Shadow favorites Lazkano and Wellens know teammates for the Tour of Flanders

Which shadow favorites remain to make it somewhat difficult for Mathieu van der Poel on Sunday in the Tour of Flanders? Oier Lazkano can be one of those, but the duo Nils Politt-Tim Wellens can also score well.

The new edition of RIDE Magazine is now available! Our new 188-page spring edition is full of wonderful cycling stories about Mathieu van der Poel, Lotte Kopecky, Demi Vollering, Sepp Kuss and Matej Mohoric. Insure your copy and order it online now for only €9.95. Would you like to receive RIDE extra cheaply? Then take out a subscription now and receive a 20% discount!

The broad strength of UAE Emirates cannot be underestimated. In addition to the aforementioned duo of leaders, speedsters such as Mikkel Bjerg and Vegard Stake Laengen have made the selection. Alessandro Covi, Marc Hirschi and Antonio Morgado are strong servants, but also guys who can easily join an interesting group in the preliminary finals. Hirschi has not ridden any Flemish classics for over five years, but his super legs from back then cannot of course be gone.

At Movistar, Spanish champion Oier Lazkano seems to be the man with the most potential, although Ivan Garcia Cortina showed during the Opening Weekend that he is not far from the top 10 in this work. Supplement that pair with an all-rounder like Rémi Cavagna, the attacking Lorenzo Milesi, Johan Jacobs, Carlos Canal and Albert Torres, and you have a worthy seven for Flanders Most Beautiful.

At BORA-hansgrohe it is becoming more difficult to play a role in the final. The German team will start with a freebooting team. Jordi Meeus is the biggest name, but the Limburger still has to take big steps in this work. We also expect little from Nico Denz, Marco Haller, Emil Herzog, Luis-Joe Lührs, Filip Maciejuk and Ryan Mullen.