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Published on Saturday, 06 April 2019 17:25

Tour of Flanders 2019

Sunday 7th April, 270kms

The race I look forward to most every year, which almost always seems to deliver drama, hard-luck stories, but always a deserving winner. There are no hiding places on the bergs and cobbles of Flanders, no sitting in waiting for a sprint. 

It's the 103rd edition of the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, on basically the same route as last year. They are sticking to the big changes they made two years ago, starting again in Antwerp, and are also sticking with a run over the Muur-Kapelmuur with 103kms to go, which was re-introduced two years ago after a 5-year absence. 

But the climax of the race remains the same, with the familiar charge over the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg before the long chase back to the finish in Oudenaard. Roads that Nikki Terpstra knows like the back of his hand, and he finally got his nose in front with an epic win last year, after coming close in 2017 with 3rd place and 2nd in 2015.  

QSF were active from the gun again, with Stybar trying to kick things off earlier on. But it was once again that little drag up out of Ronse that set up a race-winning move, not on the cobbles or hellingen. Vincenzo Nibali, of all people, kicked off the move, attacking hard on his own. Terpstra bridged, and promptly dropped Nibali as the gradient got harder on the Hotond with about 30kms to go (below).

Terpstra powered on and went past the remnants of the break on the Kwaremont like they were riding on sand, with only Mads Pedersen making any sort of attempt to stay in touch with him. The main favourites squabbled about who would do the chasing, all trying to lean on Sagan, but he was having none of it, and Terpstra was home and dry. Pedersen stayed clear too to take an impressive 2nd, after being in the break all day, and Gilbert attacked late on to take 3rd, with another Dane Valgren in 4th.

The man he finished 2nd to in 2015 was Alexander Kristoff, and he warmed up for this race with an epic win in Gent-Wevelgem last Sunday. 

It was a truly incredible race, from start to finish, enthralling viewing and a dramatic, unexpected twist at the end. First, a super-group with Sagan gets away after splitting the race in cross-winds, and after causing a lot of panic and forcing a lot of strong chasing from the likes of DQS, who for once missed a key move, the race was blown to bits with still more than 80kms to go. 

There were all sorts of attacks and counter-attacks, Luke Rowe showing a lot of strength to bridge to the Sagan group, Kristoff tried, but failed, and really looked to be struggling. 50/1 he went to in play as the peloton closed in on the leaders and it looked to be coming to the inevitable sprint that DQS were working for all day. Viviani went 6/4 favourite, he had Stybar and Gilbert burying themselves chasing everything for him, while Gaviria was 5/2 second favourite, as the plan was expected to be a leadout by Kristoff for Gaviria to try to defeat Viviani. 

But the script was torn up one last time. As Viviani positioned himself on Kristoff's wheel for the sprint, Gaviria made one last heroic move to cut in front of Viviani to get on Kristoff's wheel with about 250m to go, then sat up and drifted back, taking Viviani out of the sprint with him. Kristoff said afterwards that Gaviria had said to him out on the road that he had nothing left in his legs, to go for the sprint himself. So as Kristoff kicked off the front, Viviani, and all the others were dead in the water. 

In hindsight, thinking a bit more about it, it should have been obvious with about 5kms to go that only the strongest beasts in the peloton would be contesting the win - they were all exhausted after a brutally hard day. And there are fewer stronger after a tough day than Kristoff, Degenkolb and Naesen, and that's the way they finished.. With the young beastling Mathieu Van Der Poel just behind them in 4th. 

How Kristoff won that race, I have no idea. He tried to bridge like Rowe, and with a lot of focus on him it looked like he was carrying quite a lot of timber, more Sunday club rider physique than Elite pro. He grimaced and crawled his way up the Bemelberg, but maybe it was a genius move.. Maybe he knew he would crawl up it, would have been dropped, and with it any chance of winning. As it was, he survived by the skin of his teeth, just about managed to hang on to the last riders, and rested and recovered for the last 30kms or so. Legend. 

It was another memorable race in 2017, with the epic solo win by Philippe Gilbert. It was helped a little by the crash on the Kwaremont that took down Sagan and GVA in full flight. GVA got up quickly and rejoined Offredo, Felline, Terpstra and Trentin who had avoided the crash, accelerated on the Paterberg and only Terpstra could stay with him, they collected Van Baarle and rode in pursuit of Gilbert. But Gilbert held on to comfortably take the win.  

Peter Sagan won in tremendous style in 2016 by such a large margin he was able to pull wheelies after the finish line. Alexander Kristoff was an impressive winner in 2015, escaping with Niki Terpstra 28kms from home, also on the Hotond like Terpstra did last year and holding their advantage, holding off Sagan and Van Avermaet who chased hard from the top of the Paterberg. 

The Route

The race is starting again in Antwerp rather than Brugges, Antwerp paying €400,000 for the priviledge, twice what Brugges was paying. The route is more or less the same as last year, just 3.5 kilometres extra out on the course and a few small detours. 

After starting in Antwerp, they now head south-west to take them to Oudenaard and as they approach the town they hit the first stretches of pavé, the Lippenhoevstraat after 87kms and the Paddestraat just 2kms later. Then it's through Oudenaard and on to the more familiar loops and the decisive section of the course again.

They then head out towards the Kwaremont, but on a different road to the one they will be coming back on for the final kilometres of the race, this time heading out south of the river Oude. The first hill they hit after 119kms will be the first passage of the Oude Kwaremont, generally taken at a pretty sedate pace compared to the next two passages, and that's followed 11kms later by the Kortekeer, introduced last year. 

 They continune on the twisting, criss-crossing loop south-east of Oudenaarde, where they take in more of the 'Hellingen' or cobbled climbs, including the new climb of the Ladeuze, Wolvenberg and Leberg, but these are just appetisers to the main course still to come. They also cross the Berendries after 153kms, thenhead south-east towards Gerardsbergen and take on the Tenbosse and legendary Muur-Kappelmuur of Gerardsbergen. 

They then loop back west and head on to the decisive part of the race, making their second ascent up the Oude Kwaremont after 214kms, meaning there are now just 55kms left to race, and the pace is now 'full gas', This is followed just 4km later by the first passage of the Paterberg. There might be a selection made on the Kwaremont or Paterberg, but usually the favourites tend to wait for the next time around as there are still 50kms to go, but we've seen already in some races this year that riders are prepared to attack earlier and from unexpected places, and this was of course where Gilbert made his move in 2017. 

Just 6kms later though we should see some fireworks when they hit the Koppenberg. I have ridden this a few times and there are some key points as to why it can be decisive. First, they come to it very fast on a downhill section of road. Then it's a sharp right turn in to a really narrow funnel. 

Secondly, the climb is short, but steep (up to 20%) and rough and it narrows even more the further up it goes, it's barely wide enough for a car. And finally, the cobbles are slippy! Even on a dry day your back wheel struggles to grip the cobbles. And don't even think about standing on the pedals, this is strictly a sit-down climb. (right). Positioning will be crucial coming in to the Paterberg and it almost always makes a selection of some sort.

Next up is the Kruisberg as they leave Ronse, which is 1km long at 6%. It is dark and quite rough and an important point about this climb is that as you come off the cobbles the road still rises a little more on the regular road surface and the strong men push on here as the weaker flounder to get to the top of the cobbled section. It's where the race-winning move was made last year and in 2017 and 2015. 

Then on to the Oude Kwaremont again.. It's not the steepest at 4.2% average but it does go on for 2.3kms and is very rough - there are large ruts and high ridges in the road, so if you can't get a clean line you bounce all over the road. When you are tired and suffering after 253kms, every cobble can feel like a sledgehammer against your front wheel, jolting and shaking your shoulders and arms.

What also makes this section of the race so decisive, is that just 3km later, with the lactic acid still burning in their legs they face a second ascent of the Paterberg. It may only be 380m long but its 13.7% average gradient at this point in the race rips things apart again, it hits 20% in parts and it's where a lot of riders crack and lose their chances, or where others can make a decisive move, pushing on over the top to extend the small advantages as others flounder.

From the top there's only 13km left to the finish along the familiar run-in to Oudenaarde and the long, flat finishing straight. On such a short run-in, strong men with 20-30" advantage can hold on to their lead, anything less than 20" with a strong chasing pack and you could see it come back together before the finish.

The Weather

A sunny, mild day with no rain forecast. There is some wind, getting up to around 10-11mph coming at them from the north-east, so it'll be a bit of a head-wind for the run to home.  

Contenders and Favourites

I had planned to do a Gent-Wevelgem and Dwaars Door preview, but I decided I wasn't going to in the days leading up to them.. Why? Because I genuinely had no clue as to who was going to win, and if anyone tried to tell you they knew how Gent Wevelgem would play out, and that Kristoff and Degenkolb would finish 1st and 2nd, they're a lying rodent.. It was a bookies field-day once again as the pre-race favourites were outside the first three and the two in-play favourites with 4kms to go finished outside the top 10.

It's been impossible to predict some of these races this year, it really has. Crazy, turbo-charged racing, which has seen a number of riders, including Bardet and Quintana, complain about the speeds; domination by DQS, but with the results not always going to the shortest priced rider; underperformances by the likes of Sagan, Vanmarcke, Terpstra, Benoot, Van Avermaet, Valgren and more; shamefully short prices on anyone that has even the slightest chance of maybe making the top 10, breaks making it when they normally wouldn't, Matteo Trentin screwing up promising opportunities time and time again etc etc etc.

It's been a minefield and proving very difficult to turn a profit. Sitting back a bit and reading other previews, watching the chat on Twitter, observing competitions like the HandMade Cyclist's podium game, at least is showing me that I'm not the only one seeing this unfortunately. The random selection of predictions as to who would win G-W covered about 40 riders, and I don't think anybody picked Kristoff or Degenkolb to finish in the first 3! 

Lots of picks for Sagan (who I thought might go well until I realised he was in that doomed break with 90kms to go), Terpstra (me again) Stybar, Gilbert, Viviani, Benoot, Lampaert, Doull, GVA, WVA, MVDP - none of whom returned even the place part of an each-way bet, unless you took the 4 places with Skybet on MVDP. Only Naesen of the favourites finished in the frame, but you won't get rich on the e/w part of an 11/2 shot.   

And I just didn't have the time, or the inclination last week to write 5,000 words, when I knew in all likelihood that it was not going to turn out much like I predicted.. It was at least four hours of my time saved.. And I had started a template for Dwaars Door over the winter, but couldn't pick anyone with conviction there either the day before. MVDP the 13/2 favourite? Naesen, Jungels and Lampaert all under 10/1 in a lottery of a race? I left it and just had a small punt on Terpstra and Keukeleire.  

As it turned out, it was another mad race, with MVDP indeed justifying favouritism by simply blowing the race apart more or less on his own. He attacked on the Knokteberg climb he said because he wanted to get out a little bit of the 'nervous' peloton to avoid being pinballed around in the lead in to the crucial Taaienberg, which came 12kms later. Tiesj Benoot and Bob Jungels were alert to it, none of the other favourites were, and they gained a small gap of around 20" quickly. 

It looked like a lot of wasted energy by MVDP though as the gap hovered around 20-28", but behind, the often-seen lack of cooperation, coordination and indeed arrogance probably of the peloton saw the sprinters chances go up in flames as only Groupama seemed willing to chase for Démare. The group out front were committed and strong, but none was stronger than VDP who easily took the sprint. I say easily, it was easy in the end, but Turgis almost incredibly stole the race with a strong early sprint. It netted him 2nd though, something I don't think he expected setting out in the morning! 

So why write a Flanders preview?! Well, because I love Flanders. I love the place, and I love the race, and hopefully, all of what has gone before now has been shadow-boxing, testing, warming-up and ironing-out problems ahead of the main event.. 

So where to start.. Well, the bookies don't seem to have a clue either, we now have five favourites available at 7/1 and two more at 10/1.. Pure confusion and guesswork all round it seems. But I can understand why though - Peter Sagan is one of the 7/1 favourites for it, he was a lot shorter not so long ago until things went a bit pear-shaped in the last month for him. E3 was a bit of a strange one, he seemed to be going ok, but then suddenly gets dropped on the Kemmelberg I think it was and drifted out of contention. 

He said afterwards that he thinks something hit his derailleur because it was giving him problems for 10 kilometres, and that by the time his mechanic fixed it he was unable to rejoin the lead group. But it looked to me more like he was cooked, he also said this about his performance "I could feel that my form still hadn’t reached its full potential and that I hadn’t fully recovered."

He then went to Gent-Wevelgem and treated it as a public training session for Flanders, getting himself in a break with some 90kms to go and working hard all day. Of course it meant he had nothing left for the finish and he rolled home 13" behind the winners in 32nd place.That sort of sets off alarm bells to me though, as a Sagan that is close to 100% should have been up there challenging Kristoff and Dege for the win, at least testing himself in the sprint. 

One of the other joint favourites was Oliver Naesen, who has been riding very well of course in the last month, and it all seems to be building up to this one.. a race he would dearly love to win seeing as he knows the roads so well. But he has been struck with bronchitis apparently and struggled through Dwars Door (if you can call finishing in 19th struggling..). It's either a bluff, and he'll be back to finishing in the top 6 of another race, or he will struggle. And as I don't think he is actually good enough to win it, even if 100%, he won't be carrying my money Sunday. 

Zdenek Sybar represents DQS's best chance of a victory in this race according to the bookies, and it's hard to argue against that, especially now with Gilbert suffereing from stomach problems. 7/1 favourite with more bookies than any other rider, they're running scared from one of the form riders of the year so far. Winner of E3 and OHN in powerful style, 4th in Strade Bianche, he has shown his raw power and class multiple times this season already. 

And it's not just in finishing in the top 10 of races he has shown his form, his ride in Gent-Wevelgem to try to set up Viviani was incredible. Pushing, pushing, pushing in the chase, controlling things, closing breaks, he looked to be dead in the last 5kms, slipping to the last wheel of the group, and almost slipping off it. But after a short rest he went back to the front to shut down that dangerous break in the last 2kms, pushing out enormous power. 

He will definitely be one of those riders who will be at the front as they attack the Paterberg, and will also be one of the front-runners on the Kwaremont and Paterberg, giving him a high chance of being part of the final small selections. My only worry with him is that his efforts so far this season will finally start to catch up with him and he struggles at some point, but it doesn't look likely to happen just yet. A strong candidate for a top 3. 

Greg Van Avermaet - I almost selected him for Gent-Wevelgem, but didn't . And despite looking ok at times, and pushing it at the front, he left empty-handed again with a lowly 20th place finish. But G-W is only a prep-race for him for the big one, This is the one race he'd dearly love to win above all others to become a true great of Belgian cycling. And boy has he come close in the past - 8th, 7th, 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd twice, he has a phenomenal 'nearly' record here. 

5th last year, he led the pack home after the breakers, beating Sagan in the sprint. His build up to this has been good, a set of results a lot of pros would be very happy with - a stage win in Valenciana, 2nd and 3rd in Oman, 2nd in OHN, 6th in Strade, 2nd in Tirreno and 3rd in E3.

He's had some support from the likes of Schar, Van Hooydonck and Van Keirsbulck and will rely on them to get him to the Paterberg and Kwaremont in contention, and I think he has a big chance of going with the big move. He is hugely experienced on this course and knows the places where the moves are made and the lines to ride to gain maximum advantage. I think he is a serious contender here and the 15/2 with Skybet paying 4 places looks a decent bet to me. 

Aert Van Wout (as those jokers at 'Blacktype' call him) is another around the 7/1 - 9/1 range and another 'crosser who should have a big chance here. Worries about his ability to handle long distances were well and truly answered by his amazing 6th in MSR, getting in the winning move with Alaphilippe, Sagan and Kwiatkowski, pretty illustrious company. His results this season have been amazing, even if he has just raced 5 times. 13th in OHN, 3rd in SB, 6th in MSR, 2nd in E3 and with the main group in E3.

Like many others he sat out BingBong on Wednesday to prepare for this one, and you can be sure he'll be well to the fore come Sunday afternoon again. And not only is he getting in the key breaks and moves in his races, but sometimes he's been the agressor, doing the attacking and pushing, and we may see that again, quite possibly on the Koppenberg or maybe even the Kruisberg coming out of Ronse, he is a smart guy and the significance of that climb in recent editions will not be lost on him or his team. 

Mike Teunnissen and Danny Van Poppel will be by his side as the race enters the decisive phases, and he'll have good help from Pascal Eenkhoorn early in the race too, he's riding well, if under the radar at the moment, coming home not far off the winners after doing a team job. Or we could see him up the road in a break like we did last year to take the chase duties off Jumbo-Visma.

Either way, I think Wout will be well positioned and strong enough to go with the likes of Stybar, GVA and Sagan on the Kwaremont, but I have just the smallest bit of doubt that he'll stay with the first guys over the Paterberg.. We might see him distanced slightly and the leaders won't want him coming back and he might find himself being leaned on by the others to do the chasing. He might well finish in the first four, but I'm going to resist backing him. As good as he is, I just don't think he is better than the veterans of this race. 

On the other hand, Mathieu Van Der Poel, the third 'crosser of the list, already looks like a veteran in just his third World Tour race. Impressive winner of the GP de Denain just a few days after crashing in the Nokere Koerse finish, he followed that up with 4th in the sprint in Gent-Wevelgem and justified favouritism with a phenomenal ride to win Dwars Door.

Grandson of Raymond Poulidor, son of Adri Van Der Poel, winner of the Ronde in 1986 (beating Sean Kelly in the sprint), this boy has some serious pedigree. Mentored and minded out on the road by Flanders legend Stijn Devolder, he is an absolute breath of fresh air to watch with his attacking style. Devolder, who has ridden in the same team as a young Tom Boonen says he has never seen a talent like him.

I have been a bit sceptical of him in recent races, simply because of his short prices against established WT opposition. But I am a full convert to the hype now, he is a phenomenal athlete with all the attributes to potentially win this race multiple times. His dad isn't worried about the extra distance of Flanders, he thinks he will cope fine with it, and it is only 30kms extra. The only thing that might play against him is his youthful exhuberance, where he might try doing too much too soon as he gets bored waiting for something to happen in the peloton. 

Bob Jungels is plan B for Deceuninck, a plan B better than most teams' plan As. An absolute monster on the bike, he beasted it from a long way out in KBK to win solo and then buried himself in his long-range solo attack in E3, which eventually set up Stybar's win. His late antics attacking after just rejoining the lead group in the last kilometer helped tire out the others physically and mentally. 

I think Jungels best chance of a win, or even to put the cat amongst the pigeons early on, so as to help Stybar later, is to attack coming out of Ronse up the Kruisberg, or even on the rolling hill just after it, the hill where Nibali and Terpstra went away last year. I don't think he has the ability to drop the cobbles specialists on the Kwaremont or the Paterberg, but if he can get away solo and build a 30-40" gap quickly in that section, the others might look at each other again, DQS block and it's game on again for a Jungels TT match. 

Philippe Gilbert and Yves Lampaert will be riding in support of the top two guys in the team you'd think, especially with Gilbert suffering from stomach troubles in Dwars Door, forcing him out of the race. He wasn't well in the morning, but started, but succumbed to the stomach problems about half-way in to the race. Stomach bugs take it out of you, trust me, I had one last weekend and I was seriously down on energy when I went to ride my turbo a few days later, over a kilo lighter! 

Niki Terpstra is still flying under the radar.. I really thought that he would be a principle player in Dwars Door, it looked like a race that he and Direct Energie should have been really going all out for with a number of the big guys out of the picture. We didn't see him in the whole race, and he finished on his own, adrift, 44" back from the winner. Anthony Turgis did save the race a little for Direct Energie though, to be fair, but Terpstra's non-show again has me worried now and I am reluctant to give him another chance on Sunday. 

The problem is, he has a bloody great record here, and he hasn't actually been riding all that badly, and as we know, these races are all just warm-ups to the main event for the likes of Twerps. Superb winner last year, 2nd, 3rd, 6th twice, 10th and 14th over the years, he loves this course and is well suited to the parcours. And despite they being a PCT team, Direct Energie have a bloody good team here, with Gaudin, Petit, Ligthart, Turgis and Calmejane strong support for his cause. He really is a conundrum for this, his 18/1 could be a huge price in reflection on Sunday, the 4 places with Skybet is tempting if he can go with the big guns.

Luke Rowe seems to be leading the line for Sky this year, and he has had an up and down last few weeks. He was fancied in some places for E3, but as he put it himself afterwards, "Got my head kicked in today at E3, no excuses. Live and learn, onto the next one Wevelgem." He put his nose in the wind a few times in GW, but had to settle for sitting and watching the sprint, but then went out and pulled off a cheeky late attack in Dwars Door to come home a little bit ahead of the pack in 6th place. 

He was DSQ'ed from this race last year for riding across a footpath, and in 2016 he pulled off his best result, by a long way, in this race with a 5th place. The thing about Rowe though is he has never won a World Tour race, other than TTTs with Sky, his best result being a win in the TOB back in 2012.. So no thanks at 25/1.. Ian Stannard and Owain Doull could go well, and I'm hoping for a good ride by Dylan Van Baarle as I backed him earlier in the year at 150/1..

He was going really well earlier in the season, but broke his wrist in a crash in OHN, yet despite finishing with a broken wrist, he managed an impressive 16th place! He came back in the Coppi e Bartali and finished 6th overall, and he's actually quite happy with his form. "Of course, breaking something doesn't help your condition, but I don't think my condition has gone away, and it's good to be mentally fresh for this period, so we'll see. I'll race with the same mindset as I would have done without the hand injury. The legs feel good, the body feels good, my weight is good. I feel in a better place than last year."

It's always hard to know just how a broken bone will respond to the pounding of the cobbles, but if he doesn't have too much discomfort he could be a dark horse here after finishing 12th, 4th and 6th here in the last three years.

Tiesj Benoot has had a mixed season as well, his price having drifted from around 16/1 about a month ago to as big as 33/1 now, double the price. Has his chances of winning more than halved based on his rides recently? It seems a bit of an over-reaction, for a man who was the MVDP and WVA of 2017 and 2018 in terms of hype and hope. He crashed in OHN, but returned to action a week later with a superb 5th place in Strade, then finished 16th in E3, 13th in G-W and 5th in DDV, being one of the few riders who was able to respond to MVDP's attack.

Interestingly, he has Tim Wellens here alongside him, adding some much-needed power and experience. He may not have ever done Flanders or Roubaix, but he has won Brabantse Pijl (maybe getting in some extra training here ahead of that) and finished 3rd in OHN just recently. Along with Jens Keukeleire and Laurence Naesen he should be kept close to the front of the action for when it kicks off on the Koppenberg, Kwaremont and Paterberg.. I wasn't going to back him, but I find the addition of Wellens an interesting move by them and at such a big price he has to be worth a small bet e/w.

Alejandro Valverde looks to be coming here to race, setting some blistering times up some of the hills in recon rides this week, and it was he who helped kick the race in to life last year too, chasing after Nibali. It is hard to see him escaping with a small group, but not impossible, but you'd think that the stronger guys will blow him out the back on the Kwaremont/Paterberg.

Alexander Kristoff, Michael Matthews and Matteo Trentin are three more guys who could have an outside chance of getting involved depending on how the race is run. Alexander Kristoff was a sensational winner of G-W last Sunday, showing his immense stamina and power. Don't be surprised to see him try to roll off the front ahead of the Kwaremont/Paterberg again to give himself a fighting chance as the favourites come up to him. I'll never forget the speed at which he and Terpstra passed us on the Kwaremont in 2015, bumping shoulders, it was a sight to behold. If he can get to the finish with a small group, he'll be very hard to beat.

Matteo Trentin has finished 5th in the Junior Flanders race back in 2011, but the best he has managed since then is 13th in 2017. Michael Matthews has never done Flanders, but he finished 12th in OHN in his first race of this season and has finished 2nd twice in Brabantse Pijl. He won two great sprints in Catalunya, so the legs are there, but will he be able to stick with the likes of Stybar, MVDP and GVA? I don't think so.. John Degenkolb of course could be a big danger too if hanging in there, but he's probably got his sights set on Sunday week..

After that you are really looking at the long shots, but a few that could go well at big prices include Michael Valgren if his form has come around after a stuttered start to the season, Mads Pedersen (2nd last year) and Alberto Bettiol and Matej Mohoric as they seem to be in such good form right now. One wild outsider I've had a nibble at is Heinrich Haussler at 500/1, seeing as he popped up with his first top 10 in a WT race since. Arnaud Démare and Sonny Colbrelli are two other sprinters that could, on a very good day, hang in there, but they're a really long shot. 

Hard to see anyone else getting in on the action to be honest, there's a huge amount of quality in the list above, and it's one of the most open Ronde's I think I can remember in a long time. It's time for Greg Van Avermaet to step up and be counted I think, and his experience and ability should put him in the frame. Tiesj Benoot is a big price, he could well pull off a top 3.

But I have fallen for Mathieu Van Der Poel and think that his extraordinary ability, power and bike handling skills will have him right in the mix - and he showed in Dwars Door that he can win a sprint at the end of a tough day too. What a story it would be for the World Cyclo Cross champion to win Flanders though, it would launch him firmly in to the realm of the superstars of the sport, in only his third World Tour race. 

Recommendations:

1pt e/w on Mathieu Van Der Poel at 8/1 with Betfair, or 7/1 with Skybet paying 4 places if you don't have Betfair

1pt e/w on Greg Van Avermaet at 8/1 with Paddy Power

0.5pts e/w on Tiesj Benoot at 33/1 with Ladbrokes

0.25pts e/w on Dylan Van Baarle at 150/1 (now 100/1 with various)

0.2pts e/w on Heinrich Haussler at 500/1 with various (sorry, I knocked 365 down to 300/1)

Matchbets

John Degenkolb to beat Arnaud Démare - 3pts at 5/6

Kristoff to beat Matthews and Benoot to beat Stuyven - 2pts at 5/4

Add Van Baarle to beat Moscon and Stybar to beat Jungels - 1pt at 3.8/1

Terpstra to beat Rowe - 2pts at 5/6