The 2016 E3 Harelbeke takes place this Friday and will be the 59th edition of the one-day Belgian classic. Part of the Flemish cycling week, the race is a precursor to Gent-Wevelgem and the prestigious Tour of Flanders.

Last year's race was won by Geraint Thomas (Team Sky), with Jens Keukeleire the best placed finisher for Orica-GreenEDGE in ninth place. The race was won from a late breakaway, Keukeleire finished in the first chase group after a succession of crashes disrupted the race.

“For E3, we will have to see what happens in Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday,” explained sports director Laurenzo Lapage. “Most of our tactics will relate directly to how the race goes on Wednesday.

“The team knows how we want to approach this series of races and we have established our roles. If everything goes according to plan, the team will be the same for most of the Flemish classics with Keukeleire in the protected role. Who gets the second protected role will be decided after Wednesday.”

“Jens knows these races well and hopefully we can build on our result here last year. Of course anything can happen but we are going into these races with a positive attitude.”

The race is part of the UCI World Tour and covers a distance of 206kilometres. Starting and finishing in the town of Harelbeke, in the West-Flanders region of Belgium. The route includes some of the historic cobbled climbs of the Belgian Ardennes, the Paterberg and the Oude Kwaremont both coming after the halfway point of the race.

E3 Harelbeke takes place on Friday 25th of March.

Orica-GreenEDGE at E3 Harelbeke:

Sam Bewley, Magnus Cort, Mitchell Docker, Luke Durbridge, Jens Keukeleire, Luka Mezgec and Svein Tuft.