"We've used this stage before, and it's the first guaranteed day for the GC riders to hit the front," Matt White, head sports director at Mitchelton-Scott, explains. "We've had that approach, the final climb and then the descent a number of times, and it's incredibly important in terms of the overall battle. The Corkscrew climb is longer and harder than Willunga Hill, and you can have a situation in which one rider goes clear, takes five seconds at the top of the climb and is able to survive until the finish if they know the descent well enough or are willing to take risks.
"You could also see a larger group of around 10 contesting a reduced sprint, but the pure sprinters won't survive the climb. It might even be too hard for Peter Sagan. By the finish we'll see who is really in contention to win the overall. If you lose time on this stage, then your race is over because Corkscrew has the potential to be more selective than Willunga."
-
Tour of Flanders Women past winners
Past winners 2004-2024 -
Uno-X Mobility overtake Arkéa-B&B Hotels in hunt for 2026-2028 WorldTour
XDS Astana's upward trajectory hit by bad luck in Strade Bianche -
'We've got to get back to being the great Ineos team we once were' - Filippo Ganna leads Ineos Grenadiers fight back from the front
Italian prepares for Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix with a week of success and suffering at Tirreno-Adriatico -
'I don't consider myself the best sprinter in the world' - Jonathan Milan is modest but not scared of major rival Tim Merlier
Lidl-Trek's gentleman sprinter wins at Tirreno-Adriatico after textbook lead out and dive into last corner
