Seen by many as the first step in the lead-up to the Tour of Flanders, Dwars Door Vlaanderen brings the world's best back to Belgium to kick off a hectic period of racing.
Key section
Starting at 165km, the double-header of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg will give spectators a taste of what is to come in the new finale of the Ronde van Vlaanderen this year and is likely to split up the bunch dramatically.
The Oude Kwaremont is 1.5km long with an average gradient of 4.2 per cent, but it contains steeper sections and the cobbled surface only adds to the difficulty.
At just 350m, the Paterberg is much shorter but its average gradient of 12.5 per cent makes up for that. Together the two climbs could form a winning group with 32km to go.
Teams and riders
Accent Jobs-Wanty: Danilo Napolitano, Andy Cappelle, Tim De Troyer, Jean-Pierre Drucker, Roy Jans, Stefan van Dijk, James Vanlandschoot, Benjamin Verraes.
Ag2r-La Mondiale: Yauheni Hutarovich, Davide Appollonio, Gediminas Bagdonas, Steve Chainel, Hugo Houle, Valentin Iglinskiy, Sebastien Minard, Lloyd Mondory.
AN Post-Chainreaction: Niko Eeckhout, Sam Bennett, Ronan McLaughlin, Mark McNally, Glenn O'Shea, Steven Van Vooren, Nicolas Vereecken, Alphonse Vermote.
Argos-Shimano: Roy Curvers, Koen de Kort, Bert De Backer, Janse Van Rensburg, Luka Mezgec, Ramon Sinkeldam, Tom Stamsnijder, Tom Veelers.
Astana: Maxim Iglinskiy, Assan Bazayev, Borut Bozic, Dmitriy Gruzdev, Jacopo Guarnieri, Arman Kamyshev, Dmitriy Muravyev, Ruslan Tleubayev.
Champion System: Matt Brammeier, Clinton Avery, Matthias Friedemann, Chan Jae Jang, Kun Jiang, Pengda Jiao, Bobbie Traksel, Kin San Wu.
Cofidis: Jan Ghyselinck, Julien Fouchard, Egoitz Garcia, Gert Joeaar, Arnaud Labbe, Adrien Petit, Nico Sijmens, Romain Zingle.
Crelan-Euphony: Maxime Vantomme, Frédéric Amorison, Koen Barbé, Jonathan Breyne, Kurt Hovelynck, Egidius Juodvalkis, Baptiste Planckaert, Stijn Steels.
Europcar: Thomas Voeckler, Bryan Coquard, Jérôme Cousin, Damien Gaudin, Yohann Gene, Morgan Lamoisson, Björn Thurau, Sébastien Turgot.
Garmin-Sharp: David Millar, Jack Bauer, Raymond Kreder, Martijn Maaskant, Steele Von Hoff, Andreas Klier, Jacob Rathe, Sebastien Rosseler.
IAM Cycling: Heinrich Haussler, Reto Hollenstein, Kristof Goddaert, Sebastien Hinault, Pirmin Lang, Gustav Larsson, Mattteo Pelucchi, Aleksejs Saramotins.
Katusha: Vladimir Gusev, Alexandre Kristoff, Marco Haller, Vladimir Isaychev, Viatcheslav Kuznetsov, Rudiger Selig, Gatis Smukulis, Alexey Tsatevich.
Lotto-Belisol: Dirk Bellemakers, Gaetan Bille, Sander Cordeel, Kenny Dehaes, Maarten Neyens, Vicente Reynes, Frederique Robert, Tosh Van der Sande.
Movistar: Jose Joaquin Rojas, Giovanni Visconti, Alex Dowsett, Enrique Sanz, Ely Teruel, Andrey Amador, Jesus Herrada, Francisco Ventoso.
NetApp-Endura: Russell Downing, Markus Eichler, Blaz Jarc, Ralf Matzka, Andreas Schillinger, Daniel Schorn, Michael Schwarzmann, Alexander Wetterhall.
Omega Pharma - Quick-Step: Niki Terpstra, Gert Steegmans, Iljo Keisse, Nikolas Maes, Frantisek Rabon, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Kristof Vandewalle, Stijn Vandenbergh.
Orica-GreenEDGE: Baden Cooke, Tomas Vaitkus, Jens Keukeleire, Fumiyuki Beppu, Mitchell Docker, Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, Leigh Howard.
RadioShack-Leopard: Stijn Devolder, Ben Hermans, Tony Gallopin, Markel Irizar, Bob Jungels, Giacomo Nizzolo, Hayden Roulston, Jesse Sergent.
Saxo-Tinkoff: Matti Breschel, Jonathan Cantwell, Juul Jensen, Jonas Jörgensen, Marko Kump, Anders Lund, Takashi Miyazawa, Michael Morkov.
Team Sky: Mathew Hayman, Salvatore Puccio, Gabriel Rasch, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Christopher Sutton.
Topsport Vlaanderen-Bâloise: Jelle Wallays, Laurens De Vreese, Pieter Jacobs, Stijn Neirynck, Tom Van Asbroeck, Gijs Van Hoecke, Sven Vandousselaere, Pieter Vanspeybrouck.
Vacansoleil-DCM: Juan Antonio Flecha, Björn Leukemans, Wouter Mol, Wesley Kreder, Bertjan Lindeman, Mirko Selvaggi, Danny van Poppel, Frederik Veuchelen.
Vini Fantini-Selle Italia: Oscar Gatto, Francesco Failli, Mattia Pozzo, Rafael Andriato, Stefano Borchi, Pier Paolo De Negri, Mauro Finetto, Kevin Hulsmans.
