Dwars Door Vlaanderen is the first race of Flemish Cycling Week. This features three races in a five day period. Dwars Door Vlaanderen will be run on 22nd March, the 2017 race is the 72nd running of this One Day Classic.
Dwars Door Vlaanderen- Past Winners
2012 – Niki Terpstra (NED) – Omega Pharma-Quick-Step
2013 – Oscar Gatto (ITA) – Vini Fantini-Sella Italia
2014 – Niki Terpstra (NED) – Omega Pharma-Quick-Step
2015 – Jelle Wallays (BEL) – Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
2016 – Jens Debusschere (BEL) – Lotto-Soudal
Dwars Door Vlaanderen – The Profile
Dwars door Vlaanderen is set in the Flemish Ardennes. The route starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem after 203kms.
The profile clearly shows there are two main sections to the race. The first half is essentially flat with the second half featuring 12 categorised climbs.
The climbs include some of the icons of one day classics racing like Valkenberg, Eikenberg and Oude-Kwaremont.
The 2017 field features a number of the worlds premier sprinters. In the last 10 years the race has been won by riders that fit the strong-man classics rider mould. The last pure sprinter to win here was Baden Cooke in 2002.
Belgian riders have won the race 53 times; Dutch riders 12 times; and all other nations 6 times combined!
Note – a number of the huge names are bypassing this race to concentrate on E3-Harelbake (24th March) and Gent-Wevelgem (26th March).
Dwars Door Vlaanderen – The Favourites – Classic’s Riders
Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Soudal) won here in 2016 and recently finished 7th in Dwars-Door West Vlaanderen. Debusschere has a decent record in Belgian One Day races but I think he is option two for his team in this race. Therefore, even at 21.0 I’m not backing him. His team-mate Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Soudal) looks like a better choice. Roelandts has been towards the front in a number of one day races so far in 2017 but has yet to land a top 10 finish. He is a powerful rider, who has the talent to challenge for the race win. Odds of 26.0 open up a small EW bet.
Quick-Step Floors have a super team here with three classic’s style riders and a sprinter who feature high in the betting market. Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) won this race in 2012 & 2014 but hasn’t shown that level in the last 18 months. I think odds of 13.0 are too short. Terpstra has two team-mates – Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) & Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) who are priced at 26.0. Of the two Stybar would be my choice. He has better results in the last year and a half. This includes 4th at Strade-Bianche and 7th at Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne in the last month.
Sep Vanmarcke (Canondale-Drapac) is always a threat for a podium place in these types of races. He is a powerful rider but one that just cannot seem to get the win. He often gets into the front group but lacks the sprinting prowess to win from a small group. Odds of 19.0 don’t tempt me as effectively I think you are betting for 2nd or 3rd only.
Fabio Felline (Trek Segafredo) could be a handful here on Wednesday. He has looked impressive in 2017 and garnered a 4th place at Omloop-Het-Nieuswblad in Februday. In that race he just missed the final push by Sagan and Vanmarcke but easily distanced everyone else. He is another that tempts me at 26.0.
Michael Matthews (Sunweb) has been talked up a lot in 2017 and I have backed him a few times. So far his best result in Europe in 2017 was a 4th place on Stage 5 of Paris-Nice. I’m going to pass on him in this race.
Dwars Door Vlaanderen – The Favourites – Sprinters
Incredibly, given what I have written above the sprinters head the betting market for Dwars Door Vlaanderen. Four of the five finished in the first 13 at last weekends Milan-San Remo. This race is slightly different with more climbs
Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) is race favourite at 6.0. He was 5th in Milan-San Remo and proved he could get over the late climbs in that race. If this race comes down to a sprint finish then he is the likely winner. History is against this sort of finale. My other concern is the makeup of his team. They have so many strong-men that they might prioritise getting into a break with one of more of them at the expense of Gaviria.
Arnaud Demare (FDJ) won stage 1 in Paris-Nice and has top ten results in Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne and Milan-San Remo. The FDJ team here is built around Demare and his odds of 9.0 look better to me than Gaviria’s. Demare was excellent in the first 3 stages of Paris-Nice – getting into the front group on stages 1 and 2 in the crosswinds. He has a tactical nouse that could come up trumps here.
Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) as predicted was in the mix in Milan-San Remo ultimately finishing 10th. For now I think he is a little on the light side to be a real challenger in the Ardennes races. Odds of 21.0 don’t tempt me and his team have options for breaks.
Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) has a stage win in Paris-Nice and a 13th in Milan-San Remo in 2017. He impressed me last Sunday as it was he who was the first rider to try to close down Peter Sagan’s escape on the Poggio. He failed but I admired the desire. I’m not sure the terrain here suits him that well and odds of 34.0 seem a little light.
Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto-Soudal) has been hampered by some bad luck in 2017. Crashes in particular have been an issue. He is quick from a depleted group and I’m sure 19.0 will tempt a few. Is his team here for Vanmarcke of Groenewegen? I’m not sure it is for the latter so I cannot back Dylan.
Dwars Door Vlaanderen – Less Fancied Riders
There are a number of riders that I consider to be outsiders here. Some of them actually feature quite high in the betting markets. They include:
- Jens Keukeleire (Orica-Scott) – odds of 67.0. Could be the other option for Orica-Scott is Ewan struggles;
- Lars Boom (Lotto NL-Jumbo) – odds of 23.0. I think this is based on his past results. He still has power but is a little like Vanmarcke;
- Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) – odds of 67.0. He hasn’t been at his best in 2017;
- Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) – odds of 23.0. He has a number of top 10 results in 2017. He is team leader for this race. I think he is a likely top 10 finisher here again but I just don’t see a podium spot for him;
- Oscar Gatto (Astana) the 2013 winner has odds of 81.0. He was a surprise winner in 2013 and hasn’t shown enough in 2017 to warrant a bet – even an EW one.
- Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) – odds of 26.0. He is definitely a rider for these races in the future. Benoot has lots of top 10 finishes in One Day Classics in 2016 & 2017 including 4th at Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne in February. He is my wildcard here and this could be his big breakthrough result.
Dwars Door Vlaanderen – Tips
I’m going with a number of small stake bets. At the time of posting only one bookmaker has odds available for the race.
Bet on Jurgen Roelandts to win Dwars Door Vlanderen with a 0.5/10 stake EW (1/4 odds top 3) at 26.0 with Paddy Power.
Back Zdenek Stybar to win Dwars Door Vlanderen with a 0.5/10 stake EW (1/4 odds top 3) at 26.0 with Paddy Power.
Bet on Arnaud Demare to win Dwars Door Vlanderen with a 0.75/10 stake EW (1/4 odds top 3) at 9.0 with Paddy Power.
Back Tiesj Benoot to win Dwars Door Vlanderen with a 0.5/10 stake EW (1/4 odds top 3) at 26.0 with Paddy Power.
Bet here:
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