Jasper Philipsen and Christophe Laporte top favorites in the last rehearsal for the High Mass

In Waregem, the finish is in the shadow of the Rainbow Stadium, home to Zulte Waregem.

The dress rehearsal for the Tour of Flanders will be completed without some of the main actors. The three protagonists of the E3 Saxo Classic, Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel, are not there, a unique opportunity for the others to put this race on their palmares.

Christophe Laporte, who received Gent-Wevelgem as a gift from Wout van Aert, is also one of the top favorites in Waregem. At Jumbo-Visma he is joined by Tiesj Benoot and Olav Kooij. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), winner of the Classic Brugge-De Panne, is another top favourite, but the list of candidate winners is long. Soudal Quick-Step presents former world champion Julian Alaphilippe, Davide Ballerini and Tim Merlier. Sprinters Arnaud De Lie and Caleb Ewan are once again present at Lotto Dstny. Greg Van Avermaet and Oliver Naesen have to uphold the honor at AG2R Citroën. Tom Pidcock, Ben Turner, Magnus Sheffield and Filippo Ganna form a strong block of INEOS Grenadiers, also Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Tim Wellens and Matteo Trentin (UAE), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-Easypost) , Michael Matthews (Jayco Alula), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), John Degenkolb (DSM), Alexander Kristoff (UNO-X), Stefan Kung and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Sep Vanmarcke (Israel-Premier Tech) from the party .

In any case, there will be a new name on the honor roll. In addition to Van der Poel (winner in 2019 and last year), Jelle Wallays (2015), Yves Lampaert (2017 and 2018) and Dylan van Baarle (2021) are also absent.