Terpstra goes solo to take Tour of Flanders

Niki Terpstra claimed a brilliant solo victory at yesterday’s Tour of Flanders to extend Quick-step Floors’ stranglehold on the classics season.

There was double Dutch delight, with Terpstra’s compatriot and Olympic champion Anna van der Breggen winning the women’s race, also solo.

Terpstra’s only previous win in a Monument – the name given to the five biggest oneday races of the season – came at Paris-roubaix in 2014.

But the Dutchman was a class apart at the Ronde, jumping on to Vincenzo Nibali’s (Bahrain-merida) wheel after the Italian escaped from a select group of riders 28kilometres from the finish line.

Terpstra soon powered clear of Nibali – whose presence at the front of the race was a surprise, given his pedigree as a GC rider – and then set about bridging the gap to the three-man breakaway at the front of the race, which comprised Dylan van Baarle (Team Sky), Sebastian Langeveld (EF Education Firstdrapac) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-segafredo).

Terpstra proved too strong for that trio, powering clear on the final cobbled climb, the Paterberg, before riding the last 20km to the finish on his own.

Pre-race favourite Peter Sagan finished sixth. Britain’s Luke Rowe, who only recently returned from seven months out after breaking his leg, was disqualified by the race jury for riding on to a roadside bike path with 56km left. The Welshman, who finished fifth in 2016, declared himself “gutted”.

“It was either crash or go on to the bike path,” he added.