After all the talk about Visma-Lease a Bike’s ‘super team’ heading into the Classics, it was Lidl-Trek that were the best outfit at E3 Saxo Classic, owning pole position heading into the crucial Taaienberg and landing four riders in the top 11 finishers.
They couldn’t quite overcome the power of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) as the Dutchman surged away on the Paterberg to take victory solo. But Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) took a brilliant second ahead of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) after bridging to his compatriot in the final five kilometres and outsprinting him to the line in Harelbeke.
