The Belgian returns to an event in which he won a stage in... 2005. At 39, he is more of a media than sporting headliner, but he can have his say in this six-day stage race.
As usual, this will be decided at the top of Mont Cassel, a cobbled hill where the arrival of the queen stage will be judged on Saturday, after seven laps of a 14.6 km circuit.
A playground where the former winner of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders will be accompanied by his teammate Tim Wellens.
The joy of Belgian Tim Wellens, after his victory in the 14th stage of the Vuelta, disputed between Lugo and Ourense, on November 4, 2020 MIGUEL RIOPA AFP / Archives
Twice winner of the Eneco Tour, a race with a similar profile, he is one of the favourites, along with Dimitri Clayes (Intermarché-Wanty), who won the Four Days in 2018, Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), first in a stage in 2017, and Olivier Naesen (AG2R Citroën), who finished third in the same edition.
In the absence of the Jumbo-Visma, which had crushed the debates during the last edition with five stage victories and a double in the general classification, the race is however very open.
It is not impossible to imagine sprinters like Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Soudal) or Hugo Hofstetter (Arkéa-Samsic) reaping the bonuses on the flat stages and holding on to the climbs, a scenario which has already enabled the swift Arnaud Démare and Bryan Coquard to put their name on the list.
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