On the 27th of March the peloton takes on the E3 Saxo Classic, nicknamed often as the ‘mini Tour of Flanders’. With the peloton taking on the famous Paterberg and Oude Kwaremont, the races comes as the most similar event to the first cobbled monument and is a key part of most riders’ spring campaign. We take a look at its startlist.
The race’s first edition was back in 1958, won by Armand Desmet. Belgian legend Rik van Looy won it four times between 1964 and 1968 and right after Roger de Vlaeminck also left his mark in the race’s history. E3 doesn’t pack the palmarès of the Tour of Flanders, but isn’t far behind, being so competitive that despite several attempts, Eddy Merckx has never managed to win it.
Some sprinters have also managed to leave their mark here, including Mario Cippolini in 1993 and of course Peter Sagan more recently. But the Flandrien legends were all present and winning throughout the generations: Johan Museeuw, Peter van Petegem, Tom Boonen (four consecutive wins from 2004 to 2007)… Fabian Cancellara won it three times; and the likes of Geraint Thomas, Michal Kwiatkowski, Greg van Avermaet, Niki Terpstra, Zdenek Stybar, Kasper Asgreen have also marked their names in the race.
In 2022 and 2023 Wout Van Aert won it, in the latter taking perhaps his best win over Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar directly. However in the last two years van der Poel took uncontested wins – in 2025 he won with a long-range solo attack, beating Mads Pedersen.Download the startlist in A4. Tadej Pogacar is focusing on the Tour of Flanders exclusively when it comes to the Flandrien classics whilst Wout Van Aert is limiting his racing schedule and not taking on the ‘mini Flanders’.Hence it will be a battle between Mathieu van der Poel – the man to beat and two-time defending champion; Mads Pedersen who has here his key test ahead of the cobbled monuments to learn his current form; and several other specialists.Startlist E3 Saxo Classic 2026