BOIGNEBERG

Up ahead, the leaders have just begun climbing the Boigneberg

Van der Poel and Van Dijke have joined the chase group.

Van der Poel and Van Dijke are bearing down on the chase group.

Van der Poel and Van Dijke are working together.

Ivan Garcia has attacked out of the peloton.

That duo crest the climb a few seconds ahead of Stuyven Laporte, Trentin and Del Grosso.

Tim Van Dijke passes him and gets a gap, and now Van der Poel is closing him down by himself.

Here we go then! Stuyven leads the peloton on the Taaieneberg.

70KM TO GO

The break have crested the climb already, and are 1:40 ahead of the chasers and 2:30 ahead of the peloton.

Soudal have Tom Boonen in the car for them today, who made attacks on this hill his trademark.

Soudal-QuickStep lead the bunch as they apporach the climb.

TAAIENBERG

The break have started the Taaienberg, and the peloton will be here in abot two and a half minutes.

Van der Poel, safely in the bunch. Does he have anything planned for the Taainberg?

Ivan Garcia has attacked out of the peloton.

Vermeersch has just about made himself back on to the back of the peloton as they start climbing Kortekeer. Despite the bad timing of that mechanical, it looks like he’s got himself back in contention.

This is the last climb before what pretty much everyone agrees is the one where the race will explode into life – the Taainberg. This is the climb all the favourites identify as where the selections are made, and so the battle for positioning onto it will be fierce.

KORTEKEER

The break are ascending the climb now.

The pace isn’t up yet in the peloton, but it won’t be long before the jostling for position for the next climb, the Kortekeer.

Mechanical for Florian Vermeersch. And it’s at a terrible time for the Belgian, as the race is on now.

Tratnik, Honoré and the three riders they were with have been brought back into the peloton.

80KM TO GO

The break still has a lead of 2:15 over the chase group, but the peloton is starting to bear down now, at 2:35.

HOTONDBERG

Tratnik and Honoré have caught the three riders dropped from the chase group.

Up ahead, Renard-Haquin, Kmínek and Flynn have been dropped out of the chase group.

Tratnik and Honoré crest the Kwaremont with the peloton right behind them.

Another Visma rider has tried to attack out of the peloton. The team are trying to make this race hard, rather than give an easy ride to Van der Poel.

Tratnik and Honoré are using the cobbles of the Kwaremont to increase their lead.

Tratnik has Honoré with him.

Pithie and Van Sintmaartensdijk have been caught, and Red Bull have counter-attacked with Tratnik.

UAE lead the peloton. They have also missed the move.

Floris Van Tricht has gone down while leading the peloton around a corner. He’s back up quickly and riding again, thankfully.

Pithis is trying to cover the move for Red Bull, who are the biggest team to have missed it

Pithie has attacked out of the peloton with Van Sintmaartensdijk.

OUDE KWAREMONT

A very familiar sight now, albeit it slightly askew – the riders are climbing Oude Kwaremont but from a different, shallower side.

Most of the big teams are represented in this chase group: Alpecin with Planckaert, Lidl with Theuns, Soudal with Reinderink and Visma with Kielich.

90KM TO GO

So the new situation has the leading 6 riders remaining out front, 2:50 ahead of the chase group, and 3:30 ahead of the peloton.

This group has caught Renard-Haquin, Kmínek and Flynn, forming a new ten-man group.

Pepijn Reinderink has also made it into his group, providing coverage for Soudal-QuickStep.

This Kielich group is about to catch the three-man chase group who have been in no-man’s land all day.

Hoole, Theuns, Turgis, Planckaert and Swift are those with Kielich.

He’s taken five riders with him.

Race on! Visma-Lease a Bike’s Kielich has attacked up the E3-Col.

E3 COL

The break are climbing again, up the E3 Col, which this year will be tackled twice.

Soudal, Lidl and Red Bull are the most prominant teams at the front of the peloton as they ascend the climb. Van der Poel’s Alpecin is further back.

In the chase group, Renard-Haquin is being distenced by Flynn and Kminek.

100KM TO GO

The leaders are two minutes ahead of the chasers, and 3:15 ahead of the peloton.

Soudal-QuickStep lead the peloton as they neat the foot of the climb.

OUDE KRUISBERG

The break have started the climb, the first of 13 packed into the final 102km. The race is on!

Lots of teams battling for the best positions at the front of the peloton.

It seems the race is livening up again! The pace is up in the peloton, as the Oude Kruisberg looms imminently.

The three chasers between the leaders and the peloton, who do seem like they’re on a bit of a hiding to nothing.

A reminder that we also have live updates on today’s Volta a Catalunya stage.

Volta a Catalunya stage 5 LIVE: Peloton are holding talented break on a short leash

110KM TO GO

The break still has a healthy lead of 3:40 on the peloton, while the three chasers continue to burn energy in no-man’s land 1:30 behind.

The peloton riding up La Houppe earlier.

The Alpecin team is doing most of the work at the front of the peloton, but Soudal-QuickStep are making their presence known too. They want to reassert themselves as a leading team in the classics, having switched their focus to Remco Evenepoel in recent years, and have new signings Jasper Stuyven and Dylan Van Baarle to lead them today.

There was an increase in the peloton, but that was for positioning on the approach to a brief cobbled section, and it has slowed down again.

120KM TO GO

The race remains in a holding pattern, with the break 1 minute up on the chasers and 3:30 up on the peloton. That will change once the riders approach the next climb, the Oude Kruisberg, in about 20km, from when the climbs start to come thick and fast.

BERG TEN STENE

Another climb for the leaders, althogh again this one is lacking any cobbles.

Van der Poel is racing on his new Canyon Endurance bike today, in what’s shaping up to be a tech arms race ahead of Paris-Roubaix. Here’s our lowdown on the bike.

Mathieu van der Poel debuts the unreleased Canyon Endurace at E3 – What does this mean for the Paris-Roubaix arms race?

Despite the calm atmosphere, there’s been a crash in the peloton. Rui Oliveira and Sakarias Koller Løland are involved.

130KM TO GO

The break have crested La Houppe, and lead the peloton by 3:30 and the chasers by 1:00. The Berg Ten Stene is coming up soon, before another pause without a climb.

LA HOUPPE

The break have started the second climb of the day. This one is uncobbled.

Silvan Dillier has resumed his role leading at the front of the peloton for Alpecin-Deceuninck, following his monster turn at Milan-Sanremo. We took a look at how the Belgian fuels such a huge workload.

340 watts, 500g of carbs, and nothing on the mind – How Silvan Dillier pulls the peloton alone for hours on end

Not long until the break will be climbing again, with La Hoppe just 5km away.

140KM TO GO

The 6 at the front lead the chasers by 1:10, and the peloton by 3:15.

Flynn has been joined by Kmínek and Renard-Haquin, but the three are in no-man’s land for now, 1:45 ahead of the peloton but still 1:15 behind the leaders.

The 6 riders leading the race.

Time to run errands in the peloton, with riders taking comfort breaks, bidons and feeds. It’s all calm, and the break’s lead is allowed to go up to over two and a half minutes.

150KM TO GO

The peloton has sat up, giving the lead group an advantage of 1:30. The chasers still have ground to make up, with Flynn one minute behind them, and Renard-Haquin and Kmínek 1:15 behind.

Flynn’s teammate Renard-Haquin has jumped out the peloton along with Burgos’ Vojtěch Kmínek, but the rest of the group is happy to let them go.

Sean Flynn is the Picnic rider chasing the leaders, and has about 30 seconds to make up.

Now things are at last settling in the peloton. The bunch is spread across the road and no more moves are being made.

Picnic-PostNL are especially active, and have one man in solo pusruit of the break.

It’s far from settled yet in the peloton. Attacks are still being fired off the front.

They have joined up to them, so we have a new lead group of 6 riders.

Stan Dewulf, Luke Durbridge and Sven Erik Bystrøm have formed a new chase group, and are about to join the leaders.

The powerful duo of Edoardo Affini and Jan Tratnik formed to try and join the leading trio, but the peloton were alert to the danger they posed and brought them back.

160KM TO GO

Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ), Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5) and Michiel Lambrecht (Team Flanders – Baloise) have 30 seconds now. The peloton hasn’t sat up yet, but their hoped-for status as break of the day is looking promising.

The trio’s lead continues to grow, it’s now at nearly 30 seconds.

This move is looking promising, with their lead growing. UAE and Picnic-PostNL tried to cover the move with Julius Johansen and Bjorn Koerdt respectively, but both are back in the peloton.

170KM TO GO

Bastien Tronchon, Michiel Lambrecht and Nickolas Zukowsky are the latest to try their luck, and have a lead of about ten seconds.

That’s the climbs done for a while. There are 16 in total today, but the remaining 15 are all condensed within the final 130km.

The five riders have been reabsorbed into the peloton.

KATTEBERG

Time for some cobbles! The riders are climbing the first berg of the day.

We have a first DNF to report – Fabio Jakobsen, who also had to pull out of Ronde Van Brugges earlier this week.

Those riders have been joined by a sixth, Henri-François Renard-Haquin, and lead the peloton by a slender margin of just a few seconds.

Those five riders are: Artem Shmidt, Roel van Sintmaartensdijk, Alexys Brunel, Dylan Vandenstorme and Alexandre Mayer.

A new group of five has formed, and lead the peloton by a few seconds.

Five more riders briefly got a gap, but they too have been caught.

The attempt earlier of the quartet featuring Marco Haller to escape from the peloton.

190KM TO GO

So there’s still no breakaway formed at the front of the race. This is the kind of intense day classic that doesn’t allow for simply any old rider to get up the road.

Affini has been brought back.

Visma’s Edoardo Affini is the latest to try an attack.

The four attackers have been brought back and the race is all together again.

Those four riders are Marco Haller, Kamil Małecki, Filip Maciejuk and Milan Lanhove.

200KM TO GO

No breakaway has formed yet, but four riders are trying to get up the road.

Van der Poel at the start.

The weather is always a crucial factor in the Belgian classics, and right now the skies are grey – but no rain has materialised. The forecast suggests there’s a chance that might change later in the day.

There have been some tweaks to the route this year, with extra ascents of both the Oude Kwaremont and Karnemelkbeekstraat (aka the E3 Col) added.

E3 Saxo Classic 2026 route

OFFICIAL START

And they’re off!

There’s one non-starter who was supposed to be taking part today – Lotto’s Luca Van Boven.

Already underway is stage 5 of Volta a Catalunya, which you can also follow with us.

Volta a Catalunya stage 5 LIVE: Race falls the pieces on first climb as break looks to establish itself

The riders have departed Harelbeke football stadium and begun the neutralised section, which is only 3km today. They’ll be racing imminently!

Mathieu van der Poel with his Alpecin teammates at the start.

Before the race gets going, have a read of our full run-down of the main men to keep an eye on today.

Tadej Pogačar has changed E3 Saxo Classic’s status but it remains the best Flanders form guide – A closer look at the contenders for Friday’s race

At least on paper, Mads Pedersen is the biggest threat to Van der Poel’s title defence. Pedersen is another rider with question marks about his fitness, following the crash that kept him out of action for several weeks. But whereas Van der Poel faded towards the end of Milan-Sanremo, he was resurgent, and managed to sprint for fourth place.

The headline name on the startlist is Mathieu van der Poel, who’s going for three consecutive E3 titles, following his long-range solo victories in both 2024 and 2025. Victory in a similar way at Omloop Nieuwsblad suggests he’s got the legs to do the same again this year – but how well has he managed to recover from his crash at Milan-Sanremo?

After Wednesday’s Ronde Van Brugges kicked off the Flemish ‘Holy Week’, this is where the cobbled classics season starts to get really hard. There are a lot more climbs on the menu today, in a race that’s considered to be the closest in proximity to the Tour of Flanders due to its difficulty.

Hello and welcome to the 2026 E3 Saxo Classic!