Mathieu van der Pol and Julien Alaphilippe are the biggest threats to his title in Sunday's Tour of Flanders, and the Belgian, who won Milan-San Remo in August, is one of the leading candidates for the final monument of the year.

While the French and Dutch rivals are his primary concerns, Van Aert is keenly aware that no rival should be ruled out.

"My motivation for De Ronde is very high. He had a very good leg in Ghent-Wevelgem last week.

"Our biggest rivals are Van der Pol and Alaphilippe, but last Sunday the likes of Alberto Bettiol, Stephan Kühn and Mads Pedersen also proved strong.

Van Aert looked to be one of the strongest competitors in Ghent-Wevelgem last weekend, but missed an important split in a very tactical finale and then finished in eighth place. He criticized van der Pol's tactics after the race, saying that his rival was racing to ensure that he would lose rather than win.

Alaphilippe will make his Tour of Flanders debut on Sunday and, despite his protests, is seen as the favorite to win. Van Aert last faced the Frenchman at the World Championships in Imola, where Alaphilippe took the rainbow stripe and he settled for second place.

Despite the mid-autumn moon, the weather forecast for Sunday was cold but dry. Van Aert, however, does not believe that good weather will make the race easier for the peloton.

"It remains one of the toughest classics on the calendar. If the weather is good, the peloton will race faster.

Van Aert will take on De Ronde without one of his key lieutenants, as Mike Tunissen was forced to withdraw due to illness. Tunissen was replaced by Bert-Jan Lindemann, who was joined by Maarten Weinants, Timo Roosen, Taco van der Hoorn, Pascal Ehnhorn, and Almun Jansen.