The two races kick off a campaign of cobbled events that threads its way through the early part of the season and comes to its climax with the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in April.
This year will mark the final Classics season for Tom Boonen, who will call time on his career after Paris-Roubaix. The Belgian will be looking to go out with a bang but he will face some stiff competition in the form of double world champion Peter Sagan and the likes of John Degenkolb, Alexander Kristoff and more.
In the women’s peloton, Boels Dolmans dominated proceedings in 2016 with Chantal Blaak and Lizzie Deignan sharing much of the success between them. They will have a strong team once again this season but the rest of the pack will be keen to break their chokehold on these races.
Watch the video above for our beginner's guide to the cobbled Classics and click here to subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel.
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