Your guide to Nokere Koerse: course, participants and live stream | Noker Curse

As so often the trajectory was not selective enough to wreak havoc along the way. A sprint on Nokereberg was inevitable.

In the final kilometer, the birthday boy Arnaud De Lie let himself be put away a bit.

Home driver Tim Merlier had done his homework well and was the first to start very strongly. A rocket no one could beat.

At 2 bike lengths from Merlier, the German Max Walscheid (Cofidis) finished second. De Lie squeezed another great sprint out of his birthday thighs and was allowed to join the podium as 3rd.

The organization wants to profile itself more and more as a cobblestone race and has increased the number of cobbled sections.

No fewer than 25 kilometers of cobblestones will be pushed in front of the riders on Wednesday. There are also 13 slopes on the menu.

In the run-up to 80 kilometers, the peloton crosses the Wolvenberg, the Tiegemberg and the Holstraat, among other things.

After a first passage over Nokereberg, the peloton gets its teeth into 4 local laps of 27.4 kilometers.

In that local round, one cobblestone strip after another is presented: the Herlegemstraat, the Lange Aststraat, the Kloosterstraat, the cobblestones of Lededorp, the Huisepontweg, Wannegem-Dorp and the Hoevenstraat.

The finish at Nokereberg is expected between 5.15 pm and 5.45 pm.

On paper, Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step) is the super favorite to succeed himself.

The Belgian champion will have to deal with a lot of other fast legs. DSM brings the Australian sprinter Sam Welsford to the start.

Last year’s number 2 – Max Walscheid (Cofidis) – and his compatriot Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) are also highly regarded by bookmakers.

Looking through a Belgian lens, we pay extra attention to Samyn triumphator Milan Menten (Lotto-Dstny), Monseré winner Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Victor Campenaerts and Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny), Sep Vanmarcke (Israel-PremierTech) and Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo).

In the team of Theuns, Thibau Nys makes his first race kilometers on the road. But he travels to starting place Deinze without high ambitions.

After an incident-rich course with numerous crashes, the battle was settled in the final sprint at Nokereberg.

Lotte Kopecky let her teammate Lonneke Uneken set the pace. But Kopecky was no match for Lorena Wiebes’ explosive attack.

The Dutch won on Nokereberg, her 2nd victory in the 3 editions that Nokere Koerse counts.

Kopecky had to settle for 2nd place. The podium was completed by the Italian Marta Bastianelli.

There is a total of 129.1 kilometers between the starting point of Deinze and the arrival point of Nokere.

The riders have to brave slopes such as Tiegemberg and Holstraat before they are sent over Nokereberg for the first time.

This is followed by 2 local laps of 28.1 kilometers, which are spiced up with a string of cobblestone sections.

Arrival is scheduled between 13:30 and 13:50.

At SD-Worx they lay their bones on defending champion Lorena Wiebes. Lotte Kopecky has also put Nokere Koerse on her program, despite the recent death of her brother.

Last year’s number 3 – Marta Bastianelli (UAE) – will also be present again.

Other riders to keep an eye on: Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Uno-X), Letizia Paternoster (Jayco-AlUla) and cyclocross rider Shirin van Anrooij (Trek-Segafredo).