The classic season continues today with Gand-Wevelgem, traditionally reserved for endurance sprinters. As has been the case for several years now, the start is not in Gand: after being held in Deinze for years, since 2020 Ypres in Western Flanders has been hosting the start of this cobblestone classic.

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The first 100 kilometers are almost entirely flat, but the wind often plays nasty tricks in this area, particularly in the De Moeren zone. The first true hilly area will arrive when the group must cross the Heuvelland, characterized by the Scherpenberg and Baneberg climbs. Then, with 85 kilometers to go, it will be the turn of the Monteberg-Kemmelberg duo, with the Kemmel on cobblestones, which will be taken from the eastern side.

After this hilly zone, the race will leave Western Flanders for a lap through Hainaut, with three semi-paved roads: Hill 63, Christmas Truce, and The Catacombs. It will then return to Western Flanders for the race's grand finale. At this point, it will tackle the Monteberg and Kemmelberg for the second time and the Kemmel will come for a third time, passing through Scherpenberg and Baneberg, but this time from the western side, which is steeper and where an important selection often occurs.

After the third passage over the Kemmel, 34 kilometers will remain to the Wevelgem finish line, with the road still having several ups and downs. The finish will be on Vanackerestraat in Wevelgem, when the riders will have covered 250.3 kilometers.

Regarding the race, Gent-Wevelgem might immediately suggest a breakaway group in the Kemmelberg area, but considering the extraordinary riders we have in recent years, we shouldn't be surprised if it takes a different direction and becomes explosive immediately. Mathieu van der Poel could have put on an extraordinary show, but he has decided not to participate, so we'll have to understand who will set the race on fire, whether it will be Mads Pedersen, with Jasper Philipsen, Olav Kooij, Tim Merlier, and Biniam Girmay. The Dane from Lidl-Trek wants to do well, he's not easy to beat uphill, and his sprint remains superb even after a difficult 250-kilometer race.

But obviously, it's possible that a group of about forty riders will survive, like last year when a group broke away to claim third place behind Van der Poel and Pedersen. On that occasion, Jordi Meeus stood on the third step of the podium.

Jasper Philipsen is perhaps one of the fastest men in the world and in Van der Poel's absence, Alpecin-Deceuninck can bet everything on him. But the competition is very high, and if we talk about sprinters, we must also think about Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), who in a sprint is superior to Mads Pedersen. There's also Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike), the Dutch sprinter who has made great strides and secured eighth place in Milan-Sanremo. Tim Merlier (recovering from a bad crash on Wednesday at La Panne) has excellent chances of performing well at Gand-Wevelgem and with a victory today could save Soudal Quick-Step's spring in one fell swoop.

Biniam Girmay will naturally be part of the race, who won his historic victory in Wevelgem three years ago. The Eritrean from Intermarchè-Wanty has shown excellent signals and to write another page of sports history, today he could be the new winner. To conclude, riders like Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Arnaud Démarre and Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Emirates XRG), Mike Teunissen (XDS Astana), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost), Giacomo Nizzolo (Q36.5), Hugo Hofstetter (Israel Premier Tech), Alexander Kristoff, Søren Wærenskjold (both Uno-X Mobility), Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) and Maikel Zijlaard and Matteo Trentin (Tudor) should not be underestimated.

START LIST

Lidl - Trek
1. PEDERSEN Mads
2. HOOLE Daan
3. KIRSCH Alex
4. MILAN Jonathan
5. STUYVEN Jasper
6. SKUJIŅŠ Toms
7. VACEK Mathias

UAE Team Emirates - XRG
11. WELLENS Tim
12. BJERG Mikkel
13. MOLANO Juan Sebastián
14. OLIVEIRA Rui
15. POLITT Nils
16. VERMEERSCH Florian
17. BARONCINI Filippo

Alpecin - Deceuninck
21. PHILIPSEN Jasper
22. GHYS Robbe
23. KIELICH Timo
24. VAN DEN BOSSCHE Fabio
25. RICKAERT Jonas
26. VERMEERSCH Gianni
27. DILLIER Silvan

Soudal Quick-Step
31. MERLIER Tim
32. MAGNIER Paul
33. LAMPAERT Yves
34. LAMPERTI Luke
35. VERVAEKE Louis
36. VAN LERBERGHE Bert
37. VANGHELUWE Warre

Intermarché - Wanty
41. GIRMAY Biniam
42. VAN SINTMAARTENSDIJK Roel
43. BRAET Vito
44. PAGE Hugo
45. PETIT Adrien
46. REX Laurenz
47. RUTSCH Jonas

INEOS Grenadiers
51. PUCCIO Salvatore
52. FOSS Tobias
53. JUNGELS Bob
54. SWIFT Connor
55. TARLING Joshua
56. TURNER Ben
57. WATSON Samuel

Team Visma | Lease a Bike
61. KOOIJ Olav
62. MCLAY Daniel
63. CAMPENAERTS Victor
64. VAN DER SANDE Tosh
65. BENOOT Tiesj
66. JORGENSON Matteo
67. VERMOTE Julien

EF Education - EasyPost
71. ALBANESE Vincenzo
72. SWEENY Harry
73. DOULL Owain
74. MIHKELS Madis
75. ROOTKIN-GRAY Jack
76. TODOME Yuhi
77. WALKER Max

Bahrain - Victorious
81. MOHORIČ Matej
82. BAUHAUS Phil
83. BRUTTOMESSO Alberto
84. GRADEK Kamil
85. PASQUALON Andrea
86. STANNARD Robert
87. WRIGHT Fred

Arkéa - B&B Hotels
91. DÉMARE Arnaud
92. CAPIOT Amaury
93. LOZOUET Léandre
94. GRONDIN Donavan
95. SCOTSON Miles
96. EPIS Giosuè
97. THIERRY Pierre

Cofidis
101. DE GENDT Aimé
102. FINÉ Eddy
103. IZQUIERDO Clément
104. MAISONOBE Sam
105. RENARD Alexis
106. ROBEET Ludovic
107. MAAS Jan

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
111. NAESEN Oliver
112. DE BONDT Dries
113. DE PESTEL Sander
114. CHAMBERLAIN Oscar
115. GUDMESTAD Tord
116. BISSEGGER Stefan
117. BENNETT Sam

Groupama - FDJ
121. MADOUAS Valentin
122. BARTHE Cyril
123. JACOBS Johan
124. LE GAC Olivier
125. BYSTRØM Sven Erik
126. PENHOËT Paul
127. RUSSO Clément

Movistar Team
131. CANAL Carlos
132. BARRENETXEA Jon
133. CIMOLAI Davide
134. GARCÍA CORTINA Iván
135. AULAR Orluis
136. ROMEO Iván
137. MORO Manlio

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
141. MEEUS Jordi
142. MOSCON Gianni
143. MULLEN Ryan
144. PITHIE Laurence
145. VAN DIJKE Mick
146. VAN DIJKE Tim
147. VAN POPPEL Danny

Team Jayco AlUla
151. MATTHEWS Michael
152. DONALDSON Robert
153. GAMPER Patrick
154. O'BRIEN Kelland
155. REINDERS Elmar
156. WALSCHEID Max
157. SÜTTERLIN Jasha

Team Picnic PostNL
161. DEGENKOLB John
162. EDMONDSON Alex
163. VAN UDEN Casper
164. FLYNN Sean
165. LEIJNSE Enzo
166. ANDRESEN Tobias Lund
167. MÄRKL Niklas

XDS Astana Team
171. BALLERINI Davide
172. BOL Cees
173. GATE Aaron
174. GAZZOLI Michele
175. KANTER Max
176. FEDOROV Yevgeniy
177. TEUNISSEN Mike

Lotto
181. DE LIE Arnaud
182. BERCKMOES Jenno
183. GRIGNARD Sébastien
184. SEGAERT Alec
185. LIVYNS Arjen
186. VAN MOER Brent
187. GIDDINGS Joshua

Israel - Premier Tech
191. HOFSTETTER Hugo
192. BOIVIN Guillaume
193. CÔTÉ Pier-André
194. PICKRELL Riley
195. LOUVEL Matis
196. SCHWARZMANN Michael
197. VAN ASBROECK Tom

Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
201. NIZZOLO Giacomo
202. GONZÁLEZ David
203. LIEPIŅŠ Emīls
204. MAŁECKI Kamil
205. PARISINI Nicolò
206. STEIMLE Jannik
207. TOWNSEND Rory

Team Flanders - Baloise
211. VERCOUILLIE Victor
212. HESTERS Jules
213. LANHOVE Milan
214. VANDENBRANDEN Noah
215. VANDEVELDE Yentl
216. VANHOOF Ward
217. COLMAN Alex

Team TotalEnergies
221. TURGIS Anthony
222. DUJARDIN Sandy
223. GACHIGNARD Thomas
224. JEANNIÈRE Emilien
225. LEROUX Samuel
226. MANZIN Lorrenzo
227. BRUNEL Alexys

Tudor Pro Cycling Team
231. TRENTIN Matteo
232. HALLER Marco
233. KELEMEN Petr
234. LIENHARD Fabian
235. MAYRHOFER Marius
236. KLUCKERS Arthur
237. ZIJLAARD Maikel