After yesterday's clash between the major favourites for the Tour of Flanders, the biggest classics specialists step into the background in tomorrow's third leg of the holy period of Flemish racing, Gent-Wevelgem. While the race may be one of the most prestigious on the calendar, the likes of Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen and Sylvain Chavanel will mainly USE the cobbled climbs to get a last gauge of their form and instead the biggest sprinters fancy their chances to have a rare shot at classics glory.

 

The holy period of Belgian cycling continues with the race that is often seen as number 3 in the hierarchy of cobbled races. Due to its long history, Gent-Wevelgem is regarded as being just below the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix when it comes to prestige and there is a lot at stake when they riders roll out FROM Deinze just west of Gent to follow the traditional route to the finish in Wevelgem.

 

While the race belongs to the list of the biggest cobbled races, however, the nature of the racing will change compared to what we have seen in the Dwars door Vlaanderen and E3 and what we will see next Sunday in the Tour of Flanders. Taking place in a different part of the country than those races and featuring a longer flat stretch in the end, the race may be one of the cobbled classics but it is one that the sprinters can realistically dream about.

 

What makes the race so important is its long history. First held in 1934, it started as a junior race and was later open for independent amateur riders before it turned into an event for professionals after the second world war. As most other Belgian races, the early years were dominated by the home riders but it quickly became a part of cycling's most coveted races. Big Belgian riders like Rik van Looy, Eddy Merckx,  Freddy Maertens, and Walter Godefroot were among the early winners but from Bernard Hinault's 1977 victory, the race became a truly international event with a very diverse list of winners that include several different nationalities and a mixture of fast finishers and classics riders like Peter Sagan, Tom Boonen, Oscar Freire, Mario Cipollini, Thor Hushovd, and Djamolidine Abdoujaparov who have all stood atop the podium in the race's modern history.

 

The race has been held at different times in the spring and its course has seen several variations but it has always been an important part of the Belgian spring schedule. In its early years, it joined forces with the Omloop Het Volk (now Omloop Het Nieuwsblad) to form a series called Trofee van Vlaanderen and it is an integral part of the unique race series that makeS up the Flemish classics.

 

Even though it is part of the Belgian spring season, however, it is a very different race from the Tour of Flanders and Friday's E3. The Flemish races may be divided into two categories.  In the first category, the Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and E3 are races for the hard men and classics specialists. These are the true Flemish classics as they are  designed in the same way. The course map is a complicated affair as the riders zigzag their way through a rather small area in the Flemish Ardennes, heading back and forth and often using the same roads numerous times. All the famous hellingen known from the Tour of Flanders are located in this small area and it is easy for the organizers to make changes from year to year, varying the climbs used for the different editions of the race, as tradition doesn't put too many restraints on their opportunities

 

The second category of races contain Gent-Wevelegem, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, and Scheldeprijs. The names of the first two races dictate much of their courses and instead of zigzagging their way through the Flemish Ardennes, the races have much more of a point-to-point format. This makes it harder for them to utilize the tiny area in the Flemish Ardennes where all the major difficulties are located and this makes the races substantially easier. The Scheldeprijs is not a point-to-point race but doesn't contain a single climb. These races are much more suited to the sprinters than the "real" Flemish classics.

 

In fact, Gent-Wevelgem takes place in a different part of Belgium than the races from the first category. In the past, the race has travelled through the Flemish Ardennes and covered many of the Tour of Flanders hellingen but the race has mostly completely avoided this part of Belgium. Instead, it brings the riders from the start to the coast along the North Sea and a southern journey down to the Belgian-French border. Here, the race tackles its landmark climbs, with the Kemmelberg being by far the most iconic. The race ends with a long flat run to Wevelgem, meaning that the sprinters face a much easier race than they do in most of the other Flemish classics.

 

Nonetheless, Gent-Wevelgem has been regarded as the third big cobbled classic and even though it wasn't part of the now defunct World Cup, it was included in the ProTour and its successor, the WorldTour, right from their beginning.

 

For many years, however, the race played an unfortunate role as a midweek race in between the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. While most of the biggest stars were at the start line, they preferred to stay safe and often abandoned at the midpoint at it was all about recovery for Sunday's big battle in Roubaix.

 

Things changed for the 2010 edition when UCI made a major reshuffle of the classics schedule that partly served the purpose of reestablishing some of Gent-Wevelgem's prestige and make more synergy between the races. The race was moved to the Sunday before Tour of Flanders and now form a perfect warm-up weekend for De Ronde with the E3 which takes place two days earlier.

 

The change has certainly been beneficial for the race but the race is still not a real target for the big classics riders. With the E3 resembling the Tour of Flanders much more, the Flanders favourites prefer to use Friday's race as the big test while they often use Gent-Wevelgem as more of a training race where they test their condition on the race's climbs but don't go all out for a result. On the other hand, the race is usually a genuine objective for the sprinters who have a rare chance to add a big classic to their palmares.

 

In an attempt to make the race more attractive for the classics riders, the organizers tried to make the course tougher by adding more climbs in the hilly zone. The changes made it more difficult for the pure sprinters to prevail but it didn't prompt the classics stars to come to the fore. This year the organizers seem to have realized that they won't be able to compete with the E3 for the attention from the likes of Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen and so they have returned the route to a more traditional format. This means that the race is now again a more obvious target for the sprinters, a fact which has been embraced by Mark Cavendish who had again made the race the centrepiece of his cobbled classics campaign until illness forces him out.

 

Last year the race had a very traditional format as a strong break escaped in the hilly zone while behind Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Lotto Belisol worked hard to try to set up a sprint for Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel respectively. The race was one of the few editions where the break won the battle and in the end Peter Sagan proved that he was fully ready for the Tour of Flanders by making an impressive solo attack on the flat roads to Wevelgem before making a wheelie as he rolled across the line for what is still his biggest one-day win. Behind Borut Bozic beat Greg Van Avermaet in the sprint for 2nd as the remnants of the 10-rider break battled it out for the minor positions. This year all three podium finishers are back as they go for more glory in Wevelgem while also honing their form for next Sunday's Ronde.

 

The course

As said, the organizers seem to once and for all have shelved the idea of competing against E3 about being the Tour of Flanders dress rehearsal. Without completely changing the nature of the race, it would never be possible to design a route whose toughness would be able to match the one found in E3, and so this year's course is returning to an easier format after a few years with repeated attempts to make things harder. The race still includes more climbs than it did earlier in the century but it certainly isn't as difficult as it was last year.

 

The race follows a very traditional formula but as part of the 100-year anniversary for World War I, the race will pass several historic sites to commemorate the many fallen soldiers in the battles along the French-Belgian border. Even the key climb of Kemmelberg played a role in the war and the passing of the legendary slopes will have an extra significance in 2014.

 

As it is the case for most races whose name is made up of its start and finishing cities, Gent-Wevelgem no longer starts in Ghent as the shorter distances of modern day racing dictate a new point of departure. Nowadays, the riders head out from Deinze west of Ghent to start the 233km race, with the distance making it one of the longest races on the calendar just behind the five monuments.

 

The start of the race always follows the same format as the riders travel in a westerly direction until they reach the North Sea after 67.3km of racing. The part of the course is completely flat but may actually serve as scene of one of the most important parts of the race. On a calm day, it will just serve to make the distance longer and allow the early break to take off but if it is windy, the race can be rather dramatic right from the beginning. Last year the race split to pieces on this section and most of the field had lost all options even before they had reached the coast.

 

In Adinkerke, the riders turn right to continue in a southerly direction towards the border. If the wind direction wasn't right in the first part of the race, it could very well be the case on this flat stretch. This part leads to the border and the start of the hilly zone where it is time to launch the crucial attacks and try to put the sprinters into difficulty.

 

With 118km to go, the riders reach the city of Cassel where they do a small loop that sends them up the Casselberg twice. From now on, it is time to be well-positioned as there will be little room for recovery and as the roads are very narrow, there won't be much chance to move up. This is the really stressful part of the race and already from the Casselberg, we usually see several attacks while several teams may be keen to set a high tempo to tire out and possibly drop the sprinters.

 

The riders continue in a easterly direction towards Wevelgem, passing the Catsberg with 96km to go. Last year the riders went up the Kotkereelberg after that climb but this ascent has been skipped for the 2014 edition. Instead, they continue directly to the trio of climbs that define Gent-Wevelgem.

 

The Baneberg, Kemmelberg, and Monteberg come in quick succession with 87km, 79km, and 75km to go respectively, and this is where it is time to make a selection. The best classics riders usually use the Kemmelberg which is the hardest of the ascents, to test their legs. In the past, the riders went down a very treacherous cobbled descent that caused some dramatic crashes but after one of those horrific incidents, the organizers decided to send them down a paved downhill section which has made the race much safer for the riders. After the Monteberg, it is time to take stock of the situation but usually, some kind of regrouping takes place.

 

The riders now do a small loop before going back up those three climbs but this year, that section has been made slightly longer, meaning that there is more time for recovery and repositioning for the sprinters. However, this part of the course may also be used to launch attacks as the peloton is usually completely strung out at this point and no team is likely to have much control.

 

The final passages of the three climbs come 48km, 40km, and 36km from the finish respectively and from there the race consists of a long, flat, easterly run to the finish in Wevelgem. This part of the course is often the scene of an exciting pursuit between the escapees that have emerged after the hilly zone and the sprinters who try to organize their troops in the peloton. History dictates that the sprinters often prevail but if the composition of the break is right and the weather has made the race sufficiently hard, a break certainly has a chance of making it. Usually, the race is decided in a sprint from a breakaway or a reduced peloton but as Sagan proved 12 months ago, it is certainly also possible to arrive alone at the finish in Wevelgem.

 

 

 

The weather

The weather plays a huge role in every Flemish classic as it can drastically change the outcome of the race. Harsh and windy conditions make the races much harder and more selective while summerlike and calm weather increase the likelihood that things end in a bunch sprint. The courses for the Flemish classics are never so hard that a sprint from a bigger group can be completely ruled out.

 

Gent-Wevelgem is no exception from this rule and is probably the one of the classics where the difference between an "easy" or a "brutal" edition is most obvious. It is the one of the biggest Flemish classics where the chance of a bunch sprint is biggest and it usually requires a rather tough race to avoid that scenario as it happened one year ago when the wind ripped the peloton to pieces in the early part of the race.

 

The 2014 edition of Gent-Wevelgem will probably be the warmest in recent history. Summer has arrived in Belgium way earlier than usually as the rider's can expect a massive 22 degrees for tomorrow's race. It won't be a sunny day though as the bright sunshine from the start of the race will quickly give way for a very cloudy sky for the second half of the race.

 

At the start, there will only be a light wind from a southeasterly direction and even though it will pick up a bit as the day goes on, it won't have too much of an influence. The riders will have a cross-tailwind for the long run to the coast and then a cross-headwind when they head down to the hilly zone. Then it is a cross-headwind all the way back to the finish with the exception of the small circuit in the hills where they will have all kind of wind directions.

 

The favourites

As said, Gent-Wevelgem is the biggest cobbled classic that the sprinters can realistically vie for and this is very evidently reflected in the start list. For many of the big sprinters, this - and maybe the Three Days of De Panne and the Dwars door Vlaanderen - are the only races they will do in the holy period of Belgian racing and they deliberately stayed out of Friday's E3 to keep their powder dry for tomorrow's big opportunity.

 

History proves that Gent-Wevelgem mostly ends in a sprint from a bigger group and even though the organizers have tried to make the course tougher in recent editions, they haven't manage to avoid that scenario too often. The course changes were brought into effect for the 2010 edition when Bernhard Eisel won a very hard and rain-soaked race but that race was followed by two sprint wins for Tom Boonen. Last year a very strong breakaway managed to deny the sprinters but the most probable outcome of this race has always been a sprint finish.

 

With the course having been made easier and the weather conditions forecasted to be extremely nice with very little wind and no cold - it only increases the likelihood of a decision made from a bigger group. Furthermore, the fact that there will be a headwind on the run-in from the hilly zone to Wevelgem will only make it even tougher for aggressive riders to stay away. In previous years, the most important part has often been the first one where strong winds have ripped the peloton to pieces and even though much of it often comes back together, it has made the race so hard for the sprint teams that they are unable to bring things back together in the end. Tomorrow the wind should not be strong enough to produce any damage and it is likely that the first part of the stage will be rather uneventful

 

Even if the race ends in a bunch sprint, however, the sprinters cannot expect to be present. When Boonen won in 2011 and 2012, he did so from rather small groups. In 2012, no more than 30 riders were left at the end while 50 riders were present when he won the 2011 edition of the race. In 2012 André Greipel and Mark Cavendish had both been dropped but in 2011 they were both there (even though bad luck took Cavendish out of contention).

 

This year's easier course, however, makes it more likely that the best sprinters will be there at the end. Many of them have already shown excellent condition and this should add firepower to the chase on the run-in to Wevelgem. Everything suggests that the 2014 edition of Gent-Wevelgem will be one for the sprinters.

 

In that case, our favourite will be André Greipel. So far, the German has failed a bit in the biggest one-day races but he seemed to finally buck the trend when he won the Brussels Cycling Classic last autumn. He has not had too much luck in Wevelgem though and only had the chance to sprint for the win once when he finished a disappointing fourth in 2011. Last year he won the peloton's sprint for the minor placings and was left wondering what might have been.

 

Greipel has been riding extremely well right from the very start of the season. In the Tour Down Under he was already climbing at an excellent level when he was one of only very few sprinters to survive the Menglers Hill and he has continued to clock up numbers in the Middle East in February. He didn't have an awful lot of luck in Tirreno-Adriatico as his team failed to position him well in the sprint on stage 2 and he lost all hopes on stage 6 when most of his lead-out train crashed in front of him.

 

It's an evident fact that Greipel  is one of the fastest sprinters in the world and with Cavendish and Marcel Kittel not here he is probably the fastest in this race. His main asset, however, is the fact that he has the world's best lead-out train at his disposal. In this race, most of his key riders will be there, with an injury-plagued Greg Henderson being the only exception.

 

There is very little doubt that Jens Debusschere and Jurgen Roelandts will survive the climbing and one would also expect an in-form Marcel Sieberg to make it. This means that he is likely to have his entire train at his disposal at the finish and this could make all the difference. The Lotto Belisol train very rarely fails when it comes to controlling a sprint finish and when Marcel Sieberg takes off at the flamme rouge with Debusschere, Roelandts, and Greipel on his wheel, the German sprinter is usually delivered in the front position. The team support is what makes Greipel the favourite in this race.

 

What speaks against a Greipel win is the fact that he seems to struggle a bit in long, hard races. On paper,  he is a much better climber than a rider like Mark Cavendish but in the classics, the Manxman seems to have the upper hand. This was most recently put on show in Milan-Sanremo when Cavendish made it over the Poggio with the front group while Greipel fell slightly off the pace. While Greipel may still be there at the finish, he may suffer a bit more than his rivals at the end of a long, hard race.

 

On the other, Greipel's performance in Sanremo was his best yet which indicates that his endurance and stamina have increased. Furthermore, Gent-Wevelgem is a much shorter race than Milan-Sanremo and the weather conditions will be much better. The first part of the race should take less of a toll than the Italian classic. Combining this with his team support, Greipel must be the man to beat.

 

Arnaud Demare has great ambitions of one day becoming a great classics rider and he proved in last year's Tour of Flanders that he has all the characteristics to do so. This year he has shown that he is in excellent condition. He featured deep into the finale of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and went on to take 12th despite being poorly positioned in the hard finish in Arezzo at Tirreno-Adriatico. In the final time trial, he took another 12th place despite having never excelled in the individual discipline and this is a clear testament to the fact that he has taken a further step up and is in great form.

 

Those performances prove that Demare is much more than just a sprinter and if it all comes down to a bunch sprint, he will be fresher than most of his rivals. In the Tour of Qatar and Tirreno-Adriatico, he underlined his status as one of the fastest sprinters and when it comes to top speed, he is probably only matched by Greipel and Cavendish among the sprinters that can be expected in the final sprint in Wevelgem. We were a bit surprised to see him getting dropped on the Poggio in Sanremo but that race was probably a bit too long for him at this early stage of his career. The race in Wevelgem is much shorter and he is better suited to the cobbles than most of his faster rivals.

 

In Tirreno, his FDJ team proved how far they have come with their lead-out train and the team was a very dominant presence in the race finales. Yoann Offredo, Matthieu Ladagnous, Anthony Geslin and final lead-out man Mickael Delage all have a solid chance of being there in the finale and this would leave him with a train that is probably only matched by Giant-Shimano and Lotto Belisol. With that kind of support and fresher legs, Demare has a big chance to win a bunch sprint finish.

 

John Degenkolb saw his lofty ambitions in Milan-Sanremo come to nothing when a puncture at the bottom of the Poggio destroyed his race. Up until that point, he had been riding comfortably near the front of the group on all the climbs and this was just a further confirmation of the fact that he is in excellent condition. He also proved so in Paris-Nice where he fought valiantly to defend his leader's jersey on a stage that should have been way too tough for him. Finally, he did an excellent E3 yesterday as he was the only rider that could stay with Geraint Thomas and Niki Terpstra on the Oude Kwaremont.

 

Compared to most of the sprinters in this race, Degenkolb is a much more versatile rider as he has already proved that he can join the attacks on the hellingen in the toughest of the Flemish races. In this race, however, he is likely to save himself for a final sprint but those skills should leave him much fresher than his rivals at the end. He would surely have preferred an even tougher and longer course as he is a master in long races of attrition but this race is certainly not an easy one either and he will have a chance to beat riders that are usually faster than him. On the other hand, he is one of the few sprinters who race yesterday and he may pay a bit of a price by being more fatigued than his rivals

 

His main asset is his formidable lead-out train. With Nikias Arndt, Roy Curvers, Ramon Sinkeldam, Albert Timmer and the final two riders, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg and Koen De Kort, he has almost the same team that worked so excellently in Paris-Nice, at his disposal. Not all of them can be expected to be there in the finale but the key riders Van Rensburg and De Kort should make the selection. This will put them up there against the Lotto Belisol train and then no one can rule out a Degenkolb win.

 

On several occasions, Alexander Kristoff has proved that he is the master of the sprints at the end of the classics. Last year he won the sprints for the minor positions in Milan-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix to finish in the top 10 in all three races and few will have forgotten that he is also an Olympic bronze medalist. If anyone still doubted his abilities, they will have been silenced by his excellent Sanremo win. In the final sprint, the big Norwegian was not only the fastest, he was simply superior.

 

In a traditional bunch sprint, Kristoff doesn't have the speed to match the likes of Greipel and Cavendish but when the sprint comes at the end of a long, hard race, things are different. However, this race may be a bit too easy for him and even though his team is loaded with sprinters that can support him in the finale, he can only expect that  Luca Paolini and Alexey Tsatevich have survived until the end. This will make it harder for him to come away with the win as team support plays a bigger role in what should be a larger group. If the race turns out to be a hard one, Kristoff could pick up his second big classics win.

 

Peter Sagan is the defending champion and got his cobbled classics campaign off to a great start when he won yesterday's E3. While most of his biggest rivals for the Tour of Flanders use tomorrow's race more as a training session than a real race, Sagan rarely takes to the start line without putting in a dedicated attempt to win the race. He will try to honour the number one dossard but this time it will be a bit harder for him.

 

Last year he chose not to save everything for the final sprint and this could again be his strategy for tomorrow's race where he may try to escape in the hilly zone. The nice conditions, however, mean that it will be hard for him to finish it off and so he probably has to prepare himself for a sprint finish.

 

This year Sagan has not been sprinting as well as he usually does. He has always been a very consistent top 5 finisher in the bunch sprints and even though he rarely wins against the biggest names, he is always up there. In 2014 this hasn't been the case and he put in below-par showings in the bunch sprint in both the Tour of Oman and Tirreno-Adriatico.

 

His performances in both Milan-Sanremo and E3 Harelbeke also suggest that he is not as a strong as he was one year ago and it was very unusual for him to get dropped on the Kwaremont in yesterday's race. As he will probably have to defend his title in a bunch sprint against faster rivals and with little team support, it will be hard for him to defend his title. On the other hand, the sprint comes at the end of a very long race that will have taken its toll, and Sagan is a master of positioning. A Sagan win certainly can't be ruled out but it will be far tougher than last year.

 

Sacha Modolo has joined the WorldTour after several year at the Bardiani team and this means that he now has the chance to do the cobbled classics. Apart from a few participations in the 3 Days of de Panne, he has no previous experience on these roads but on paper he has the characteristics to shine. Modolo is much more than a pure sprinter and he climbs rather well.

 

He lined up in yesterday's race but was quick to abandon to save himself for tomorrow's big opportunity. This year he has stepped up his level massively and already has four wins on his palmares. It is partly due to his own sprinting skills but also the excellent support from a very strong Lampre-Merida train.

 

In this race, he is surrounded by a lot of fast men and even though many of them will have fallen off the pace before the expected sprint finish, he can expect to be supported by an in-form Davide Cimolai and Filippo Pozzato. Those two have managed to position him perfectly in past sprints and often it has more been a case of bad timing by Modolo himself that has led to disappointing results. Compared to many rivals, he will be fresher at the end of a long race and with a strong team and a solid turn of speed, he should be in the mix.

 

Youngster Bryan Coquard had his first taste of the classics in last year's Gent-Wevelgem and he did really well as he made it to the finish with the main peloton that sprinted for 11th in a very tough race. This year he will be back and he hopes to prove that he is more than a pure sprinter.

 

He proved his climbing skills when he survived for a very long time in last year's GP Quebec and he won the bunch sprint for fourth in the very tough fifth stage of Paris-Nice. Tomorrow's race should not be too tough for Coquard and he is obviously a very fast finisher. In fact he is one of the very fastest but he is often hampered by poor positioning. The team has tried to assist him in the finales by signing Jimmy Engoulvent but he still seems to lack the skills to get the maximal benefit from his pure speed. This will again be his main disadvantage in tomorrow's race but if he gets a clear run to the line, he has the speed to finish it off.

 

After a couple of frustrating seasons, Tyler Farrar has really excelled the last few days. In the past he focused a lot of the Flemish classics but when he dropped down the sprinting hierarchy, he turned his back to the cobbles to again focus on his sprint. That didn't pay off and now he seems to have realized that his days as a pure sprinter are over.

 

Instead, he has again focused on the classics and this seems to be a good idea. He was 2nd in the Dwars door Vlaanderen and yesterday he was 8th. Most impressively, he even mixed it up with the best classics riders on the hellingen. Tomorrow's race is more likely to be a traditional bunch sprint and this will make it harder for him to exploit the fact that he is currently much stronger than the faster finishers but he should arrive at the finish fresher than his rivals. He has been sprinting well in the classics so far and even though a win seems unlikely, another podium should be within his reach.

 

Like Farrar, Borut Bozic has been riding excellently in the classics so far and he has mixed it up with the very best on the hellingen. He has had his own little battle with Farrar in the sprints for the minor placings, with Farrar beating in Bozic in Waregem and Bozic getting his revenge yesterday. The Slovenian finished 2nd in this race one year ago but like Sagan it will be harder for him this time around as a sprint is the most likely outcome. Bozic is certainly a very fast finisher but in a bunch sprint against the best, it will be difficult. If Andrea Guardini survives the climbs - which is unlikely to happen - the team may even prefer to back the Italian in the sprint. Nonetheless, Bozic is in such a splendid condition that he needs to be mentioned as a solid podium candidate.

 

Finally, Matthew Goss deserves a mention. He had a terrible 2013 season and very little suggests that things have improved for 2014. He was not even selected for Milan-Sanremo despite being a past winner of the race. However, he showed some signs when he took 2nd in a Paris-Nice stage and this proves that he still has the speed to mix it up with the best. He doesn't seem to be in his best form but on paper he should benefit from a long hard race. With his current condition, that may no longer be the case but with the race set to be an easier affair, he will be in with a shot. With the likes of Mitchell Docker, Jens Keukeleire, and Daryl Impey at his disposal, he has one of the best lead-out train and this could allow the Australian to return to his winning ways.

 

***** André Greipel

**** Arnaud Demare, John Degenkolb

*** Alexander Kristoff, Peter Sagan, Sacha Modolo

** Bryan Coquard, Tyler Farrar, Borut Bozic, Matthew Goss

* Juan Jose Lobato, Daniele Bennati, Sam Bennett, Yauheni Hutarovich, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Kenny Van Hummel, Gerald Ciolek, Tom Van Asbroeck Heinrich Haussler, Thor Hushovd, Robert Wagner, Tom Boonen, Gert Steegmans, Boy Van Poppel, Matteo Pelucchi, Adrien Petit, Kenneth Vanbilsen, Jean-Pierre Drucker, Sep Vanmarcke, Zdenek Stybar, Geraint Thomas, Greg Van Avermaet, Tony Gallopin, Luca Paolini, Alejandro Valverde, Stijn Devolder,