Dwars Door Vlaanderen Preview

Mar 28
cyclical

Dwars Door Vlaanderen isn’t a World Tour event, but it is a critical form-tuner for the Tour of Flanders at the weekend. The 118-km course tries to marry the climbs, cobbles and brutality of Flanders with a last chance to prepare for the twists and turns of arguably the most prestigious race on the women’s calendar.

DDV is as much about mitigating the last-minute risks as it is about laying down psychological markers, but the chance to score a win will be hard-fought. Lotta Lepistö won last year ahead of Gracie Elvin and Lisa Brennauer, ahead of a top ten stacked with talent.

The riders can expect showers, but relatively mild conditions with a south-westerly or southerly wind a possible help in pushing them north to the finish in Waregem.

The route

The women’s Dwars door Vlaanderene nestles between some of Belgian cycling’s most iconic towns: Deinze, Oudenaarde, Brakel, Ronse and Kortrijk. And whereas the Oude Kwaaremont and Paterberg were features of DDV in the past, new challenges have taken their place.

The flag drops in Tielt, and the riders head east, then twist south through Dentergem and Ooigem, before looping up to Waregem for a first pass by the finish line. Things then twist south again through Harelbeke and the feed zone at Avelgem. It’s from here that the race ramps things up with a rapid-fire one-two sequence of the Kluisberg (77kms) and Knokteberg (84kms). The former is just over a mile long, and hits 15% gradients, while the Knokteberg or Cote de Trieu) is slightly shallower at 13%.

The long cobbled section at Varent leads to the third climb of the day, the Vossenhol with 21 kilometers to go. The second-to-last climb is the Holstraat in Anzegem, steepest at the bottom, before levelling out to an average gradient of 5.2%, which could offer a race-breaking launchpad.

Finally, the riders face the Nokereberg with just ten kilometres to go. Just off the Nokereberg is the last big cobbled section at Herlegemstraat, before what is likely to be a reduced bunch sprint finish on Waregem’s Zuiderlaan.

 

The Contenders

Some of the bigger names have opted to skip DDV, but it is no stretch to imagine that most of those present and correct at Gent-Wevelgem will be back to have another go. This is the seventh edition of DDV, and Lotta Lepistö leads Cervélo-Bigla in the defense of her win twelve months ago.

 

Astana will have Cuban sprinter Arlenis Sierra, while Valcar PBM will have the likes of Maria-Giulia Confalonieri and Elisa Balsamo in action.

Amy Pieters is the record holder with three consecutive wins (2014-2016) and heads a Boels-Dolmans line-up which omits Chantal Blaak, Megan Guarnier and Christine Majerus ahead of Flanders. Cylance bring Giorgia Bronzini and Sheyla Gutierrez.

Ale Cipollini and Canyon-SRAM have both had great starts to the season and take strong line-ups including Chloe Hosking and Kasia Niewiadoma respectively, while Michelton-Scott have Annemiek Van Vleuten and Gracie Elvin on the start list. Virtu Pro Cycling and Sunweb are also likely to be in the final mix.

Kirsten Wild and Monique van de Ree have also been on the podium’s top step in the past, but Wild isn’t in the Wiggle-High5 team (though Brennauer and Longo Borghini are) and van de Ree’s Waowdeals squad sit this race out.