Leuven (Belgium) (AFP)

A big favorite, a French title holder, a hundred-year-old competition and an expected public record: four things to know about the elite race of the world cycling championships on Sunday in Flanders:

An ultra-favorite, Wout van Aert:

Everything points to Wout van Aert as the favorite of the elite race on Sunday.

Unless you believe in the law of the series, which would destine him to a new silver medal after his second place at the 2020 Worlds in Imola (Italy), in the time trial and the road race, the race of Tokyo Olympics then the 2021 Worlds last Sunday in Bruges.

Even his ambitious teammate Remco Evenepoel, second in the European Championship behind Italy's Sonny Colbrelli, pledged his allegiance: "I had my chance at the Euro and I almost grabbed it. Now I am ready to lie down to help him. "

The words can only agree with van Aert who assumed his role before the Worlds in the magazine Vélo Magazine: "A good leader is one who is a leader in the eyes of his teammates, who himself has high expectations and who knows how to face it. If I have a goal, I dare to announce it. "

A relieved tenant, Julian Alaphilippe:

Julian Alaphilippe, the first French world champion in the 21st century, has lived a year of strong emotions.

In her private life, with the birth of her first child.

On the bike, by winning three races including the Flèche Wallonne and the first stage of the Tour de France synonymous with a new yellow jersey.

+ Alaf +, who has worn the rainbow outfit 57 times in competition, admitted to having endured greater fatigue due to the overwhelming weight of this jersey and the responsibilities that come with it.

"I wanted to make the jersey shine all the time," he explained in July at the end of the Tour de France, which sometimes ran out of time after a flamboyant start.

The French Julian Alaphilippe just crowned elite world champion in Imola, Italy, September 27, 2020 Marco BERTORELLO AFP / Archives

At the start of Antwerp, the undisputed champion of popularity obviously remains a candidate for his own succession.

Certainly the main asset of an ambitious French team, provided with runners in great shape (Laporte, Cosnefroy and above all Sénéchal).

A (almost) centenary:

Historians agree on this point: the Italian "campionissimo" Alfredo Binda, one of the greatest riders in the history of cycling, opened the winners of the world championships in 1927. But the organizers of the 2021 Worlds and the Union cycliste internationale (UCI) have chosen to favor the year 1921, the holding of the first world road championships (without the professionals), in order to celebrate the centenary.

Saturday evening, an exceptional gala brings together in Leuven the world champions (excluding time trial), men and women, who responded favorably to the invitation.

From the American Greg LeMond, twice titled in the 1980s, to the Italian Paolo Bettini, also double winner two decades later, all generations will rub shoulders.

In the presence of Dean André Darrigade, crowned on the Dutch Zandvoort circuit in 1959 and now 92 years old.

A crowd-record expected:

The 268.3 kilometer route between Antwerp and Louvain has two circuits, one "Flandrian" and the other "Ardennes".

It bodes well for a record attendance on the road in view of the success recorded last Sunday in the time trial.

Many cycling fans attend the arrival of the Swiss Marlen Reusser during the time trial, September 20, 2021 in Bruges Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD AFP / Archives

"We expect between 200,000 and 400,000 people in Leuven," announces Tomas Van den Spiegel, the organizer of the Tour of Flanders associated with the operation.

The figures are dizzying for the rainbow week which culminates with the elite race on Sunday: 30,000 barriers, 14,000 VIPs, 6,600 stewards, 3,000 members of the police, 969 signalers ... With the declared objective, from Van den Spiegel, let the public say to themselves when they leave: "This is the most beautiful world in history!"

© 2021 AFP