The BinckBank Tour features four chances for sprinters, but the general classification will come down to a flat ITT of 13 kilometres and two hilly races. One could argue the 6th stage is a BinckBank version of the Amstel Gold Race and the 7th stage is similar to the Tour of Flanders. So in terms of GC, the route of the BinckBank Tour is tailor made for Classics riders with chrono skills.
If you want to win the BinckBank Tour it helps is you are a kind of a jack-of-all-trades in the positive sense of the saying. Last year’s edition was won by Tom Dumoulin, but the runner-up of both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France is not competing. Other former winners who do line up in the 2018 BinckBank Tour are Niki Terpstra (2016), Tim Wellens (2015, 2014), Zdenek Stybar (2013), and Lars Boom (2012).
Favourites 2018 BinckBank Tour
*** Tim Wellens, Jasper Stuyven, Michael Valgren Andersen
** Matej Mohoric, Zdenek Stybar, Niki Terpstra, Greg Van Avermaet
* Oliver Naesen, Søren Kragh Andersen, Lars Boom, Dylan van Baarle, Michael Matthews
BinckBank Tour 2018: Route maps, height profiles, and more
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