Van der Poel wins ‘favorite classic’ for third time
OUDENAARDE, Belgium: Mathieu van der Poel, at ease in the Belgian rain, powered into history on Sunday as he joined the elite group who have won the Tour of Flanders three times. “It’s my favorite classic. I fell in love with it the first time I took part. And it’s the one that suits me best too,” Van der Poel told the post-race press conference.
The 29-year-old Dutch rider finished just over a minute ahead of the chasing group as he became the sixth rider in the 111-year history of the race to claim three victories. “Honestly, I don’t pay particular attention to records,” he said. “My career has already succeeded beyond my expectations. Everything is a bonus from now on.”
Italian Luca Mozzato grabbed second, one minute and two seconds back, outsprinting Australian Michael Matthews to the line. But Matthews was then penalized for dangerous riding and German Nils Politt was awarded third. “Winning the Tour of Flanders with the world champion’s rainbow jersey on your back is a dream come true,” Van der Poel said at the finish. “It was the hardest Tour of Flanders I’ve ever done, one of the hardest races of my career. At the end I was finished. I crawled all the way to the finish line. It was really hard.”
Sunday’s slog through the second and most sacred ‘monument’ took riders over 270.2 km and up 18 nasty climbs, under grey Belgian skies and through persistent rain that made the cobbled sections slippery. Van der Poel, of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team, spent most of the first 220 km stalking breakaways. Ivan Garcia had built a lead of 10 seconds, but slipped out of his pedals trying to find the power to climb the cobbled Kloppenberg. Rather than try to remount on the steep slope the Spaniard pushed his bike up the hill. He was not the only one.