Kristen Faulkner, Cédrine Kerbaol, Nina Berton, Alexis Magner, Noemi Rüegg, and Babette van der Wolf will race the Flemish Monument for EF Education-Oatly.

Kasper Asgreen, Mikkel Honoré, Luke Lamperti, Matthias Schwarzbacher, Colby Simmons, Michael Valgren, and Max Walker will take on the cobbles for EF Education-EasyPost.

Every berg on the course is going to be packed with flag-waving fans, as the people of Flanders march out into their fields to watch the peloton hammer up the cobbled tractor tracks that their race made famous. Since 1913, the hills of Flanders have been the arena for one of cycling’s great races. On climbs like the Koppenberg, Oude Kwaremont, and Paterberg, Flandriens are born.

Kasper Asgreen is one – a racer who does best in the worst conditions, fighting out in the wind and muck to stay in the front echelons on wind-swept concrete roads, before blasting up cobbled climbs. He loves to attack when races get hard. Kasper won De Ronde in 2021. He will captain EF Education-EasyPost in this year’s edition alongside his fellow Dane Michael Valgren, who is going into De Ronde in flying form after his big win at Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this spring.

Kasper and Michael’s teammates, Noemi Rüegg and Kristen Faulkner, will captain EF Education-Oatly in Flanders. Kristen is making her European season debut at De Ronde. The American champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist is coming off a win at the Pan American time trial championships and excited to test herself in one of her favorite races.

Noemi has only gotten stronger since her Tour Down Under victory at the start of 2026. She just finished second at Sanremo Women and has her sights set on the top step of the podium at the second Monument of the year.

Read our captains’ thoughts before the flag drops this Sunday.

I had a little bit of illness after Paris-Nice, but the body has been getting better and better since then, so I am really looking forward to Sunday. Racing Flanders is always special. There is a really nice flow to it with all of the climbs and the time between the climbs. It just has a really good rhythm to it. It’s the culmination of several weeks of racing here in Belgium that come to an end with one last big bang.

De Ronde is quite a bit longer than all of the other races. The physical challenge becomes so much bigger with the extra distance after 200 kilometers.

Winning Flanders was huge. It was one of those dream-come-true moments that you don’t get to experience often in a career, so it’s something that I will always cherish. Everywhere I go in Flanders, people will see me and say, “I saw you win Flanders in ‘21.” People really remember it. It is a part of history here in Flanders, so if you are on that list of winners, people don’t forget. I think for us, our best cards are Michael and myself. We need to try to get in a situation where we can get up the road. We’re going to chat about that and see how we can do that best.

The plan was for me to come to Europe and start with the Ardennes. I could tell my fitness was really good from my training and my performance at the Pan-Ams. I told our DS Carmen I was coming back to Europe and she said, “If your fitness is good, why don’t we use it? Do you want to come to Flanders?” My first thought was, “Wow, that’s a fast turnaround!” but I think it will be good to get back into road racing before the Ardennes and just get to spend time with the team. I really miss my teammates. And of course I love Flanders. It’s such a fun race. It has a lot of the same course elements every year so there’s a familiarity to it.

We have some really strong classics riders on our team. We saw that Noemi is in really good shape at Sanremo Women but I also think we have strong classics riders that can sneak their way to the front. They might not be on the radar in the same way that Longo Borghini and Vollering and Niewiadoma are, but I think that gives us an opportunity to be there while being a little sneaky about it. If we can play our cards well and be really smart, then we can surprise the field.

I have had a good spring, so I'm pretty confident that I can do a good result. I just have to hope that luck is on my side. I'm nervous. It’s my second Monument this year. I was good in the first one, Sanremo, and hopefully I can continue this trend. The longer the race is, the better for me. A long, hard race is normally my specialty. Hopefully, I'm strong enough to make a difference. There are riders who are stronger than me, but it's a Monument and anything can happen.

It’s a hard race to read. I think that the peloton has finally figured out that if the big guys go early, don’t follow, because then you just go over your limit, but if you create a chase group, you can actually bring them back, because they are human after all. I think that is my chance. I think that I will have to make my move after 200 kilometers. It depends how the race is ridden, but I think I will have to wait a bit. I won’t be afraid to get a bit of wind down my nose. I think I’m strong enough to do that.

Flanders is epic. That day, the whole atmosphere around the race, before the race and after the race is just crazy. You see it building up now. On today’s café ride, people kept saying, “Good luck on Sunday, good luck on Sunday.” Everyone knows that this Sunday is the Holy Grail.

It is always exciting to be in Belgium, because the races are really different from the Australian and Italian races we did so far. I am really looking forward to it. We have a really strong team here. I can't wait for the cobbles and all the little climbs. I really like these races. They are so unpredictable. Obviously, you go into the race with a plan as a team, but then it always comes out different on the road. You have to stay very flexible in the race and be very focused in the moment. It’s chaotic and hectic. It’s a nice length and hard enough to make a selection. 


You have to embrace it and adapt to every situation. As a team, we go through the ups and downs of the race together.

We’re going to have to be careful with the wind. There will be a strong tailwind in the beginning, so it will be crazy fast. It will be super important to stay together with the team, be in front and be out of trouble.

The Koppenberg will be a crucial point. We have to be there in front. From there on, it's just one thing after the other. We will just have to follow our instincts. Hopefully, it will be a smaller group coming into the finish. In this race, it's never wrong to be up the road, because so much can happen and it’s hard to control. If you can get away in the final 40 kilometers, I think it's always good. You just have to feel it in the moment.