Not for the first time, Wout van Aert found himself in the loneliest place in all of Flanders, chasing Mathieu van der Poel. The eternal rivals squared up once again at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, and they tracked one another diligently through the Flemish Ardennes until their paths finally diverged on the stiff slopes of the Paterberg.
When the gradient bit, Van der Poel started to wind up for what proved to be the race-winning attack. Van Aert, inevitably, scrambled to respond to the world champion, but he made a rare bike-handling error, crashing as he flicked his bike from the smooth gutter back onto the rough cobbles.
