Cycling: Mathieu van der Poel won the E3 Classic. The Dutchman gave the competition no chance in the rainy one-day race. Wout van Aert also has to admit that his biggest opponent was significantly stronger today. Nils Politt came seventh as the best German.
Mathieu van der Poel with 45km solo
The 66th edition of the E3 Classic begins Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck). The Dutchman confidently won the one-day race with start and finish in Harelbeke over 207,6 kilometers as a soloist. He left Jasper stuyven (Lidl – Trek) and wout van aert (Visma – Lease a Bike) behind you. The two top stars exchanged blows hand-to-hand over the last 45 kilometers. After Van der Poel was already almost 40 seconds ahead, Van Aert followed him as a soloist. The gap dropped to less than 10 seconds, but then increased rapidly again. In the last few kilometers, Van Aert literally collapsed, so that Stuyven was able to catch up with him. In the sprint for second place, Van Aert surrendered without a fight.
Wout van Aert falls on the Patterberg
Due to numerous attacks in the first half of the race, the peloton was reduced to around 30 riders. However, smaller groups or even soloists were unable to break away, even if many professionals made every attempt. The Germans were among them Jannik Steimle (Q36.5), Nils Politt (UAE) and Nicholas Markl (dsm-unternehmenich PostNL), as well as the Swiss Stefan Kung (Groupama – FDJ) at times represented in an escape group. But only really for a serious selection could Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck). The Dutchman attacked around 45 kilometers from the finish on Paterberg directly after a fall wout van aert (Visma – Lease a Bike). With a good deal of anger in his stomach, the Belgian then drove after him - also as a soloist. The duel of the giants was on.
Van der Poel wanted to be definitively with Van Aert for the suelos.#E3SaxoClassic | #LaCasadelCiclismo pic.twitter.com/zGxqnJrQM9
- Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) March 22, 2024