But the final 60 kilometers present very little difficulties, which creates an interesting dynamic between the attackers and the teams of the sprinters that wish to bring things back. Every year drama is promised and delivered into the streets of Kuurne.
This is a race where often there is a lot of attacking in the hilly area, and there is always an exciting battle between the attackers and the sprinter teams within the final hour of racing. Over the past two years the attackers have indeed succeeded, but this year we see some of the world's very best fast men present at the start line.
Jonathan Milan,
Tim Merlier,
Jasper Philipsen and
Jordi Meeus will certainly have their teams working overtime to get the peloton to reach the finish in a sprint scenario; whilst the likes of Visma, UAE and many other riders will look to make their moves earlier in the day and hold off the rest of the field.
*** Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan, Jasper Philipsen
** Jordi Meeus,
Olav Kooij,
Mathias Vacek,
Jhonatan Narváez,
Soren Waerenskjold* Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Kaden Groves, Luca Mozzato, Fred Wright, Marijn van den Berg, Ivan García Cortina, Jan Tratnik, Tim Wellens, Florian Vermeersch, Brent van Moer, Matteo Trentin, Alexander Kristoff