2021 Ronde van Vlaanderen Preview
♬ It’s the most wonderful time of the year ♬ This race needs no introduction. Hell, it’s probably your favorite race.
255km. 19 climbs. 17 cobbled sectors. Let’s do it.
Where to Watch
UK, Europe: Eurosport, GCN+
USA: FloBikes, Fubo.tv, GCN+ (Highlights)
Belgium: Een, Sporza, La Une, Tipik
And so on:
Route
Quiet for 100km or so, then every iconic hill in Flanders, one after the other. Just look at that list of climbs. Consider the second ascent of the Oude Kwaremont the point where it becomes important to start watching.
Startlist
2021 Ronde van Vlaanderen startlist (external site)
Ones to Watch
*2020 winner* Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) – Easily the race favorite this year, and last year’s winner too. Mathieu van der Poel’s rivalry with Wout van Aert is already going to go down as one of cycling’s all-time great rivalries, and seeing it play out at the very highest stage of the sport only cements that stature. Once this race is over, Van der Poel plans to sit out the road season until the Tour, and he’ll likely want to go out with a bang.
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) – van Aert hasn’t won Flanders yet. He finished second to van der Poel last year and will naturally look to improve upon that placement this season. Belgium’s record in its home race has been terrible of late (one win in the last half-decade only tells a part of the story). Stopping van der Poel from taking the Netherlands’ third win in four years will be van Aert’s goal, and probably of many other Flemings in the peloton too.
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) – While Alaphilippe is the odd man out in the three-man rivalry, it would be silly to write him off. He’s tactically astute, determined, and unstoppable at his best. Incredibly, this race hasn’t seen a French winner since Jacky Durand in 1994… but if anybody can break that dreadful track record, it’s Alaphilippe.
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) – Is Sagan past it? His directeur sportif implied so, but we’re not ready to draw a line under him yet. 2016’s winner lacks some of his swagger these days, but he’s more than capable of taking his second victory in this race. And to hear his DS speak, he’s racing for his next contract.