E3 Saxo Classic 2026 again looks like one of the clearest tests of cobbled Classics form before the Tour of Flanders. The route remains centred on the familiar Flemish climbs and sectors around Harelbeke, which means this is far more than a warm-up race. It stands on its own as one of the most important spring one-day races, while still telling us a great deal about who is ready for what comes next.
That is what makes the team picture so interesting. E3 is hard enough that one big leader is not always enough on his own. The strongest squads usually need support in the right places, secondary options when the race splits early, and enough experience to handle the constant pressure of Flemish roads. If you want the route context first, the Men’s Ronde van Vlaanderen 2026 route guide gives a useful wider frame for how this part of spring works.
Alpecin-Premier Tech
Mathieu van der Poel is the centre of gravity here, and the team is built exactly as you would expect around that. Tobias Bayer, Tibor Del Grosso, Silvan Dillier, Michael Gogl, Edward Planckaert and Oscar Riesebeek give Alpecin a very strong supporting cast for a race that rewards both control and selective aggression.
Van der Poel’s E3 record already tells you how naturally this race suits him, and the team around him is experienced enough to keep him insulated until the decisive phase. Del Grosso is the interesting secondary name. He is not the leader on a day like this, but he gives Alpecin another rider who can stay present late and keep pressure on rival teams if Van der Poel wants to force the race hard before the final selection.
Photo Credit: GettyBahrain Victorious
Matej Mohoric is still the obvious focal point, with Zak Erzen, Kamil Gradek, Alec Segaert, Daniel Skerl, Oliver Stockwell and Attila Valter around him. Mohoric has a decent E3 history without yet turning it into a defining result, so this is a race where a big ride would still add something to his cobbled record.
Segaert adds real interest because he gives Bahrain another rider who can handle the race shape well. That matters if Mohoric wants to race on instinct and from distance, which is often the version of him that works best in Flemish one-day races.
Decathlon CMA CGM Team
Oliver Naesen is still the big reference point here in terms of race history, while Stefan Bissegger, Cees Bol, Pierre Gautherat, Tobias Lund Andresen, Stan Dewulf and Daan Hoole create a line-up with more depth than first glance suggests.
Naesen remains the rider most likely to shape the team’s result, but Lund Andresen and Dewulf give them useful support if the race becomes more attritional than explosive. This feels like a team that may not have the outright top favourite, but has enough experience to stay relevant well into the final hour.
EF Education-EasyPost
Kasper Asgreen is the obvious headline here and one of the more interesting riders in the whole race, given his previous E3 win and his long-standing fit for this type of route. Vincenzo Albanese, Mikkel Honoré, Max Walker, Matthias Schwarzbacher, Colby Simmons and Michael Valgren give EF a useful mix of cobbled know-how and support options.
Asgreen is the team’s clearest route to a major result, but Valgren and Honoré both add value in the kind of long selective race where numbers can matter late. EF do not have the same top-end collective authority as Alpecin or Lidl-Trek here, but they do have a team capable of making the race awkward.
Groupama-FDJ United
Romain Grégoire is the name that lifts the team’s ceiling, with Thibaud Gruel, Axel Huens, Johan Jacobs, Valentin Madouas, Clément Russo and Bastien Tronchon around him. Grégoire has the kind of punch and race craft that can translate well here, while Madouas gives the team an older, more measured card if the day becomes tactical.
This feels like a squad with options rather than one rigid leader. Grégoire is the rider with the highest upside, but Madouas still makes sense as a rider who can grind through a difficult Flemish race and emerge in the second group of contenders.
INEOS Grenadiers
INEOS bring a very interesting mix: Kim Heiduk, Magnus Sheffield, Artem Shmidt, Ben Swift, Joshua Tarling, Ben Turner and Sam Watson. There is no single obvious headline favourite in the Van der Poel or Pedersen mould, but this is still a strong team for a race that may reward depth as much as star power.
Sheffield and Turner are probably the most naturally relevant names for the race shape, while Tarling adds a different kind of horsepower that can still matter in positioning and sector control. This is the sort of team that could end up stronger than expected simply because they have several riders who can survive deep into the race rather than one all-in leader.
Lidl-Trek
Mads Pedersen is one of the biggest names in the race and the team around him looks very strong. Søren Kragh Andersen, Mathias Norsgaard, Tim Torn Teutenberg, Max Walscheid, Mathias Vacek and Otto Vergaerde give Lidl-Trek one of the deepest and most flexible Classics squads in the field.
Pedersen has already shown he can podium here, and Vacek in particular adds another rider who can be decisive in the late race. This is one of the teams most capable of matching Alpecin rider for rider. If the race becomes selective from a long way out, Lidl-Trek have enough quality to keep sending cards forward rather than simply reacting.
Lotto-Intermarché
Jenno Berckmoes, Vito Braet, Sébastien Grignard, Matys Grisel, Jonas Rutsch, Luca Van Boven and Roel van Sintmaartensdijk make up a team with some useful depth, but not quite the same elite ceiling as the strongest WorldTour squads.
Berckmoes and Grisel are the names that stand out most if the race turns selective and opportunistic. This looks more like a team aiming for a visible ride and a strong top-10 than one built around a realistic winning favourite.
Movistar Team
Roger Adrià, Jon Barrenetxea, Filip Maciejuk, Carlos Canal, Iván García Cortina, Gonzalo Serrano and Albert Torres give Movistar a line-up that is quite well suited to a difficult one-day race, even if it does not have the single standout favourite of the top teams. García Cortina remains the obvious reference point.
Movistar’s strength here is versatility. They can race for a more controlled result through García Cortina, but they also have enough aggressive riders to get involved earlier if they decide the best chance is to make the race more chaotic.
NSN Cycling Team
Biniam Girmay is the obvious leader, with Lewis Askey, Guillaume Boivin, Matis Louvel, Nadav Raisberg, Tom Van Asbroeck and Floris Van Tricht around him. Girmay remains one of the riders who can still be dangerous here even if the race is very hard, because his finishing speed from a reduced group stays a real asset.
The team around him is not the deepest in the race, but it is experienced enough to keep him alive into the business end if he has the legs. Askey is the secondary name worth watching because this sort of race can suit him if he gets freedom.
Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
Gianni Vermeersch, Jarrad Drizners, Arne Marit, Jan Tratnik, Mick van Dijke, Tim van Dijke and Laurence Pithie make this one of the more intriguing teams on the start list. There is no Tadej Pogačar here, but there is a lot of Flemish-race talent.
Pithie and Vermeersch stand out most strongly, with Tratnik still a major asset in a hard Classics race. This is a team that could easily outperform its headline value because it has several riders who understand exactly how this race is won or lost. Pithie in particular feels like a rider who could make a real leap in a race of this type.
Soudal Quick-Step
Jasper Stuyven, Casper Pedersen, Pepijn Reinderink, Dylan van Baarle, Dries van Gestel, Ayco Bastiaens and Warre Vangheluwe make for a deeply experienced Flemish line-up. Van Baarle and Stuyven are the names that matter most here, with Stuyven bringing the better E3 record and Van Baarle offering a high ceiling if his level is there.
This is not the old Quick-Step block that used to arrive as overwhelming favourites for every cobbled race, but it is still a team with a lot of road knowledge and a strong ability to read the pattern of the day.
Team Jayco-AlUla
Michael Matthews is the headline rider, with Amaury Capiot, Dries De Bondt, Dries De Pooter, Robert Donaldson, Luke Durbridge and Jasha Sütterlin around him. Matthews remains a rider who can absolutely matter in a race like this if he is still there in a reduced front group late on.
Durbridge and Sütterlin also add a lot of practical cobbled-race value. Jayco may not be the team to force the deepest selection, but they can stay present and then rely on Matthews’ finishing speed if the race comes back together slightly.
Team Picnic PostNL
Fabio Jakobsen, Frits Biesterbos, Timo de Jong, Bjoern Koerdt, Oliver Peace, Henri-François Haquin and Frank van den Broek make this a more unusual line-up for E3. Jakobsen is obviously a huge name, but this is not a race that naturally suits him in the same way as the flatter northern one-day events.
That makes Picnic one of the harder teams to place. If the race is ridden conservatively for long enough they could still come away with something, but on paper this does not look like one of the most naturally threatening squads for the expected route shape.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
Christophe Laporte is the key name, with Edoardo Affini, Owain Doull, Filippo Fiorelli, Per Strand Hagenes, Timo Kielich and Axel Zingle around him. Laporte has previous podium-level E3 form and is still one of the riders most naturally suited to this race if he is close to his best.
This team lacks Wout van Aert, which changes the overall picture, but it still has enough class to matter. Hagenes and Zingle give Team Visma | Lease a Bike interesting secondary cards, especially if they want to avoid making the whole day about Laporte alone.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG
Florian Vermeersch, Rui Oliveira, Mikkel Bjerg, Luca Giaimi, Rune Herregodts, Nils Politt and António Morgado make for a very serious cobbled-race line-up even without a single undisputed superstar. Politt and Morgado are the names that stand out most, while Vermeersch and Herregodts add plenty of support.
This is one of the strongest collective teams in the race. It may not have the singular weight of Van der Poel or Pedersen, but it has enough riders who can still be there late that UAE can race aggressively and keep options open.
Uno-X Mobility
Jonas Abrahamsen, Sven Erik Bystrøm, William Blume Levy, Markus Hoelgaard, Storm Ingebrigtsen, Sakarias Koller Løland and Rasmus Tiller make this a proper Classics-minded team. Tiller is the standout name for this route, while Abrahamsen gives them another rider who can animate the day if it gets tough early.
Uno-X do not have the top-end prestige of the biggest teams, but they are exactly the kind of squad that can make E3 more difficult than favourites would like. If the race becomes attritional from distance, they could have multiple riders still in the mix.
XDS Astana Team
Alberto Bettiol, Yevgeniy Fedorov, Arjen Livyns, Alessandro Romele, Gleb Syritsa, Mike Teunissen and Davide Toneatti give Astana one of the more interesting second-tier line-ups in the race. Bettiol and Teunissen both have meaningful E3 histories, and Livyns adds a local-style fit for the terrain.
This is not the team most likely to dominate, but it does have enough race intelligence and prior knowledge to take advantage if the main favourites start watching one another too closely.
Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
Aimé De Gendt, Frederik Frison, Xandro Meurisse, Kamil Malecki, Brent Van Moer, Fred Wright and Nickolas Zukowsky make this a team with some real one-day capability. Wright is the obvious rider to watch, while De Gendt’s prior E3 experience gives them another useful point of reference.
They are outsiders for the win, but not outsiders for visibility. This is the sort of line-up that can animate the race and still place a rider in a meaningful late group if things break correctly.
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
Matteo Trentin, Robin Froidevaux, Marco Haller, Arthur Kluckers, Fabian Lienhard, Aivaras Mikutis and Rick Pluimers give Tudor a very experienced and quite well-balanced E3 team. Trentin’s E3 record is strong enough to make him the natural focal point, while Haller and Lienhard bring more support for a demanding one-day race.
This is not a team that should be ignored. Trentin is not the youngest card in the race, but he remains one of the riders who understands this style of event deeply and can still read it very well.
Burgos Burpellet BH
Clément Alleno, Rodrigo Álvarez, Hugo de la Calle, Eric Fagundez, Vojtech Kminek, Alexandre Mayer and Jambaljamts Sainbayar make this one of the more development-oriented teams in the field. There is no clear E3 specialist here, so a high result would need a very open race.
Their most realistic route to relevance is aggression, getting riders into moves and hoping the bigger teams hesitate.
Team Flanders-Baloise
Siebe Deweirdt, Michiel Lambrecht, Milan Lanhove, Elias Maris, Senne Thonnon, Vincent Van Hemelen and Dylan Vandenstorme make up a young Belgian squad that will know the roads well but still comes in as an outsider.
This is the kind of team that can still have a visible day through breakaways and local motivation, even if a top result would be a genuine surprise.
Photo Credit: ASO-Charly LopezTeam TotalEnergies
Anthony Turgis is the obvious key name here, with Sandy Dujardin, Rayan Boulahoite, Alexys Brunel, Nicola Marcerou, Thomas Gachignard and Baptiste Vadic alongside him. Turgis has the profile to matter in a race like this and remains one of the better outsiders in the field.
If TotalEnergies want to make the race count, it likely has to be through Turgis being aggressive and racing before the pure favourites settle into their expected pattern.
Unibet Rose Rockets
Ronan Augé, Hartthijs de Vries, Owen Geleijn, Jelle Johannink, Lander Loockx, Sergio Meris and Adam Toupalik make up a line-up that feels more oriented towards presence than genuine contention. There is no obvious headline E3 contender here, which makes a big result difficult to project.
Still, Belgian one-day races can reward aggression and visibility, and this is one of the teams most likely to try to insert itself into the day that way.
Photo Credit: GettyWhich teams look strongest on paper?
Alpecin-Premier Tech still look like the team with the clearest race-winning package because Mathieu van der Poel is the strongest individual reference point and the support group around him is very solid. Lidl-Trek are close behind on depth and balance, while UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Team Visma | Lease a Bike look like the teams most capable of making the race strategically complicated for the favourites.
The teams to watch most closely
If you want the shortest shortlist, it is this:
- Alpecin-Premier Tech
- Lidl-Trek
- UAE Team Emirates-XRG
- Team Visma | Lease a Bike
- Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
- Soudal Quick-Step
That is the group with the strongest mix of star power, Classics depth and tactical range for a race that usually rewards all three. If you are following the wider build-up to the cobbled Monuments, this also sits naturally alongside your Tour of Flanders coverage, the Men’s Ronde van Vlaanderen 2026 route guide, and the broader E3 Saxo Classic archive.
