The 108th edition of the Tour of Flanders will take place tomorrow, in an Easter version, along the 271 kilometers that will take the runners from Antwerp, which has replaced Bruges as the starting point, to Oudenaarde where the finish line banner will be placed.
For the 28th time in the history of the Ronde van Vlaanderen it will take place in March. The last occasion in this sense, in 2013, saw the triumph of the Swiss Fabian Cancellara who arrived solo, beating the talented Slovak Peter Sagan by 1'27”.
As per tradition, the first half of the race will be free of difficulties. These will begin at kilometer 137 with the ascent of the Oude Kwaremont, one of the iconic climbs of the race. A 20 kilometer truce will introduce six walls in quick succession: Kapellberg, Wolvenberg, Molenberg, Marlboroughstraat, Berendries and Valkenberg. At the end of this barrage there will be 90 left to finish.
After a brief interlocutory phase at minus 70, the Oude Kwaremont will be faced for the second time, followed by Paterberg and the bogeyman Koppenberg, only 600 meters with an average of 11% and a maximum of 22%. The more accessible triptych, made up of Steenbeekdries, Stationsberg and Taaienberg, will introduce the riders into the decisive phase of the race with the Kruisberg trio, Oude Kwaremont (third pass) and Paterberg, for the second time, which should issue the final sentence. If not, she will have flown to the end of the longest straight in world cycling.
Analyzing the lot of probable protagonists there is little to smile about. In addition to the already announced absence of the four tenors, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), winner last year, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quickstep) and Primoz Roglic (Bora Hansgrohe), plethora of injured people caused by the collective fall that occurred at Dwars Door Vlaanderen last Wednesday.
The race, which saw the success of the American Matteo Jorgenson (Visma Lease a Bike), already winner of the Paris-Nice earlier this month, was characterized by a fall in which the captain of Visma, Wout Van Aert, broke his collarbone , who will therefore have to give up the Giro d'Italia, and his compatriot Jasper Stuyven (Lidl Trek).
Slightly better went to the Eritrean Biniam Girmay (Intermarchè Wanty) and the Danish Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek). Both will be at the start tomorrow, although their competitiveness remains to be seen. The Scandinavian, in particular, with his victory in Ghent-Wevelgem, had established himself as the number one opponent of the absolute favorite of the race: the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck).
Last Sunday, in fact, Raymond Poulidor's nephew and the 2019 Harrogate world champion gave life to an exciting clash, which the Viking surprisingly won. It is unlikely that the battle will be repeated tomorrow.
In this scenario, in which only the Visma Lease a Bike duo, formed by Jorgenson and the Belgian Tisch Benoot, and the Wolfpack, i.e. the Soudal Quickstep collective, seem to be able to hinder the third consecutive victory in even years of the rainbow jersey, a a glimmer of hope for Italian athletes to do well too. Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) is an experienced interpreter of northern races; Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek), due to the fall of his two captains last Wednesday, finds himself catapulted to the top of the hierarchy in the ambitious Lidl Trek; finally, there is Alberto Bettiol (EF Education Easy Post), who already won Flanders five years ago, who does not lack the courage to attempt an encore. Is it too much to hope that we will find a nice Italian surprise in the Easter egg?
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