Male Team 23 Mar
E3 Harelbeke Classic
208 Kilometers
The Movistar Team commences its journey through the cobblestone roads of Belgium in this 2018 season with a race long considered as the ‘final rehearsal’ for the Tour of Flanders and now turned into the first WorldTour event in March on ‘kasseien’, start of a very intense ten days that include Gent-Wevelgem, Waregem and ‘De Ronde’.
The new position of the race does not change its hardness by a bit, with fifteen ‘hellingen’ together with nine cobbled sections that only allow the best classics riders in the peloton aiming for the win. The first 100km of the E3 Harelbeke are, though, the easiest, as it’s custom in these events – it’s only after Broeke (108km) when the hills and ‘pavé’ are mixed and allow no more respite to the riders, on tricky roads with often strong winds and high speeds.
The most demanding ascents -the main ones with cobblestones- are the short Taaienberg (134km), the Eikenberg (145km) and the decisive, chained duo of Paterberg (164km) and Oude Kwaremont (170km), from which the race favourites are the only ones able to keep the front. The last 20km from the top of the Tiegemberg are more gentle, which opens terrain for the breathtaking pursuits that bring this race to decision in the city center of Harelbeke.