Philippe Gilbert is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège – in a single season, which he accomplished in 2011. Gilbert also finished the 2011 season as the overall winner of the UCI World Tour.
Dwars door Vlaanderen(English: Across Flanders) is a semi-classic road bicycle race in Belgium, held annually since 1945. The race starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem, both in West Flanders. Since 2017 the event is included in the UCI World Tour.
Niki Terpstra is a Dutch former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2022 for six different teams. He is the brother of fellow racing cyclist Mike Terpstra. He is the third Dutch cyclist to have won both of the cobbled Monument spring classics, Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, after Jan Raas and Hennie Kuiper.
Sep Vanmarcke is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2023 for Jong Vlaanderen–Bauknecht, Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator, LottoNL–Jumbo, EF Pro Cycling, and Israel–Premier Tech, before being forced to retire from the sport for medical reasons. During his professional career, Vanmarcke took nine victories, including the 2012 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the 2019 Bretagne Classic Ouest-France and the 2022 Maryland Cycling Classic one-day races.
Jelle Wallays is a Belgian former road cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2011 to 2023.
Yves Lampaert is a Belgian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Soudal–Quick-Step.
The 2015 E3 Harelbeke was the 58th edition of the E3 Harelbeke cycling race, which took place on 27 March and was the sixth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The defending champion was Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), who won the 2014 edition in a four-man sprint. The race, while important in its own right as part of the spring classics season, was seen as an important part of riders' preparation for the 2015 Tour of Flanders, one of the cycling monuments that took place on many of the same roads the following week.
The 2015 Tour of Flanders was the 99th edition of the Tour of Flanders one-day cycling race. It took place on 5 April and was the eighth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race was one of the cobbled classics and was the second of the cycling monuments on the 2015 calendar. The 2014 champion was Fabian Cancellara; he was not able to defend his title after breaking two vertebrae in a crash at E3 Harelbeke.
The 2015 Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen was the 69th edition of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen cycling stage race. Rated as a 2.1 event by the UCI as part of the UCI Europe Tour, the race took place from 6 to 8 March 2015.
The 2015 Dwars door Vlaanderen was the 70th edition of the Dwars door Vlaanderen cycling one-day classic, which took place on 25 March 2015 and was rated as a 1.HC event as part of the 2015 UCI Europe Tour. The race was 200.2 kilometres in length. It was organised as part of the Flanders Classics organisation.
The 2016 Tour of Flanders was a one-day classic cycling race that took place in Belgium on Sunday 3 April 2016. It was the 100th edition of the Tour of Flanders; it was the eighth event of the UCI World Tour and the third of the cobbled one-day classics. It was the second Monument race of the 2016 cycling season.
The 2016 E3 Harelbeke was a one-day cycling classic that took place on Friday 25 March 2016. It was the 59th edition of the E3 Harelbeke; it was the second one-day race of the 2016 UCI World Tour and the first of the cobbled classics.
The 2016 La Flèche Wallonne was a one-day cycling classic that took place on 20 April 2016. It was the 80th edition of La Flèche Wallonne and the twelfth race of the 2016 UCI World Tour. It was the second of the three Ardennes classics, coming after the Amstel Gold Race and before the Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
The 2016 Dwars door Vlaanderen is a one-day road cycling race that took place in Flanders on 23 March 2016. It was the 71st edition of the Dwars door Vlaanderen race.
The 2016 Amstel Gold Race was a one-day classic cycling race that took place in the Limburg region of the Netherlands on 17 April 2016. It was the 51st edition of the Amstel Gold Race and the eleventh event of the 2016 UCI World Tour. It was also the first of the Ardennes classics, although it is technically not in the Ardennes region. The race took place over a 258-kilometre (160 mi) route that starts in Maastricht and ends in Berg en Terblijt on the outskirts of Valkenburg. The key difficulty in the race came from the 34 short but steep climbs. The central climb, the Cauberg, was crossed four times, with 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) between the final summit and the finish line. The favourites for victory in the race included the three-time winner Philippe Gilbert (BMC), the defending champion Michał Kwiatkowski (Sky), and Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews.
The 2017 Gent–Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 26 March. It was the 79th edition of Gent–Wevelgem and the twelfth event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.
The 2017 Tour of Flanders was the 101st edition of the Tour of Flanders, a one-day cycling classic, that took place on 2 April 2017. It was the second monument race of the 2017 cycling season and the thirteenth event of the 2017 UCI World Tour. The race marked the pinnacle of the Flemish Cycling Week.
The 110th edition of the Paris–Tours cycling classic was held on 9 October 2016. The race was part of the 2016 UCI Europe Tour, ranked as a 1.HC event. Fernando Gaviria became the first Colombian winner of Paris–Tours with a late attack in the final kilometer. Frenchman Arnaud Démare was second, Belgian Jonas Van Genechten third.
The 2018 Dwars door Vlaanderen was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 28 March 2018 in Belgium. It was the 73rd edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen and the twelfth event of the 2018 UCI World Tour. It was won for the second year in a row by Yves Lampaert – becoming the first rider to win the race in consecutive years. He finished two seconds ahead of Team Sunweb's Mike Teunissen and Sep Vanmarcke, riding for the EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale team, completed the podium.
The 2022 Dwars door Vlaanderen was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 30 March 2022 in Belgium. It was the 76th edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen and the 11th event of the 2022 UCI World Tour. It was won by Mathieu van der Poel.
