The E3 Saxo Classic is the dress rehearsal for the Tour of Flanders, run over many of the same cobbled climbs in the week before the Ronde. First held in 1958 around Harelbeke, it climbs the Oude Kwaremont, the Paterberg and the Taaienberg, which is why riders and fans call it the little Tour of Flanders. Tom Boonen won it five times, more than anyone, in the years when he ruled the cobbles. The race is short, sharp and uncompromising, and the winner is almost always a genuine Flanders favourite. In 2026 Mathieu van der Poel took it again. It is the clearest preview of who will be strong on the biggest cobbled day of all.