Preview Tour des Flandres. Flandrien climax with the cobbled classics experts

It's one of the biggest and most exciting races of the year and the second monument of the season. For many, the most exciting cycling day of the year, the Tour des Flandres will be taking place this 3rd of April and will be the culmination of a Flandrien cobbled classic campaign.

272 kilometers on the menu this year. The distance will make for a brutal race, the Tour des Flandres has always been a race for the riders who are capable of performing on a bike at top level for a large number of hours and this year that capacity will be put to the limit. The start at Antwerpen will then see just a bit over 130 kilometers that are mostly set to be calm, approximately half of the race. However in the second half everything changes, as the Oude Kwaremont will open things up.

The crucial section of the race starts with the second passage over the Oude Kwaremont. Kwaremont, Paterberg and the Koppenberg come in quick succession and this trio of ascents will not only destroy the peloton. They come with 54.5, 51 and 44.5 kilometers to go. Steenbeekdries (39Km to go), Taaienberg (36.5Km to go) and Oude Kruisberg (28Km to go) follow afterwards and provide further launching pads for dangerous attacks. 

The last ascent to the Oude Kwaremont summits with 16.5Km to go. The last berg of the race will summit with 13 kilometers to go and it's the Paterberg. From there on, there will be a flat run-in to Oudenaarde where the finish will take place.

The preliminary startlist includes Kasper Asgreen, Yves Lampaert, Florian Sénéchal, Zdenek Stybar, Tiesj Benoot, Christophe Laporte, Victor Campenaerts, Tim Wellens, Florian Vermeersch, Alexander Kristoff, Greg van Avermaet, Oliver Naesen, Alberto Bettiol, Michael Valgren, Jasper Stuyven, Mads Pedersen, Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen, Tadej Pogacar, Matteo Trentin, Anthony Turgis, Tom Pidcock, Jhonatan Narváez, Ben Turner, Dylan van Baarle, Michael Matthews, Matej Mohoric, Dylan Teuns, Nils Politt, Stefan K¨ung, Valentin Madouas, Alex Aranburu, Iván Cortina, Amaury Capiot, Rasmus Tiller and Tobias Johannessen.

You will be able to keep up with the race here on CyclingUpToDate as we bring you the race report and interviews surrounding Tour des Flandres.