Tuesday 20 September 2016 16:23, UK
Preview the penultimate WorldTour race of the season with our bitesize guide.
The Eneco Tour is the penultimate WorldTour event of the season (19-25 September), having been shifted on the calendar this year to fit around the Olympics, and it has attracted a star-studded cast ahead of the World Championships.
With lots to offer both sprinters and time trial specialists in preparation for Doha, the week-long Dutch and Belgian stage race is sure to provide plenty of late-season entertainment.
And while some riders will have their eye on specific stages, the powerful Classics men will be targeting overall victory and those all important WorldTour points on the tough European terrain.
We will be led by Geraint Thomas at the Eneco Tour as 'G' goes in search of his third win of the season. The Welshman, who won the Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Nice earlier in the season, was back in action at the recent Grand Prix de Quebec and Grand Prix de Montreal for the first time since his top-10 finish in the Olympic time trial and he'll be hoping to end his season in style.
Michal Kwiatkowski has recovered from the lower back issues that forced him out of the Vuelta a Espana and he will be a crucial helper in Thomas' bid for the title. Vasil Kiryienka is sure to shine in the race's two time trials, in what could be his last events wearing the rainbow jersey, as he ramps up his preparations for the worlds.
Ben Swift was a late replacement for Elia Viviani, who pulled out due to illness, and he will be targeting the sprint stages along with Danny van Poppel and Andy Fenn. Luke Rowe and Lars Petter Nordhaug round out the eight-man team.
Full lineup: Geraint Thomas, Andy Fenn, Vasil Kiryienka, Michal Kwiatkowski, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Luke Rowe, Ben Swift, Danny Van Poppel.
Raced in both Holland and Belgium, two of Europe's cycling heartlands, the Eneco Tour is always a well supported event and with the talent on show this year it's unlikely to be any different.
Both the individual and team time trials, at 9.7 and 20.9 kilometres respectively, will be important in deciding the destination of the 2016 title, but the seventh and final stage, featuring the famous Muur climb, will be decisive.
The legendary Muur van Geraardsbergen - usually known as simply the Muur - may only be 92 metres high, but it's one of the most gruelling cobbled climbs in Belgium, and the field will have to climb it three times as part of a loop around Geraardsbergen on the last day. Taken out of the Tour of Flanders in recent years - although back for 2017 - the Monument's loss has been the Eneco Tour's gain, and the climb is sure to make for a fitting finale to the 204km final stage.
Back in 2011 Edvald Boasson Hagen won stage six on his way to wrapping up the overall title, as well as the youth and points classifications in a dominant performance.
Two years later David Lopez attacked from the day's break on stage six up the famous La Redoute climb and managed to stave off the chasing pack by a mere two seconds to take a fine win.
We then had to wait another two years for our next win at the race, with Elia Viviani prevailing on stage one in 2015 by out-sprinting Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal).
Last year Tim Wellens became the first Belgian to claim back-to-back victories at the Eneco Tour so the Lotto Soudal man is in the hunt for an unprecedented third consecutive title.
World champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) will relish the testing Belgian terrain but will need to produce a strong time trial to contest for the title, while Olympic road race champion Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) can't be discounted after a stellar season.
Giant-Alpecin are sending two contenders, John Degenkolb and Tom Dumoulin, with the latter a big favourite for the race's individual time trial, and Degenkolb is sure to do battle with Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Van Poppel in the star-studded sprints.
The race will be shown live on Eurosport.
