Dwars door Vlaanderen is played out just four days before the Tour of Flanders. As the race is not as important as Flanders’ Finest not all big guns show up. Others consider the race a final test before the big showdown on Sunday.
Usually, Dwars door Vlaanderen boils down to a sprint or someone soloing to victory after a late attack. Three years ago, Jens Debusschere outsprinted a select peloton and in the last two editions Yves Lampaert took the win with one late and one very late attack.
Still competitive riders who won the race before are Matti Breschel (2010), Niki Terpstra (2012, 2014), Oscar Gatto (2013), Jelle Wallays (2015), Jens Debusschere (2016) and Yves Lampaert (2017, 2018). Breschel, Gatto and Wallays don’t ride Dwars door Vlaanderen this year, the others do.
Jungels and Stybar are the stars of the Flemish Classics until now. The Czech won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and last Friday’s E3 BinckBank Classic after a perfect preparation by Jungels. The Luxembourg champion himself won Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne with an impressive solo. Alexander Kristoff popped up out of nowhere when he sprinted to victory in a windy edition of Gent-Wevelgem.
Stybar is saving fuel for the Tour of Flanders, but Jungels does compete in Dwars door Vlaanderen.
Favourites 2019 Dwars door Vlaanderen
***** Mathieu van der Poel, Bob Jungels, Oliver Naesen
**** Philippe Gilbert, Jasper Stuyven, Alejandro Valverde,
*** Matej Mohoric, Fernando Gaviria, Mike Teunissen, Niki Terpstra
** Alexander Kristoff, Sebastian Langeveld, Luke Rowe, Tiesj Benoot, Yves Lampaert
* Dylan van Baarle, Jens Keukeleire, Alberto Bettiol, Pascal Ackermann, Cees Bol