The Tour of Flanders is upon us, with the men's and women's races back in their usual place on Sunday April 4 after last year's COVID-delayed edition.
The 105th edition of the men's race and 18th edition of the women's race could draw a premature close to the cobbled season this year, with the fate of Paris-Roubaix still up in the air. Nonetheless, both races of course draw extremely strong fields, with the best of the best showing up to contend for victory in Oudenaarde.
The famous rivalry of last year's winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and runner-up Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) is set to continue, while Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) will be looking to avenge his 2020 crash.
In the women's race, 2020 champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (SD Worx) will be back to defend her title, with countrywomen Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar) and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx) among the other main favourites for victory.
Cyclingnews will be bringing you live coverage during the men's and women's Dwars door Vlaanderen events. We will also be bringing you full reports, results, news, interviews, and analysis throughout the race. Read on to find out how to watch the Tour of Flanders via live stream, no matter your location, with ExpressVPN (opens in new tab).
As ever, all the riders we've become used to seeing battling for wins throughout spring will also be present at the starts in Antwerp and Oudenaarde.
Deceuninck-QuickStep's E3 Saxo Bank Classic winner Kasper Asgreen will be racing alongside Alaphilippe along with Yves Lampaert and Zdenek Štybar in a very strong squad. Dwars door Vlaanderen winner Dylan van Baarle lines up for Ineos Grenadiers, with Tom Pidcock and Michał Kwiatkowski also on the British team.
AG2R Citroën are led by Greg Van Avermaet and Oliver Naesen, while Trek-Segafredo also have a strong lead duo in Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven. John Degenkolb leads Lotto Soudal, while 2016 champion Peter Sagan heads up Bora-Hansgrohe.
Other past winners on the start list include Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-Nippo), and Niki Terpstra (Total Direct Energie). Others to watch include Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start-Up Nation), Tiesj Benoot (Team DSM), and Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange).
The women's race will see past champions Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and Marta Bastianelli (Alé BTC Ljubljana) in contention once more. Trek-Segafredo boast a trio of potential contenders in past winners Ellen Van Dijk, Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo Borghini.
Past podium finishers Jolien D'hoore and Amy Pieters are part of the the SD Worx lineup for the race, while Lotte Kopecky (Liv Racing) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) have also been on the podium before.
Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Grace Brown (Team BikeExchange), Floortje Mackaij (Team DSM), and Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT) are among the other riders to watch at the race.
Read on for all the information on how to watch the 2021 Tour of Flanders.
Tour of Flanders live stream
Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter (opens in new tab), Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab) for alerts on important stories and action during the race.
The men's and women's Tour of Flanders will be broadcast around Europe on Eurosport. A subscription to Eurosport Player (opens in new tab) costs £6.99 for a single month, £4.99 for a year-long monthly pass, or £39.99 for a 12-month pass.
The races will be aired in the United Kingdom and in select other territories (opens in new tab) around Europe on GCN+ (opens in new tab) . A year’s subscription to GCN+ will set you back £39.99 / €39.99 / $49.99.
Flobikes (opens in new tab) will air the races in Australia, Canada and the USA, with plans starting from $12.50 per month or $150 per year.
In Belgium, Sporza (opens in new tab) and Tipik (opens in new tab) will air the races, while NOS (opens in new tab) and France 3 (opens in new tab) will air them in the Netherlands and France respectively.
If you live outside a broadcast zone or are on holiday outside your country and find that the live streams to be geo-restricted, you can get around this by getting access to them by simulating being back in your home country via a 'virtual private network', or VPN, for your laptop, tablet or mobile.
Our sister site TechRadar tested hundreds of VPNs and recommends the number-one VPN currently available as Express VPN. With ExpressVPN (opens in new tab), you can watch on many devices at once including Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, PC, Mac, iPhone, Android phone, iPads, tablets, etc.
Spring Classics schedule
| Date | Race |
|---|---|
| April 4 | Tour of Flanders (men & women) |
| April 7 | Scheldeprijs |
| April 11 | Paris-Roubaix (men & women) |
| April 14 | Brabantse Pijl |
| April 18 | Amstel Gold Racee (men & women) |
| April 21 | La Flèche Wallonne (men & women) |
| April 25 | Liège-Bastogne-Liège (men & women) |
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