Inaugurated as Harelbeke-Anvers-Harelbeke in 1958, this fascinating race became known as the E3 Prijs Harelbeke from 1970 until last year when it was renamed E3 BinckBank Classic. It is usually held in late March, the week before the Tour of Flanders, providing passionate and exciting performances to the fans, by some tremendous champions.
The greatest all-time winner of this race across the Flemish Ardennes is an enfant du pays: Tom Boonen imprinted his name five times on the roll of honor, with four consecutive victories from 2004 to 2007 and the last one in 2012. His closest rival was the Swiss Fabian Cancellara, another excellent interpreter of the E3, with three victories after attacking solo in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Bunch sprints and small group battles
The Belgian opened his winning streak in 2004 ahead of the Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu and Latvian Andris Naudužs, in one of the only seven bunch sprints in the history of E3. The first time this happened was in 1961, in the fourth edition, when Arthur Decabooter won from Frans Aerenhouts and André Noyelle – all Belgian riders. Then in 1980 with the Dutchman Jan Raas in 1982, and 1992 with the two Belgians Jan Bogaert and Johan Museeuw, in 1993 with the Italian Mario Cipollini, and finally in 2012 once again with Boonen.
Thirty-four times in 62 races, the winner was decided after a select group sprint (with sizes ranging from two to ten riders) starting from the very first edition in 1958 with the Belgian Armand Desmet – ahead of his compatriots Lucien Demunster and Briek Schotte – to the last in 2019 with the Czech Zdeněk Štybar. Boonen won in this way in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In 2005 it was a battle between seven riders, in 2006 a duel with Italy’s future UCI World Champion Alessandro Ballan, and in 2007 after battling another four riders (Cancellara being the first of the defeated). The second greatest all-time winner is the Belgian Rik Van Looy, who won the race three years in a row (from 1964 to 1966) after a small group sprint and again in 1969 with the satisfaction of a solo arrival. The Dutchman Jan Raas won three years in a row with a two-man finish, a group sprint and a three-man finish. There are two other Belgian champions who also won twice: Eddy Planckaert, solo in 1987 and, in 1989 in a small group – followed by Johan Museeuw in a bunch sprint in 1992 then in a small group in 1998.
Curiously, both the longest edition in 1983, with the victory of the Belgian William Tackaert after 235km and the fastest edition in 2003 won by the Dutchman Steven de Jongh at an average of 45.9km/h ended with selected group sprints.
The solo winners
Fabian Cancellara was able to avenge his 2007 second place with three extraordinary victories, always crossing the line alone. In 2010 after a full gas attack just before the last km, anticipating Boonen himself and Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha, while in 2011 and 2013 he managed to complete two amazing breakaways, finishing with 1’ and 1'04" final gaps, something highly unusual among the 20 solo victories in the history of E3.
The first solo win was recorded in the second edition of the race, in 1959, with Norbert Kerckhove who anticipated his Belgian compatriots Jan Zagers and Norbert Van Tieghem by 2'05”. The victory by the greatest margin was in 1977 with the final 2'08'' gained by the German Dietrich Thurau (who was also the first foreign winner) over the Belgian Patrick Sercu. The most recent solo arrival was in 2018, with the Dutchman Niki Terpstra, 20 seconds ahead of local favourite (and his Quick-Step Floors teammate) Philippe Gilbert. Another Belgian, Andrei Tchmil, won solo twice, in 1994 and 2001.
15 winners of E3 and Tour of Flanders
E3 is nicknamed ‘The little Tour of Flanders’, and there are 15 riders who have won both races: Decabooter, Noël Foré, Van Looy (the only one to have won E3 Harelbeke before the Tour of Flanders), Roger De Vlaeminck, Walter Planckaert, Raas, Eric Vanderaerden, Eddy Planckaert, Museeuw, Tchmil, Peter van Petegem, Boonen, Cancellara, Peter Sagan and finally Terpstra. Eight of them succeeded in the same year: Foré in 1963, Planckaert in 1976, Raas in 1979, Museeuw in 1998, Van Petegem in 1999, Boonen in 2005, 2006 and 2012, Cancellara in 2010 and 2013, and Terpstra in 2018.
In the history of E3 winners there have also been eight UCI World Champions: Van Looy, Freddy Maertens, Raas, Cipollini, Museeuw, Boonen, Sagan and Michał Kwiatkowski; Raas (1980) and Boonen (2006) had the chance to win with the rainbow jersey on their shoulders.
There’s only one rider who has succeeded in winning the E3 and the Tour de France: Geraint Thomas. After his solo victory in the classic race in 2015, the Welshman claimed the yellow jersey in 2018 – something that even the legendary Eddy Merckx couldn’t manage: the five-time Tour winner finished third in 1971 and second in 1972.