Quick-Step Floors a force to be reckoned with at the Tour of Flanders

Quick-Step Floors are fielding a very strong team with last year's winner Philippe Gilbert, recent E3 Harelbeke winner Niki Terpstra and recent Dwar Door Vlaanderen winner Yves Lampaert

As good as Paris-Roubaix, The Tour of Flanders, aka "de Ronde" is the classic for the purists and there’s nothing quite like it.

Once again this year, the Ronde Van Vlaanderen will start in Antwerp and finish in Oudenaarde after 267 grueling kilometres.

Live coverage start's at: 01:15 EST, 04:15 EST, 09:15 UK, 10:15 Europe (Summer Time) on Sunday April 1st.

18 Hellingen (climbs) line the route, including the legendary Muur van Geraardsbergen, which awaits the peloton after 170km as is the Koppenberg at 221km. As in previous years, the crowd condensing loops containing the delightful double of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg are back. The Oude Kwaremont was the place where Gilbert launched his attack last year, holding off his rivals in an emphatic solo display of Belgian grit.

Lasy Year's winner Philippe Gilbert

Four of the past 11 winners have won E3 Harelbeke before going on to win de Ronde. Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) will take comfort from that but so will a host of other contenders who finished in the top 10 including teammates Gilbert, and Zdenek Stybar, Greg Van Avermaet, Stefan Küng (BMC) and Sep Vanmarcke (EF Education First-Drapac).

Van Avermaet has gone on record as saying that it’s a case of ‘Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe) versus the rest’, the reigning world champion and 2016 winner coming off the win at Gent-Wevelgem last weekend meaning he’ll be a marked man.

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) makes his debut at de Ronde.

Quick-Step Floors are fielding a very strong team with last year's winner Phillippe Gilbert, recent E3 Harelbeke winner Niki Terpstra and recent Dwar Door Vlaanderen winner Yves Lampaert, along with Zdenek Stybar, Tim Declercq, Iljo Keisse and Florian Senechal.

It’s hard to go past the ridiculous strength of Quick-Step Floors Wolfpack, but here's our list of favorites.

The Favorites

Peter Sagan, Philippe Gilbert, Greg van Avermaet,
Tiesj Benoot,Yves Lampaert, Zdenek Stybar, Niki Terpstra
Oliver Naesen, Sep Vanmarcke, Michal Kwiatkowski, Gianni Moscon
Michael Valgren, Alexey Lutsenko, Alexander Kristoff, Jasper Stuyven, Wout van Aert, Matteo Trentin
Mike Teunissen, Vincenzo Nibali, Arnaud Demare, Imanol Erviti, Dylen van Baarle, John Degenkolb, Stijn Devolder

The Hellingen (Climbs)

1. Oude-Kwaremont (2,2 km, 4% average-11,6% max km 121
2. Kortekeer (1 km, 6,4%-17%) km 132
3. Edelare (1,5 km 4,2%-7%) km 137
4. Wolvenberg (645 m, 7,9%-17,3%) km 142
5. Leberg (950 m, 4,2%-13,8%) km 151
6. Berendries (940 m, 7%-12,3%) km 155
7. Tenbosse (450 m, 6,9%-8,7%) km 160
8. Muur-Kapelmuur/Grammont (750 m, 9%-20%) km 170
9. Pottelberg (1353 m, 6,5%) km 189
10. Kanarieberg (1 km, 7,7%-14%) km 195
11. Oude-Kwaremont (2,2 km, 4%-11,6%) km 211
12. Paterberg (360 m, 12,9%-20,3%) km 214
13. Koppenberg (700 m, 9,4%-22%) km 221
14. Steenbeekdries (700 m, 5,3%) km 226
15. Taaienberg (530 m, 6,6%-15,8%) km 229
16. Kruisberg (2,5 km, 5%-9%) km 240
17. Oude-Kwaremont (2,2 km, 4%-11,6%) km 250
18. Paterberg (360 m, 12,9%-20,3%) km 253