2016 E3 Harelbeke
The 2016 E3 Harelbeke (officially the Record Bank E3 Harelbeke) was a one-day cycling classic that took place on Friday 25 March 2016. It was the 59th edition of the E3 Harelbeke; it was the second one-day race of the 2016 UCI World Tour and the first of the cobbled classics.
| 2016 UCI World Tour, race 6 of 28 | |||||||||||||
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Actor Wim Opbrouck portrayed on the official poster | |||||||||||||
| Race details | |||||||||||||
| Dates | 25 March 2016 | ||||||||||||
| Stages | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Distance | 206.4 km (128.3 mi) | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 4h 49' 34" | ||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||
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The race started and finished in Harelbeke, covering a distance of 206.4 kilometres (128.3 mi). The principal difficulty in the race came from the fifteen climbs of hills in the Flemish Ardennes. These mainly came in the second half of the race. The principal favourites for victory were Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek–Segafredo).
The race was won by Michał Kwiatkowski (Team Sky). He formed a breakaway 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the finish with Sagan and, despite hard work from the Etixx–Quick-Step team and from Cancellara, they came to the finish together. Kwiatkowski comfortably won the sprint and Sagan took second place. Kwiatkowski's teammate Ian Stannard won the group sprint for third place, eleven seconds behind.