Images: Yuzuru Sunada
The season's first monument, Milano-San Remo, has come and gone. With a final week of fine-tuning in GP E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem, and the Three Days of De Panne, the peloton is almost ready to tackle the toughest of the Belgian bergs and cobbles.
De Ronde van Vlaanderen. The Tour of Flanders.
Fabian Cancellara enters this year's edition of Flanders as defending champion and the odds-on favorite. National favorite Tom Boonen, fresh off of victory in Gent-Wevelgem, looks equally ready to reclaim the top step of the podium, but he too will be tested by a host of other contenders, including Philippe Gilbert, Thor Hushovd, Stijn Devolder, Tyler Farrar, George Hincapie, Filippo Pozzato, and more. For the Belgians, Flanders might as well be the world championships.
Whoever emerges victories on Sunday, he will be a worthy winner. There are no flukes in Flanders.