Who will keep Pogacar from revenge at Tour of Flanders?

It's that time again next Sunday! For one day in Flanders, "the race is ours" and not only the whole of Flanders, but also every cycling-loving person, is thinking about "the cycling course of the year", the Tour of Flanders with 19 hills and 6 cobbled sections.

"The cycling course of the year"? Indeed, because according to the behavior of our visitors, the Tour of Flanders Sportive is not only the most popular cyclo in Europe, it is even the most popular cycling event in the world preceding respectively Badlands Gravel Adventure (Spain) and RAGBRAI (United States).

Also this year they have been speculating in Flanders for several weeks through podcasts, talk shows and other media about the course of the 107th edition of the “Ronde van Vlaanderen” which is said to make all previous editions pale again with a titanic battle between the protagonists Wout Van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar.

Last year's edition certainly lived up to expectations with, among other things, the fastest climb of the Oude Kwaremont ever (according to Strava) where the entire existing top 10 was wiped off the tables under the impulse of a scorching acceleration of 2-time Tour de France winner Pogacar (who does not lead the segment due to loss of his cycling computer). The runner up and former winner Kasper Asgreen still does not seem to have recovered from this effort and will probably not play a significant role next Sunday.

After last Friday's E3 Saxo Bank Classic, no one can ignore the fact that the 3 Van Aert, van der Poel and Pogacar are the top favorites, with us tipping the latter as the winner (read “Why Tadej Pogacar will win the Tour of Flanders (again)!”)

Are there no other contenders?

We are already looking forward to the return of the fourth cycling phenomenon Tom Pidcock. A top fit Pidcock should be able to follow Pogacar as he unties his devils on the Oude Kwaremont. It is a pity that his team mate Filippo Ganna ignores the Ronde in preparation of his big goal Paris-Roubaix.

And after Dwars door Vlaanderen, it is clear that Jumbo-Visma, in addition to Wout Van Art, has 2 more serious contenders with Christophe Laporte and Tiesj Benoot.

The outsiders and dark horses according to:

Eurosport: Tom Pidcock, Christophe Laporte, Dylan van Baarle, Tiesj Benoot, Julian Alaphilippe and Kasper Asgreen 

Touretappe.nl: Soren Kragh Andersen, Dylan van Baarle, Tom Pidcock, Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen and Matej Mohoric

Wielerflits.nl: Matej Mohoric, Valentin Madouas, Mads Pedersen, Tom Pidcock, Christophe Laporte, Søren Kragh Andersen and Stefan Küng

Sky bet: Dylan van Baarle, Christophe Laporte, Mads Pedersen, Kasper Asgreen, Julian Alaphilippe, Valentin Madouas and Matej Mohoric

gamblingsites.com: Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen, Biniam Girmay, Tom Pidcock and Christophe Laporte

oddschecker.com: Dylan van Baarle, Christophe Laporte, Kasper Asgreen, Mads Pedersen, Julian Alaphilippe, Tom Pidcock, Ties Benoot and Valentin Madouas

But let's first ride our Tour of Flanders Cyclo on Saturday, the first classic on the cycling monument on the calendar of the cycling monument for amateur cyclists.

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foto Sprint Cycling Agency