[ad_1]
EFE · Road Competition · 10/18/2020
The Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) has been awarded the 104 edition of the Tour of Flanders, a Belgian event on the UCI WorldTour calendar and one of the cycling monuments that, after being postponed by the Covid-19 pandemic, It was held this Sunday on a route of 243.3 kilometers and linked the towns of Antwerp and Oudenaarde.
Thirty-four years after the victory of his father, Adrie, with a time of 5 hours, 43 minutes and 22 seconds, van der Poel prevailed in the sprint in a spectacular head-to-head with Belgian Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma ), with which he reached the finish line.
The two big favorites, both three-time cyclo-cross world champions, covered the last 35 kilometers together, once the world champion, Belgian Julien Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step), suffered one fall when he formed a luxury troop with them in the lead.
Van der Poel beat his breakaway partner by inches, and Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (UAE Emirates), the fastest of the chasing group, took third place.
At the start, without an audience for health precautions in Antwerp, classics such as Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet (injured), Peter Sagan (at the Giro) or the Tour champion, Tadej Pogacar, who already ended his season, were missing, but There were the 2019 champion Alberto Bettiol, the World champion Julian Alaphilippe, debutant in the great Belgian classic, and the two kings of cyclocross, Mahieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert.
The list of favorites also included Matteo Trentin (CCC), former world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Michal Kwiatkowski and Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers).
Ahead, 243 kilometers to Oudenaarde along a route dotted with 17 ‘walls that the organizers did not publicize to avoid crowds of the public as runners pass.
The first escape included Gregor Mhlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Samuele Battistella (NTT), Danny van Poppel (Circus-Wanty), Gijs Van Hoecke (CCC), Dimitri Peyskens (Bingoal) and Fabio Van Den Bossche (Flanders).
The sextet was more than 8 minutes ahead of a peloton traveling under intermittent drizzle, at the pace set by the Trentin CCC. 130 km from the end the Deceuninck-Quick Step machine took control of the pack and the difference with the escape began to descend.
The adventure died 50 km from the finish line, and the regrouping gave way to Alaphilippe’s attacks, which were reducing the front end. But the world champion went to the ground when he touched a racing motorcycle with 35 km to go and was left lying on the road, with gestures of pain.
Upstairs the two big favorites, Van der Poel and Van Aert, who had emerged unscathed from a previous fall, were left alone. Another road world champion, Mads Pedersen, who won the Ghent-Wevelgem last week, was unable to make the decisive cut.
The two colossi went hand in hand, taking over in perfect harmony to keep the first group at bay. Van Aert, theoretically quicker for a sprint finish, was comfortable in that situation and the runaway advantage was increasing.
Two walls were missing. The 11 percent of the cobbled ramp of the old Kwaremont, which was climbed three times – the last one, 18 km from the finish – did not undo the front pair, and the Paterberg, which started 14 km from the end, did not solve anything either.
The last 13 kilometers, and without walls or cobblestones, led the two favorites to the final sprint. Van Aert, on the fastest paper, slipped into the last kilometer and waited up to 200 meters to launch the sprint. But Van der Poel took the wheel from him and beat him under the same goal arc.
Van der Poel succeeded Italian Alberto Bettiol, winner of the last edition, in the palmars of the event.
Classifications [Clasificaciones completas]
Classification of the Tour of Flanders 2020:
1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED / Alpecin-Fenix) – 5:43:22
Wout Van Aert (BEL / Jumbo-Visma) – mt
Alexander Kristoff (NOR / UAE Emirates) at 0:08
4. Anthony Turgis (FRA / Total-Direct Energy) at 0:08
5. Yves Lampaert (BEL / Deceuninck-Quick Step) at 0:08
6. Dimitri Claeys (BEL / Cofidis) at 0:08
7. Oliver Naesen (BEL / AG2R-La Mondiale) at 0:08
Dylan van Baarle (NED / Ineos) at 0:08
9. John Degenkolb (GER / Lotto-Soudal) at 0:08
10. Tiesj Benoot (BEL / Sunweb) at 0:08
EFE – EFE Agency – All rights reserved. All types of reproduction are prohibited without the written authorization of the EFE S / A Agency.
