Tadej Pogacar topples Mathieu van der Poel in Tour of Flanders thriller, Wout van Aert fourth

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) wrote the next scintillating chapter in his illustrious career with a remarkable solo victory in the fastest Tour of Flanders ever raced. After a series of early skirmishes, the relentless Slovenian put in his decisive attack on the second dual ascent of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg to drop rival Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and deny the Dutchman a third win in four years.

Van der Poel, whose earlier attack on the Kruisberg-Hotond cobbled climb ended the chances of big rival Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), crossed the line 16 seconds adrift for second place. Pogacar now follows in the footsteps of Frenchman Louison Bobet and the Belgian Eddy Merckx to become only the third rider in history to win both the Tour de France and the Tour of Flanders.

Denmark’s Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) held off a late surge from Belgium’s Van Aert to secure the final spot on the podium after a strong chase group came home in Oudenaarde over a minute behind. The American Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) continued his stellar form to complete the top five ahead of Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ), the 2021 champion Kasper Asgreen (Soudal Quick-Step), Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar).

The 107th edition was also the fastest with Pogacar coming home to complete the 273.4km course in an whopping average speed of 44.1kmph. Played out in cold and breezy conditions, the race offered moments of real edge-of-the-seat excitement but was marred by a series of nasty crashes which caused the withdrawals of some big name riders including Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty-Circus) and the 2016 champion Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies).

Young Polish rider Filip Maciejuk (Bahrain-Victorious) suffered the ignominy of being disqualified after his error of judgement caused a huge pile-up on the front of the peloton with around 140km remaining. Maciejuk promptly took to social media to apologise for causing the high-speed crash, which resulted in scores of riders hitting the deck and notably ended the race of the Belgian Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates).

But in Wellens’ absence, his UAE team went on to put their stamp on the race – firstly with the Italian Matteo Trentin infiltrating the day’s break before Pogacar turned the screw behind with series of attacks that resulted in the day’s 19 escapees being swallowed up and one Slovenian riding off into the sunset to add to his swelling palmarès.

“It was amazing teamwork and a day I will never forget,” said 24-year-old Pogacar after winning a third of cycling’s Monuments (after previous victories in Il Lombardia and Liege-Bastogne-Liege).

“I knew to go solo I needed to go on the Kwaremont the last time. I almost cracked on the Paterberg. I knew it was going to be tough, but it was the only way I was going to win,” he said, adding: “I could retire after today and be proud of my career.”

Pogacar’s 10th win of his career came a fortnight after he finished fourth in Milano-San Remo and one week ahead of Paris-Roubaix – the only of cycling’s five Monuments that he has yet to ride.

Asked whether he could one day become only the fourth rider to win all five Monuments, Pogacar said: “We saw [two weeks ago] that San Remo is the most difficult to win. This year I went there in good shape but it was tough. We don't give up – we have San Remo and Roubaix to go. We'll see [about Roubaix]. I think I need to gain a few kilos and I need to toughen my hands…"

A fast and furious start to the race saw the peloton cover the opening 100km in just two hours as move after move was thwarted and no breakaway managed to stick.

The pre-race favourite and defending champion Van der Poel was caught napping after an early split in the pack saw a group of around 60 riders needing to close a gap of 40 seconds before the first of many incidents which broke up the flow of an otherwise enthralling spectacle.

An eight-man move finally established itself on the nose of the race as Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Dstny), Daan Hoole (Trek-Segafredo), Elmar Reinders (Jayco-AIUIA), Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech), Filippo Colombo (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Bingoal WB), Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-EasyPost) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) combined to eek out a six-minute gap over the pack ahead of the first of three passages of the Oude Kwaremont.

The day’s major flashpoint occurred with 141km remaining when Poland’s Maciejuk – trying to make up ground on a cobbled section off the road – lost his balance in a grassy puddle and ploughed into the front of the peloton at speed. While the 23-year-old was able to stay up on two wheels, dozens of riders were not so lucky as carnage ensued in his wake.

Wellens was the worst off – the Belgian hitting the ground with real force – but Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), Slovakia’s Sagan and even Van Aert all went down, the latter suffering a cut to the knee which may well have impacted his performance later on.

An acceleration from Asgreen and Trentin on the Molenberg with around 100km to go saw a chase group of eight riders form along with Wright, Powless, Kung, Pedersen, Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers), Florian Vermeesch (Lotto Dstny) and Nathan van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma). They were later joined by Benoit Cosnefroy (Ag2R-Citroen) and Matteo Jordenson (Movistar) after the duo kicked clear on the climb of Berendries.

Nineteen riders came together on the front of the race on the 10th of 19 cobbled climbs – the Berg Ten Houte – with around 70km to go, with a strong gap of two minutes over a small main field whose chase was disrupted by another high-speed crash that ended the race for Intermarche-Wanty-Circus duo Girmay and Aime De Gendt.

After finishing fourth in a two-horse race in 2022, Pogacar made his first move early on the first of two dual ascents of the Kwaremont-Paterberg double. After sitting up over the summit, he was joined by the in-form Jumbo-Visma duo of Van Aert and Christophe Laporte, as well as Van der Poel and Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).

With every climb, the leading group was diminished as rider after rider lost touch. The gap was down to just over a minute for the remaining 11 leaders going over the infamous Koppenberg where Pogacar’s accelerations saw Pidcock and Laporte distanced but could not do away with Van der Poel and Van Aert.

A chain slip on the Taaienberg saw Van der Poel drop back and needing to fight back with the bit between his teeth, before Pedersen rode clear of the leading group ahead of the Kruisberg. It was on this same climb that Van der Poel put in a powerful unseated surge to snap Van Aert’s elastic and push Pogacar to the extreme of his limits.

His left knee bloodied from his earlier fall, Van Aert was left in no man’s land as he rode in solo pursuit of his rivals – and even when team-mate Van Hooydonck dropped back from the break he could not muster enough to return into contention for the win.

Pedersen held a gap of 35 seconds going onto the final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont but this came tumbling down once Pogacar threw down the hammer. Having dropped Van der Poel, he picked off the other escapees and then swept past Pedersen to open up a small but telling gap over the summit.

The gap was around 15 seconds over the top of the Paterberg after Van der Poel also edged clear of Pedersen and emerged as the only rider capable of reeling in the lone leader. But Pogacar used his supreme time trialling ability to hold the Dutchman at bay and ensure there was no repeat scenario of last year’s race on the home straight.

The swashbuckling Slovenian had the luxury of being able to look over his shoulder to see Van der Poel well out of reach behind on the home straight amid the flurry of Flandrian flags lining the road. His focus will now switch to the Ardennes ahead of his bid to win a third Tour de France in July.

Pedersen found a second wind to deny Van Aert a place on the final podium alongside the two riders who finished behind him at the recent E3 Saxo Classic. While Pogacar will sit out Easter Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix, the likes of Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pedersen will do battle again over the cobblestones of Northern France in the Hell of the North next weekend. Bring it on...

- - -

Stream the 2023 cycling season live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk