The 25 teams that competed in the race were:[3] E3 Harelbeke comes early in the year so riders who have performed well already in the season are considered highly.

Peter Sagan (Cannondale) returned to E3 after a podium finish in 2013 he was considered one of the three main contenders along with Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) and Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step).

[5] The 212 km day started with high paced racing where many riders tried to form a break but were caught by the peloton again.

They were: Maxime Daniel (Ag2r–La Mondiale), Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar), Florian Sénéchal (Cofidis), Jay Thomson (MTN–Qhubeka) and Laurens De Vreese (Wanty–Groupe Gobert).

With 45km to go Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing Team) was part of a high-speed crash involving Michel Kreder (Garmin–Sharp) where they both abandoned.