Mathieu van der Poel overcame a fierce challenge by world champion and Paris-Roubaix debutant Tadej Pogacar, as well as being hit in the face by a bottle thrown by an idiotic spectator, to claim his third straight victory in the Queen of the Classics.
Pogacar, who was looking to become the first Tour de France winner to also prevail in the “Hell of the North” since Bernard Hinault in 1981, overcooked a turn with 38km to go and lost his balance on a cobbled section, heading into the crash barriers to leave his rival clear one week after taming the Dutchman at the Tour of Flanders.
