The Tour of Flanders, affectionately known as “De Ronde van Vlaanderen” in its native Belgium, stands as one of the crown jewels of professional cycling’s spring classics. Steeped in history and tradition, this iconic race traces its roots back to the early 20th century. First held in 1913, the Tour of Flanders has evolved from a modest local event into a monument that captures the imagination of cycling fans worldwide. 

The race is characterised by crosswinds which has led to splits in the peloton before the “hard” parts of the race even start (it’s probably all pretty hard). 

Let’s check the route

The Tour of Flanders route for 2024 has undergone significant revisions, with race organisers opting to return the start location to Antwerp after a recent alternation with Bruges. Focusing on safety, Flanders Classics has redesigned the route to incorporate more major roads leading to the finishing circuits around Oudenaarde and a revamped approach to the challenging Koppenberg climb. 

Scheduled for this weekend, March 31, 2024, the elite men’s race will commence with a team presentation at the iconic Grote Markt in Antwerp, followed by a neutralised passage through the city covering 5 kilometres before the official start of racing. Tomas Van Den Spiegel, CEO of Flanders Classics, highlighted the anticipated spectacle along the route, particularly through notable landmarks such as the Oudaen and the bustling Meir shopping district in Antwerp, promising captivating imagery for viewers and fans alike.

This new route at the start has lead some commentators to write the race will be easier for the first 100k in the past, let’s check the forecast and some myWindsock graphics to see if that’s true.

How does the forecast look?

In terms of “unexpected action”, we know it’s going to kick off when they get to the circuit, but is there any chance of the wind blowing on the roads from Antwerpen to Oudenaarde? Broadly speaking, if we are going to see action early, the wind will need to cooperate which will mean we want it forecasted to be blowing fairly hard across this route. 

Plugging it into myWindsock, we see that this is one you’ll want to watch from the flag drop. It’s likely to be cross tail!

This, combined with the fact that the wind is blowing across the circuit, tells me that when Rouleur wrote that the first 100k would be easy, they didn’t check the wind.

Why is a cross-tailwind harder?

One slightly odd thing about classics season is that cross tailwinds are harder than block crosswinds and there’s a mathematical explanation as to why that is and it’s all to do with resolving forces and the fact that, hopefully, cyclists are moving continuously forwards. 

When a force acts on a body, using a bit of trigonometry, we can resolve these forces (that is to say, break them down along component directions) it along whatever axis we like – which for our purpose we will chose a line along the motion of the rider and one that’s perpendicular to his direction of motion.

Resolving all of these forces essentially tells us that a rider on the wheel is going just as hard as the guy on the front, and the faster they go, the less shelter they get and it all gets continuously harder. With a block crosswind, this resolves to more headwind meaning a rider in the wheels gets more shelter (and as you go faster, more shelter is received). Cross tail on the other hand resolves to cross wind. 

How to watch? 

Live terrestrial coverage of the race will be available in numerous European countries. Italian national broadcaster RAI will offer live and on-demand coverage, while RTBF and VRT will broadcast the race in its entirety in Belgium. Additionally, ESPN will provide coverage of the event in many territories outside of Europe. For viewers with a VPN, accessing live coverage may be possible by registering and logging in to the broadcaster’s website. Furthermore, Discovery Plus subscribers will also have the option to log in and watch the race live through their platform. The men’s race will be available to watch from 9am UK time, the women’s race is on from 2pm. 

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