Tour of Flanders stars: Wout van Aert loses the millimeter sprint | Tour of Flanders

He grabbed the record for the Achilles Boys Club, Fiorenzo Magni, Eric Lehmann, Johan Museo, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara on a Sunday afternoon with Matthew van der Pol A New member?

In 4 participations, the Dutchman has already been on top of the scaffold twice (2020 and 2022).

He could score a record third win and would be only the second rider to win the Jeep Milan-Sanremo and Tour of Flanders in one season. Eddy Merckx did it in 1975.

Fabian Cancellara is the last driver to win back-to-back editions (2013 and 2014), Tadej Pogacar He would like to put an end to it.

At the age of 24, the Slovenian is already chasing his third monument after victories in Liège (2021) and Lombardy (2021 and 2022).

Winner of the Tour de France and Tour of Flanders? Pogacar will get the mustard from Louison Bobet and Eddy Merckx (twice).

All three of them were mentioned at the same time and it took a final picture to decipher our experts’ ranking. Mathieu van der Pol took a slight lead, and Tadezh Pogacar was right Wout van Aert with a final jump.

Despite his win at the E3 Saxo Classic and his generous nod at Gent-Wevelgem, Van Aert isn’t a 3-star guy for this Tour.

“I don’t have to do anything,” Friday quipped, but don’t forget that it was Van Aert himself who already loudly declared at the team show at the end of December that he “wanted to win the Ronde and/or Roubaix” this year. So he (too) put too much pressure on himself.

peer Christopher Laporte He surrounds his Belgian captain and appears to be the right pawn to stop the drought.

the secretary From the French, because our southern neighbors have been waiting since Jacky Durand in 1992 for the French winner. And this Dutch team: Since Rolf Sorensen in 1997, Rabobank and its successors have not been able to win.

The last two-star knight is Tom PidcockI came back from being away for a while. The Briton had two thoughts during his press chat on Friday: There are doubts about his form after suffering a concussion, but he also expressed his ambitions (with a wink). His response was “Who wins? Me”.

On his debut at the 2015 Tour of Flanders Tiesj Benoot Fifth. It is the third trump for Jumbo-Visma. For Dwars door Vlaanderen, Benoot called some health ailments, but anyone who’s seen him whistle on Kanarieberg knows more than that.

One of the best statements of recent weeks has come from Matej Mohorik. “I can follow the big three, not every day,” said the regular Slovenian king. 3rd in Kuurne, 6th in Strade, 8th in Via Roma and 7th in Harelbeke: watch out if he has this great Sunday.

The Tour of Flanders always contains a surprise today. It was last year Valentine Madwas The revelation and its status have changed dramatically since then. Is it progressively mature enough to glory day?

Who can manage to surprise Madawas is he Nelson Paulis. The Native American is at home in all markets: 6th at Paris-Nice, 7th at Via Roma and on Wednesday 3rd at the Doors of Flanders, the first cobbled race of his career. After 10 minutes he is guaranteed to be lost in the Flemish Ardennes, but Powless has already declared himself the “dark horse” of Waregem.

Will he ever find himself in such a promising position as in 2020? Julian Alphilippe He hopes so, but a collision with a motorcyclist may have killed his best chance of a Ronde victory. His Soudal-Quick stride is no longer feared, but the trapped cat makes strange leaps.