Date: Sunday April 2, 2023
Start: Bruges
Finish: Oudenaarde
Total distance: 273.4km (men), 158km (women)
Teams: 25
Riders: 150
Defending champion: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx)
The Tour of Flanders began in 1913, marking this year as the race’s 110th anniversary. A race defined by its tortuous twists, turns and narrow cobbled climbs, the Tour of Flanders, or Ronde van Vlaanderen, is arguably the finest of the Classics.
The route may change slightly each year, but the hellingen that pack the region and define the race are a given, guaranteed to produce worthy winners of a true Monument. In the Ronde, only the strong survive. Founded by a young sports journalist named Karel Van Wijnendaele and founding member of the newspaper Sportwereld, Leon den Haute, they wanted to create something which was more than just a bike race.
While there are four other Monument races which hold such prestige and history in the WorldTour calendar, there is no other race which defines a nation quite like the Tour of Flanders. Unsurprisingly, the most victories come from Belgian riders, with a total of 69 wins out of the 107 editions.
The winner of the inaugural edition was Belgian rider Paul Denman who rode for Automoto-Continental. Many years later, 104 to be exact, Philippe Gilbert became the most recent home winner of De Ronde, riding solo to the finish resplendent in the Belgian national champion’s jersey.
In its long history, only a handful of riders have taken the title on multiple occasions. Riders including Achiel Buysse, Fiorenzo Magni, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara have crossed the finish line first on three occasions. King of the cobbles, Boonen and Cancellara are the only riders to have achieved the cobbled Classics double (Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix), twice, making them legendary in both these races.
Last year’s winner Mathieu van der Poel will be back for this year’s edition in the hope of defending his title, but there will be tough competition as he’ll be lining up against fierce competition that includes Wout van Aert, Dylan Van Baarle, Tom Pidcock, and Tadej Pogačar.
Men’s Tour of Flanders 2023 teams list:
- AG2R Citroën Team
- Alpecin-Deceuninck
- Astana Qazaqstan Team
- Bahrain-Victorious
- Bora-Hansgrohe
- Cofidis
- EF Education-EasyPost
- Groupama-FDJ
- Ineos Grenadiers
- Intermarché-Circus-Wanty
- Jumbo-Visma
- Movistar Team
- Soudal Quick-Step
- Team Arkea-Samsic
- Team DSM
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