Chartres > Tours 214km The 118th edition of this grand, old race. Since the introduction of the gravel back in 2018, there’s only been one sprint finish, which was when Démare won in 2022. The rest has either been won be a solo rider, or from a small group sprint. It doesn’t look the hardest race in the world, but the distance, time of year, and punctures all play their part in making this a tough race for sprint teams to control. What will happen this year?

Vignola > San Luca 216km One of the few races that Tadej Pogačar hasn’t won. The world champion (it’s nice to be able to eventually write that) lines up here for the 4th time, his previous results are DNF, 2nd and 2nd, but he did drop everyone apart from Vingegaard in the second stage of the Tour de France earlier this year. It’s his first opportunity to pull on the rainbow jersey for a race, is he going to put on a show? 

Ozalj > Karlovac 167km It looks like a sprint, but the attackers have a chance in the final 10km. 

Krk > Labin 161km This was meant to be the big GC day, but the weather Gods have already had their say. Brandon McNulty has a commanding lead on GC, he’s at least 30s ahead of his GC rivals, taking that type of time back on him will be incredibly difficult. That leaves us with a fight for the stage win, and this is the same finish which was used last year when Mohorič won the uphill sprint ahead of Sheffield and Aular. 

Haltern Am See > Munster 202km Just the 18th edition of this race, it’s a baby in comparison to most races. Last year, it was raced in brutal conditions with rain and wind, and a breakaway took the win. This year, the weather is much better, and it should be a big sprint.

Otočac > Opatija 154km This stage is identical to last year’s third stage, that day, Parisini took the win from Andresen and Mohorič, the front group only had 28 riders in it come the finish. The profile doesn’t look that hard, but the final climb crests with just 4km to go, so it’s very hard for dropped riders to get back to the front.

Biograd na Moru > Novalja 115km Just 115km in length, which will probably be covered in just under 2 and a half hours, this stage will fly by. Three bonus sprints that are all well placed, there’s a chance a GC rider will gain a few seconds, but we’ll have to wait and see. There are two late climbs to test out the sprinters, I like the look of this stage.

Binche > Binche 198km The nights are drawing in, and you know what that means, the cycling season is almost at an end, but not quite yet. Binche – Chimay – Binche offers the classics riders one last shot at taking a win, a chance of heading off on their holidays with a smile. The route is the same as previous years, with almost five laps of the tricky finishing circuit in Binche.

Vodice > Sinj 163km The Cro race kicks off with a sprint stage, but the quick men do need to get over the climb which crests with 50km. This is a race where bonus seconds are vital, there’s three sprint points throughout the race, I would expect the first one to be fought out by the peloton, before letting a break scoop up the next two.

Winterthur > Zürich 274km He’s won just about everything in this sport, can Pogačar win his first world road race title? If he does, all that’s left is Sanremo, Roubaix and the Vuelta.