FLANDERS, Belgium — The men’s world champion, Mathieu van der Poel, crushed his rivals with a devastating long-range attack to claim his third Tour of Flanders.
In the women’s race, Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy came home first after outsprinting Poland’s Kasia Niewiadoma and Shirin van Anrooij of the Netherlands.
Dutch cyclist van der Poel, who now has five Monument titles to his name, produced a trademark brutal acceleration in the Koppenberg cobbled ascent, 45 kilometres from the finish, and never looked back as several riders had to step off their bikes.
The cycling calendar has five Monuments — Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Giro di Lombardia.
Van der Poel, the eighth man to win a record three Tours of Flanders, also won Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix last year, Reuters reported.
He will be the heavy favourite for the Flanders-Roubaix double when he rides in the ‘Queen of the Classics’ next Sunday.
Van der Poel, the first rider with five consecutive podium finishes on the Tour of Flanders, was in a class of his own in the Belgian rain in an event his rival, local favourite Wout van Aert, missed after sustaining injuries in the Dwars door Vlanderen one-day race on Wednesday.
The warm-up race was won by Matteo Jorgenson but the American cracked as he was chasing Van der Poel after the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider’s attack.
The Dutchman, the first rider with five consecutive podium finishes on the Tour of Flanders, was in a class of his own in the Belgian rain in an event Wout van Aert missed after sustaining injuries in the Dwars door Vlaanderen one-day race on Wednesday.
The warm-up race was won by Matteo Jorgenson but the American cracked as he was chasing Van der Poel after the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider’s attack.
Defending champion Tadej Pogacar did not take part in the race as he is focusing on a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double this season.
Pogacar completed his mastery of this year’s Volta a Catalunya, sprinting to a fourth stage win in the seven-stage race.
The Slovenian, already in total command of the Volta going into the final stage around Barcelona, left his rivals in a reduced bunch trailing once again, giving him overall victory ahead of Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) by three minutes and 41 seconds. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), five minutes and three seconds down, finished third.
Dorian Godon of France came closest on the line to denying the UAE Team Emirates rider, but he had to settle for second with compatriot Guillaume Martin third. Pogacar’s dominance was such that, along with topping the general classification, he also secured the points and mountains jerseys too.
“João Almeida set a good pace on the climb and we were a small group in the front,” said Pogacar afterwards. “He made a good attack on the last small climb and almost came to the finish. I wish he could arrive but I’m happy to take this win, too.”
Britain’s Josh Tarling (Ineos) was 17th, Owain Doull (EF Education-Easypost) was 19th, Tarling’s teammate Ben Turner was 38th and Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) was 50th of 87 finishers. Tadej Pogacar, the defending champion, did not take part in the race as he is focusing on a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double this season.
Longo Borghini, of Lidl-Trek, was celebrating her second Tour of Flanders title, having won it first in 2015. Pfeiffer Georgi (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) was the highest-placed British rider in the women’s event, 1min 46sec off the lead in 13th place.
