The organizers of the Tour of Flanders have unveiled the course for the 2014 edition of the Flemish classic. Several changes will be introduced that will see key climbs like the Taaienberg and the Koppenberg being located closer to the finish, but the race will keep its new controversial finish with the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg instead of the Muur and the Bosberg.

Despite hard criticism from cycling fans, the organizers of the Tour of Flanders have no plans to include the famed Muur van Geraardsbergen in the Flemish classic in the near future. Today the course for the 2014 edition was unveiled and for the third year in a row, the legendary climb has been omitted.

The 98th edition of the race will be held on April 6 and at 259km, it will be 3km longer than last year's race. As usual, the race will kick off in Brugge and it will keep its finish in Oudenaarde that was introduced for the 2012 edition of the race.

It was the decision to change the finish from Meerbeke to Oudenaarde that promoted the organizers to alter the final kilometres of the race, with the Muur and the Bosberg being skipped in favour of three late passages of the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg. While the general consensus has been that the new format is harder than the old one, cycling fans have criticized the omission of one of cycling's most legendary places.

As it was the case last year, the 2014 race will include 17 climbs and 6 paved sections and they will all be located inside the final 150km of the race, with 12 even coming inside the final 100km. As it has been the case for the past two years, the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg will once again play the role of decider but unlike in previous editions, they won't be tackled three times late in the race.

In 2014, the Paterberg will only be passed twice while the Kwaremont will be climbed three times. The first passage comes, however, at kilometre 109 and will play no significant role. The two climbs will be passed for the penultimate time with 51km to go and before the riders reach the double challenge for the final time, they will tackle a more diverse finale with several difficult hellingen.

Shortly after the Paterberg, the riders will climb the famous and brutally steep Koppenberg which will be located just 44km from the finish and so is likely to play  a much more important role than it has done in recent years. It is followed by the Steenbeekdries, the Taaienberg - Tom Boonen's favourite climb where he has attacked several times in past classics - and the Kruisberg before the final passage of the Kwaremont-Paterberg duo. From the top of the latter, 13km remain to the finish in Oudenaarde.

In 2013, Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan were involved in an exciting battle on the two climbs, with the duo riding away from their rivals on the Kwaremont before catching a lone Jurgen Roelandts. On the Paterberg, Cancellara made his final attack, distancing his Slovakian rival and riding away to take his second win in the Flemish classic.