[Article was written before the start of the BinckBank Tour and has not been updated.]
The route of the BinckBank Tour suits the Classics men – Van Avermaet, Sagan, Vanmarcke. Yet, they never succeeded in winning the race. The route takes in one individual time trial, three more or less flat stages, while the last three courses are hilly. In fact, you could argue the 5th stage is a BinckBank version of the Amstel Gold Race, the 6th stage is similar to Liège-Bastogne-Liège, while the last stage bears resemblance to the Tour of Flanders.
As the race takes in an ITT also – albeit a short one -, you have to a Classics type of rider with a decent chrono race if you want to win the BinckBank Tour. A kind of a jack-of-all-trades in the positive sense of the saying. Yet, the Ardennes stage is particularly grim, so that one could be the place where a lot of riders will meet their Waterloo.
Favourites 2017 BinckBank Tour
*** Tom Dumoulin, Tim Wellens, Tony Gallopin, Greg Van Avermaet
** Peter Sagan, Jan Bakelants, Tiesj Benoot, Philippe Gilbert
* Niki Terpstra, Oliver Naesen, Lars Boom, Sep Vanmarcke, Stefan Küng
BinckBank Tour 2017: Route maps, height profiles, and more
Click on the images to zoom.
Route and profile 4th stage
Route and profile 5th stage
Route and profile 6th stage
Route and profile 7th stage 
Route final lap 4th stage
Route final lap 5th stage
Route final lap 6th stage
Route final lap 7th stage 
