Few riders enter the fabled arena of the Tour of Flanders with favourite status having not won, or at least completed, one of the pre-Ronde races at the E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem or Dwars door Vlaanderen, nor raced on cobbles for two calendar years. But Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is no ordinary rider, and his legacy precedes his presence in Belgium, having become only the third male Tour de France champion to also win the Tour of Flanders after Eddy Merckx and Louison Bobet on just his second attempt in 2023.
E3 saw Pogačar's main rival for Sunday Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) raise his stock with a clinical solo win, while third favourite Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) did similar with a 70km onslaught at Gent-Wevelgem. Those results are of course important, however, they may not provide much of a blueprint for Sunday, with Pogačar's ruthlessly aggressive tactics set to dictate the entire 269 kilometres from Bruges to Oudenaarde. The world champion's presence changes everything.
