The Ronde van Vlaanderen, or Tour of Flanders, is one of cycling’s five monuments, and is the most celebrated day of cycling in Belgium's cycling-mad northwest corner. 

The men race a 272.5 kilometer route beginning in Antwerp, and finishing with multiple ascents of infamous cobbled climbs en route to a flat drag race into Oudenaarde.

Kasper Asgreen won the 2021 edition of Tour of Flanders in a surprising two-up sprint against prerace favorite Mathieu Van Der Poel. The distance and intensity of the Tour of Flanders course has lent itself to a few surprises recently. 

Read on to discover four outsiders with a chance of winning the Tour of Flanders. 

Greg Van Avermaet

2021 marked Greg Van Avermaet’s fourth podium appearance at the Tour of Flanders. The perennial Belgian hope has yet to produce a victory, and many have written him off as past his prime. 

Van Avermaet has shown promising signs of life in 2022. He rode well in both Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars Door Vlaanderen, and surprised even himself with his third place finish at the season-opening Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. 

Van Avermaet may not be out of the running at the Ronde just yet.

Jasper Stuyven

Jasper Stuyven found his positioning great for the recent edition of Gent-Wevelgem, sprinting for the top step amidst Jumbo Visma’s Christophe Laporte, TotalEnergies’ Dries Van Gestel and eventual winner Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert’s Biniam Girmay. 

However, in the four-man sprint, Stuyven finished fourth, a disappointing result for a rider who normally packs a strong sprint. When Stuyven is on a good day, he can produce a big result, as evidenced by his 2021 Milan-Sanremo win. Stuyven has the pedigree of a monument winner, can he now produce a winning ride in his home monument?

Matej Mohorič

Coming off a fourth place finish at 2022 E3 Saxo Bank Classic and a huge win at Milan San-Remo with the assistance of a dropper post, Matej Mohorič is off to a flying start in 2022. 

His only prior finish at the Tour of Flanders was in 2019 where he rolled across the line in 41st place. The Ronde may not be a perfect parcours for the daredevil Slovenian, but if you give him an inch in the closing stages of a monument, he will take a mile. Should Mohorič sneak away in the finale, his competitors will have to quickly organize their chase effort.

Tiesj Benoot

Tiesj Benoot will have some added pressure on his shoulders now that Jumbo Visma team leader Wout van Aert will be unable to race. Benoot is an attacking rider who loves the punchy Flemish hills. Benoot is best suited for a solo escape, while Van Aert backs himself for a sprint. 

Benoot proved to be on top form, riding away with Mathieu van der Poel at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, but at the Tour of Flanders, he will have to figure out how to get rid of everybody before the finish line in Oudenaarde.