There is no sporting event on earth quite like the Tour of Flanders. This Sunday, April 5, the entire nation of Belgium will effectively shut down. Millions of people will line the streets, consume a dangerous amount of heavy Trappist beer, and scream themselves hoarse as the WorldTour peloton rattles its way across the steepest, most miserable farm roads in Western Europe.
Welcome to De Ronde van Vlaanderen. It is the crown jewel of the Flemish cycling calendar, a 270-kilometer monument of suffering that requires a perfect blend of tactical genius, raw power, and an incredibly high tolerance for pain.
With the rumor mill currently in overdrive and the “Big Three” on a violent collision course, the 110th edition of this race is shaping up to be an absolute bloodbath. Here is everything you need to know about the route, the heavy hitters, the women’s race, and how to watch the carnage unfold.
The Route: A Masterclass in Masochism
This year, the race starts in the shadow of the massive Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. For the first 130 kilometers, the peloton will roll south toward the Flemish Ardennes at a deceptively fast pace. It is mostly flat, but the tension in the bunch will be suffocating. Every team knows that if you enter the hill zone at the back of the peloton, your race is already over.
Once they hit the Hellingen (the short, steep, cobbled climbs), the race turns into a high-speed washing machine. The peloton will tackle 19 categorized climbs and a maze of flat cobbled sectors, but the race is truly defined by three iconic geographical features:
- The Koppenberg: Usually arriving with about 45 kilometers to go, this is the most terrifying climb in professional cycling. It is essentially a 22% wall of jagged, uneven, often wet stones. If the rider in front of you slips or unclips, you are forced to walk up the hill, completely destroying any chance you had of winning.
- The Oude Kwaremont: The peloton tackles this monster three times, but the final ascent at 16 kilometers to go is the launchpad for the aliens. It is not incredibly steep, but at 2.2 kilometers long, it is a grinding, agonizing drag that completely drains whatever glycogen riders have left in their legs.
- The Paterberg: The final hurdle. Cresting just 13 kilometers from the finish line in Oudenaarde, it is a short, violent 20% ramp. It was practically designed for Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar to drop a 1,000-watt attack and snap the elastic of the chasing group.
Contenders: Aliens vs. Ambush
The dynamic for Sunday is incredibly tense. The sport’s apex predators are all here, but the rest of the peloton is finally realizing they can’t just wait for the Kwaremont to race them.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) The winner in 2024 is the favorite. He looked absolutely terrifying at the E3 Saxo Classic, casually deploying watts that shouldn’t be physically possible. His bike handling on the wet cobbles is unmatched. The only way to beat him is to isolate him early, which is much easier said than done when he has Jasper Philipsen playing defense in the group behind.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) The Slovenian agent of chaos is back on the cobbles. Pogačar doesn’t have the sheer mass of Wout or Mathieu, which means he has to attack them where gravity is his friend—on the steepest gradients. Look for Pogi to launch a thermonuclear acceleration on the Koppenberg to string the race out as far from the finish line as possible.
Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) The Belgian pressure on Wout’s shoulders this week is enough to crush a normal human. He wants this race more than anything else on his palmarès. Visma’s strategy will rely on sending heavy hitters up the road early to force Alpecin to chase, allowing Wout to save his matches for the final Kwaremont/Paterberg combo.
Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) The rumor mill was right. Remco is officially lining up in Antwerp. He lacks the technical cobbled experience of the Big Three, but if the heavyweights start playing cat-and-mouse and Evenepoel is allowed a 10-second gap on the flat run-in to Oudenaarde, the race is over. He is the ultimate disruption to the established tactical hierarchy.
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) If Van der Poel aggressively marks Van Aert out of the race, Visma will play their American trump card. Jorgenson thrives in attritional races, and his ability to slip away late could easily steal the Monument out from under the superstars.
Women’s Race: The SD Worx Chokehold
The Ronde van Vlaanderen voor Vrouwen is arguably the most prestigious race on the Women’s WorldTour calendar, tackling the same brutal finale (including the Koppenberg, Kwaremont, and Paterberg) over 163 kilometers.
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) is racing in the World Champion’s rainbow bands on home soil. She is the undisputed queen of Flanders, and her team is a tactical fortress. However, they will face a highly motivated Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike), who is currently riding with a resurgent, aggressive edge, and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), who possesses the exact kind of diesel engine required to solo away over the Paterberg.
Nerd Corner: De Ronde Trivia
- The Slower the Better: The Koppenberg was actually removed from the race for 15 years after a rider fell and was run over by a race official’s car in 1987. It was only brought back after the local municipality repaved it to be slightly less lethal.
- The Belgian Drought: Despite this being a national holiday in Belgium, a Belgian rider hasn’t won the men’s race since Philippe Gilbert’s legendary 50km solo breakaway in 2017.
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How to Watch De Ronde 2026
Prepare your couch. The men’s race rolls out of Antwerp at 10:00 CET, with the finish in Oudenaarde expected around 16:30 CET. The women’s race will hit the Paterberg shortly after the men finish, wrapping up around 17:45 CET.
If you want to watch the cobbles live:
- United States: Live streaming is exclusively available on HBO Max (via the B/R Sports add-on).
- United Kingdom: Live on Discovery+ and Eurosport.
- Canada: Streamed live on FloBikes.
- Australia: Broadcast live and free on SBS Viceland and SBS On Demand.
- Belgium: The entire country will be watching on Sporza/VRT.
