Two Belgian WorldTour races are scheduled this week: E3 Harelbeke on Friday and Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday. Jürgen Roelandts, eleventh in Milan-Sanremo, will race for the fifth time in Harelbeke. He hopes for a hard race.

At E3 Harelbeke, with start and finish in this West-Flemish city, the riders head into the Flemish Ardennes. After 32 kilometres they reach the first of seventeen climbs. When the riders have covered the Kattenberg, the cobbles of the Holleweg and Haaghoek are the next obstacles. From the Leberg on the riders go to the cobbles of the Paddestraat.

Then there are about fifty kilometres without hills, but after that it’s one after the other with Eikenberg, Taaienberg, Côte de Trieu, Paterberg and Oude Kwaremont among other. Just before the Tiegemberg, the last climb of the day, the peloton will cover the cobbles of the Varent. After Tiegemberg nineteen of the 215.3 kilometres are yet to be covered.

“I just finished outside top ten in Milan-Sanremo. I could have finished higher, top five was possible. I had to brake in the last corner and in the sprint as well. In any case Milan-Sanremo was good to be on the bike for 300 kilometres. I could use that after my illness. When you have a positive feeling about the condition after Milan-Sanremo that’s good for the next weeks,” Jürgen Roelandts said.

“The E3 Harelbeke definitely is a race that suits me, but the weather and wind also decide the race. Sometimes forty riders go to the finish line together and other years the whole field is split up. In 2011 I was second after a really open race. I hope the battle starts early, that’s an advantage for our team. It would be good if the weather is like the day of Dwars door Vlaanderen, that makes the race harder, more spectacular and more difficult to control.”

Lotto Soudal roster for E3 Harelbeke (Friday 27th March):

Tiesj Benoot, Kris Boeckmans, Vegard Breen, Sean De Bie, Gert Dockx, Jürgen Roelandts, Marcel Sieberg and Dennis Vanendert.