpstra in 2nd with Paolini taking the bunch sprint for 3rd! If you don't have an account with 888 Sport then why not click this link, open an account, get loads of free bets and the biggest price on Cancellara to win!

Recommendations:

Fabian Cancellara - 4pts win at 5/2 with 888 Sport

Niki Terpstra - 1pt on him to finish in top 3 at 8/1 with 888 Sport

Luca Paolini - 0.5pts each-way at 66/1 with Paddy Power

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STARTLIST

Trek Factory Racing
1.CANCELLARA Fabian
2.DEVOLDER Stijn
3.IRIZAR Markel
4.POPOVYCH Yaroslav
5.RAST Gregory
6.ROULSTON Hayden
7.SERGENT Jesse
8.STUYVEN Jasper

Cannondale
11.SAGAN Peter
12.BODNAR Maciej
13.GATTO Oscar
14.KING Edward
15.KOREN Kristjan
16.KRIZEK Matthias
17.LONGO Paolo
18.MARANGONI Alan

BMC Racing Team
21.OSS Daniel
22.DILLIER Silvan
23.HUSHOVD Thor
24.PHINNEY Taylor
25.QUINZIATO Manuel
26.SCHAR Michael
27.VAN AVERMAET Greg
28.WYSS Danilo

AG2R La Mondiale
31.APPOLLONIO Davide
32.BAGDONAS Gediminas
33.CHAINEL Steve
34.DANIEL Maxime
35.GAUDIN Damien
36.HOULE Hugo
37.MONDORY Lloyd
38.TURGOT Sébastien

Astana Pro Team
41.BOZIC Borut
42.GAVAZZI Francesco
43.GRIVKO Andriy
44.GRUZDEV Dmitriy
45.GUARNIERI Jacopo
46.IGLINSKIY Valentin
47.KAMYSHEV Arman
48.MURAVYEV Dmitriy

Belkin-Pro Cycling Team
51.BOL Jetse
52.VAN EMDEN Jos
53.LEEZER Tom
54.TANKINK Bram
55.TJALLINGII Maarten
56.VANMARCKE Sep
57.WAGNER Robert
58.WYNANTS Maarten

FDJ.fr
61.BONNET William
62.BOUCHER David
63.DELAGE Mickaël
64.LADAGNOUS Matthieu
65.LE BON Johan
66.FISCHER Murilo Antonio
67.MANGEL Laurent
68.OFFREDO Yoann
Garmin Sharp
71.BAUER Jack
72.FARRAR Tyler
73.NORMAN HANSEN Lasse
74.LANGEVELD Sebastian
75.MILLAR David
76.NUYENS Nick
77.VAN BAARLE Dylan
78.VANSUMMEREN Johan

Lampre - Merida
81.BONIFAZIO Niccolo
82.CIMOLAI Davide
83.DODI Luca
84.FAVILLI Elia
85.MODOLO Sacha
86.PALINI Andrea
87.POZZATO Filippo
88.RICHEZE Ariel Maximiliano

Lotto Belisol
91.BAK Lars Ytting
92.DEHAES Kenny
93.DOCKX Gert
94.GALLOPIN Tony
95.LIGTHART Pim
96.ROELANDTS Jurgen
97.SIEBERG Marcel
98.WILLEMS Frederik

Movistar Team
101.AMADOR Andrey
102.DOWSETT Alex
103.ERVITI Imanol
104.GUTIéRREZ Iván
105.LOBATO Juan Jose
106.MALORI Adriano
107.ROJAS José Joaquin
108.SüTTERLIN Jasha

Omega Pharma - Quick-Step
111.BOONEN Tom
112.KEISSE Iljo
113.STYBAR Zdenek
114.TERPSTRA Niki
115.TRENTIN Matteo
116.VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume
117.VANDENBERGH Stijn
118.VELITS Martin

Orica GreenEDGE
121.DOCKER Mitchell
122.DURBRIDGE Luke
123.HAYMAN Mathew
124.HEPBURN Michael
125.IMPEY Daryl
126.KEUKELEIRE Jens
127.MOURIS Jens
128.TUFT Svein

Team Europcar
131.COUSIN Jérôme
132.DUCHESNE Antoine
133.GENE Yohann
134.JEROME Vincent
135.LAMOISSON Morgan
136.MARTINEZ Yannick
137.PICHOT Alexandre
138.THURAU Bjorn

Team Giant-Shimano
141.CURVERS Roy
142.DE BACKER Bert
143.DE KORT Koen
144.DEGENKOLB John
145.DEVENYNS Dries
146.JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt
147.SINKELDAM Ramon
148.TIMMER Albert

Team Katusha
151.GUSEV Vladimir
152.HALLER Marco
153.ISAYCHEV Vladimir
154.KUCHYNSKI Aliaksandr
155.KUZNETSOV Viacheslav
156.PAOLINI Luca
157.SMUKULIS Gatis
158.TSATEVICH Alexey

Team Sky
161.BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
162.EISEL Bernhard
163.KNEES Christian
164.PUCCIO Salvatore
165.RASCH Gabriel
166.ROWE Luke
167.STANNARD Ian
168.THOMAS Geraint

Tinkoff-Saxo
171.BENNATI Daniele
172.BOARO Manuele
173.KOLAR Michael
174.JUUL-JENSEN Christopher
175.KROON Karsten
176.SøRENSEN Nicki
177.MøRKøV Michael
178.TRUSOV Nikolay

Androni Giocattoli

181.HOOGERLAND Johnny
182.VAN HUMMEL Kenny
183.BANDIERA Marco
184.FACCHINI Patrick
185.OCHOA Carlos José
186.PARRINELLO Antonio
187.TESTI Nicola
188.ZORDAN Andrea

Cofidis, Solutions Crédit En Ligne

191.CAMMAERTS Edwig
192.GARCíA Egoitz
193.JõEääR Gert
194.LEMOINE Cyril
195.PETIT Adrien
196.SENECHAL Florian
197.VERHELST Louis
198.ZINGLE Romain

IAM Cycling
201.CHAVANEL Sylvain
202.ELMIGER Martin
203.HAUSSLER Heinrich
204.HINAULT Sébastien
205.ISTA Kevyn
206.KLEMME Dominic
207.REYNES Vicente
208.SARAMOTINS Aleksejs

MTN - Qhubeka
211.POTGIETER Bradley
212.VENTER Jaco 
213.VAN ZYL Johann 
214.SBARAGLI Kristian 
215.KONOVALOVAS Ignatas
216.CIOLEK Gerald 
217.STAUFF Andreas
218.JIM Songezo  

Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
222.DECLERCQ Tim
223.HELVEN Sander
224.LAMPAERT Yves
225.SALOMEIN Jarl
226.THEUNS Edward
227.VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter
228.WALLAYS Jelle

United Healthcare
231.BAZZANA Alessandro
232.HANSON Ken
233.ILESIC Aldo Ino
234.JONES Chris
235.KEOUGH Luke
236.MAASKANT Martijn
237.MURPHY John
238.SUMMERHILL Daniel

Wanty - Groupe Gobert
241.DE TROYER Tim
242.DE VREESE Laurens
243.DRUCKER Jean-Pierre
244.GHYSELINCK Jan
245.KREDER Wesley
246.LEUKEMANS Bjorn
247.SELVAGGI Mirko
248.VEUCHELEN Frederik