We enter the final section of the cobbled classics season. The opener is the traditional race in De Panne, a one-day race as in the last few years, it's one designed fully for the sprinters.
The Route
202.5 kilometers in lenght, it's pan-flat the whole way but that doesn't mean it's one for the sprinters (last year the wind blew the race up to shreds easily).
The race starts in Brugge and then heads for a final 45 kilometer long circuit around De Panne, with a lot of exposed country roads before coming back to De Panne close to the ocean, and then have a technical finale just like last year.
The final 2.3 kilometers where the race enters the center of De Panne are quite technical with some very narrow sections before it widens in the final kilometer. The final 800 meters are straight and wide so there is time to recover positions, but it's still quite a sketchy finish.
The Weather
As it usually does the wind will blow! But it won't actually have much impact on the race, it'll be quite felt with 15-20Km/h winds but from the west meaning that the whole appreach to De Panne will be in a headwind. From there on the circuit will be in ridden in every direction, it will be dangerous a bit after the finish line, there will be an exposed crosswind section, however I don't predict much damage. As for the final aproach to town it'll be in a headwind, and after a technical section the final straight will be in a tailwind.
The Favourites
This will be very simple. Essentially, these are the sprinter world championships for the year, the startlist is insanely full of them (with the exception of some who've focused on Milano Sanremo mostly, or are suspended/injured) and not only is it about the big quality in the leaders here but also due to the incredible quality in the leadouts, or in some team's cases, the sheer amount of riders who can end up being the leader.
S.Bennett - Morkov - Hodeg - Sénéchal - van Lerberghe
Démare - Stewart - Guarnieri - Sinkeldam - Brunel
Bol - Dainese - Salmon - Nieuwenhuis
Gaviria - Richeze - Gibbons - Bjerg
Nizzolo - Walscheid - Pelluchi - Campenaerts
Ackermann - Selig - Laas - Schwarzmann
E.Viviani - Laporte - Consonni - Sajnok - Sabatini
Moschetti - Theuns - Liepins - Mullen
Greipel - Hofstetter - van Asbroeck - Zabel
This is the list of the main sprinters who could in just about any race thrive with such a leadout, but what we'll have is a massive battle between all of them and only one or two will thrive in it. That becomes really complicated when you look at the sheer quality, when you have for example Hodeg who's role in Deceuninck really doesn't fit, Cofidis who've got 3 sprinters coming in but the Viviani should be the option, and that co-lead applies to some other teams.
There are some more sprinters who can definitely pose a threat and be there fighting for the win like David Dekker who will surely have a race and finale to his liking or Nacer Bouhanni who's been close to a big win, and also in the Top10 like Marc Sarreau leading AG2R, Danny van Poppel leading Intermarché, Gerben Thijssen leading Lotto Soudal, Luka Mezgec for BikeExchange, Jasper Philipsen leading Alpecin, Bryan Coquard leading B&B Hotels, Timothy Dupont, Lorenzo Manzin leading Direct Energie, Sonny Colbrelli leading Bahrain and Kristoffer Halvorsen leading Uno-X.
Prediction Time
⭐ E.Viviani, Moschetti, Bouhanni, Dupont, Philipsen, Sarreau, Halvorsen
It will be chaotic. Who better than Deceuninck to go through a chaotic finish? They've got Bennett's leadout and a lot of firepower, plus the sprint will be in a tailwind which will favour him in comparison to some of the other sprinters.
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