Scheldeprijs 2020

Scheldeprijs 2020: A Sprinter's showdown before Tour of Flanders

The Scheldeprijs is normally an interlude between the cobbled Classics, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but in 2020 it is a last-gasp in an unusual season where most of the calendar has been called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The race course is a shadow of its previous self this year. Normally a crosswind battle through the exposed Zeeland region of the Netherlands and the narrow, twisting streets leading to Antwerp, the Scheldeprijs has been reduced to a kermesse in Schoten because of restrictions on sporting events in the Netherlands.

2018 and 2019 winner Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quickstep) will not be able to defend his title after suffering devastating injuries a crash in Tour de Pologne.

With three-time winner Mark Cavendish in question after speculating Gent-Wevelgem could be the last race of his career, and five-time winner Marcel Kittel retired, the only former champion of Scheldeprijs on the line will be 2015 winner Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates).

Favourites include triple Tour de France stage winner Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Max Walscheid (NTT) and Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic), but don't count out the slew of Belgians - especially Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) - who grew up racing the kermesse circuit on the flat, 12-corner 17.4km circuit.