Racing

Tour of Flanders 2014: television schedule

Where and when to find broadcast coverage of the 98th Ronde Van Vlaanderen

The Tour of Flanders will be held for the 98th time tomorrow (Sunday April 6) and you’ll be able to watch it live on British Eurosport and Sky Sports 4.

The Ronde Van Vlaanderen is arguably the toughest and most prestigious one-day race in professional cycling and three of the best riders in the world will start as favourites to win.

Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Fabian Cancellara (Trek), and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) will go wheel-to-wheel on a brutal 259km course littered with cobbled climbs.

Tom Boonen began the season in Qatar at his brilliant best, but the Flandrian has suffered on and off the bike since. Can he claim a record fourth victory in his homeland’s biggest race? pic: OPQS/Tim De Waele

Speaking at a press conference, Boonen, three times a winner of the Ronde, and the Belgian leader of Belgium’s biggest team, described the race as heroic.

“Given my circumstances the past two weeks I will be happy if I can arrive with the first group and I have a good sensation, and I still have next week at Paris-Roubaix. But, in my mind, I really want to win,” he said.

Boonen missed Milan-San Remo with a family bereavement and injured his thumb at E3 Harelbeke. With expectation mounting in his home country, the Flandrian denied that he was under pressure.

“I never have stress,” told journalists. “You get the sense that the race is approaching, but never stress. Of course, Ronde van Vlaanderen has become so important, there is a sort of heroism around it and everyone wants to win it.”

Sir Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) will start his first Ronde since 2005 as a dark horse – a rider with the engine and innate class to upset the form book, should he fancy the job.

The 2012 Tour de France winner could also be tasked with supporting the British team’s Classics leader – Geraint Thomas. Despite a formidable line-up that also includes former Gent-Wevelgem winners, Bernie Eisel and Edvald Boasson Hagen, Boonen’s OPQS squad are likely to start as favourites with the bookies rather than Team Sky.

World cyclo-cross champion, Zdenek Stybar, and recently crowned Dwars Door Vlaanderen champion, Niki Terpstra, who finished second at E3 Harelbeke, will feature among the formidable line-up fielded by the Belgian super team.

Stybar said his winter preparations had unfolded flawlessly, while Terpstra, who is enjoying his best season after claiming overall victory at the season-opening Tour of Qatar as well as at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, and more recently a top five finish at the Three Days of De Panne, said he would face De Ronde with confidence.

“I am ready for Sunday,” he said. “This makes me confident for sure, but also gives some pressure because I’d like to prove it isn’t just one day I am good, but I am good the whole spring. This is the biggest one, at Flanders. So, I want to take advantage of my good shape.”

Tune in to Sky Sports 4 from 11.30am or British Eurosport from 12pm on Sunday April 6 for live coverage of the race. Both channels will show highlights, too. See below for full details.

Follow this link to read our in-depth preview of De Ronde. Check back tomorrow for a full report of the action.

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