Dwars door Vlaanderen Men – LIVE

OFFICIAL START

And they’re off!

A few riders who were scheduled to start have not made it: Alex Kirsch, Rui Oliveira and Piet Allegaert. That leaves Lidl-Trek, UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Cofidis all a man short – potentially damaging for the chances of Lidl’s Pedersen and UAE’s Tim Wellens.

There are blue skies at the start, so the riders will enjoy the (relative) safety of dry cobblestones to race on.

Van Aert, Pedersen and the rest are making their way through the neutralised one, and will see the flag shortly.

In not so good form as Pedersen is Wout van Aert. In fact, Pedersen appears to have replaced Van Aert as the next best contender behind the Big Two of Van der Poel and Pogačar, after the Belgian failed to follow the moves at E3 Saxo Classic and finished down in 15th. 

Van Aert has come under lots of scrutiny and badly needs a good result today if he’s to get the Belgian press off his back, and to be considered a top contender for Sunday’s Tour of Flanders.

Chief among them is Mads Pedersen. The Dane produced a sensational ride to win Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday, launching the kind of long-range solo attack that Van der Poel and Pogačar would be proud of. He’s still not considered a favourite for Sunday on the level of those two, but that could change if he wins again today.

Neither of the top favourites for Sunday, Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar are racing today, but we still have a star-studded line-up featuring many of the top classics riders.

With just four days to go until the Ronde van Vlaanderen, it’s time for one last race on the fields of Flanders for riders to fine tune their preparations for the big one on Sunday.

Hello and welcome to the 2025 Dwars door Vlaanderen!