  Predicting the magnetic field within an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection
(CME) well before its arrival at Earth is one of the most important issues in
space weather research. In this article, we compare the intrinsic flux rope
type, i.e. the CME orientation and handedness during eruption, with the in situ
flux rope type for 20 CME events that have been uniquely linked from Sun to
Earth through heliospheric imaging. Our study shows that the intrinsic flux
rope type can be estimated for CMEs originating from different source regions
using a combination of indirect proxies. We find that only 20% of the events
studied match strictly between the intrinsic and in situ flux rope types. The
percentage rises to 55% when intermediate cases (where the orientation at the
Sun and/or in situ is close to 45{\deg}) are considered as a match. We also
determine the change in the flux rope tilt angle between the Sun and Earth. For
the majority of the cases, the rotation is several tens of degrees, whilst 35%
of the events change by more than 90{\deg}. While occasionally the intrinsic
flux rope type is a good proxy for the magnetic structure impacting Earth, our
study highlights the importance of capturing the CME evolution for space
weather forecasting purposes. Moreover, we emphasize that determination of the
intrinsic flux rope type is a crucial input for CME forecasting models.
