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While almost all the world's top Classics riders are in Belgium this weekend for 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, there's one glaring absentee in 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Peter Sagan (168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Bora-Hansgrohe). Some might breathe a sigh of relief at not having to work out how to beat the three-time world champion, but for 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Greg Van Avermaet (168澳洲5最新开奖结果:BMC Racing) it's the opposite.

Sagan won Kuurne last year and finished on the podium at the past two editions of Omloop, but has decided to plot his route to the spring differently this year, training at💎 altitude in Spain before resuming racing at Strade Bianche.

For Van Avermaet, who has beaten Sagan to the top step of those lastඣ two Omloop podiums, the 'opening weekend' remains an important step on his calendar, but he says his chances of a record third title are made harder – not easier – by his rival's absence.

"For me, it's not an advantage th𒁏at Peter is not here. I like to race with Peter. He opens up the race and rides with me full gas," Van Avermaet said at BMC's pre-race press conference in Sint-Martens-Latem on Friday.

"It's strange to say, but sometimes it's easier to have a guy like that next to you, rat🃏her than being the favourite everyone is looking at. So it's going to be more difficult, I think."

With wins at Omloop, E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem, and Paris♐-Roubaix last spring, Van Avermaet shook off the last remaining vestiges of his 'nearly man' reputation, and indeed he'll be a marked man. The theme of that 2017 Classics campaign was early aggression and open, selective racing, and Van Avermaet's hoping his new status doesn't change that.

"I hope everyone takes on the race," he said. "The p🐠arcours is there to do something. I think some guys have to try something because they're not strong enough for a sprint, so everyone will have different strategies.

"I hope we do kind of the same as last year – open races in the cl🐠assics are nicer for you guys and nicer 💝for me. Just race and don't think so much."

Muur-Bosberg

Van Avermaet has won the past two editions o💟f the Omloop, but for everyone, Saturday will be something of a voyage into the unknown given the dramatic changes to the parcours.

Having started and finished in Gent for the꧃ past decade, this year the race revives the much-loved old Tour of Flanders finale, featuring the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg in the finale. While some 35 kilometres separated the finish line from the final climb on the old course, th🀅e Muur-Bosberg combination leaves just a 12km run-in to Meerbeke after the last climb.

"It's harder, I think, and suits me better than last year. There are a few more climbs. The Muu🌳r is probably one of the hardest climbs in Flanders so there you can make the difference," said Van Avermaet, who has a more intimate knowledge than most of the closing staܫges.

"It's my training parcours. When I was younger and went riding in Flanders I would always do Haghoek-Leberg, and I'd always do Muur-Bosberg-home. That was my training lap. I never went over to the Kwaremont and Paterberg [tဣhe new Flanders finale –ed], so this has more of a connection for me. I'm really happy the Muur's back."

Van Avermaet remembers racing on the Muur and Bosberg in De R♉onde before the course was altered in 2012.

"I never won on that par♏cours because I was still young, or working for other guys," he said. "My friend Lawrence Naesen sent me some pictures the other day, he was looking back at Flanders 2011, and I was there riding for George Hincapie on the front before the Muur. I was helping the team at that moment and now🌃 I'm happy I can be a leader."

Van Avermaet is indee🌞d now a leader and also a big favourite for Omloop, as well as🌳 almost every one-day race he'll start this spring.

While main Classics period and the Monuments are still a few weeks away, he – unlike Sagan – sees the op🐼ening weekend as an indispensable part of that journey.

"In Belgium [in terms of prestige] you have the Tour of Flanders, and then I think behind that you have Het Nieuwsblad, on the same level as E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem. It's important because it's the first one and꧅ also it's WorldTour now, so that helps with the stature. But for a Belgian guy, it's almost in second place after De Ronde.

"I'm happy I'm sta🌊rting in this shape – my preparation has been perfect – and now it's time to let the legs talk and see how far I can go."