Mathieu van der Poel's third victory in the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday was not a demolition. Not only was he nearly caught in the final kilometre by a strong chasing group, but his gap was never massive, not growing over 30 seconds for a long time after his earliest attack. Several times during the race, the Dutchman looked catchable.
First following Tim van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) on the Taaienberg and then going through and past the next group to chase solo towards the head of the race, Van der Poel was strong but not unstoppable.
