Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took a spectacular lone victory at the Tour of Flanders after distancing Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and his other big-name rivals on the final climb of the Oude Kwaremont after an epic battle on the roads and climbs of Flanders.
The race appeared to have escaped the big three of Pogačar, Van der Poel and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) after a group of 10 riders opened a 3-muinute gap after the attacks came with 100km to go. However Pogačar inspired a comeback and determined chase and then surged past last attacker Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) on the final time up the Oude Kwaremont.
The Slovenian time trialed to the finish, extending his lead into a headwind. The high-speed racing meant the 2023 Tour of Flanders set a new record average speed of 44.083 km/h.
Van der Poel chased with all his heart and hung on to finish 17 seconds down on Pogačar. Pedersen edged out Van Aert to win the sprint for third place from the group of survivors from the attack.
“It’s a day I’ll never forget,” Pogačar said. “I can say I can retire after today and be proud of my career but I can be super, super happy and proud."
Pogačar is only the third rider to win the Tour de France and Tour of Flanders. He joins Eddy Merckx and Louison Bobet in the record books.
Pogačar and his rivals knew that the Oude Kwaremont was vital to his victory.
“I knew I had to go solo on the last time up the Kwaremont. I just gave it all. I almost cracked on the Paterberg but I knew it was going to be tough. It was the only way to go to the finish,” he said.
“The Kwaremont suits me the most, we hit it with speed and we suffer on the cobbles. Then it’s pure power to the top and it’s long. It favours me.”
How it unfolded
The last time the Tour of Flanders set out from Bruges in 2016, the grandest reception was reserved for the ‘Old Firm’ of Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara. This time out, the most raucous cheers on the Grote Markt were for the Big Three of Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogačar and defending champion Mathieu van der Poel.
The names change, but the sense of occasion never does. The Ronde is eternal.
The speed of the race was incessant too once the peloton was flagged away from a chilly and overcast Bruges, with some 50km covered in the first hour.
The initial flurry of attacks failed to generate a morning break, but they did contribute to a split in the peloton after 30km or so, with Van der Poel surprisingly among those caught out and left trailing at half a minute.
The Dutchman had his Alpecin-Deceuninck guard for company, and they eventually stitched the race back together, but only after a spirited chase and a significant effort. Several teams, Soudal-QuickStep among them, kept the pace high at the front to ensure they expended as much energy as possible in that pursuit.
The early drama didn’t stop there. Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), third a year ago, was forced to abandon due to illness, while a crash in the peloton forced another split, with Pogačar now forced to chase back on. All the while, the speed scarcely relented, with the peloton averaging 49.3 kph after the first two hours.
A break finally forged after the early cobbles at Huisepontweg and 109km of fast racing.
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bingoal WB), Daan Hoole (Trek-Segafredo), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto-Dstny), Filippo Colombo (Q36.5) Elmar Reinders (Jayco-AlUla), Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-EasyPost) and Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) were the escapees, and they would have a lead of four minutes by the time they reached Oudenaarde for the first time with 160km to go.
Tension is never far at the Ronde, however, and before the first ascent of the Oude Kwaremont, the peloton was hit by a mass crash, caused when Filip Maciejuk (Bahrain Victorious) attempted to move up on the outside only to skid on a patch of wet grass and veer dramatically into the bunch.
The Pole somehow stayed upright, but the manoeuvre saw upwards of 30 riders crash, among the Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep), Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates). Shortly afterwards, the commissaires announced the disqualification of Maciejuk, but it was scant consolation for Turner, Sagan and Wellens, who were forced to abandon the race.
Van Aert was also brought down in the incident, but the Belgian was immediately back on his bike. He had a bloody left knee but apparently without any lasting injury. Alaphilippe was walking gingerly and took a little longer to get going again, but he was brought back up to the bunch after the Kwaremont. Amid confusion, meanwhile, the break’s lead extended still further, reaching 5:10 on the Kortekeer with 125km to go.
The breathless opening phase of the race took a bizarre turn on that climb, where Team DSM massed at the head of the bunch, deliberately slowed to a near standstill and then attempted a collective acceleration. The effort did nothing to knock the Big Three off their stride, but the ensuing split did condemn Van der Poel and Alaphilippe to another stint of chasing. It was that kind of day.
The tension would never dissipate, nor would the pace.
On the cobbles at Holleweg, another crash saw Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tim van Dijke (Jumbo-Visma) come off.
On the following Wolvenberg, with 114km still to race, Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) went on the attack in a bid to outflank the Big Three, drawing an interesting group with him. The move was swiftly snuffed out, but the intent was clear.
Dangermen
A new phase of the race began on the cusp of the last 100km on the Molenberg, where Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Jonathan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Fred Wright (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma) and Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny) went clear, with Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) later joining them.
The strongmen in the group struck up a solid working alliance, with Küng to the fore, and they quickly began to zoom across to the break and build a sizeable advantage on the peloton over the Berendries and Valkenberg. By the time Küng et al caught the break on Berg Ten Houte with 77kmkm to go, they had two minutes in hand over a peloton living an uneasy truce ahead of the grand finale.
With Pogačar and Van Aert both represented out in front, the onus was initially on Van der Poel to marshal a chase, even though he had already lost a sizeable part of his teammates following their tough start. Silvan Diller was dispatched to set the tempo, but the front group’s advantage stood firm.
Jumbo-Visma briefly cranked into action, accelerating fiercely with 70km to go. The scramble for their wheels, inevitably, led to yet another crash, with Matej Mohorič clipping Biniam Girmay’s rear wheel. The ensuing pile-up saw both men forced out of the race, together with Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X).
The pace in the bunch abated once more soon afterwards, while the expanded front group continued to pile on the pressure. With 65km to go, they had 3:11 in hand on the peloton, an alarmingly big lead to hand to dangermen like Powless and Küng, not to mention a past winner like Asgreen.
Enter Pogačar
The complexion of this race changed all over again on the second ascent of the Kwaremont with 55km to go.
UAE signalled their intent by setting a frenzied pace into the base of the climb, then Pogacar delivered his first blow of the afternoon with a searing acceleration that none of the contenders could even contemplate following.
Atop the climb, Pogačar had reduced the break’s lead to 1:40, while Van Aert and Van der Poel had formed a chasing group with Tom Pidcock (Ineos) and Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) in a desperate bid to limit the damage. They were still chasing over the Paterberg, where they trailed Pogačar by 15 seconds.
Pogačar eventually waited for the flat run towards the Koppenberg, but he would soon kick again on the steepest climb of the race. This time, only Van Aert and Van der Poel were able to follow his tempo.
Finally, the Big Three were alone together, locked in a race-defining contest – even if the dangermen in front still had over a minute in hand.
Come the top of the Taaienberg with 37km to race, Pogačar, Van Aert and Van der Poel were within 40 seconds of the nine survivors in front – Asgreen, Van Hooydonck, Küng, Powless, Cosnefroy, Narvaez, Trentin, Vermeersch and Pedersen.
The final haul over the Kwaremont and Paterberg, as ever and perhaps as scripted in cycling history, would prove decisive.
Yet the race took a turn on the rough cobbled Kruisberg. Van der Poel surged hard and suddenly Van Aert was struggling. Pogacar added a twist to the knife and Van Aert was cast to the wind.
Wisely, Pedersen had decided to anticipate the attacks yet again and went clear alone to fight off the Pogacar-Van der Poel steamroller coming up fast. The catch came just before the Oude Kwaremont.
As the cobbled climb began, Pogačar surged again, leaving everyone behind. He quickly caught and dropped Pedersen and set off on a solo ride to victory.
Van der Poel could see Pogacar on the flat road to the finish and couldn't close the gap. But he had the speed to hold off the tired chasers.
Pogačar had time to celebrate his historic and thrilling Tour of Flanders win, holding his head and then opening his arms in a moment of Classics consecration.
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