Directly in Flanders
Wednesday 1st April
Distance: 185km (men), 129km (women)
Finish: 3:05pm (men), 4:30pm (women) BST
The last rehearsal before the big show that is the Tour of Flanders takes place on Wednesday, Dwars door Vlaanderen, or ‘Through Flanders’, which is a very good name.
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Demi Vollering and Marlen Reusser return
(Image credit: Getty Images)
It has not been seen since the Strade Bianche almost a month ago, Demi Vollering returns to the actions of Dwars, the race that he won in 2023. The last time Vollering ran in Belgium, he won the Omloop Nieuwsblad, so it is clear that he has form for this time of the thing. Her FDJ United-SUEZ team are the queens of the one-day races this year, so she will be determined to equip her, or one of her teammates, to victory.
Also returning is another SD Worx-Protime alumnus, Movistar’s Marlen Reusser, who last rode at the UAE Tour in February. He pulled out of that race, but is back and “ready to go” this weekend.
Wout van Aert is determined to bounce back
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Last year, Dwars ended in disgrace for Wout van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike. The team had three riders in the final, joined by Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost). Somehow, they managed to not win in that situation.
This season, Visma and Van Aert will face different positions. The Belgian is yet to win this year, despite looking good, and this is a great opportunity to speak in front of Flanders.
A runner’s pace?
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Not since 2016 for men and 2022 for women have the Dwars finished with anything resembling a race pace, but there are still many fast finishers in the race, from Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) to Chiara Consonni (Canyon-Movie Cat-SRAM) .
Obviously, it doesn’t have to be a sprint for a sprinter to win, as Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) proved in In Flanders Fields. However, it gives teams a different playing card.
The big hitters are missing
(Image credit: Getty Images/Marco BERTORELLO)
While there are many big names on the starting list, others are missing a lot. There are Flanders favorites not running in Dwars, including Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime).
It means that we cannot predict again especially before Sunday, although a win is definitely better than nothing. That said, it was at Dwars two years ago that Wout van Aert crashed, ruining his Classics season; everyone will hope to avoid the incident.
Totally powerful bands
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Although there are not, there are groups that have a lot of power deep in Dwars. In the women’s race, FDJ, SD Worx, UAE Team ADQ and Movistar all look close to full strength, with plenty of options.
In the men’s race, Visma-Lease a Bike is almost there, with the return of Matthew Brennan giving their team another edge, while Lidl-Trek are also well rounded, with Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan.
WorldTour race
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For the first time in its nine-year history, Dwars is now a Women’s WorldTour race, which means mandatory participation for all top teams, live television coverage and a better field. This is great to see a race that always delivers great performance – and the fans can watch it too.
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