Flanders Week Update: Good and Bad from Belgium

The Lion of Flanders will roar loud and proud this Sunday

Flanders Cycling Week is well underway, as the cycling public's anticipation builds for the first Belgian monument of the year. With the Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, and De Brabantse Pijl one day races complete, the favorites for De Ronde are becoming clear ahead of the tough cobbled classic.

Flanders: Pure Pain

Sylvain Chavanel took both the Dwars and Brabantsje Pijl races, signalling that he is feeling better than ever heading into Flanders. Although he'll likely ride in support of Nick Nuyens, Chavanel will be ready in that case Nuyens falters. The Cofidis team will be able to count on a two-pronged attack in Flanders, which is valuable in such an unpredictable race.

Chavanel has been rolling, and is confident ahead of Flanders

The CSC team too seems to be firing on all cylanders, after Kurt Asl-Arvesen's win at the E3. The lifetime gregario took top honors in the Belgian semi-classic, and he and the rest of the CSC workhorses will be ready to do battle again for De Ronde. Another team that can bring many riders to the front, CSC will have Stuey O'Grady, Karsten Kroon and Kurt Asle-Arvesen in addition to the might "Sparticus", Cancellara.

Cancellara is fast becoming the king of pro cycling

Meanwhile, other favorite teams haven't fared so well in the lead up to one of Belgium's biggest races. The Quick Step team has taken their lumps, as Gert Steegmans crashed earlier in the week and Stijn Devolder missed the decisive break in yesterday's first stage on the Three Days of De Panne stage race. Team leader Tom Boonen meanwhile, has been a ghost, as in invisible. "Tommeke," unbeatable at Qatar and decent in Calfornia, has been slow to react to attacks thus far during Flemish Cycling Week, and is not the first name that comes to mind when considering the favorites for Sunday. Boonen could however be saving himself for one of his biggest targets of the year, as he hasn't been dropped in any races either, but seems rather to stay in the background on purpose.

Sunday will answer the question: Has Boonen been bluffing?

The Lotto-Silence team also is having a tough Flemish Cycling Week, as Ronde favorite Leif Hoste crashed hard on the first stage of Three Days of De Panne yesterday, putting him in doubt for Sunday's race. Robbie McEwen, the other team leader, has been absent at the front thus far in any of the previous Belgian races, and looks like a long shot for Flanders, at best. Greg Van Aerment, the young up-and-coming one day specialist, may get a baptism by fire as team leader if Hoste can't go on Sunday.

Hoste crashed in stage one of the Three Days of De Panne race, and is questionable for Flanders

The third group of riders scheduled for Flanders haven't had bad luck, but they haven't had good enough form to win either. Among these are Philippo Pozzato, second in Milan-San Remo, Alessandro Ballan, second at L'Eroica and at the front throughout this past week, Thor Hushovd, close but not good enough in all of the Belgian classics thus far, and Philippe Gilbert, who took the season's first semi-classic, Het Volk, and was a close second at Brabantse Pijl this past Sunday.

Gilbert is flying this year, and as a Belgian he'll be pumped to deliver at Flanders

One more rider, on form and ready as a true favorite for Sunday is Enrico Gasparotto of the South African Barloworld team. "Gaspa" desperately wants his name mentioned among the favorites, and to ensure his stature he rode alone to victory in stage one of the Three Days of De Panne race that started on Tuesday. He'll have full support from his team, after a strong early season so far.

"Gaspa" will go for broke in Flanders after a strong early spring

The Three Days of De Panne race finishes on Thursday and then the true anticipation begins as the teams go away for a few days to ride the Flanders course and prepare for Sunday's battle. No doubt most eyes will be on one man, Fabian Cancellara, when De Ronde begins, but there are many more favorites than just the big swiss world time trial champion.