One other blistering assault from Tadej Pogacar noticed the world champion win the Tour of Flanders cobbled classic for the second time.
Pogacar had loads of time to lift his arms above his head and take in the applause of the gang as he soloed to victory after taking off on the third and last ascent of the Oude Kwaremont.
The three-time Tour de France champion had launched his final and decisive assault on the penultimate climb – about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the end — and never even defending champion Mathieu van der Poel might keep on his wheel.
“I am so joyful to win on this jersey this race,” stated the UAE Crew Emirates rider. “The plan was to go from (Oude Kwaremont) and we adopted the plan despite the fact that we had some crashes within the group — however we made it and we keep on with the plan.”
Pogacar completed 1 minute, 1 second forward of Mads Pedersen, who edged out Van der Poel in a four-man dash for second, simply forward of Wout van Aert and Jasper Stuyven.
Also referred to as De Ronde (The Tour), the Tour of Flanders is one in every of biking’s most difficult one-day races and was first held in 1913. This 12 months’s 268.9-kilometer (167-mile) route featured 16 quick however punishing climbs and a number of other cobblestone sections.
It was a second victory for Pogacar after he received in 2023. The Slovenian did not defend his title final 12 months, when Van der Poel claimed a record-equaling third win.
It was anticipated to be one other episode of the nice rivalry between Pogacar and Van der Poel, who had won the recent Milan-San Remo, and so it proved.
Van der Poel had escaped unscathed from an early crash and the duo performed cat and mouse with one another within the last 50 kilometers (31 miles), with every matching the opposite’s assaults, earlier than Pogacar left the Dutch bicycle owner and the opposite hopefuls within the distance.
“I used to be already on the restrict from fairly far,” Van der Poel stated. “The crash in fact was not ultimate, however I believe we put up an excellent struggle with the group and I did all the things I might and I am pleased with the rostrum.
“In fact it is by no means good to be in a crash however I believe the injury was nonetheless fairly okay for the crash, I used to be fortunate.”
The Tour of Flanders is likely one of the “monuments” of biking — the 5 most prestigious one-day occasions within the sport — together with Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Giro di Lombardia.
The 2 Pogacar has but to win are Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, which has even more durable cobbles than Flanders. Pogacar goes to aim the grueling French basic for the primary time subsequent Sunday.
“It is a utterly completely different race, however I’ll settle for the problem and attempt to do my finest,” Pogacar stated. “I do know this Flanders fits me a bit higher, however you by no means know.”
Within the girls’s race, Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky matched Pogacar in successful with the rainbow bands because the world champion sprinted to a 3rd victory on dwelling roads.
A winner in 2022 and 2023, Kopecky powered freed from Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Liane Lippert and Kasia Niewiadoma to safe her first win of the 12 months.
AP
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