Tour of Flanders preview: Zdenek Stybar aims to fend off past monument winners

“It was five-and-a-half hours of concentrating, being in the right place at the right time, but it can all go in 10 seconds.”

Reigning Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas aptly summarised the Tour of Flanders back in 2013.

The second monument of the season is a gruelling 267km from Antwerp and to Oudenaarde, and there’s no telling upon which cobbled climb the race will be won and lost on Sunday.

Much like this Saturday’s Grand National, the Tour of Flanders requires an element of luck, with riders facing a battle to complete the course, never mind finish first.

The 2018 edition – won by Dutch rider Niki Terpstra – saw 70 riders abandon the Cobbled classic, with 104 finishing the race, highlighting the physical demands required – so much so, that Thomas is skipping for a third-straight year as he focuses on his Tour de France defence.

“The cobbles are more crazy and there’s more crashing, so this year I will stick to a more usual racing calendar,” Thomas told VeloNews. “I just can’t take a risk of crashing at the northern classics, though I love those races.”

But among the 175 participants taking to the narrow roads of Flanders this year are the four past four winners; Terpstra, Philippe Gilbert, Peter Sagan and Alexand Kristoff.

The quartet are among the favourites for glory on Sunday once more, but it is Deceuninck–Quick-Step’s Zdenek Stybar who leads the way after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3 Harelbeke wins earlier this year.

Stybar has placed in the top 10 three times at the Tour of Flanders, and is twice a Paris-Roubaix runner-up, and he is looking to use those near-misses to his benefit as he chases a first monument victory.

“Either I missed the move or else the breakaway went just after my attack, or something like that. I was never really lucky at the right moment,” Stybar said, earlier this year.

With Belgian duo Greg van Avermaet and Wout van Aert, and Dutch rider Mathieu Van der Poel all ready for a tilt at Tour of Flanders glory, the 103rd edition promises to be another spectacle to remember.