Wout van Aert seeks to clear up doubts in Dwars door Vlaanderen, the prelude to the Tour of Flanders

When many are already counting the hours for the dispute of the Tour of Flanders while concentrating on doing some last good training sessions, for a good number of cyclists there is still the Dwars door Vlaanderens race in their final preparations, which will take place next Wednesday, April 2. Among them is Wout van Aert, whose performance in the last races leaves many doubts regarding his chances in the magical week of the cobbles.

While some prepare for De Ronde, others seek to make a mark in Dwars door Vlaanderen

Although training logic dictates that before an important event like the Tour of Flanders, one of the monuments of cycling, training volume should be reduced to arrive fresh for the race, just 5 days before the big Flemish day there is still another classic of the cobbled season to be raced.

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The Dwars door Vlaanderen is not a minor race as we are talking about a 184 km race with a selection of less demanding climbs than those they will find on Sunday in the monument but, in return, with a participation that seems to contradict what we mentioned at the beginning and that will surely increase the demand of this race.

Favorites to win Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025

Among them we find the winner of last year's edition, Visma-Lease a Bike cyclist Matteo Jorgenson who should assume the leadership in the Dutch team for this race despite the presence of Wout van Aert who has left many doubts due to his performance in his preparation for Flanders and Roubaix, his main objectives of the season. Especially last Friday when he didn't even appear in the E3 Saxo Classic. Also, it is worth mentioning that it was in this race last year when everything started to go wrong for the Belgian with a serious fall that affected a good part of his season.

However, Jorgenson will face a tough rival like Mads Pedersen who arrives at Dwars door Vlaanderen with high motivation after the performance he gave us a few days ago in Gent-Wevelgem although the question is whether he will also push himself to the limit in this race trying to take advantage of his good form or will he just do a quality training session trusting he can surprise in the Tour of Flanders and win the big prize.

We must also consider Jasper Philipsen who will surely seek revenge after not being able to compete in Gent-Wevelgem due to a puncture just when he was responding to Pedersen's attack.

On the other hand, UAE Team Emirates-XRG presents a lineup with which they apparently seek the final preparation, as well as an opportunity to shine, for the men who will support Tadej Pogacar next Sunday in the Tour of Flanders. Therefore, we must consider that Tim Wellens or Jhonatan Narvaez will not miss this opportunity to be the protagonists when they know they will have to lead the team in a few days.

We cannot forget another illustrious classics man like Matej Mohoric who, aware that it will be difficult for him to shine in the Tour of Flanders against the power of Van der Poel and Pogacar, will try to turn around a difficult start to the year where the DNF result is the most repeated in his statistics.

Route of Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025

Starting in Roeselare and finishing in Waregem, the Dwars door Vlaanderen is an interesting race as it combines in one event both the terrain near the French border in the surroundings of Kortrijk more typical of races like Gent-Wevelgem with part of the usual hills of the Tour of Flanders near Oudenaarde.

With a route of 184.1 kilometers, professional cyclists will have to overcome 10 climbs and 6 flat cobbled sections, with the race structured in a first flat section towards the Oudenaarde area, a circuit of two laps in the surroundings of this town with climbs like Knokteberg, Hotond that are done twice and, as an extra, the Eikenberg on the way back to Waregem. An ascent located 40 km from the finish line and that is usually one of the decisive points of this race, in fact, last year is where Wout van Aert had a serious fall.

As a dessert, there will be two laps on a new circuit between Waregem and Nokere with 4 flat cobbled sections of little technical difficulty although we know that everything counts in these races to decide the winner, and two climbs to Nokere.

Where to watch Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025

Following the usual trend, both Eurosport and the Max platform will cover the Dwars door Vlaanderen. A race that we can follow from 14:15 until approximately 17:00 when the finish is scheduled. This means that we can enjoy practically all the climbs of the route since the passage through the Volkegemberg, the first of the climbs of the day, is scheduled around 14:07.