Alexander Kristoff of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux rode to solo victory at 2022 Scheldeprijs (Image credit: Getty Images)
The Scheldeprijs is considered the Classic for the sprinters and Alexander Kristoff won the race in 2022 for Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, but it wasn't in the usual manner. The Norwegian surged launched a cagey attack before the windswept 7km run-in to Schoten and held off the rest of the pack to notch up the win.
Scheldeprijs history
The Scheldeprijs is the oldest road race in Flanders, started in 1907 with a start and finish in Antwerp. The race did not leave the borders of the Netherlands until a route change in 2018, which included roads in Belgium.
German Marcel Kittel holds the record holder with the most victories, winning five times between 2012-2017, the last time riding for QuickStep. Both Mark Cavendish of Great Britain and Petrus Oellibrandt of Belgium have won the race three times. Over the 110 years of the race, only two riders have won while donning the rainbow stripes as World Champions, Eddie Merckx in 1972 and Tom Boonen in 2006. The last Duitch rider to win on home soil was Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep) who went back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.
The Scheldeprijs is positioned mid-week between the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Previously the race has been contested by sprinters and run east from Antwerp on roads almost entirely within the Antwerp province.
Since 2018, however, the inclusion of start towns to the west into the Netherlands' windswept Zeeland province have made for a somewhat more selective affair, depending on the weather.
While Kittel has the most victories in the Scheldeprijs, Fabio Jakobsen has collected two of the last five editions.
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After the start in Terneuzen, the 205.2km spring classic will wind its way along the Ooster- and Westerschelde, where the wind is expected to toughen the race. The peloton will cross the border into Belgium near Essen before facing three 17-km laps in and around Schoten.
Philipsen will have to go up against an increasingly desperate Soudal-Quickstep team who have yet to find success in the major Spring Classics. Fabio Jakobsen is their go-to sprinter and Tim Declercq an important motor to keep the race together for him.
Defending champion Alexander Kristoff is back with a new team, Uno-X, and after escaping last year in the closing kilometres, the Norwegian will be closely watched.
His former team Intermarché-Circus-Wanty have a hot new sprint talent in Gerben Thijssen, winner of the Bredene Koksijde Classic.
The race also has three-time winner Mark Cavendish in the start list with his new Astana Qazaqstan team and lead-out man Cees Bol and a lot to prove. Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) will be in search of a modicum of good luck, while Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) is a force to be reckoned with in a sprint.
