Think the Super Bowl in the US, the Grand National in the UK, or the Melbourne Cup in Australia: in Belgium, and in Flanders in particular, the Tour of Flanders is the annual sporting event that captures the imagination of the public.
Held on the first Sunday of April, the Tour of Flanders captures international cycling fans' imagination, too, like few other races, although some would say that Paris-Roubaix, which takes place a week later, either just trumps it or pushes it very close.
And while Roubaix is all about cobbles and, ideally, mud, Flanders is all about cobbles and climbing the region's bergs – and all the better if said bergs are also cobbled.
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From its first edition in 1913, the Tour of Flanders has been the domain of the Belgian hard men. The nation has won no fewer than 69 editions of the race out of the 102 that have been run, with Italy and the Netherlands lagging a long way behind with 10 victories apiece.
Defending champion Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie) has a very real opportunity to push the Netherlands up into second spot, but you try telling Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) or Team Sky's Gianni Moscon that, who are realistically Italy best hopes of a first victory at Flanders since Alessandro Ballan's win back in 2007.
An honourable mention, too, for EF Education First's Sep Vanmarcke, who, despite being a podium regular here, having finished third in both 2014 and 2016, was in a race against time to be ready for Sunday having injured his knee at last week's E3 BinckBank Classic.
Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie)
Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team)
Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale)
Mathieu van der Poel (Correndon-Circus)
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo)
Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)
Michael Matthews (Sunweb)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/10-riders-to-watch-at-the-2019-tour-of-flanders
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