The preparations for Milan-Sanremo is going into its final phase and for some riders an important part of the build-up is the Belgian semi-classic Nokere Koerse. The race is a typical Flemish affair with cobbles, wind and hellingen and can be used to keep the legs going ahead of Milan-Sanremo and to prepare for the Flemish cycling season which starts for real in a week. Starting at 15.15 CET you can follow the race on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

Nokere Koerse is held on a 197.9km course in the Flemish heartland and can be divided into two parts. First the riders do 79.3km that bring them from the start in Deinze to Nokere where the finish line is located at the top of the 400m cobbled climb of Nokereberg. After the first passage of the line, the riders end the race by doing 8 laps of a 14.8km finishing circuit. As they do the climb twice in the early part of the race, they will tackle the cobbles of Nokereberg no less than 10 times.

The race usually comes down to a bunch sprint up the climb but as in every Flemish race, the wind can always wreak havoc. Last year it was Kenny Dehaes who beat Tom Van Asbroeck and Nacer Bouhanni in the sprint on the cobbles after they had caught Gert Steegmans just metres from the line. This year six WorldTour teams are in attendance and an in-form Kris Boeckmans stands out as the man to beat after he won the GP Samyn in dominant fashion.

Starting at 15.15. CET you can follow the race here.