Men's

Driedaagse De Panne - 28^th > 30^th March - 2.HC
Volta Limburg Classic - 1^st April - 1.1
Gran Premio Miguel Indurain - 1^st April - 1.1
Ronde Van Vlaanderen - 2^nd April - 1.UWT

Women's

Ronde Van Vlaanderen - 2^nd April - 1.WWT

March 28^th

Driedaagse De Panne (28^th > 30^th )

It's stage racing for sure, but not as we've been accustomed to in recent weeks. Driedaagse De Panne is a three day, four stage race taking place not in France, Spain or Italy, but Belgium. Naturally, this isn't therefore about who has the best W/kg or can complain to the comissaires the best, this is about tactical nous and raw power.
The course rather reflects that. Whilst the profiles look jagged, the maximum elevation barely creeps over 100m, these climbs are short, sharp and to the point. Best of all, a decent chunk of them are cobbled. The first stage includes the famour Muur of Geraardsbergen twice on a hard finishing circuit. Stage two has the Kemmelberg and once again finishes upill on a circuit around Koksijde. Day three see's two stages, with a short 118km run around De Panne in the morning, with a time trial to finish everything off in the afternoon.
So a decent mix of racing, favouring those strongmen of the classics with the power for a good ITT as well as being able to cope with typically Belgian parcours on the other stages.
Startlist / Past winners
Favourites
A look down the list of winners rather confirms the necessary qualities to win here, with Lieuwe Westra, Alexander Kristoff, Guillaume van Kiersbulck, Sylvain Chavanel all taking the title in the past. This time around, Kristoff, Chavanel and Van Kiersbulck return for another crack. Luke Durbridge might be a decent bet given his outstanding spring thus far, plus his ITT prowess is a bonus come the final day. Elsewhere, Edward Theuns leads for Trek, Gallopin for Lotto Soudal and Modolo comes as a sprinter for UAE.
PCT wise, worth watching out for Pim Lighthart from Roompot, as well as Kristoffer Halvorsen, who recently outsprinted Adam Blythe at the Handzame Classic and will try to deny him here too.

Stage	Route	Distance	Profile	Final kms
1	De Panne › Zottegem	205.5km	Lumpy with cobbles	Downhill
2	Zottegem › Koksijde	192.9km	Lumpy with cobbles	Uphill
3a	De Panne › De Panne	118.5km	Lumpy with cobbles	Uphill
3b	De Panne › De Panne (ITT)	14.2km	Flat	Flat

April 1^st

Volta Limburg Classic

The Volta Limburg is not located in Spain as the name may suggest, buts runs around the Limburg countryside just south-east of Maastricht. This race has a profile pretty reminiscent of a sawtooth, and is perfectly suited to the puncheurs of the peloton, with riders such as Sonny Colbrelli and Phillipe Gilbert doing well here in the past. The main body of the race is a hilly circuit around Epan, which is covered twice, before the course loops around back to a flattish finish in Eijsden.

Route	Distance	Type	Finish	Arrival
Eijsden › Eijsden	198.6km	Hilly	Flat	17:00 CET

Startlist / Past winners
Favourites
The aforementioned Colbrelli has three second places here, but won't improve on that this year as UAE aren't in attendance. In fact, only BMC and LottoNL represent the WT squads, with the bulk of the field made up by PCT teams such as Wanty-Groupe Gobert, Roompot and so on. From those, it's worth looking out for Maciej Paterski from CCC who is a super strong rouleur, Kreder from Roompot, plus Victor Campanaerts from LottoNL. BMC haven't named a team yet, but will doubtless be in it to win it as one of the two WT teams on show.

Gran Premio Miguel Indurain

Relevant docs
Website is currently bust so info is a bit... sketchy for now.
GP Miguel Indurain is a Spanish one day race through and through, with a hilly parcours designed to favour small skinny climbers, through the numerous climbs on the route to the finishing ramp up to the Basilica de Puy. None of the climbs are particularly tough, but are designed to whittle down the legs over a long day, in preparation for a fast paced finish. In other words, it makes an ideal warm up race for the Ardennes week.

Route	Distance	Type	Finish	Arrival
Estella › Basilica de Puy	186km	Hilly	Uphill	??:?? CET

Last year's race
Startlist / Past winners
Favourites
Currently the startlist is a bit... slim, with only two riders in Valverde and Skujins listed on it, but suffice to say if Valverde rides he will be out and out favourite. Last years top two Henao and Izaguirre may return, as this race falls just before the start of the Vuelta a Pais Vasco, meaning a short hop over to the next race and a chance for glory before being the week of stage racing tension. With that in mind, we might also see one of the Yates twins line up for Orica, along with possibly Rui Costa or Diego Ulissi for UAE.
Hopefully we'll learn more about it in the week, and since there was live coverage last year, hopefully that will be around this year too!

April 2^nd

Ronde Van Vlaanderen

ME

After rolling around Flanders for a couple of weeks, it's time to cap it off with the King of the Flandrien races, Ronde Van Vlaanderen. At 260km, it rather dwarfs the rest of the races we've had so far, with the single exception being Milano-Sanremo, with which Flanders shares the moniker of cycling monument.
The route changes every few years, and currently the finale involves the Oude-Kwaremont and then the Paterberg, a long and varied cobbled drag to sap the legs, followed by a little bit of main road before the punishing gradients of the Paterberg. After this, the run in is mostly flat along major roads into Oudenaarde.
In total there are eighteen cobbled climbs to negotiate, with the final 50km boasting eight of them. A fearsome race, which requires a special kind of rider to win it.

Route	Distance	Type	Finish	Arrival
Antwerpen › Oudenaarde	260km	Hilly w/cobbles	Flat	16:58 CET

Startlist / Past winners
Favourites
On that note, it's time to discuss the people to look out for, and for once Fabian Cancellara is struck from that list due to his retirement. The void he leaves behind is probably best filled by last years winner Peter Sagan, who has three top fives in addition to his victory. His perennial rival over all surfaces Greg Van Avermaet is another one to look out with a stellar spring thus far. Quick-Step as ever bring quite the team, but it's Phillipe Gilbert who has shown a turn of form missing at BMC this year, who I'd pick as their leader over old man of the field and multiple winner of Flanders Tom Boonen.
Sep Vanmarcke is down to race but has suffered from illness recently so is a possibility, along with Tiesj Benoot for a well outfitted Lotto Soudal squad, who as ever feature Andre Greipel to charge up the hills. Add Oliver Naesen, Luke Durbridge, Alexander Kristoff, maybe even a couple of Sky riders and you can see that there are many pretenders to the overall looking to stop Sagan from winning twice in a row. Should be a good one.

WE

Most of the Belgian classics have both men's and women's racing covered, with Flanders being no exception. It even has a proper livestream this year, though not on Sporza, but live coverage in some format is progress I guess. It is the longest race of the year thus far, and without MSR on the calendar for the women, it's basically the longest they'll do on a race day all year. The route shirks the opening stretch from Antwerpen which the men undergo, in favour of one run around the neighbourhood roads, all the way out to the Muur before turning back towards Oudenaarde, dealing with the Oude-Kwaremont and Paterberg combo last just like the men, before running into the finish.

Route	Distance	Type	Finish	Arrival
Oudenaarde › Oudenaarde	153.3km	Hilly w/cobbles	Flat	15:02 CET

Startlist / Past winners
Favourites
The startlist is a tad thin at present, but will thicken during the week. Names to watch out for include Longo-Borghini, Vos, Deignan and Chantal Blaak amongst others.