The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad kicks off the cobbled Classics season on Saturday, with Ian Stannard (Team Sky) rolling out as defending champion.

Raising the curtain to the high-octane cobblestone action to come, the race is the first chance to judge the form of the big hitters set to face off at the Tour of Flanders (April 5) and Paris-Roubaix (April 12).

Some of the key climbs from the Tour of Flanders feature on the Omloop route, including the Taaienberg, Valkenberg and Molenberg, alongside former Ronde favourite, the Muur.

A typically Flandrian profile awaits, with 11 climbs in all and ten cobbled sections meaning the winner is likely to come from a select group of Classics specialists, with Stannard beating Greg van Avermaet in a two-up sprint to claim victory last year.

Who is likely to feature in the finale this time out? A strong line-up is set to roll out for the 200.2km race, including Stannard’s Sky team-mate, Sir Bradley Wiggins. We have picked out five riders of the top contenders over the following pages.