No other day on the cycling calendar is as heavily loaded with races as today. National champion's jerseys are at stake throughout most of Europe when the best riders of each nationality go head to head in a battle for the honour of being the country's leading cyclist. At the same time, spots on the Tour de France rosters are still up for grabs and a good performance today can be what earns you a ticket to the three-week journey through France. Starting at 14.40, you can follow the battle for one of the most distinguished cycling jerseys, the Belgian drikleur, on CyclingQuotes.com/live and along the way, we will also keep you informed on the developments in the French and Dutch road races.

No other country is as cycling-mad as Belgium and so the Belgian champion's jersey has a unique place near the top of the hierarchy. Known as a drikleur, it has been worn by many of the sport's greatest champions, most recently by Philippe Gilbert and Tom Boonen who have both made the garment visible on the world's biggest scene.

Defending champion Boonen will be out to defend his title today in La-Roche-en-Ardenne but the classics specialist had certainly preferred another course than the one chosen by the Belgian cycling federation. Held in the Ardennes, the 220,8km course consists of 16 laps on a very hilly 13,8km circuit which starts with a very nasty 2,8km, 6,4% climb, thus adding up to 4400 vertical meters and making it one for the true Ardennes specialists.

World champion Philippe Gilbert has his sights set on a second champion's jersey to add to the one he took during his magnificent 2011 season and claims to in good condition at the moment. He has quality support from teammates Greg Van Avermaet, Klaas Lodewyck and Yannick Eijssen but lacks the strength in numbers of the biggest Belgian teams, Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Lotto-Belisol.

He biggest rival appears to be Gianni Meersman who is eager to add the Belgian crown his recent string of triumphs and he put his good form on display at the recent Criterium du Dauphiné. The Belgian is a formidable climber and his fast finish makes him a danger man for all of his rivals. He will enjoy the support of a very strong Omega Pharma-Quick Step team that has climbers like Kevin De Weert, Dries Devenyns, Pieter Serry and Serge Pauwels in its line-up.

Lotto-Belisol lines up no less than 19 riders at the event and hopes to see Jurgen Roelandts and Jurgen Van Den Broeck show off their Tour de France condition. Their Ardennes specialist, Jelle Vanendert, suffers from a parasitic infection and has been ruled out of both today's race and the Tour deFrance.

Radioshack has no big team but their 4 riders are all really strong. In-form Jan Bakelants who recently finished 3rd at the Tour of Luxembourg, is a dark horse for the event and supported by Maxime Monfort, Ben Hermans and Stijn Devolder, he will be a force to be reckoned with. The same goes for the Vacansoleil leaders Bjorn Leukemans and Thomas De Gendt who spearhead a small 5-rider Vacansoleil team.

Kevin Seeldraeyers showed splendid condition at the recent Dauphiné but the Astana climber will be completely on his own as it is also the case for Orica-GreenEdge's Jens Keukeleire. Blanco has a dangerous duo consisting of Maarten Wynants and Sep Vanmarcke while Nico Sijmens of Cofidis cannot be ruled out.

Finally, the Belgian pro continental teams Crelan-Euphony, Topsports Vlaanderen and Accent.jobs all line up large contingent of riders and we could see Sebastien Delfosse, Maxime Vantomme, Sander Armee and Pieter Jacobs play a role deep into the finale. And finally, cyclo-cross stars Sven Nys, Niels Albert and Kevin Pauwels could all spur a surprise on this difficult course.

Starting at 14.40, you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live. Along the way, we will also keep you informed of the developments in the French and Dutch road races.

France

The French road race consists of 13 laps on a rolling 19,35km circuit in Bretagne. The contains a section of the famous gravel roads known from the spring race Tro-Bro Leon which is known as the Breton Paris-Roubaix.

As usual, the French championships are a clash of some gigantic teams as FDJ line up 23 riders, Sojasun 21, Europcar 20, Ag2r 14, Bretagne 14  and Cofidis 14, thus making team tactics a key element. Last year, FDJ controlled proceedings on a flat course completely and took a 1-2 with their sprinters Nacer Bouhanni and Arnaud Demare. Both are back this year and could very well come out triumphant on a course like today's.

They will be up against in-form attackers like Thomas Voeckler, Sylvain Chavanel, Jerome Pineau, Tony Gallopin, Blel Kadri, Romain Bardet and even their own teammate Pierrick Fedrigo while Tour de France GC riders Jean-Christophe Peraud, Pierre Rolland and Thibaut Pinot had probably preferred a hillier course. Finally, it would be a mistake to rule out this year's winner of Tro-Bro Leon, Francis Mourey, who has had a splendid season so far.

The Netherlands

The route for the Dutch championships consists of 20 laps on a 10,8km circuit in Kerkrade and is a copy of the one used for last year's race. The circuit has four short, very steep climbs and last year the race turned into an epic battle of attrition with a similar scenario very likely for this year's race too.

As always, it is hard to look beyond the mighty Blanco team whose 18 riders form a very strong block. The team's two biggest favourites are Bauke Mollema - recent winner of a mountain stage at the Tour de Suisse - and Lars Boom - recent winner of the queen stage  at the Ster ZLM Toer but climbers like Robert Gesink, Laurens Ten Dam, Steven Kruijswijk, Wilco Kelderman and Tom-Jelte Slagter could also shine on this tough course.

Vacansoleil also has numerous riders on the start list and Lieuwe Westra, Wout Poels, Rob Ruijgh and Johnny Hoogerland could all feature prominently in the race while the third Dutch ProTeam, Argos-Shimano, place their hopes on Tom Dumoulin and Koen De Kort. Garmin duo of Thomas Dekker and Michel Kreder have an outside chance while Orica-GreenEdge rider Pieter Weening and Sebastian Langeveld could be extremely dangerous on this course.