Tour of Flanders

Like most things in cycling, there's an unwritten rule that states when a rider can don a pair of legwarmers for a race.

The BMC Racing rider has been close in recent years, but he has yet to win a northern classic — something he hopes to accomplish in 2016.

The 100th edition of Ronde van Vlaanderen won't offer much novelty, but it could appeal to a fan favorite such as Peter Sagan.

Belgian star is confident he can put the disappointment of Flanders behind him as he rides toward an appointment with the Hell of the North

A little-known intermediate sprint was awarded at Tour of Flanders, at kilometer 34. The first rider to the line won his weight in beer

BrakeThrough Media documents the Tour of Flanders, from the start at the Grote Markt in Brugge to the finish in Oudenaarde

Neal Rogers considers the riders who succeeded and those who came up short at Belgium's biggest race, the Tour of Flanders

With merely one win during their spring campaign so far — at a semi-classic, no less — The Belgian squad is hungry for results

Following a Flanders flop, Sagan and Vanmarcke are hoping to save their respective classics campaigns at Paris-Roubaix next weekend

Check out the Tour of Flanders from a different perspective, thanks to on-board cameras mounted to bikes of Velon teams

Alexander Kristoff's victory at the Ronde van Vlaanderen puts him near the top of Norway's list of cycling greats

Canny Alexander Kristoff rides to the front with Niki Terpstra and delivers a perfectly timed sprint in the final meters of Flanders

Alexander Kristoff left no doubts about who was the strongest at the finale of a Tour of Flanders that began without a clear favorite

Jesse Sergent faces surgery for a broken collarbone after an unfortunate encounter with a Shimano support car. The company is investigating

John Degenkolb rides Giant's Defy road bike for the bergs and cobbles of Flanders

With the chase closing in, Alexander Kristoff leaves Niki Terpstra in his dust to claim victory in a chaotic Tour of Flanders

Results from the 2015 Tour of Flanders

Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins enjoys flying the flag lately, and hopes Geraint Thomas has his own banner day at Flanders

Geraint Thomas comes into the Tour of Flanders after winning E3 Harelbeke and taking third at Gent-Wevelgem

Without perennial favorites Boonen and Cancellara, a new generation of riders is elbowing its way to the top of the Flanders heap

The 25-year-old is searching for a victory in one of cycling's monuments, a list of five one-day classics

Bradley Wiggins claimed his first, and perhaps his last, TT wearing the rainbow jersey as he tunes up form for farewell ride at Roubaix

Ronde van Vlaanderen will be wide open on Sunday. Here are Global Cycling Networks top-10 riders to watch this weekend

After his big win in last year's Tour de France over the cobbles, Boom is hoping for a spring classics breakthrough

Tom Boonen joins his Etixx teammates to train on part of Sunday's Ronde van Vlaanderen course

Russian outfit is brimming with confidence after Paolini's win at Gent-Wevelgem, and Kristoff's pair of wins at De Panne this week

The Sky rider finds himself at the top of the favorites' list with Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara out with injuries

The eight wild-card picks for the 2015 Tour of Flanders have been announced, including Tyler Farrar's MTN-Qhubeka team

The Tour of Flanders route will look very similar to its 2014 running. What's that mean for Cancellara, Boonen and company?

Sixty-five-year-old injured in collision with Johan Vansummeren is awake and moving in a Belgian hospital

Michael Barry claims the 2006 Tour of Flanders was set up

Simon Gerrans’ victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège capped a spring classics season that was wide open and unpredictable in the peloton

The Belgian wants to pour the frustration of being close to victory at Flanders into his pedals for another strong ride at Paris-Roubaix

TrainingPeaks staff analyzes the power profile of Australian Michael Hepburn at the Ronde van Vlaanderen

BrakeThrough Media captures the emotion and energy of the Tour of Flanders, from Brugge to Oudenaarde

The American finished 4:12 behind winner Fabian Cancellara in his Tour of Flanders debut

The Swiss rider made the right moves at the right times before sprinting to victory

The Sky rider will support teammates Edvald Boasson Hagen and Bradley Wiggins at the “Hell of the North” this weekend

As part of his preparation for the 2014 spring classics, Fabian Cancellara implemented specific sprint training and it paid in Flanders

Vansummeren escaped with a black eye and a few stitches after striking a spectator in the Tour of Flanders, but the spectator remains hospitalized

Van Avermaet wasn't pleased to have Vandenbergh sitting on his wheel, but the Omega Pharma rider says he was only following orders

Sagan was clearly on an off day, unable to follow the attacks on the Oude Kwaremont, but hopes to bounce back in time for Paris-Roubaix

Photos from the rough-and-tumble 2014 Tour of Flanders

Results from the men's and women's races at the 2014 Tour of Flanders

Cancellara wins his third Tour of Flanders in the final few hundred meters, outwitting and overpowering a four-man break

The runner-up in 2013, van Dijk goes it alone more than 25km from the finish and builds an insurmountable lead

Early crashes took out some big names in the early going at Flanders as cloudy skies and windy conditions made for nervous racing

Vanmarcke says classics giants like Cancellara are on another level, but he won't stop trying to beat them

Team Sky is hoping to surprise its critics over the next weekends with strong performances at Flanders and Roubaix

Tom Boonen tells a pre-race presser that he thinks the worst is behind him and he's ready to race the Tour of Flanders

The start list for the 2014 Tour of Flanders

Fabian Cancellara is "Spartacus," but also a husband and a father. Like most, he's just trying to find the right balance

2013 Flanders runner-up refuses to take on pressure heading into De Ronde

The BMC rider said his goal for the spring season is to win next weekend’s Paris-Roubaix

The Lotto-Belisol rider will co-lead the squad with Tony Gallopin at the cobbled classic

If he wins Sunday's cobbled classic, Tom Boonen would become the most successful rider in the race's history with four victories

Milano-Sanremo winner Alexander Kristoff will look to add to his spring palmares aboard this Canyon CF SLX 9.0

Sep Vanmarcke is downplaying his chances for victory, but nearly everyone else agrees he's one of the five-star favorites for Flanders

Zdenek Stybar, the current world champion in cyclocross, talks about his leap to the road, that day at Roubaix, and what may come next on the cobbles

Boonen, Cancellara, Sagan, and Vanmarcke are the favorites, but 17 climbs, a half-dozen teams, and forecasted rain don't care about odds

Custom paint, lucky charms, and special friction-reducing derailleur pulleys adorn the steed ridden by "Spartacus"

The Italian’s best finish in the cobbled classic is a third at the 2007 edition

Impressed with what he saw at Harelbeke, Trek director Dirk Demol says Cancellara is ready to defend his title in Sunday's Tour of Flanders

The rider some call the 'next Tom Boonen' is poised for a breakout spring classics season — if he makes the team

Andrew Hood catches up with Belkin sport director Nico Verhoeven in Belgium and talks about Sep Vanmarcke's classics goals

The Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider has finished in the top 5 three times since 2008

The Sky rider has put on weight to better handle the punishment he’ll take on the coblestones

The entire Cannondale squad is using the Synapse endurance bike for the classics because of its added comfort features

The peloton is outfitted in whatever it can find on a rainy day in Belgium

The South African squad will be the first team from the African continent to race at the Tour of Flanders

With Boonen and Cancellara fit and motivated for a monumental win, will 2014 mark the final full-steam showdown in a decade-old rivalry?

Logan VonBokel spends a little quality time with John Degenkolb's Giant Propel Advanced SL 0

Caught behind a decisive crash, Fabian Cancellara eyes his rivals and learns a lot for Flanders, even if he falls short of victory

Belgian squad confident, but disappointed after Terpstra, Vandenbergh fall short in bid to outdo Sagan in late breakaway

With his victory Friday at E3 Harelbeke, expectations again mount on Peter Sagan's ability to deliver a victory at De Ronde

The Sky rider runs a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 group on his bike, which is wrapped in wide tubulars for the cobbles

The Spaniard is racing on the stones this week and we spent a few minutes with the race machine he's testing ahead of the Tour de France

With the biggest week of the classics just 10 days away, we look back at a collection of our favorite Tim De Waele images from the cobbles

You love the classics, so why wouldn't you visit the motherland during spring — and bring your bike?

Vincenzo Nibali is heading back to the Tour to try and dethrone Sky, but he'll approach the build-up to the race differently in 2014