Five races labeled WorldTour form this period compared by their organizers to a "holy fortnight" for specialists in cobblestones and hard races due to the wind and the short and often steep Flanders mountains.

The first, resulting from the Three Days of the Panne, brings together in priority the sprinters candidates for the succession of the Irishman Sam Bennett.

E3 Classic and Ghent-Wevelgem, with a higher standard, follow before A travers la Flandre marks the approach of the "Ronde" (Tour of Flanders), a section of two races which convinced the winner of the Tour de France, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, neophyte in these parts.

For everyone, the menu is à la carte, following the example of Belgian champion Wout van Aert, who skipped Wednesday in Bruges before becoming the inevitable favorite for the next two races.

His great rival, the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, author of a resounding comeback on Saturday in Milan-Sanremo (3rd), remained faithful to his initial program providing for the Coppi-Bartali Week in Italy.

His return is scheduled for next week for Across Flanders with a view to the Tour of Flanders, the culmination of the period.

Belgian champion Wout van Aert, during his victory in Het Nieuwsblad, between Ghent and Ninnove, February 26, 2022 DAVID STOCKMAN BELGA/AFP/Archives

Bruges-La Panne, with a softened profile to address primarily sprinters, brings together the elite of the discipline with the double exception of the Australian Caleb Ewan, sick, and the Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen, selected for Milan-Sanremo and dismissed this once for the benefit of his British teammate Mark Cavendish.

Winner last week of Milan-Turin, "Cav" passes a superior test this time against consistent opposition, mainly from the Belgian sides (Tim Merlier, Arnaud De Lie), French (Arnaud Démare, Nacer Bouhanni), German (Pascal Ackermann ), Irish (Sam Bennett) and Dutch (Dylan Groenewegen, Olav Kooij).

Unless the 2019 world champion, the Dane Mads Pedersen confirms his great form at the end of the 207 kilometers.

The route includes three passes through Les Moëres, a polder located on the border between Belgium and France, two meters below sea level. The four-kilometre concrete road is very exposed to the wind, warn the organizers who qualify the place of "prickly".

Note that the world champion Julian Alaphilippe (present last year on A Travers la Flandre and the Tour of Flanders) is focused this year on the "Ardennes", in the second half of April.

The Flanders one-day races on the WorldTour calendar (in brackets, the 2021 winner):

March 23: Bruges-De Panne (Sam Bennett, IRL)

March 25: E3 Classic (Kasper Asgreen, DEN)

March 27: Ghent-Wevelgem (Wout van Aert, BEL)

March 30: Through Flanders (Dylan van Baarle, NED)

April 3: Tour of Flanders (Kasper Asgreen, DEN)

© 2022 AFP